FAUNA OF SHROPSHIRE. 



CHAPTER I. ;> , , :v ,*,; 

 THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY. 



IHROPSHIRE, A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, 



presented an appearance so different to its aspect at 

 the present day, that it is difficult to realize what 

 would be the conditions of life at that period for both man 

 and animals. We learn from various sources that the most 

 marked feature of the County was the large area covered by 

 continuous forests. Rev. T. Auden in a paper on "the Saxon 

 Settlement of Shropshire," (Transactions Caradoc and S. V. 

 Field Club, Vol. I. p. 59^), gives the names and extent of these 

 various forests, and states that, broadly speaking, they covered 

 two-thirds of the County, embracing the whole of South 

 Shropshire, and extending some miles into the Northern part. 

 " The County, as a whole, at the time of the Saxon invasion 

 was therefore, as regards its natural features and position, 

 not only remote, but much of it was uninviting and almost 

 inaccessible." Mr. Thomas J. Davies in a paper on " the 

 Severn" (Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 14,), says: "The land bordering 

 the Severn is cultivated and has definite boundaries, but, 

 before the Roman invasion, and probably for centuries later, 

 there were miles upon miles of forest, with swamps and vast 



