INTRODUCTION. ^ 



forest of Macclesfield, the Peak forest, and the high 

 Derbyshire moors uniting together constitute " that 

 mountainous and large featured district which in 

 ancient times had been well timbered and formed 

 part of the great midland forest of England.* And 

 a part only ; for we have seen that this midland 

 forest district, of which the Peak was the centre, 

 included towards the south the greater part of 

 Staffordshire, while towards the east an imaginary 

 line only separated it from the mighty forest of 

 Sherwood. From Nottingham to Manchester was 

 one continuous forest, and far into Yorkshire the 

 great moor extended to join other and more northern 

 forests there. From the Peak northwards, through- 

 out West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, the forests, 

 moors, and mosses connected with this mountain 

 range were immense.t Some idea of their extent 

 may be gathered from the remarks of the learned Dr. 

 Whitaker, who, describing Whalley, in Lancashire, in 

 late Saxon and early Norman times, says : " If, ex- 

 cluding the forest of Bowland, we take the parish of 

 Whalley at a square of 1 6 1 miles, from this sum at 

 least 70 miles, or 27,657 acres, must be deducted for 

 the four forests, or chaces, of Blackburnshire, which 

 belonged to no township or manor, but were at that 

 time mere derelicts, and therefore claimed, as 

 heretofore unappropriated, by the first Norman lords. 

 There will therefore remain for the different manors 

 and townships 36,000 acres or thereabouts, of which 

 3,520, or not quite a tenth part, was in a state of 

 * Robertson, "Buxton and the Peak," p. 41. f Storer, p. 66. 



