184 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



from the locality we are considering. Among other privi- 

 leges enjoyed by the monks was that of a ferry across the 

 river to Liverpool, such as that town then was ; and 

 strange enough, this old ' Monk's ferry ' still remains with 

 its old name, but attached now not to a holy brotheihood 

 of monks, but to a brotherhood of capitalists, carryirg on 

 business (in both senses of the word carrying) under the 

 name of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway Comjany. 

 ' The blessings of knowledge and the benefits of religon ' 

 were therefore, we see, coming nearer and nearer our 

 submarine forest at Leasowe. In the reign of Ed ward III. 

 the peninsula was disafforested, and new villages doubtless 

 sprung up. Coming down to a later period, we learn that 

 it was from a port named Hoylake, close by the spot on 

 which this buried forest stood, that William Penti saLed 

 to America to found or colonise the district now kiown as 

 Pennsylvania ; and it was from the same port that Villiam 

 III. embarked for Ireland to fight the battle of the Boyne." 



But history is silent in regard to the destruction of 

 the village and the forests ; and competent inqiirers, it 

 is alleged, have considered that their antiquity g>es back 

 to the time of the Romans. 



I see nothing incredible in this, and there are not 

 awantiug indications of some of the buried n}nains of 

 forests found in other parts of England having jeen pre- 

 served since that time. 



About the time of the Roman invasion En$and was 

 extensively covered with trees. It is still a rich^ wooded 

 land, but nowhere do we meet with extensive areas of 

 woodland such as we have reason to believe exited then. 

 Considerable havoc was made by the Romans to enable 

 them to advance and secure their conquests, ad besides 

 the historical notices which we have of the fac, we have 

 preserved beneath the surface of the soil, in connction with 

 remains of trees, Roman coins which seem toiave been 

 deposited there along with these remains. Inthe notice 

 given of Hatfield Chase (at p. 169), it is mentmed that 



