THE FORESTS OF CHESHIRE 133 



Within this forest was Shotwick Park, attached to the 

 strong royal castle of that name. Various references to the 

 game and timber in this forest are given by Ormerod. 



THE FOREST OF MARA AND MOUDREM 



These two considerable forests of Cheshire are generally 

 mentioned in old documents in conjunction, although they had 

 in some respects separate jurisdiction. The whole of this 

 united forest district extended over all the hundred of Eddis- 

 bury save a few parishes, and over a greater part of the 

 hundred of Nantwich. The forest of Mara was bounded by 

 the Mersey on the north, and had the forest of Wirral on the 

 west, whilst that of Moudrem stretched out to the south-east 

 in the direction of Nantwich. 



Ormerod tells us that " the jurisdiction was originally vested 

 in four families" Kingsley of Kingsley, Grosvenor of Bud- 

 worth, Wever of Wever, and Merton of Merton, by which we 

 suppose is meant that these four families held hereditary 

 foresterships-of-fee. The master forestership of the whole was 

 conferred early in the twelfth century on Ralph de Kingsley to 

 hold on horn tenure, in the same way as that of Wirral. The 

 Dones afterwards succeeded to the Kingsleys in the master 

 forestership and in the forestership-of-fee. At the forest pleas, 

 held at Chester in 1271, each of the four foresters-of-fee were 

 fined heavily for destruction of woods ; Done and Grosvenor 

 13 6s. 8d. each, Merton 10, and Wever 5. Richard 

 Done, as chief forester of Mara and Moudrem, claimed at 

 that eyre to have eight under-foresters and two grooms, who 

 boarded with the tenants ; two strikes of oat at Lent from 

 every tenant for provender for his own horse ; bracken at all 

 times save the hunting season ; pannage and agistment of 

 pigs ; windfalls, and lops of felled trees ; crabstakes and 

 stubbs ; half the bark of felled trees ; all cattle and goats taken 

 at non-agistment times, \d. each, and the same of straying 

 beasts between Michaelmas and Martinmas; all sparrowhawks, 

 merlins, and hobbies ; all swarms of bees ; the right shoulder 

 of every deer taken in the forest ; the horns and skin of every 

 "stroken deer" found dead; waifs found in the forest; the 

 hunting of foxes, hares, cats, weasels, and other vermin with 



