A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



14. Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. 

 Bell Martes abietum. 



This fine animal has probably been extinct 

 in Derbyshire for about half a century, but as 

 it is capable of covering long distances it is 

 quite possible that individuals have visited us 

 within more recent times from adjoining 

 counties. Remains of the marten have been 

 found in the surface soil of Robin Hood's 

 Cave and the Cresswell Crags (Journ. Derb. 

 Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1882, p. 171). 



Its chief haunts seem to have been the 

 wooded parts of the Peak Forest in the north : 

 the valleys of the Dove and Derwent, the 

 forests of Needwood in Staffordshire and 

 Charnwood in Leicestershire, from whence 

 it made excursions into the south of Derby- 

 shire. It must have been tolerably common 

 towards the end of the eighteenth century, 

 for Pilkington writing in 1789 says, 'It is 

 scarcely necessary to add that polecats, 

 martins, weasels, badgers and stoats . . . are 

 all inhabitants of Derbyshire.' Glover, forty 

 years later, also includes it in his list, and a 

 writer in the Penny Magazine of November 

 27, 1841, describes the marten as ' plentiful in 

 the fir-woods which clothe the sides of some 

 of the hills of Derbyshire and especially near 

 Buxton.' 



Mr. W. Bennett, writing in 1866 on the 

 place names of the Peak Forest, says ' Martin- 

 side and Cat's Tor were the places of refuge 

 of the beautiful mart or marten cat, which 

 has been found in a wild state within the 

 last forty years among the solitary rocks of 

 the Roych Clough' (Reliquary, vii. 95). The 

 late Dr. C. Clay of Manchester, who died in 

 1893 at the age of 91, told me that he well 

 remembered when a young man seeing a fine 

 specimen offered for sale alive in the market 

 at Manchester. It was in a cage and very 

 savage, and was said to have been recently 

 trapped in the High Peak. 



Mr. J. R. B. Masefield, in his paper on the 

 indigenous mammals of Staffordshire, says : ' I 

 should not have included it here had I not 

 been assured by one on whose word I can 

 rely that one was killed within his recollec- 

 tion, but many years ago, on the Staffordshire 

 side of Dovedale.' 



Garner (Nat. Hist, of Stafford}^ writing 

 in 1844, notes that the marten has occurred 

 in the woods near Dilhorne, Consall, in 

 Needwood Forest and rocky places in the 

 limestone district ; and Sir O. Mosley, nearly 

 20 years later, says that by traditionary report 

 it was an inhabitant of Needwood Forest 

 before the enclosure, but ' is now nowhere to 

 be found.' Mr. M. Browne's researches in 



Leicestershire show that it survived much 

 longer in that county. 



15. Polecat. Putorius putorius (Linn.). 



Bell Mustela putorius. 

 Locally, Foumart or Filimart (obs.) Fitchet. 



Formerly very common and widely distri- 

 buted, but its numbers have rapidly decreased 

 during the last forty years, and at the present 

 time it is practically extinct in the south 

 and occurs rarely in the north and west. In 

 the ' Shooting Diary ' of the Rev. F. Gisborne 

 of Staveley (Journ. Derb. Arch, and Nat. Hist. 

 Soc. 1892, p. 196) occurs the following 

 entry: 'October 24 [1772] i Foumart.' 

 In a footnote the Rev. C. H. Molineux says 

 that formerly these animals were evidently 

 very numerous, and ^d. per head was paid 

 by the churchwardens as 'verming.' In the 

 accounts for 1772 there is a somewhat start- 

 ling entry, 'A polecat catching in the Church, 

 os. 6d.' Glover describes the habits of 

 this animal accurately ; he tells us that in 

 summer they haunt woods or rabbit warrens, 

 and are very destructive ; in winter they are 

 found in barns and outhouses. In 1842 Sir 

 O. Mosley found this species ' sufficiently 

 common ' in the Tutbury district ; but writing 

 in 1863 he speaks of it as 'becoming more 

 scarce every year,' but ' still to be found in 

 rough upland banks and in the tangled willow 

 beds by the sides of our rivers and streams.' 

 Mr. E. Brown also says it is ' still occasionally 

 found.' 



In the High Peak polecats were not un- 

 common in the upper part of the Derwent 

 valley and on the edge of the moors as late as 

 186076. I remember seeing one about 

 1874 or 1875 gallop across the road between 

 Derwent and Howden in broad daylight and 

 disappear through the opening at the bottom 

 of the stone wall for the surface water to 

 escape. On another occasion my father and 

 the Rev. J. O. Bent were walking on the 

 Derwent moors and suddenly came upon a 

 family party, consisting of two old and six 

 young polecats, which showed but little fear, 

 and being undisturbed soon disappeared in the 

 heather. This was about September 1873. 



Canon Molineux saw one at Staveley some 

 time between the years 1888 and 1892, and 

 watched it for some moments as it rolled on 

 the turf like a dog on a rug (Journ. Derb. 

 Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1892). 



In the Ashbourne district it still appears 

 occasionally. One was killed at Bradley in 

 1890 or 1891. Another was seen in a 

 hedgerow much frequented by rabbits near 

 Bradley in 1896, and in the spring of 1900 



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