A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



of the honour of Tutbury, and formed a valuable section of the property of the earldom, 

 afterwards parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster. The frith was not a true royal forest until 

 Henry duke of Lancaster came to the throne as Henry IV. in 1399. It had, however, 

 been technically ruled as a royal forest for more than a century before that date, for 

 Edward I. at the beginning of his reign, granted his brother Edmund the right of having 

 justices of the forest, whenever the king appointed them for his own forests, and also 

 granted him and his heirs of the earldom the fines and ransoms that might accrue from the 

 holding of the eyre. After the destruction of Duffield Castle, the castle of Tutbury became 

 the centre of the forest jurisdiction of Duffield Frith and the prison for venison trespassers. 



Such history as can be given of this forest is very meagre for the earlier period ; but 

 at a later date, when the earlier forest legislation was in many respects falling into desue- 

 tude, the records of the swainmote courts almost invariably termed woodmote courts in 

 this forest as well as particulars as to its customs are unusually full and interesting. They 

 offer considerable contrast in many respects to that which has been already given respecting 

 Peak Forest. In one particular the game of Duffield differed absolutely from that of the 

 north of the county. In the Peak the deer, save for a few fallow ' chance ' deer or strays, 

 and some roe-deer in its earlier days, was exclusively red ; in Duffield Frith, on the other 

 hand, the deer were exclusively fallow. In the wild Peak district the bounds of the forest 

 were only known from encircling rivers or streams, or from boundary stones and crosses ; 

 and there was but one kind of park, namely, the great stone enclosure of Champion or 

 Campana. Contrariwise, Duffield Forest had pales all round it, which the adjacent tenants 

 were bound to keep in repair, and it abounded in a number of separately paled and specially 

 preserved parks. 



The Peak Forest, as has been already seen, was never in any way wooded throughout by 

 far the larger part of its area ; but Duffield was most likely wooded almost everywhere, when 

 first it came into the hands of the Ferrers. Nevertheless, in the stonier stretches of parts' 

 of Duffield and Colebrook wards there must have been much that was always thinly covered 

 with undergrowth ; whilst a very considerable part of the area had no resemblance to what 

 is now understood as forest by the time that it became part of the earldom of Lancaster. 



The singularly full accounts of the opening years of Edward II. show that Duffield 

 Frith not only included within its area a great number of parks which were the special 

 homes of the deer though the park fences, whilst excluding cattle, etc., permitted them 

 to wander at will through other parts of the forest but also cow pastures, small sheep walks, 

 coal mines, and iron forges. 



As to the parks, they were thus distributed in the time of Edward I., and remained 

 so (save for the speedily extinguished Champagne Park) until the seventeenth century. 

 Ravensdale (where was the central lodge or manor house of the whole forest) and Mansell 

 parks in Hulland ward ; Champagne, Postern, and part of Shottle park, in Colebrook ward ; 

 and Lady or Little Belper and Morley parks, in Belper ward. 1 ' 



Some scanty particulars can be gleaned from a few thirteenth century ministers' accounts 

 and court rolls of Duffield Frith district that are among the stores of the Public Record 

 Office. In an account of Belper ward for 1272-3 occurs the earliest known mention of 

 the chapel adjoining the Belper manor house, which was expressly founded for the use of 

 the foresters. John, the chaplain, who celebrated at that chapel, held 7 acres and i rood 

 of demesne land in Fishyard, in lieu of rent of nine cottages built on 3 acres of land that 

 had been previously granted to the Belper chaplain. 3 



The accounts of Duffield Forest, as returned to the Duchy of Lancaster receiver-general, 

 from Michaelmas 1313 to Michaelmas 1314 are exceptionally detailed for each ward. 3 



1 The wards and parks of Duffield Frith can still be readily traced by those who know the district 

 well. 'Hulland Ward' is yet the name of a particular township, whilst Morley Park and Ravensdale 

 Park, though long ago ceasing to be in any way parks, are well known and marked large on maps. The 

 outlines of the small park of Postern and the large one of Shottle can be fairly readily identified both on 

 good maps and by the contour and fences of the country. ' Palerow Lane ' and ' Pale-fence Farm ' 

 show the north boundary of Shottle Park. Farmsteads that still bear the name of ' Mansell Park,' to the 

 west of Hulland Ward, and ' Champion ' (Champagne Park), about a mile to the west of Duffield village, 

 are to be found on the Ordnance maps. Colebrook, a name almost quite forgotten in the district, is 

 still the name of a small farmstead in the fields between Alport Stone and Alderwasley. 



3 Mins. Accts. Duchy of Lane. ff Y,V 



3 Mins. Accts. Duchy of Lane. . Colebrook Ward supplied maple wood for making mazers. 

 Space cannot be found for the separate ward accounts, but each has its own special points of interest. 



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