254 The Hunting Countries of England, 



THE NOETH STAPEOEDSHIEE.* 



On the West of the Derbyshire Hills — having The 

 Cheshire on the north of it and The Albrighton — on 

 the south — is, roughly speaking, the position of The 

 North Staffordshire. The London and North-Western 

 Railway, between the two extreme points of Crewe 

 and Stafford, cuts through the whole length of its 

 huntable ground, and no less than four other countries 

 touch its borders, to wit. Sir Watkin Wynnes and 

 The Shropshire on the west and The Meynell and 

 South Staffordshire on the south-east. It looks a 

 large country on the map ; but the industries of coal, 

 iron and pottery cut into its very heart, to clothe in 

 factories and chimnies, and to cloud in smoke and 

 dust, a full third of its extent. From Stoke and 

 Newcastle-under-Lyme, north and north-west, a 

 teeming mass of population is employed at whichever 

 of these branches of labour individuals and families 

 may have been born to — over a ten or fifteen mile 

 area that by the map would appear to be hunted. 

 The Derbyshire hills and moors, again, hem the 

 country in, where an opening would seem to be left 



* Vide Stanford's " Hunting Map," Sheet 8, and Hobson's 

 Foxhunting Atlas. 



