290 The Hunting Countries of England. 



THE ALBRIGHTON.* 



An extent of country that^ if it were all preserved 

 alike and all to be hunted alike, would require at least 

 a second pack, is the portion of the Albrighton. It 

 stretches from Stafford to Kidderminster; and finds 

 foxhunting also for Wolverhampton and Birmingham 

 by the way. Having the North Staffordshire above 

 it and the Worcestershire at its feet, it has something 

 of the character of either where it adjoins, gradually 

 passing from the style of one to that of the other. 

 Thus it has the deep heavy plough and dense wood- 

 lands of the Worcestershire in the south ; the good 

 scenting ground, small inclosures, and a sprmkling of 

 the dairy meadows of the North Staffordshire in the 

 north ; while a kind of neutral zone of light soil, with 

 much shghtly-fenced arable, occupies the whole of its 

 centre. Much of the south or south-west of the 

 country is wild, rough, and untempting ; again, a 

 large district, reaching almost from Wolverhampton 

 to Kidderminster, is sacrificed on the altar of game 

 preserving ; while a great tract, past the back of 

 Wolverhampton up to the town of Birmingham, is 



* Vide Stauford's " Himtiug Map," Sheets 8,, 9, 1-4, aud 15. 

 and Hobsou's Foxliuntine: Atlas. 



