STATE 



OF THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD 



ABOUT THE YEAR IGSO. 

 [.From Dr. Plot's History, written before that Fear.] 



JL HAT part of the county north of Trent is divided into two 

 parts, called Moorlands and Woodlands ; whereof the Moorlands 

 are the more northerly mountainous part, lying between the up* 

 per parts of Trent and Dove, to Draycot-in~the-Moors, yielding 

 coal, lead, copper, marble, and millstones ; and the Woodlands, the 

 more southerly lev el part of that country, from Draycot to Whichr 

 nor, and Burton, between the lower parts of the said rivers, in- 

 cluding Needwood Forest, with all its parks ; also the parks of 

 Whiclmor, Hore Cross, Bagots, Chartley, Loxley, Birchwood, and 

 Paynsley, which anciently (Plot supposes) were all one wood, pro- 

 ducing salt, black marble, and alabaster, besides great quantities 

 of the best timber ; and both Moorlands and Woodlands, as goodly 

 cattle, large and fair spread, as Lancashire itself, and such as the 

 graziers say will feed better ; the lime-stone hills of the very Moor- 

 lands producing a short, but a fine sweet grass, and large oxen, 

 though in an open cold country. Dray ton says, in his Polyolbipn, 

 pf the Moorlands ; 



'* She from her chilly site as from her barren feed, 

 For body, horn, and hair, as fair a beast doth breed, 

 As scarcely this great Isle can equal." 



And if among the mountains of the Moorlands, much more can 

 they breed and feed cattle too in the rich meadows that adorn the 

 banks of the Trent, Blithe, Tene, Churnet, Hamps, and Mauyfold, 

 all in tins quarter of the country ; and more especially still upon 

 the famous Dove-bank, esteemed by many the best feeding land of 

 England. In the very midst of winter these meadows are adorned 

 with a pleasant -verdure, and when the river overflows them in th, 



