66 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



words — " and Maxwell Forest thereby " * — is inserted, 

 like a wedge, near Buxton, into that bold and wild country 

 where the great forest of Macclesfield, in Cheshire, the 

 Peak Forest, and the high Derbyshire moors uniting 

 together constitute " that mountainous and large-featured 

 district, which, in the ancient times, had been well tim- 

 bered and formed part of the great midland forest of 

 England." f And a part only ; for we have seen that this 

 midland forest district, of which the Peak was the 

 centre, included towards the south the greater part of 

 Staffordshire, while towards the east an imaginary line 

 only separated it from the mighty forest of Sherwood. 

 From Nottingham to Manchester was one continuous 

 forest, and far into Yorkshire the great wood extended 

 to join other and more northern forests there. 



Prom the Peak northwards, throughout West 

 Yorkshire and East Lancashire, the forests, moors, and 

 mosses connected with this mountain range were im- 

 mense. I will mention one or two circumstances 

 calculated to give some idea of their extent. The 

 learned Dr. Whitaker, describing Whalley in Lancashire 

 in late Saxon and early Norman times, says : — " If, 

 excluding the forest of Bowland, we take the parish of 

 Whalley as a square of 161 miles, from this sum at least 

 70 miles, or 27,657 acres, must be deducted for the four 

 forests or chaces of Blackburnshire, which belonged to 

 no township or manor, but were at that time mere 

 derelicts, and therefore claimed, as heretofore unappro- 

 priated, by the first Norman lords. There will therefore 

 remain for the different manors and townships 36,000 



* " Itinerary," vol. v., p. 87, Hearne's 2nd edition. 



f Dr. Robertson's "Buxton and the Peak," 1875, p. 41. 



