166 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



Saxon lady seems to have had a strange passion for build- 

 ing, as we are told she not only built this town, but that 

 she also built fortresses at Bramsbury, Bridgenorth, Tarn- 

 worth, and Stafford, and most probably would have built 

 many more had she not died at Tamworth in 922. 

 • " The few scraps of information that can be picked up 

 about this old Saxon town, merely seem to excite a curio- 

 sity which there are no possible means of gratifying, and 

 to show how little in reality we know of the history of 

 our own country. The building, inhabiting, and decaying 

 of this town of Eddisbury, in the heart of an old English 

 forest, is most certainly not a fable. Ethelfleda was not a 

 mythical personage ; she helped to rule a kingdom, fought 

 and won battles, died a natural death, and does not the 

 old Saxon chronicle say that ' her body lies at Gloucester, 

 within the east porch of St Peter's Church?' It is not 

 every historical personage of whose existence such clear 

 proofs can be given. What a treasure it would be if we 

 could find some old history of this town, or how greatly 

 would our knowledge be extended if we could call back to 

 life ' the oldest inhabitant,' and question him about this 

 forgotten town! Interesting would it be to know how 

 they lived, if they tilled the ground or hunted in the 

 forest, or sent their swine to fatten on the acorns ; if they 

 spun wool or made butter and cheese, and ever took them 

 to market at Chester, or ever went to buy salt at North- 

 wich ? But these are particulars we shall never know. 

 The time even when the town disappeared is not known, 

 for for many centuries the forest was allowed to go to 

 waste until it became little better than a barren heath, 

 and the neighbourhood was as wild and uncultivated as 

 the back woods of America. But the disappearance of 

 Eddisbury is not a solitary case. When we get farther 

 into Cheshire, we find traces of another town perhaps 

 even less known to history. By an act dated June 1812 

 however, the forest was ordered to be planted ; and it now 

 contains a large quantity of young timber, which, in course 

 of time, will be of great value. 



