AG^S of BIJRIED FORESTS. 183 



tropKe occur? to deal with. The author just cit^d — the 

 anonymous author of Forests and Forest Trees — tells: — 



" It is well established that for two thousand years past 

 this part of the coast has been inhabited, and that until 

 within no very recent period the whole hundred of Wirrall^ 

 the name by which this part of Cheshire is known, was 

 covered with forests. When the Romans possessed the 

 island, one of their chief stations was Deva Oastrum, the 

 camp on the Dee, the present city of Chester. It was 

 important as being near the Welsh mountains, whither 

 large numbers of the ancient inhabitants had fled for 

 I'efuge, and from whence they made many sallies against 

 their invaders ; and important also because is was the 

 chief port from whence the Romans had access to the 

 Irish Sea. But situated as it was, a long way from the 

 sea, it was necessary to guard its entrance, and accord- 

 ingly another station was created on a small island — 

 Hilbre Island — near the mouth of the Dee, and close by 

 the shore on which this village and now buried forest stood. 

 Some remains have occasianally been found on this island 

 that render this fact beyond doubt, but the island is now 

 greatly reduced in size by the encroachments of the sea. 

 It is therefore quite reasonable to suppose that a village 

 or even a town, may have sprung up on this shore in 

 Roman times, and that the timber of the forests may have 

 been cleared both to build Roman galleys and to give 

 space for the raising of corn. The Dee certainly did not 

 diminish in importance when the Heptarchy was estab- 

 lished. Chester became the capital of Mercia ; and one of 

 its kings is related to have sailed on the Dee rowed by 

 kings whom he had subdued in war, among whom was a 

 king of Cumberland and a king of Man. There must 

 have therefore been plenty of ships around the mouth of 

 the Dee, and it is highly probable that the village called 

 into existence by the Roman station still continued and 

 increased in the days of the Saxons. In. the reign of 

 Henry II. an abbey was erected at the town of Birken- 

 head, on the west shore of the Mersey, and not far distant 



