SHI 



fay, themaft is not rigged, Jhip-Jhape, and trim your fails 



■SHIP'STON-UPON-STOUR, in Geography, a mar- 

 ket-town in the upper divifion of the hundred of Ofwald- 

 now, and county of Worcefter, England, is fituated in a 

 diftria entirely detached from the body of the county, and 

 elofe to the left bank of the river Stour, whence is derired 

 the latter part of its name. The houfes here are chiefly 

 built of ftone; but notwithftanding this advantage, the 

 town cannot boaft much of its appearance, many of them 

 being fmall, and thatched with ftraw. Several attempts 

 have been made to eitablidi manufadures here, but without 

 any permanent fuccefs. The market-day is Friday, weekly ; 

 and there are two annual fairs, one on the 2 2d of June, and 

 the other on the firft Tuefday after the loth of Odober ; 

 both of them for horfes, cows, and (heep. The manor of 

 Shiptlon formerly belonged to the priory of Worcefter, 

 and is now part of the poffefiions of the dean and chapter. 

 The church is only a chapel of eafe to the mother church 

 of the pari(h of Tredington, which extends about nine miles 

 in length and two in breadth. According to the population 

 returns of 181 1, the pari(h contains 297 houfes, and 1377 

 inhabitants, of whom about 1000 refide within the townlhip 

 of Shipfton-upon-Stour. Nalh's Survey of Worcelter- 

 (hire, 2 vols. fol. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xv. 

 by Mr. Laird, 8vo. 1813. 



SHIPTON, a flourifliing townftiip, of excellent land, in 

 Lower Canada, on the ealt bank of the St. Francis ; 20 

 miles N.W. of Afcot, and containing about 356 in- 

 habitants. 



SHIPWRECK. See Wreck. 



SHIRAVERD, m Geography, a town of Perfia, in the 

 province of Ghilan ; 30 miles S. of Altara. 



SHIRBEY, a town of Syria, the refidence of a fcheik ; 

 15 miles E. of Aleppo. 



SHIRBORN, a river of England, in the county of 

 Warwick, which runs into the Sow. 



SHIRE, ScYKA, originally Saxon, yr;V, or fc'tre, formed 

 from fcyran, to divide ; a part or portion of the land, called 

 alfo a county ; which fee. 



SniK^-Clerk, he that keeps the county conrt ; and his 

 office is fo incident to that of the (heriff, that the king can- 

 not grant it away. 



Snm^- Man, was anciently the judge of the (hire, by 

 whom trials for land, &c. were determined. 



SHiRE-Afo<f, in our Old Writers, an aflembly of the 

 county or Ihire at the affizes, &c. See Scyregemot. 



QniUE-Reve. See Sheriff. 



Shire, Knights of the. See Knight. 



SHIREWOOD or Sherwood Forejl, in Geography, is 

 an ancient and extenfive foreit, comprehending a large por- 

 tion of the county of Nottingham, England. Thoroton, 

 in his Hiftory of Nottinghamfliire, fays that it ftretches into 

 the hundreds of Broxton, Thurgarton, and Baffetlaw ; and 

 meafures about twenty-five miles in length, by from feven to 

 nine in breadth, an extent which feems to agree with its an- 

 cient boundaries, as itated in a perambulation made in the 

 fixteenth year of Henry III. The period when this diliriA 

 was originally cohftituted a foreft is unknown, but that 

 event mult have occurred previous to the time of Henry II., 

 as in the firft year of that monarch's reign, it appears from 

 official records, that William Peverel was called upon to an- 

 fwer " De Placitis Forefts in Comitatu Nottingham." At 

 that time Peverel had the whole profit and command of this 

 foreft ; but it muft foon afterwards have reverted to the 

 crown, for in ii6i the (heriff" of the county prays to be 

 difcharged of " 4/. in vafto foreftae ;" and in 1 163 he prays 

 for a fimilar difcharge, and for the difcharge of " 40/. paid to 



S H 1 



the canons of Shirewood for alms." In the Foreft books ii 

 inferted a copy of a charter by king John, granting to Ma- 

 tilda de Caux, and Ralph Fitzftephen her hulband, and their 

 heirs, all the liberties and free cuftoms which any of the an- 

 ceftors of the faid Matilda, lords of Laxton, had held in 

 Nottingham(hire, including the foreft of Shirewood. The 

 fame rights afterwards fell to John Birking, as heir-general 

 to Matilda de Caux ; and in i 226 the foreft is mentioned at 



being then in pofTeffion of his fon ; but this line failing, it 1& 

 defcended to the family of the Everinghams, who having jf 

 loft their pofTeffions by forfeiture in the reign of Edward L 

 it reverted to the crown. Since that event, its civil jurif- 

 diftion has been generally vefted in the (herifFs of the county, 

 and its foreft jurifdiAion only granted to various individuals 

 among the nobility and gentry, as fpecial marks of royal 

 favour. An inquifition taken before Geoffrey de Langley, 

 in the reign laft mentioned, illuftrates the cuftoms of this 

 foreft. By it the chief keeper appears to have been obhged 

 to have three deputy keepers for a like number of diftrifts, 

 in order to attach all trefpafl'es, and prefent them at the at- 

 tachment before the verdurers. In the firft keeping, which 

 lay between the rivers Lene and Doverbeck, he was to have 

 one forefter riding with a page, and two forefters on foot ; 

 two verdurers, and two agifters. This keeping contained 

 the three hays of Bafkwood, Lindeby and Willay. The 

 High Foreft, including the hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, 

 and the park of Clipftone, formed the fecond keeping ; and 

 here were two forefters riding, with two pages and two agifters. 

 The third keeping, Rumwode, had one forefter on foot ; two 

 woodwards, one at Carburton, and the other at Budby ; and 

 the fame number of verdurers and agifters. The chief 

 keeper was further bound to have a page bearing his bow, 

 whofe duty it was to gather " chiminage," which is ufually 

 fuppofed to have been a tax for the formation and preferva- 

 tion of roads. 



By the laft furvey made of this foreft in 1609, it was par- 

 celled out into three walks, called the north, middle, and 

 fouth walks. The foreft officers, under the fuperintendance 

 of the chief joftice in eyre north of Trent, are a lord 

 warden, a bow-bearer and ranger, four verdurers, a ftevi'ard, 

 and nine keepers, befides two fworn woodwards for Sutton 

 and Carleton. The furveyor-general of the woods has like- 

 wife a jurifdiclion over this foreft, as far as regards the 

 wood and timber of the crown. He has a deputy in the 

 foreft, who has a fee-tree yearly, and a falary of 20/. 

 Thorney-wood Chace, though a branch of this foreft, is 

 diitinft from it in jurifdiftion, having been granted by 

 queen Elizabeth to John Stanhope, efq. and his heirs, as 

 hereditary keepers. This chace comprehends a large portion 

 of the fouth walk, and was formerly well ftocked with 

 fallow deer ; but thefe, of late years, have greatly dimi- 

 ni(hed in number. 



Of the ancient woodland in this extenfive traft, little re- 

 mains except in the hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, which 

 form an open wood of large old oaks, covering about 1500 

 acres of ground; but modern plantations have lately increafed 

 rapidly, and there are, in different diftrifts and parks, a 

 few trees, remarkable alike for their great age and magni- 

 tude. In Clipftone park is an immenfe oak, called the Par- 

 liament oak, from a tradition that a parliament was affembled 

 here by Edward I.; and in the fame park is another tree, 

 ftyled the Broad oak, the bole of which meafures 27^ feet in 

 circumference. Many of thefe venerable oaks may likewife be 

 feen in Welbeck park, on the (kirts of the foreft, where fome 

 of them are upwards of 34 feet round. Rooke, in his " Sketch 

 of the Foreit," mentions a recent difcovery of a very curious 

 mode of afcertaining the great antiquity of fome of thefe 

 trees. He tells us, that in cutting down fome timber in 



Birkland 



