MORFE FOREST.
Morfe one of the Five Royal Forests of Shropshire—Its History and
Associations—Early British, Roman, Danish, and Norman Mementoes—Legends
and Historical Incidents—Forest Wastes—Old Names—Hermitage Hill—Stanmore
Grove—Essex Fall—Foresters—Old Forest Lodge, &c.
THE hunting ground of the Willey country embraced the sites of five royal
forests, the growth of earlier ages than those planted by the Normans,
alluded to by Ordericus Vitalis. In some instances they were the growth
of wide areas offering favourable conditions of soil for the production
of timber, as in the case of that of Morfe. In others they were the
result probably of the existence of hilly districts so sterile as to
offer few inducements to cultivate them, as in the case of Shirlot, the
Stiperstones, the Wrekin, and of the Clee Hills. Some of these have
histories running side by side with that of the nation, and associations
closely linked with the names of heroic men and famous sportsmen. Morfe
Forest, which was separated from that of Shirlot by the Severn, along
which it ran a considerable distance in the direction of its tributary
the Worf, is rich in traditions of the rarest kind, the Briton, the
Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman, having in succession left mementoes of
their presence. Here, as Mr. Eyton in his invaluable work on the
“Antiquities of Shropshire” says,—“Patriotism, civilisation, military
science, patient industry, adventurous barbarism, superstition, chivalry,
and religion have each played a part.”
[Picture: Morfe Forest]
[Picture: Stag]
The ancient British tumuli examined and described more than one hundred
and thirty years ago by the Rev. Mr. Stackhouse have been levelled by the
plough, but “the Walls” at Chesterton, and the evidence the name of
Stratford supplies as to Roman occupation, to which Mr. Eyton refers, as
well as the rude fortifications of Burf Castle, constructed by the Danes
when they came to recruit after being out-manœuvred by Alfred on the
Thames, remain. At Quatford, a mile and a half west, on three sides of a
rock overhanging the Severn, near to Danesford, are trenches cut out of
the solid sandstone which, whether Danish or Norman, or in part both,
shewed by the vast number of wild boar and red deer remains disclosed a
few years ago the success with which the chase had here at one time been
pursued.
Within the forest were four manors, the continuous estate in Saxon times
of Algar, Earl of Mercia, which after the Conquest were granted in their
integrity to the first Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, and which in 1086 were
held wholly in demesne by his son Hugh. The predilections of the first
Norman Earl of Shrewsbury for this vast forest, lying between those of
Kinver, Wyre, and Shirlot,—the whole of which wide wooded district seems
to have been comprehended under the old British name of _Coed_—are shown
by the fact that he built his famous’ castle on the Severn close by, and
founded there his collegiate church, the stones of which remain to attest
its erection by a Norman founder. The legend relating to the erection of
the church seems so well to bear out the supposition that Morfe was the
favourite hunting ground of the earl that, although frequently quoted, it
may not be out of place to give it. In substance it is this:—
In 1082, Sir Roger married for his second wife a daughter of Sir Ebrard
de Pusey, one of the chief nobles of France. On coming over to England
to join her husband a storm arose which threatened the destruction of the
vessel when, wearied with much watching, a priest who accompanied her
fell asleep and had a vision, in which it was said:—“If thy lady would
wish to save herself and her attendants from the present danger of the
sea, let her make a vow to God and faithfully promise to build a church
in honour of the blessed Mary Magdalene, on the spot where she may first
happen to meet her husband in England, especially where groweth a hollow
oak, and where the wild swine have shelter.” The legend adds that upon
awaking the priest informed his lady, who took the prescribed vow; that
the storm ceased, that the ship arrived safely in port, that the lady met
the earl hunting the boar where an old hollow oak stood, and that at her
request, and in fulfilment of her vow, Sir Roger built and endowed the
church at Quatford, which a few years ago only was taken down and
rebuilt.
[Picture: Boar Hunt in Morfe Forest]
On the high ground a little above the church there are still several
trees whose gnarled and knotted trunks have borne the brunt of many
centuries, two of which are supposed to have sprung from the remains of
the one mentioned in the legend.
Not only legends, but traditions, and some historical incidents, as those
brought to light by the Forest Rolls, afford now and then an insight of
the sporting kind of life led within the boundary and jurisdiction of the
forest and upon its outskirts. The bow being not only the chief weapon
of sport but of war, those with a greater revenue from land than one
hundred pence were at one time not only permitted but compelled to have
in their possession bows and arrows, but, to prevent those living within
the precincts of the forest killing the king’s deer, the arrows were to
be rounded. These were sometimes sharpened, and disputes arose between
their owners, the dwellers in the villages, and the overseers of the
forest, the more fruitful source of grievance being with the commoners,
who, claiming pasturage for their cows and their horses, often became
poachers. On one occasion a kid being wounded by an arrow at Atterley,
on the Willey side of the Severn, and the culprit not being forthcoming,
a whole district is in _misericordiâ_, under the ban of the fierce Forest
Laws of the period. On another occasion a stag enters the postern gate
of the Castle of Bridgnorth, and the vision of venison within reach
proving too strong for the Castellan, he is entrapped, and litigation
ensues. Sometimes the stout foresters and sturdy guardians of the
castle, and burgesses of the town, indulge in friendly trials of skill at
quarter-staff or archery, or in a wrestling match for a cross-bow, a ram,
or a “red gold ring.” In Ritson’s “Robin Hood” we read:—
“By a bridge was a wrastling,
And there taryed was he:
And there was all the best yemen
Of all the west countrey.
A full fayre game there was set up,
A white bull up y-pight,
A great courser with saddle and brydle
With gold burnished full bryght;
A payre of gloves, a red golde ringe,
A pipe of wyne good fay:
What man bereth him best I wis,
The prize shall bear away.”
In 1292, a wrestling match at a festive gathering on Bernard’s Hill takes
place, when from ill blood arising from an old feud a dispute ensues, and
a forester named Simon de Leyre quarrels with Robert de Turbevill, a
canon of St. Mary’s, Bridgnorth, over a greyhound, which the latter,
contrary to the regulations of the courts, had brought within the forest;
and a jury of foresters, verderers, and regarders, in pursuance of the
king’s writ, is empowered to try the case. The evidence adduced shows
that the foresters were to blame, the verdict come to being that the men
of Brug, although at the wrestling match with bows and arrows, were in no
way chargeable with the assault upon the forester. “They had been
indicted for trespass,” the jurors said, “not under any inquest taken on
the matter, but by one Corbett’s suggestion to the Justice of the Forest;
they had been attacked and imprisoned under the warrant of the said
Justice, Corbett’s grudge being that two men of Brug had once promised
him a cask of wine, a present in which the corporate body refused to
join.” Corbett was pronounced by the jurors “a malevolent and a procurer
of evil.”
To correct evils like these the “ordinatio” of Edward I. was introduced,
containing many beneficial regulations, and stating that proceedings had
been taken in the forest by one or two foresters or verderers to extort
money, also providing that all trespassers in the forest of green hue and
of hunting shall be presented by the foresters at the next Swainmote
before foresters, verderers, and other officers. In the same year the
king confirmed the great charter of liberties of the forest.
Various official reports of this Chace, drawn up from time to time, show
how the great forest of Morfe gradually diminished, as the vills of
Worfield and Claverley, and other settlements, extended within its
limits, causing waste and destruction at various times of timber. During
the Barons’ War the bosc of Claverley was further damaged, it was said,
“by many goats frequenting the cover;” it suffered also from waste by the
Earl of Chester, who sold from it 1,700 oak trees. Other wastes are
recorded, as those caused by cutting down timber “for the Castle of
Bridgnorth,” and “for enclosing the vill before it was fortified by a
wall.” The report further states that “there were few beasts,” because
“they were destroyed in the time of war, and in the time when the liberty
of the forest was conceded.” By degrees, from one cause or another, and
by one means or another, this, the “favourite chace of English kings and
Norman earls,” which, so late as 1808, consisted of upwards of 3,820
acres, disappeared, leaving about the names of places it once enclosed an
air of quaint antiquity, the very mention of some of which may be
interesting. Among them are Bowman’s Hill, Bowman’s Pit, and Warrener’s
Dead Fall—names carrying back the mind to times when bowmen were the
reliance of English leaders in battles fought on the borders, and before
strongholds like the Castle of Bridgnorth. Gatacre, and Gatacre Hall,
suggest a passing notice of a family which witnessed many such
encounters, and which remained associated with a manor here from the
reign of Edward the Confessor to the time when Earl Derby sought shelter
as a fugitive after the Battle of Worcester. As Camden describes it, the
old hall must have been a fitting residence truly for a steward of the
forest. It had, in the middle of each side and centre, immense oak
trees, hewn nearly square, set with their heads on large stones, and
their roots uppermost, from which a few rafters formed a complete arched
roof.
The Hermitage, with its caves hewn out of the solid sand rock, by the
road which led through the forest in the direction of Worfield, meets us
with the tradition that here the brother of King Athelstan came seeking
retirement from the world, and ended his days within sight of the queenly
Severn. Besides tradition, however, evidence exists to shew that this
eremetical cave, of Saxon origin, under the patronage of the crown, was
occupied by successive hermits, each being ushered to the cell with royal
seal and patent, in the same way as a dean, constable, or sheriff was
introduced to his office; as in the case of John Oxindon (Edward III.,
1328), Andrew Corbrigg (Edward III., 1333), Edmund de la Marc (Edward
III., 1335), and Roger Boughton (Edward III., 1346). From the frequency
of the presentations, it would appear either that these hermits must have
been near the termination of their pilgrimage when they were inducted, or
that confinement to a damp cell did not agree with them: indeed, no one
looking at the place itself would consider it was a desirable one to live
in.
Other names not less significant of the former features of the country
occur, as Stoneydale, Copy Foot, Sandy Burrow, Quatford Wyches, and Hill
House Flat,—where the remains of an old forest oak may still be seen. In
addition to these we find Briery Hurst, Rushmoor Hill, Spring Valley,
Stanmore Grove, and Essex Fall, the latter being at the head of a ravine,
half concealed by wood, where tradition alleges the Earl of Essex,
grandson of the Earl who founded St. James’s, a refuge, a little lower
down, for sick and suffering pilgrims, which had unusual forest
privileges allowed by royal owners, was killed whilst hunting. Here too,
higher up on the hill, may still be seen the remains of the old Forest
Lodge, which, with its picturesque scenes, must have been associated with
the visits of many a noble steward and forest-ranger. Many a hunter of
the stag and wild boar has on the walls of this old Lodge hung up his
horn and spear, as he sought rest and refreshment for the night.
The names of some of the stewards and other officers of the forest are
preserved, together with their tenures and other privileges. By an
inquisition in the reign of Henry III., it was found that Robert, son of
Nicholas, and others were seized of “Morffe Bosc.” {28} In the 13 Hen.
IV., “Worfield had common of pasture in Morffe.” Besides many tenures
(enumerated in Duke’s “Antiquities of Shropshire,” p. 52), dependent upon
the forest, the kings (when these tenures were grown useless and
obsolete) appointed stewards and rangers to take care of the woods and
the deer; in the 19 Rich. II., Richard Chelmswick was forester for life:
in the 1 Henry IV., John Bruyn was forester; and in the 26th Henry IV.,
the stewardships of the forest of Morfe and Shirlot were granted to John
Hampton, Esq., and his heirs. Again, we find 9 Henry VII., rot. 28,
George Earl of Shrewsbury, was steward and ranger for life, with a fee of
4_d._ per day. Orig. 6 Edward VI., William Gatacre de Gatacre, in com.
Salop, had a lease of twenty-one years of the stewardship; and in the
20th Elizabeth, George Bromley had a lease of twenty-one years of the
stewardship, at a rent of 6_s._ 8_d._, et de incremento, 12_d._; and 36
Elizabeth, George Powle, Gent., was steward, with a fee of 4_d._ per day.
One of the descendants of George Earl of Shrewsbury sold at no very
distant period the old Lodge and some land to the Stokes family of
Roughton, and the property is still in their possession. The remains of
the old Lodge were then more extensive, but they were afterwards pulled
down, with the exception of that portion which still goes by the name.
As we have said, these places have about them interesting forest
associations, reminding us that early sportsmen here met to enjoy the
pleasures of the chase, with a success sometimes told by red-deer bones
and wild-boar tusks, dug from some old ditch or trench. Where the
plough-share now cleaves the sandy soil, the wild-boar roamed at will;
where fat kine feed in pastures green, stout oaks grew, and red-deer
leaped; where the Albrighton red-coats with yelping hounds now meet, the
ringing laugh of lords and ladies, of bishops and their clergy, hunting
higher game, was heard. Then, as good old Scott has said,—
“In the lofty arched hall
Was spread the gorgeous festival,
Then rose the riot and the din
Above, beneath, without, within,
For from its lofty balcony,
Rang trumpet, shawm and psaltery.
Their clanging bowls old warriors quaff’d,
Loudly they spoke and loudly laugh’d,
Whisper’d young knights in tones more mild,
To ladies fair, and ladies smiled.
The hooded hawks, high perch’d on beam,
The clamour join’d with whistling scream,
And flapped their wings and shook their bells,
In concert with the stag-hounds’ yells.”