Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/268

208 peverell's castle in the peak. place should we always assume, when, divesting our minds of the influence of unreal pictures, or of merely imaginative conceptions, and rejecting traditionary or popular details, we undertake to convey a brief and sober description of things as they positively exist. At the head of one of those most beautiful mountain gor- ges, which Derbyshire, more than any other English county, abounds in, stands the little town of Castleton in the High Peak. It is not without some degree of interest in itself, having at an early period been encircled with a defensive ditch and thus protected in part from the attacks of wander- ing marauders, even before the time Avhen the faithful atten- dant of Robin Hood is reputed to have sought the neigh- bouring seclusion of Hathersege for his grave. The surround- ing forests, preserved with all the severity of their peculiar code, frequently allured these bold outlaws to their verdant retreats, as in modern times the sportsman is still invited by the rippling of the trout stream and the downy heather, to seek these favoured haunts of nature. Here, loitering by the side of the pellucid Derwent, or gazing at the grotesque rocks above Millstone edge, or cautiously traversing Lang- shaw Moor, strewn with its numberless mill-stones, the seeker of health and rational enjoyment can divert himself by turns with the pleasures of the field, or with speculating upon the scattered playthings of an ancient race. When we look into the history of the early forest rights of the Peak, we find that Henry the Third watched them with most jealous vigilance, for the abbat of Mu-avalle, though entitled to a share of pasturage in the green enclosures, was ultimately forced to cede the property of the convent to the Crown, and afterwards to undergo a fine for allowing his cattle to feed within the royal demesne^. Not a stem could be lopped, or a tree fallen without the protection of the king's writ; and hence Peter de Rupibus, bishop of Winchester, could not even gather sufficient fuel for the purpose of smelt- ing lead for his church of Hales, without first memorializing the Crown for permission It woidd now be difficidt to ascertain the boundaries of the old forest, nor indeed is it necessary to do so, as the present enquiry relates to the castle in the Peak, and what " Rot. Clause, 7 Henry III. c Ibid., 7 Henry III. ^ Ibid., 8 Jlcnry III. '