There were inequalities of surface then as now. The country had its uplands and its valleys, its rivers and its lakes, its dry and damp soils, its cool and sunny spots, but with one general genial climate reigning over all.
We have said on page 284 that Mr. Cranege lived in the house Mr. Moses now lives in. It should have been, where Mr. W. Hughes now lives, opposite the Wesleyan chapel.
In mentioning this chapel we might add that the Rev. John Fletcher assisted in its erection, working and carrying stones like another man, with his coat off.
The lease for the ground was obtained by John Share from Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds told Share he might make out the lease for 99 years. Share made it out for 99 years and added “and one year more.” Mr. Reynolds said “Share thou art deep, but I’ll sign it.” The lease has recently expired and the building has been handed over to the Conference.
IRONBRIDGE.
Ironbridge is a part of Madeley which, like Coalbrookdale, has risen to an independent ecclesiastical division, and its church now enjoys the unmerged rectorial tithes, valued at about £115 yearly, which formerly belonged to the mother church. In other respects also it enjoys privileges which formerly belonged to Madeley proper, such as markets and fairs. When the grants of these privileges were made, and indeed for centuries afterwards, the slopes now covered with houses, and the streets which show a busy population, not only had no existence but the germs, even, which were to call them forth did not exist. The Fox had not become the object of sport it now is, but reared its young undisturbed in holes and burrowings on the hill side which bears its name; and the Brock or Badger shared with its brother burrower undisturbed dominion along the face of the same slope. There was indeed higher sport just then on this side of the Severn. Madeley-Wood was in reality what its name implied. It stretched its green unbroken mantle in front of the river from Coalbrookdale to the Lees or Lay, where the young wood was beat down and an open space kept for grazing. [325] It then followed the declivity where Madeley-Wood Hall now stands, and swept round the high ground of the Haye, where it joined on to Sutton-Wood, which continued a wood till a century or three quarters of a century ago. The Hay, opposite and on a level with the Lay, was another clearing, but one fenced round, into which deer or swine were driven. They could not well be hunted along the rough ground on the slope, but men with dogs rose early and drove them to the enclosures. High up at Lincoln Hill is Lodge Farm, formerly the keeper’s, or the Hunting Lodge—
“Where with puffed cheek the belted hunter blew his wreathed bugle horn.”
Any one who examines the building for himself will at once see that it was erected for some very different purpose than that to which it has been devoted of late years. On approaching it you find substantially built old stables covered by thick heavy tiles, and an ancient barn, with thick walls and heavy timber. The house is of stone, and the windows appear to be of the same date and style as those at the Court. On going inside and ascending by winding stairs to what is called the watch-tower, you find four projections, at the extremity of each of which was a circular opening for a look-out; and beams inside, which are supposed to have formed seats for the watchmen or warders. These are now stopped up, and one, which is said to have had a date is also plastered over. The view would embrace the forest to the point where it united with that of Sutton in one direction, to the Severn in another, the country in the direction of Madeley in a third, and fourthly that reaching beyond Leighton to beyond the Breidden Hills, as you see over the high ground of Lincoln Hill. The thick oak doors and their middle age hinges shew that it has been intended as a place of some strength. The distance from the Park, the Rough Park, and the Court House, render it probable that it was erected for the protection of the forest in this direction. And if its walls could speak they might tell of the visits of many a noble steward or forest-ranger, who whilst hunting the wild boar or stag, here rested and hung up his spear and horn, and received refreshment. Dukes in his Antiquities says that when many of the tenures dependent upon the forest grew useless and obsolete, the king appointed stewards and rangers to take care of the deer. Drayton has thus described these forest-keepers:
“I am clad in youthful green, I other colours scorn,
My silken bauldrick bears my bugle or my horn,
Which, setting to my lips, I wind so loud and shrill,
As makes the echoes shout from every neighbouring hill;
My dog-hook at my belt, to which my thong is tied,
My sheaf of arrows by, my wood-knife by my side,
My cross-bow in my hand, my gaffle on my rack,
To bend it when I please, or if I list to slack;
My hound when in my thong, I, by the woodman’s art,
Forecast where I may lodge the goodly hie-palm’d hart.”
Drayton then describes how by the loftiest head he chooses his deer, unherds him from the rest, and either hunts him down with dogs, or stalks it underneath his horse to strike or take alive.