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 “This Part of the Country is called Peak Forest, and is the only Forest in England, I suppose, that has got scarce a Bush or Tree in it”, wrote a traveller in 1757. By then it had outlived its original purpose.
The Royal Forest of the Peak was established as a Royal Hunting reserve by William the Conqueror. Ordinary mortals - and their dogs - were not allowed to hunt any animal in the Forest. William and many kings after him controlled all the hunting of ‘beasts of the forest’ and ‘beasts of the warren’ to feed their own households and officials.
Anyone caught breaking the law expected a savage punishment. Under William I (the Conqueror), a man convicted of poaching could be punished by blinding. Under the next king the penalty was amputation of a limb but, in later times, death.
More Pictures
Hunting & Fishing
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