CHAPTER III.

ROYAL CHASE OF SHIRLOT. Royal Chase of Shirlot—Extent—Places 31 disafforested—Hayes—Foresters—Hunting Lodge—Priors of Wenlock—Curious Tenures—Encroachments upon Woods by Iron-making Operations—Animals that have disappeared—Reaction due to a love of Sport—What the Country would have lost—“The Merrie Greenwood”—Old Forest Trees, &c.