The History of Hayfield Parish Church

 

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Transcription:

"The parish of Hayfield is situated in the picturesque
Peak of Derbyshire, midway between Manchester and
Sheffield. The town stands on the banks of the Sett, a
rapid mountain stream which rises on the south-western
slopes of Kinderscout, the culminating  point of Derbyshire.

The district was formerly a forest or open waste
reserved by the king for the purposes of sport.

At the time of the Domesday survey Eilmer had 4
bovates of land in Hayfield,  Godric had 2 bovates of land
in Kinder, and in Thornsett Ligulf had 4 bovates of land.

The royal rights were most jealously guarded, especially
in the time of John and Henry lll;  the latter monarch
indeed watched them so vigilantly that scarcely a bough
could be lopped without the sanction of the royal writ.

The forest was well stocked with red deer. Giraldus
Cambrensis tells us that in his days (1184) the number of
the deer was so great in the Peak District that they
trampled both dogs and men to death in the impetuosity
of their flight.

Wolves and foxes abounded in the district. To protect
the game from wolves and lawless, hands the king
appointed foresters, who obtained payment of their service
in grants of lands and other privileges.

So great was the value set on the skill and experience
of the Peak Wolf-trappers that Henry ll in 1167-8 paid
10s. for their traveling expenses of two to cross the seas
to take wolves in Normandy.

William de Bradshawe, a parson, charged with killing a
doe in Kinder in 1286, appealed to the spiritual court
at York."

This transcription of a 1909 History of Hayfield Parish Church was made by members of the:
Hayfield Heritage Archive Group from the original document : email

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