Review of Mary Wiltshire's (and others) book Duffield Firth: History and Evolution of a Medieval Derbyshire Forest, by Julie Bunting
This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on (date of publication unknown), and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.
DUFFIELD FRITH:
History and Evolution of the Landscape of a Medieval Derbyshire Forest
This is the first comprehensive story of a mid-Derbyshire medieval forest, Duffield
Frith, which encompassed a large area with important connections to the Peak.
Four local historians, Mary Wiltshire, Sue Woore, Barry Crisp and Brian Rich, have
worked together to produce this extensive and valuable resource for Landmark
Collector's Library. They have translated medieval-Latin documents, made detailed
studies of the landscape and investigated surviving place names and fine-sounding
role players such as Siward Barn, Leofnoth, Randulf Prudfot, Wulfsi and a lady
improbably named Ammonia.
A frith was a forest subject to strict laws, here explained in fascinating and
sometimes bloody detail. These also applied to friths in the Peak as at Hartington,
Alstonefield, Leek and Chapel en le Frith.
Duffield Frith was created by the Normans and it developed into a Royal Forest
concentrated on deer management, remaining as such until 1633. The de Ferrers
dynasty, sometime Lords of the Manors of Tissington, Bradbourne and Hartington,
played a major role and provided fascinating characters from crusaders to castle-
builders. Their influence extended to recovery for the Crown of Bolsover Castle and
Peak Castle at Castleton, held by 13th-century rebels.
This new work also covers keenly researched topics from forestry laws and the
uses of timber to charcoal burning, millstone manufacture, lead smelting and
poachers - who at the upper end of the social scale included John Vernon of
Haddon and a son of a vicar of Wirksworth.
Duffield Frith is far more than the history of one forest; it brings together a mass of
diverse information to paint the wider picture of medieval rural life in the heart of
England.
Published by Landmark,
this new title is on sale locally or to order quoting
ISBN 1-84306-191-0, priced £19.99.
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[Created 8 Nov 2005. Last updated 24 Oct 2008 - 11:02 by Rosemary Lockie]