This poem or ballad told the story of the formation of the hunting forests that the Norman William the Conquerer created in Cheshire soon after he subdued England. It follows the history of from 1123 to at least 1812 when the forests were returned to the hands of the people. Note the mention of Ranulph de Kingsley, or 'Ralph Kingsley' as the first Master Forester to operate in the role of bow-bearer to the nobles.
This oral tradition or history in verse preserved the story for generations until printing became the mode of recording history. As the compiler of this ballad wrote, "Printing put an end to the story-teller's occupation; but at the time the live books were discarded, the new art did not, whilst there was yet time, collect the stories of oral tradition, and the treasures of auld lang syne, and preserve and pot them for posterity." (Egerton p. xi-xii) Thankfully, someone did write this ballad down so we have it as a clue to our ancestor Ranulph de Kingsley. The notations at the end of the poem are original to the text.
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The Old Brown Forest
I. Brown forest of Mara \ whose bounds were of yore
From Kellsborrows castle outstretched to the shore,
Our fields and our hamlets afforested then
That thy beasts might have covert, unhoused were our men.
II. Our king the first William, Hugh Lupus our earl,
Then poaching I ween was no sport for a churl:
A noose for his neck who a snare should contrive,
Who skinned a dead buck was himself flayed alive.
III. Our Normandy nobles right dearly I trow
They loved in the forest to bend the yew bow;
They wound their ‘recheat’ and their ‘mort’ on the horn.
And they laughed the rude chase of the Saxon to scorn.
IV. In right of his bugles and greyhounds to seize
Waif, pannage, ajistment, and wind-fallen trees.
His knaves through our forest Ralph Kingsley dispersed.
Bow-bearer in chief to Earl Randle the first.
V. This horn the grand forester wore at his side
Whene'er his liege lord chose a hunting to ride:
By Sir Ralph and his heirs for a century blown,
It passed from their lips to the mouth of a Dane,
VI. Oh then the proud falcon, unloosed from the glove,
Like her master below played the tyrant above;
While faintly, more faintly, were heard in the sky
The silver-toned bells as she darted on high.
VII. Then, roused from sweet slumber, the ladie highborn
Her palfrey would mount at the sound of the horn;
Her palfrey uptossed his rich trappings in air
And neighed with delight such a burden to bear.
VIII. Versed in all woodcraft and proud of her skill.
Her charms in the forest were lovelier still;
The abbot rode forth from the abbey so fair.
Nor loved the sport less when a bright eye was there.
IX. Thou Palatine prophet! whose fame I revere
(Woe be to that bard who speaks ill of a seer),
Forewarned of thy fate, as our legends report
Thou wert born in a forest and ‘clemmed’in a court
X. Now goading thine oxen, now urging amain
Fierce monarchs to battle on Bosworth's red plain ;
‘A foot with two heels and a hand with three thumbs’ —
Good luck to the land when this prodigy comes!
XI. ‘Steeds shall by hundreds seek masters in vain
Till under their bellies their girths rot in twain! '
Twill need little skill to interpret this dream
When o'er the Brown Forest we travel by steam.
XII. Here hunted the Scot whom, too wise to shew fight.
No war save the war of the woods could excite:
His learning they say did his valour surpass,
Though a hero when armed with a couteau de chasse.
XIII. Ah then came the days when to England's disgrace
A king was her quarry and warfare her chase:
Old Noll for their huntsman! a Puritan pack!
With psalms on their tongues but with blood on their track.
XIV. Then Charlie our king was restored to his own.
And again the blithe horn in the forest was blown;
Steeds from the desert then crossed the blue wave
To contend on our turf for the prizes he gave,
XV. Ere Bluecap and Wanton taught foxhounds to scurry
With music in plenty. Oh where was the hurry?
When each nag wore a crupper, each squire a pigtail.
When oiu- toast, ‘the Brown Forest!’ was drunk in brown ale.
XVI. The fast ones come next with a wild fox in view,
‘Ware hole!’ was a caution then heeded by few;
Opposed by no cops, by no fences confined,
O'er winbush and heather they swept like the wind.
XVII. Behold in the soil of our forest once more
The sapling takes root as in ages of yore.
The oak of old England with branches outspread.
The pine tree above them uprearing his head.
XVIII. Where twixt the whalebones the widow sat down
Who forsook the Black Forest to dwell in the Brown;
There, where the flock on sweet herbage once fed,
The blackcock takes wing, and the fox-cub is bred.
XIX. This timber the storms of the ocean shall weather.
And sail o'er the waves as we sailed o'er the heather ;
Each plant of the forest, when launched from the stocks.
May it run down a foeman as we do a fox.
Stanza 4. The master forestership of the whole was conferred by Randle I., in the twelfth century, on Ralph de Kingsley,
to hold the same by the tenure of a horn. Amongst other perquisites claimed by the master forester were the following:
'And claymeth to have the latter pannage in the said forest, and claymeth to have windfallen wood ; he claymeth to have
all money for agistment of hogs within the said forest .... and as to wayfe, he claymeth to have every wayfe and stray
beast as his own, after proclamation shall be made, and not challenged as the manner is.' — Ormerodt vol ii. p. 52.
Stanza 5. ' When'er his liege lord chose a hunting to ride,' &c. Cheshire tradition asserts that the ancient foresters were
bound to use this horn, and attend in their office with two white greyhounds, whenever the earl was disposed to honour
the Forest of Delamere with his presence in the chase. — Ormerodt voL ii. p. 33.
Stanza 5. ' It passed from their lips to the mouth of a Done.' The Dones of Utkuylon succeeded the Kingsleys, or chief
foresters. On the termination of this line in 1715, the forestership passed to Richard Ardune, and through him to the
Lords Alvanley.
Stanzas 9, 10,11. Refer to Robert Nixon and his prophecies.
Stanza l2. ' Here hunted the Scot,' &c. King James I.
Stanza 15. ' Ere Bluecap and Wanton,' &c. Two Cheshire hounds*— Vide voL x. p. 212 Daniel’s Rural Sports.
Stanza 17. ' Behold on the soil of our forest once more,' &c. By the Act of Parliament passed in 1812 for the enclosure of
Delamere Forest, one moiety of the whole is appropriated as a nursery for timber.
Stanza x8. ' Where twixt the whalebones the widow sat down.' Maria Holingsworth, a German, the widow of an English
soldier. She built herself a hut near two ribs of a whale in Delamere Forest, where she lived many years. For an account
of her curious life, vide ' Notes of a Lady of Quality.'
The district extending from the banks of the Mersey to the south boundary of the late forest was designated as the
Forest of Mara, whilst that of Mondrem stretched in the direction of Nantwich.
Source: Egerton, Leigh. "The Old Brown Forest" Ballads and Legends of Cheshire. London: 1866. Print. P. 36-40
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