BEWDLEY, RIBBESFORD, AND WRIBBENHALL. 43

Baker, Esq., and at Button Oak, two miles from Bewdley. It is something like the Harrowgate water, and I am told has a fine "bouquet."

There is good fishing near Bewdley, and opposite Ribbesford is Burlish Deep, noted for its pike.

Wyre Forest, nearly surrounding Bewdley at one time, and remarkable for its quantities of fine timber, is rapidly disappearing. Every part not belonging to the Crown is eagerly bought up by Staffordshire capitalists for the sake of the coal that is known to exist there; and as they generally build upon the portions so purchased the aspect of the country is entirely changing; and there is little doubt that if the Crown lands can be brought into the market at the expiration of the present lease - some four or five years hence - the entire forest would soon disappear altogether. Until the late Rev. J. Cawood somewhat evangelized the district the Far Forest of Bewdley was a hot-bed of thieves and ruffians; so much so, that a judge at Worcester assizes once said it furnished more victims to the gallows than all the county beside; and as in the middle ages Bewdley enjoyed the unenviable advantage of being a "sanctuary town," or place in which murderers might seek a refuge from the avenger of blood, there can be no wonder at the privilege being at length suppressed as a nuisance. In this forest, till recently, stood the unique " Sorb tree," anciently used as a protection against witchcraft. The only tree of the kind now in this country is the specimen at Arley Castle, which was propagated from a shoot of the above tree. With regard to the coal deposits hereabout, I am informed that from the Clee Hills to the Severn there is a vast coal-field, now only pierced by a few pits, but which will probably be worked hereafter. Some of the deep coal obtained from the Forest of Wyre is almost equal to brooch coal; and it is well known that at the Knowle, in Kinlet parish, is as good coal as can be got in England, though it has not yet been worked. In cutting for the Severn Valley and Tenbury lines of railway great quantities of coal were met with; and in the Ribbesford woods