Excerpt from History and Antiquities of Charnwood Forest: With an Appendix on the Geology, Botany and Ornithology of the District There is no district of England, equally deserving of notice, of which so little has been written, and probably of which so little is known, as Chatnwood Forest. Sherwood, Needwood, Set wood, Inglewood, and almost all other Forests have had their Historian or their Poet, while Charnwood, even in historical and topographical works confined to Leicestershire, has been passed over with as little mention as if it was a blemish instead of a beauty on the face of the County. The best account of Charnwood Forest, that contained in Mr. Nichols' "History and Antiquities of Licesterskire," is scattered over nearly the whole of the eight large folios of that valuable and wonderful work, and the scarcity and expense of a copy render it almost inaccessible to the many. This consideration, and the conviction that the District deserves to be better known, induced the Author of the following pages to collect and arrange all the materials in his power in order to present such a description of the Forest as may, he trusts, blend with details only interesting to the antiquarian and the scholar, a considerable portion of information suited to the general reader. He is anxious to render its picturesque beauties and wonderful geology better known: and to show that it is not less worthy of the Tourist's, the Naturalist's, and the Antiquarian's attention, than many of those districts to which all resort. Another consideration has had weight with the Author: - many of the nobler features of Charnwood, owing to the growth of plantations, the removal of rocks, and the progress of cultivation, are rapidly disappearing; and it seemed desirable, as far as possible, to "Catch their passing glorica are they Me." The Author is conscious of some defects of plan and of execution; unavoidable, perhaps, where the prudent limitation of the work was so inadequate to the abundance of materials. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.