"Away then went these pretty babes,
Rejoycing at that tide,
Rejoycing with a merry minde,
They should on cock-horse ride."
--_The Children in the Wood_.
Situated amid the wild and high moorlands, at whose feet hath stood for
ages the royal and ducal capital of the county palatine of Lancaster,
once rose a strong border defence called Raven Castle. Its site only
remains. This noble and castellated fortress now lies an almost
undistinguishable heap on the barren moor; the sheep browse above it,
and the herdsman makes his pillow where warriors and dames once met in
chivalric pomp, and the chieftain held his feudal and barbaric court.
The point on which it stood is nearly on the line of separation between
the counties of York and Lancaster. From the southern declivity of the
hill on the Yorkshire side springs one of the rills which fall into the
Hodder, a well-known stream, held in great respect by those ambulatory
gentlemen whose love of society and amusing recreations leads them to
lay in a stock of patience for life in the pursuit of piscatory
delights.
This mountainous tract forms part of the forest of Bowland, once ranged
by numerous herds of deer, and is still under the jurisdiction of a
master-forester, or bow-bearer, called _Parker_, which office has been
held for centuries by a family of that name.
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