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Morfe Forest was a medieval royal forest in east Shropshire. The forest was perambulated in 1300 and the bounds were recorded. The forest was bounded by the river Severn on the west, by the river Worfe on the north and stretched east to Abbots Castle Hill and south into Kings Nordley. At its core was a wood stretching from Bridgnorth to Six Ashes (near Enville) and Claverley.〔P. W. King, 'The minster ''aet Sture'' in Husmere and the northern boundary of the Hwicce' ''Transactions of Worcestershire Archaeological Society'' 3rd ser. 15 (1996), 74-6.〕 By the 17th century, the wood had become a heath, which was enclosed in 1805. The forest takes its name from the manor of Morfe (in Enville) which was however not part of the forest. ==''Moerheb''== It has been suggested that the name Morfe is derived from an Old Celtic form ''Moerheb'' meaning "horse bramble" - an area of shrubs near where horses were kept.〔Andrew Breeze, "Britons at Morfe", ''Transactions of the Staffordshire Archeological and Historical Society'', 45 (2011), 107-108.〕 This might imply horse-breading took place there in pre-Anglosaxon times. However the name ''Moerheb'' occurs only in a charterof 736 AD, the Ismere Diploma, granting land for the foundation of a minster in the province of Husmere, on both sides of the river Stour, with the wood of ''Cynibre'' (Kinver) on the north and the wood of ''Moerheb'' on the west. This is not possible for any place to be so located, if ''Moerheb'' is Morfe. On the other hand, the relationship to Kinver fits well with the minster being at Kidderminster. In that case, the wood of ''Moerheb'' would be a predecessor of Kidderminster Heath (now Devil's Spittleful and Rifle Range Nature Reserve and Habberley Valley).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Morfe Forest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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