Note 41 — THE FALL OF NEEDWOOD.

[Long Mercia sat beside enthron’d;] The magnificent site of the castle at Tutbury, no doubt was occupied by a considerable fort in or before the time of the Saxon heptarchy when it was the residence of the Kings and Earls of Mercia, who might alternately enjoy hence the pleasures of the chase in their adjoining forest of Needwood, or the satisfaction of security against an enemy.—Shaw’s History of Staffordshire.