<P> In the forty - third year of Edward III's rule, a Thomas Engaine held lands in Pytchley in the county of Northampton, on the condition that he find special hunting dogs to kill wolves in the counties of Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex and Buckingham . In the eleventh year of Henry VI's reign (1433), a Sir Robert Plumpton held a bovate of land called "Wolf hunt land" in Nottingham, by service of winding a horn and chasing or frightening the wolves in Sherwood Forest . The wolf is generally thought to have become extinct in England during the reign of Henry VII (1485--1509), or at least very rare . By this time, wolves had become limited to the Lancashire forests of Blackburnshire and Bowland, the wilder parts of the Derbyshire Peak District, and the Yorkshire Wolds . Indeed, wolf bounties were still maintained in the East Riding until the early 19th century . </P> <P> In Scotland, during the reign of James VI, wolves were considered such a threat to travellers that special houses called spittals were erected on the highways for protection . In Sutherland, wolves dug up graves so frequently that the inhabitants of Eddrachillis resorted to burying their dead on the island of Handa, Scotland . </P> <Dl> <Dd> On Ederachillis' shore </Dd> <Dd> The grey wolf lies in wait - </Dd> <Dd> Woe to the broken door, </Dd> <Dd> Woe to the loosened gate, </Dd> <Dd> And the groping wretch whom sleety fogs </Dd> <Dd> On the trackless moor belate . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> On Ederachillis' shore </Dd>

When was the last wolf killed in the uk