24 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



of spectators. In still earlier times there was many a 

 day's good sport after the deer, or many a busy hour's 

 ploughing the abbey lands of the then Manor of Hyde. 

 Scene after scene can be pictured down to the present 

 time, when, after centuries of change, the enjoyment of 

 these Parks remains perhaps one of the most treasured 

 privileges of the Londoner. 



In tracing the history of their various phases, the 

 survival of many features is as remarkable as the dis- 

 appearance of others. The present limits on the north 

 and east, Bayswater Road and Park Lane, have suffered 

 no substantial alteration since the roads were known as 

 the Via Trimobantina and the Watling Street in Roman 

 times. The Watling Street divided, and one section 

 followed the course of the present Oxford Street to the 

 City ; the other, passing down the line of Park Lane, 

 crossed St. James's Park, and so to the ford over the 

 Thames at Westminster. The Park was never common 

 or waste land, but must have been cleared and cultivated 

 in very early times. In Domesday Survey the Manor 

 was in plough and pasture land, with various " villains " 

 and peasants living on it. The Thames was the southern 

 boundary of the Manor of *'Eia," which was divided 

 into three parts, one being Hyde, the site of the existing 

 Hyde Park, the other two Ebury and Neate. Al- 

 though now forgotten, the latter name was familiar for 

 many centuries. When owned by the Abbots of West- 

 minster, the Manor House by the riverside was of some 

 importance, and John of Gaunt stayed there. Famous 

 nurseries and a tea garden, " the Neate houses," marked 

 the spot in the eighteenth century. 



Until the stormy days of the Reformation these lands 

 remained much the same. Owned by the Abbey of 



