36 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



the Park, were in course of time confined, to a small 

 area on the north-west side, called Buckdean Hill. 

 They were kept for sport during the first half of the 

 eighteenth century, and the last time royalty took part 

 in killing deer in the Park was probably in 1768. The 

 exact date of the disappearance of all the deer is difficult 

 to ascertain. They are remembered by some who saw 

 them towards the end of the thirties, but by 1 840 or 

 soon after they were done away with. 



The roads in Hyde Park must have been rather like 

 South African tracks at the present day, and driving at 

 night was not free from danger even at a comparatively 

 late date. Attacks from highwaymen were to be feared. 

 Horace Walpole was robbed in November 1749, and the 

 pistol shot was near enough to stun though not otherwise 

 to injure him. The Duke of Grafton had his collar bone 

 broken, and his coachman his leg, some ten years earlier, 

 when, on his way from Kensington to "the New Gate to 

 make some visits towards Grosvenor Square, the Chariot 

 through the darkness of the Night was overset in driving 

 along the Road and " fell " into a large deep pit." 



Soon after William III. purchased Kensington Palace 

 from the Earl of Nottingham in 1691, he commenced 

 making a new road through the Park. This became 

 known as the King's Road, or " Route du Roi " : a cor- 

 ruption of the latter is Rotten Row, the name now given 

 to King William's Drive. In the eighteenth century it 

 was called the King's Old Road, and the one which 

 George II. made to the south of it was called the King's 

 New Road. When this was finished in 1737, it was 

 intended to turf the older " Rotten Row," but this 

 plan was never carried out. The old road was much 

 thought of at the time it was made, and the lighting 



