84 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



lands belonging to the Abbey of Barking in Essex. In 

 the thirteenth century it was held by Robert de Vere, 

 and passed by descent through his daughter to the 

 Earls of Arundel. Later on the manor was divided, 

 and a fourth share came to Henry V. as heir to the 

 Earls of Derby. The greater part of the manor was 

 bought by Thomas Hobson, and his son, who was Lord 

 Mayor in 1544, exchanged it with Henry VIII. for some 

 church lands elsewhere. So it became part of the royal 

 hunting-ground, and the same enactment concerning 

 the preservation of game applied to Marylebone Park, 

 situated within the manor, as to Hyde Park. Queen 

 Elizabeth leased part of the manor to a certain Edward 

 Forset, and James I. sold him all the manor except the 

 part known as Marylebone Park, now Regent's Park. 

 It was again sold by the grandson of Edward Forset 

 to John Holies, Duke of Newcastle, and passed to his 

 daughter, who married Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, 

 and through their daughter, who married the second 

 Earl of Portland, to the Bentinck family. The Park 

 has always remained Crown property, although it has 

 frequently been let by the reigning sovereign. Charles I. 

 granted it to Sir G. Strode and J. Wandesford as a 

 payment of a debt of £2^1^ for arms and ammuni- 

 tion. It was sold by Cromwell with all the other 

 royal lands, but after the Restoration it went back 

 to its former holders till the debt was discharged, 

 and after that to various other tenants. It was on 

 the expiration of a lease to the Duke of Portland in 

 1 8 1 1 that the laying out of the Park in its present 

 form commenced. 



During the early period incidents connected with 

 it are meagre. It is for the most part only in royal 



