A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Subsequent grants of the custody of the manor (q.v.) 

 included that of the park until the Commonwealth, 

 when the latter was valued at 220 $s. and sold by 

 order of the Parliament to William Brome of 

 London." Shortly afterwards it seems to have come 

 into the hands of Sir John Trevor. 68 On the Re- 

 storation the custody of the park, here still called the 

 New Park, was granted to Edward Villiers, and the 

 park itself in 1664 to James, Duke of York. 69 In 

 1675 Edward Villiers, then custodian, obtained 

 licence to keep a pack of beagles to hunt within the 

 manor. 70 At this time the royal palace was fast 

 falling into decay, and the lodge in the Little Park, 

 situated to the east of the present Kew Observatory, 71 

 became the chief residence in Richmond. Originally 

 the keeper's lodge, 72 it had been distinguished by the 

 presence of Wolsey in the time of Henry VIII. It 

 seems to have been occupied by a Mr. Webb before 

 the Civil War and to have been then appropriated by 

 Sir Thomas Jarvis. 73 In 1694 the lodge was leased 

 for thirty-one years to John Latton, 74 who sold his 

 interest, soon after the accession of Queen Anne, to 

 the Duke of Ormqnde. 75 The latter petitioned that 

 the lease might be renewed to him for ninety-nine 

 years or three lives, and this suit was granted in 1 704. 

 The duke, who was also ranger or keeper of the park, 

 rebuilt the lodge and lived there until his forfeiture in 

 1715." It was granted by George I to George, 

 Prince of Wales, for ninety-nine years, or for his life 

 and those of his wife and his daughter Anne, in 1 722." 

 In that year it was thus described by Macky : ' His 

 (the Duke of Ormonde's) ' lodge a perfect Trianon ; but 

 since his forfeiture it hath been sold 79 to the Prince of 

 Wales, who makes his summer residence here. It 

 does not appear with the grandeur of a Royal Palace, 

 but is very neat and pretty. There is a fine avenue 

 which runs from the front of the house to the town of 

 Richmond, at half a mile's distance, one way, and 

 from the other front to the river-side, both in- 

 closed with balustrades of iron. The gardens are 

 very spacious and well kept. There is a fine terrace 

 towards the river. But, above all, the wood cut out 

 into walks, with the plenty of birds singing in it, makes 

 it a most delicious habitation.' M On his accession 

 George II settled the lodge on his queen, Caroline, 81 

 and it continued to be one of their favourite resorts. 

 The queen had a dairy and menagerie here, 61 and 

 among the additions to the gardens made by her 

 were a hermitage and a grotto called Merlin's Cave. 61 

 George III made the lodge a frequent place of residence 

 during the first few years of his reign, and, as his grand- 

 father had done, settled it on his wife in 1^61.^ 

 Queen Charlotte pulled down the lodge about 1770, 

 intending to build a new palace on its site, but 



although the foundations were laid the design was 

 never completed. 84 In the course of these alterations 

 in 1769 eighteen houses, the remains of the hamlet 

 of West Sheen, were pulled down and the site added 

 to the royal grounds. An Act of Parliament of 1785 

 enabled the king to unite Richmond Gardens with 

 Kew Gardens by closing a footpath of over a mile in 

 length called Love Lane. 86 The park is still Crown 

 land, but ninety-seven acres are held on lease by the 

 corporation and are open to the public ; 87 part of this 

 is used as a golf-course ; another part, acquired on 

 lease by some of the leading tradesmen, 88 is reserved as 

 an athletic ground, and here also the far-famed Rich- 

 mond Horse Show takes place every year. 



The other park, at first called the 'New Park ' and now 

 Richmond Park, was inclosed by Charles I from lands 

 extending into the parishes of Richmond, Petersham, 

 Ham, Kingston, Wimbledon, Mortlake, and Putney, 

 partly owned by the Crown and partly by private 

 persons. In 1634 the king declared his intention of 

 making a new park for deer, and issued a special 

 commission to Francis Lord Cottington and others 

 to compound with owners in the parishes for the 

 purchase of the necessary property. 89 An account is 

 given by Lord Clarendon M of the refusal of some 

 of the proprietors to meet the wishes of the king, 

 who determined nevertheless to proceed with his 

 resolution. He did in fact begin building the sur- 

 rounding wall before he had obtained the consent of 

 his subjects, and thereby caused a great deal of bitterness. 

 The park, which was stocked with red and fallow deer, 81 

 was completed in 1 637, and the first rangership granted 

 for life in that year to Jerome Weston, Earl of Port- 

 land, with a fee of I zd. a day, pasture for four horses, 

 and the use of the brushwood. 9 * Owing to the many 

 objections made against the formation of the park, 

 gates were placed at intervals in the wall, and per- 

 mission was given to the public to use the roads, the 

 poor of the various parishes being also allowed to take 

 away firewood as they had formerly been accustomed 

 to do. 9 * After the execution of Charles I the park was 

 settled by the House of Commons on the mayor, 

 commonalty, and citizens of London and their suc- 

 cessors, with the expressed desire that it should be 

 preserved as an ornament to the city." On the 

 Restoration it was returned by the corporation to 

 Charles II, 96 who appointed Sir Lionel Tollemache, 

 bart., and his wife Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart, to 

 the rangership in 1 66o, x shortly afterwards granting 

 the reversion of it to Sir Daniel Harvey. 97 In 1664 

 a warrant was issued forbidding any person to bring 

 a dog within ten miles of Richmond during hay and 

 corn harvest in order that the game might be pre- 

 served, 98 but two years later Lord Crofts was authorized 



'" Lysons, op. cit. i, 446. 



68 Mystery of the Good Old Cause, printed 

 in Corbett's Parl. Hut, Hi. 



69 See Manor. 



7 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1675-6, p. 73. 



7 1 The observatory was built in 1768-9, 

 (Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 414). 



1* N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518. 



1* Mystery of the Good Old Cauu. 



' 4 Pat. 6 Will, and Mary, pt. ix, no. 

 II. 



' Land Rev. Mite. Bks. ccxxvi, fol. 

 166-82. 



" 6 Pat. 3 Anne, pt. iii, no. 4. 



" N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518. 



W Pat. 8 Ceo. I, pt. vi, no. 10. 



7> Presumably by the Earl of Arran, 

 who was empowered to re-purchase his 

 brother's estates in 1721 (G.E.C. 1'cer- 



"g'< vi > '5 2 )- 



" N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518. 

 81 Pat. i Geo. II, pt. i, no. 9. 

 " Lysons, op. eit. i, 446-7. 



83 Folkestone Williams, op. cit. iii, 

 296-7. 



84 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 414 ; 

 Statutes at Large, xzv, 4. 



84 N. and Q, (Ser. 6), viii, 518 ; Cam- 

 den, Brit. (Cough's additions), i, 177. 



86 Statutes at Large, xxxv, 130 ; Bray- 

 ley, op. cit. iii, 66. 



536 



^ Information kindly supplied by Mr. 

 H. Sagar, town clerk. 



88 Gascoyne, Recollections of Richmond, 

 144. 



89 Rymer, Foed. xix, 515. 



90 Hist, of the Rebellion (ed. Macray), 

 i, 132-5. See also Cal. S.P. Don. 1635, 

 p. 25 ; 1636-7, p. 388. 



81 Ibid. 1636-7, p. 457. 



99 Ibid. 1644, p. 234. 



98 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 415. 



M Commons Journ. vi, 246, 365. 



96 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 416. 



96 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1660-1, p. 142. 



"i Ibid. 1660-1, p. no. 



* Ibid. 1663-4, pp. 654, 659. 



