FORESTRY 



Bishop Fox in 1498, that he had appointed the 

 prior of Durham ' Maister of our Game,' and 

 were directed to supply him with 'a deer of 

 the season,' whenever he shall require one. 1 



The deer in the parks were fallow ; those 

 that ran wild in the Weardale Forest were 

 chiefly red deer. The descendants of the latter 

 were maintained in the bishop's park at Stan- 

 hope until about 1640.* 



From a return dated 15 May, 1457, it 

 appears that there were then in Auckland Park 

 100 bucks and does (fallow deer), in Wolsing- 

 ham Park 140, in Stanhope Park 200, and in 

 Evenwood Park loo. 1 Middleham had probably 

 by that time ceased to be an episcopal resi- 

 dence. 



The bishops of Durham from time imme- 

 morial also appointed keepers of their woods 

 at Benfieldside and elsewhere in the parish of 

 Lanchester. Surtees prints a grant of this 

 <ffice by Bishop Matthew Hutton in 1590 to 

 William Baker and his son Oswald for the term 

 of their natural lives. 4 



Leland, in 1538, notices the fair park of 

 'Akeland having falow dere, wild Bolles and 

 kin.' Of the park of Stanhope he says : 



The bishop of Duresme have a praty square pile on 

 the north side of the Were Ryver, callid the West- 

 gate, and thereby is a parke rudely enclosid with stone 

 of a 12 or 14 miles in compace, it is xii miles up in 

 Were Dale from Akeland Castclle.' 



The prior and convent of Durham had a 

 house and chapel for retirement and rest at 

 Beaurepaire, a short distance from Durham. 

 Here a park was inclosed by Prior Hugh of 

 Darlington (1258-74). Bishop Bek, during 

 his quarrel with the priory, broke down the 

 paling and drove out the game which then 

 abounded. Bishop Kellaw, in 1311, granted 

 licence to Prior Tanfield to enlarge this park ; 

 but in 1315 the Scots destroyed almost the 

 whole of the game and stock. The keepers 

 of this park were appointed for life, and three 

 successive members of the Cowherd family held 

 this office from 1353 until 1437. In 1436 

 Bishop Langley granted a pardon to the keeper 

 of Beaurepaire Park for stabbing a man on the 

 moor in the shoulder with a knife, because he 

 had a poke of nuts on his back, which the keeper 

 supposed he had got in the park. 6 The hazel 

 was a common underwood of Durham, as well 

 as of England generally. The priory accounts 

 make mention of hazel-nuts at various dates ; 

 they were probably only purchased when the 

 nut crop on their own manors failed or was 

 defective. The bursar's accounts for 1394 show 

 that 4*. was spent in the purchase of apples, 



1 Dur. Curs. No. 61, m. 1 1. 



1 V.C.H. Dur. i, 196. ' Surtees, Dur. i, p. clviii. 

 4 Ibid, ii, 293. * Leland, I tin. i, 73. 



Surtees, Dur. ii, 373-4. 



pears, and nuts. In 1400-1 2,OOO nuts were 

 bought in Lent for the prior. The cellarer's 

 rolls of 1416 show the purchase of 1,200 

 nuts for 13^., the price was higher in 1417, 

 when 500 were bought for 8%d. and 700 for lod. 

 The large sum of 8s. was spent on nuts in 



I43'- 7 



The entries in the priory accounts with 



reference to Beaurepaire and its park are very 

 numerous. In 1356-7 the wood of Swyne- 

 hurst in this park was cleared; in the same year 

 stones were carried for repairing the wall round 

 the park. In 1431 we read of timber being 

 felled for building purposes ; at another time 

 wood for fence palings was cut in Beaurepaire. 

 The woods of this manor were under the 

 charge of a forester and there was in addition a 

 parker. The park contained a lodge for the 

 forester, and also a larder where the deer were 

 salted down at Martinmas for winter consump- 

 tion. 8 



There was another important and well- 

 wooded manor at Hett, four miles south of 

 Durham, where the prior held his court as lord. 

 Here the priory maintained a forester, whose 

 stipend in 141617 was only 3*. 4^., but doubt- 

 less he had various perquisites. In 151112 

 mention is made of four wagon-loads of wood 

 for fuel being carted from Hett Wood to the 

 priory. In 1524-5 the tenants of Hett re- 

 ceived lod. a load for carting fifteen loads of 

 timber from this wood to Durham. There was 

 a keeper of the wood who received 6s, 8d. a year.* 



The priory had a deer park at Hedworth, 

 near Newcastle, as early as the time of Bishop 

 Farnham (1241-9). 



Prior Hugh of Darlington inclosed another park 

 at Muggleswick on the borders of Northumber- 

 land. The references in the accounts to Mug- 

 gleswick are very numerous. There were two 

 park gates and two park keepers ; one of the 

 latter had charge of the pales with which it was 

 fenced. There was also a forester of Muggles- 

 wick. 10 



Of old parks in Durham that were in secular 

 hands the chief were those of Raby Castle, 

 near Staindrop, where Leland noted three parks, 

 of which ' too be plenished with dere, the 

 middle park hath a lodge in it'; 11 Ravensworth, 

 near Newcastle, imparked to the extent of 200 

 acres in 1391"; and Barnard Castle on the 

 southern border of the county, where Leland 

 noticed two parks." 



Most of the Durham manors of the great 

 priory were well supplied with timber, as is 



7 Fowler, Dur. Acct. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-ciii), 

 54,55, 56,288,599,603. 



* Dur. jfctt. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-cii), passim. 

 ' Ibid. 286, 291, 296, 297. 



10 Ibid. 485, 575, 704. " Leland, I tin. i, 86. 

 " Cat. Pat. 1388-92, p. 395. 



11 Leland, Irin. i, 87. 



379 



