GHILLINGHAM PARK. 151 



statement in Darwin * that "it is referred to in a 

 record of the year 1220," is, I think, a mistake, 

 originating in the passage above quoted, which, how- 

 ever, refers only to Chillingham " Great Wood," and 

 not to the park at all. Still "the Park of Chillingham 

 is a very ancient one," and was in all probability im- 

 parked at about the above period, or earlier. Though 

 the greater part of the present castle dates from 

 about this time — namely, early in the reign of Henry 

 III. — yet it had long before that been the residence of 

 the great feudal house of De Musco Campo, Barons of 

 Wooler. We may, therefore, I think, safely conjecture 

 that the park was enclosed, and the wild cattle with 

 it, not later than the time of Henry III., or about 

 the time that the grant to the vicar was made as 

 above named. During that and the preceding reign 

 the great barons were all-powerful, and did pretty 

 much as they pleased, the Crown being extremely 

 weak; and many such enclosures were then made, one 

 of which was Chartley, whose park and wild cattle, as 

 imparked for the first time, are said to date from the 

 same reign. The late Lord Tankerville also points out 

 that as Chillingham " was closely bounded by the 

 domains of the Percies on the one side, and the Hib- 

 burnes on the other (the latter of whom had been 

 seated there since the time of King John), and as the 

 chief branch of the Greys always made Chillingham 

 their principal residence, it is reasonable to suppose 

 that, in order to secure their cattle, wild and tame, they 

 had recourse to an enclosure probably at an early 

 period." 



Whatever may be the age of the park, that, I 



* " Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i., chap, iii., p. 84. 



