THE PARK AT CHARTLEY. 219 



baron, Ferrers of Chartley, in the hands of whose 

 descendants it has continued ever since ; for Sir Walter 

 Devereux, K.Gr., eventually married the heiress, and 

 was summoned to Parliament in 1461 as Baron Ferrers 

 of Chartley in her right. He died at Bosworth Field ; 

 and his descendant, Sir Robert Devereux, second Earl of 

 Essex, the great favourite of Queen Elizabeth, had 

 two daughters, the younger of whom married Sir 

 Robert Shirley, of Staunton Harold; and her brother 

 Robert, third earl, the celebrated Parliamentary general, 

 having died without issue, the Shirleys, created Earls 

 Ferrers, who sprang from that marriage, have since 

 inherited the place. 



The ancient castle, built during the feudal period 

 upon a low hill for the purpose of defence, is a con- 

 spicuous and very picturesque ruin, and the Manor 

 Place near, where the Devereux lived and received 

 their sovereign, was destroyed by fire soon after the 

 civil wars of the seventeenth century : the pretty 

 modern residence, in imitation of the ancient style, being 

 erected in its place. But " the mighty large park," 

 which lies at the distance of a mile and a half north- 

 wards from the house and castle, remained in pretty 

 much the same state during all this period, except 

 that it is more destitute of wood; and it retains its wild 

 cattle still. Nor has any alteration been made in its 

 original extent of between 900 and 1,000 acres of land, 

 the whole of which is quite in a state of nature. 

 Erdeswick observes : " The park is very large, and hath 

 therein red-deer, fallow-deer, wild beasts, and swine." 

 By " wild beasts " the wild cattle are meant ; and it is a 

 name strongly confirmatory of their traditional origin, 

 namely, that they formerly roamed at large in the royal 



