PREFA CE. ix 



Venerable Archdeacon Mildmay, Col. Wilson- Patten, M.P., W. 

 W. E. Wynne, of Peniarth, Esq., N. Kendall, Esq., M.P., Octavius 

 Morgan, Esq., M.P., Alex. Beresford Hope, Esq., M.P., George 

 Legard, Esq., Charles Walpole, Esq., Charles Spencer Perceval, 

 Esq., Kaye Dowland, of Mansfield, Esq., J. Gough Nichols, Esq., 

 and the Rev. Henry Mills, of Pillerton, in the County of Warwick. 



It appears as the result of the enquiries which I have made, that 

 there are at present 334 parks still stocked with deer in the dif- 

 ferent counties of England ; among that number red deer are kept 

 in about thirty-one parks. 



With regard to the antiquity and size of these aristocratic en- 

 closures in the present day, I have collected many particulars, by 

 which it appears that there are parks whose origin is lost in the 

 obscurity of early Norman times down to the date of the enclosure 

 of yesterday, and that their extent varies from the stately area of 

 more than two thousand acres to the little paddock of a few roods. 



It is perhaps impossible to ascertain with accuracy the oldest 

 -existing deer park in England ; but if Lord Abergavenny's park at 

 Eridge, in Sussex, may be identified with the Reredfelle of Domes- 

 day, there can be no doubt that it may lay claim to this unique 

 distinction, there being no other Domesday park which appears in 

 the category of existing enclosures stocked with deer. 



The other point, as to extent, is more easily answered. From 



