64 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. Ill 



SUSSEX. 



Parks at Reredfelle, Wiltingham, Wal- 

 burgetone, and Waltham, are recorded in 

 the Domesday Survey as existing in the 

 county of Sussex. The first, afterwards 

 called Rotherfield, belonged to the king, 

 and is supposed to be identical with 

 Eridge, the present wild and beautiful 

 park of the Earl of Abergavenny ; Wil- 

 tingham belonged to the Earl of Ow, 

 and Walburgetone and Waltham to Earl 

 Roger. 



Eridge Park appears to have been part 

 of the iforest of Waterdown, and is men- 

 tioned in an Inquisition in the time of 

 Edward III. on the death of Hugh le 

 DespenCer, which found among other 

 things ' that the manor of Rotherfield 

 CRedefeldde) was then held by two mem- 

 bers of the Le Despencer family, and that 

 there was a certain park there, and a 

 tenement called Eridge, parcel of the 

 Park.' ' The present park of Eridge con- 

 tains 928 acres, and there is a herd of 

 300 deer, including a few red deer. 



Walburgetone or Walberton, was evi- 

 dently part of the park of the Earl Roger 

 attached to the possession of Arundel 

 Castle. This ancient park contained 

 842 acres ; it is now a farm. The new or 

 present park was made in 1786; it is in 

 extent 1,145 acres, and is capable of con- 

 taining a herd of 1,000 deer. Soon after 

 the Conquest there were two parks at 

 Arundel, distinguished as the large and 



1 See the proceedings before the Court of 

 Common Pleas, February 8, 1847, Morgan 

 and Another versus the Earl of Abergavenny. 



small parks ; besides these, sixteen other 

 parks surrounded the castle in every di- 

 rection within the limits of Western 

 Sussex; they were as follows: — Ruele, 

 Betworthe, Selershe, Est dene. West 

 dene, Wythe, Dounle, Alfrithe, Cockyng, 

 Woolavington, ShuUinglegh, Westholte, 

 Vilereswode, Stanstede, Bygerior, and 

 Meredone. ''■ 



Waltham, five miles and a half south- 

 east of Petworth, was, after the Conquest, 

 parcel of the possessions of the see of 

 Chichester; the ancient park within the 

 demesne of the castle of Amberley has 

 been usually demised under the same 

 lease with Rackham and Cold- Waltham?' 



Wiltingham, supposed to be identical 

 with Wilting in the parish of HoUington, 

 near Hastings. There is no other record 

 of a park here. 



The Archbishops of Canterbury pos- 

 sessed two ancient parks in Sussex — 

 Slindon near Arundel, and Mayfield near 

 Ashdown Forest. The former was given 

 to the see by King Henry I. In the year 

 1272 it was agreed that the Earl of 

 Arundel was bound to deliver to the 

 Archbishop at this manor, 13 bucks or 

 stags, and 13 does or hinds in proper 

 season, in compensation of the Arch- 

 bishop's right of free warren. This right 

 was commuted for a money payment in 

 1366, by Archbishop Islip, who has been 

 blamed for making away with the privi- 



'^ Cartwiright's Rape of Arundel, p. 93, 

 note. 



" Cartwright's Rape of Arundel, p. 289. 



