66 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. III. 



dant to the castle' of Midhurst, which be- 

 longed to the Bohuns ; and although it is 

 said in the license for imparking granted 

 in iS33t to Sir William Fitzwilliam, that 

 it should in future be called Cowdray, 

 there is sufficient evidence of the manor 

 having been called by that name in the 

 reign of Edward III. Three separate 

 parks are stated to belong to Thomas 

 Earl of Arundel as parcel of the Barony 

 of Midhurst in the reign of Henry VII I., 

 viz. Cowdray, sometimes called ' le Shingle,' 

 and Shingle Park, and the two north 

 parks.' Cowdray contains 600 acres within 

 its present bounds, and there is a herd of 

 500 fallow-deer. 



This park is remarkable for the chesnut 

 ' races,' and for other fihe trees ; the pre- 

 sent house was originally the keeper's 

 lodge, used as the residence of the family 

 after the fire at the old mansion in 



1793- 



In the north-west corner of the rape of 

 Chichester is Rivers Park, which is 

 marked both in Saxton's and Speed's 

 maps. Leland observes, ' one Rivers was 

 owner of Rivers parke in the quarter by 

 Petworth, but the maner place was sum- 

 what withoute the parke, as yet apperith in 

 the paroche of — — ;' and in another place 

 he says it ' longgid to the Dikes." 



Shillinglee Park, in the rape of Arundel, 

 was one of the parks which were espe- 

 cially retained by the Earls of ^Vrundel, 

 and it was frequently granted in dower to 

 their widows. In 1342, William Earl of 

 Arundel exchanged it with Henry VIII., 

 when Richard Bowyer was appointed 



> Dallaway's Rape of Chichester, p. 243. 

 2 Leland Jtin. vol. vi. p. 17, fol. 18. 

 ' Dallaway and Cartwright's Rape of Arun- 

 del, p. 368. 



•• Lei. Itin. vol. vi. p. 31, fol. 32. 



parker for the Crown. After many changes 

 it came to the ancestors of the Earl of 

 Winterton, the present possessor.' 



Michelham Park, adjoining to Shilling- 

 lee ; is no longer impaled. 



Petworth has now two parks. 'The Stag 

 Park, about thirty years since,' says Dal- 

 laway, ' was cleared of trees and drained, 

 and then divided by hedge-rows into 

 farms.' Here Leland mentions that there 

 was ' a log of the Great Park of Petworth 

 where one Syr William Redmille a knight 

 dwelled.'* At present a high stone wall 

 encloses 9J miles in extent, within which 

 are about 2,042 acres." 



Below Petworth Speed marks the parks 

 of Woolavington, Downton, and Burton ; 

 the last contained 210 acres, and was 

 supposed to have been enclosed by Sir 

 William Goring, Bart, at the suppression' 

 of monasteries. , 



More south is Bignor, where there was 

 a park enclosed from the great forest of 

 Arundel in the reign of Henry III.; it was 

 one of the parks appendant to the castle 

 of Arundel. 



Parham Park, the venerable seat of the 

 Bishops, and now of their descendant 

 Curzon, Baroness Zouche, is not marked 

 in the ancient maps of Saxton and Speed; 

 it is, however, a most beautiful and ro- 

 mantic park of wild and broken scenery, 

 dotted with old pollard oaks, and once 

 said to have enclosed 800 acres, now much 

 reduced in size ; there is at present a herd 

 of 200 fallow-deer. 



Near Arundel were the parks of Bad- 

 worth and Angmering. The former be- 



* Dallaway and Cartwright's Rape of Arun- 

 del, p. 330. 



° Dallaway and Cartwright's Rape of Arun- 

 del, p. 65. 



