I02 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. IV. 



that manor, as early as the year 1377, 

 ■when a fine of 100 shillings was imposed 

 for stealing a deer. In 1436, it appears also 

 by the Court Roll that there were in the 

 park one hundred deer of all kinds.' ' On 

 the hills in the park here, were in 1645, 

 felled many a gallant oak,' observes Au- 

 brey in his ' Wiltshire Collections.' 



At Cosham, or Corsham, on the confines 

 of Pewsham Forest, a park is marked by 

 Saxton ; and here Richard Plantagenet, 

 Earl of Cornwall, second son of King 

 John, mentions ' his parks ' in his grant 

 to the tenants there, printed in the ' Col- 

 lectanea Topographica et Genealogica' 

 ''vol. ii. p. 317). 'This park was wont,' 

 says Leland, ' to be in dower to the Queens 

 of England.' Two parks, called Holme 

 Park and West Park, are recognised in 

 Corsham in the ' Return of Parks within 

 the Duchy of Lancaster' (Cotton MS. 

 Titus, B. iv. fol. 236). 



Between the forests of Pewsham and 

 Blakemore were the parks of Bowden, 

 Spye, and Bromham. 



Of Bowden, Aubrey writes, ' Here hath 

 been a parke, and till about 1660, the pales 

 stood about it.' It was three miles in cir- 

 cuit, and the freehold of the Lady Sher- 

 rington, in 1583." 



Spye Park is said to be a veiy ancient, 

 and is still occupied by deer ; it is an area 

 of 370 acres, with a herd of 300 deer. 



Bromham belonged to the Baynton 

 family, and was in 1583 a park of two 

 miles in circumference. 



The comparatively modern park of 

 Bowood occupies part of the Royal forest 

 of Pewsham, disafforested in the time of 



' Scrope's History of Castle Combe, 410. 

 1852, pp. 163-240. 

 * Note of Parks in the County of Wilts, 



James II. It contains ijo acres, and a 

 herd of 280 fallow-deer. 



At Melksham there, was, in the Eliza- 

 bethan period, a park in 1583, the inherit- 

 ance of William Brunker, Esq., and here 

 I find a license for imparking, granted to 

 Hugh le Despencer in the thirty-third of 

 Edward I.^ 



There was a Royal park at Devizes, at 

 a very early period ; it is noticed by Le- 

 land, and in 1583 was held under the 

 Crown by Sir Henry Knyvett, being esti- 

 mated at three miles in compass. 



Near Devizes is Roundway,' s. park of 

 160 acres, with a herd of 200 fallow-deer. 



Earlstoke Park, in the same neighbour- 

 hood, contains about 136 acres, and a 

 herd of 324 fallow-deer. It is believed to ■ 

 have been enclosed in the early part of 

 the eighteenth century. 



At Broke, near Westbury, a pari* is 

 marked in the ancient surveys, which is 

 thus noticed by Leland : ' There is a fayre 

 parke, but no great large thynge. In it 

 be a great nomber of very fayre and fyne 

 greyned okes apte to sele howses.'^ This 

 place gives the title of Baron to the Lords 

 Willoughby of Broke. 



Saxton marks a small park at Corsley, 

 near Longleat, the latter at present the 

 most considerable park in the county ; it 

 is 576 acres in extent. There is a herd of 

 740 fallow-deer. Longleat was imparked 

 by John Thynne, Esq., before the year 

 1576; but the exact date is unknown. 



Of Stourton, on the borders of Somer- 

 setshire and Dorsetshire, Leland tells us, 

 ' There is a parke emonge hilles yoining 

 on the manor-place. The ryver of Stoure 



Sept. 24, 1583. S. P. O. Domestic. 

 = Gal. Pat. Rolls, p. 64. 

 ' Leland's Itin. vol. vii. pp. 86, 87, fol. 67. 



