Ch. V. 



HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 



II- 



HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 



' Huntingdonshire in old times,' writes 

 Leland in his Itinerary, ' was much more 

 woddy than it is now ; and the dere re- 

 sortid to the Fennes ; and part of the redde 

 (deer) of this forest of later times kept 

 Thornay fennys.' ' Leland appears to use 

 the t&rm. forest here generally in the sense 

 of woodlands, though ' Wabridge Forest,' 

 marked as an impaled park, appears in 

 the surveys of both Saxton in 1576, and 

 Speed in 1610. It is near Huntingdon, 

 and at Alkimonbury, or Ankenbury, in 

 this neighbourhood, John de Segrave ob- 

 tained license to impark a wood within 

 the bounds of the forest of Wenbergh (or 

 Wabridge), in the fourth year of Edward 

 II.' The Patent Rolls preserve a notice of 

 a much earlier license in this county for 

 a park at Glatton, on the borders of 

 Northamptonshire, granted to Fulk, of 

 Newcastle, in the 26th of Henry III.' 



The parks marked by Saxton are the 

 following! all now long disparked : — 



I. Somersham, on the confines of Cam- 

 bridgeshire. This was anciently a park 

 belonging to the bishoprick of Ely, and 

 enlarged by license the 14th of Richard II., 

 and afterwards a Royal park. I find it 

 included in 'A Breviate of the woods, 

 pkes, and closes, &c. belonging to his 

 Majesty, 18 Jan. 1608.'^ It was part of 

 the jointure of Queen Henrietta Maria, 



' Leland's Itin. vol. iv. p. 31, 

 « Cal. Patent Rolls, p. 71. 

 ' lb. p. 19. 



fol. 48. 



and afterwards seized by the Parliament 

 during the Interregnum. 



2. Sapley Park, near Huntingdon. 



3. A park near Abbots Ripton, called 

 'Ripton Park' in Speed's map. 



4. A park at Buckden or Bugden, the 

 ancient seat of the Bishops of Lincoln. 



5. A park a little south of ' Pirrye,' or 

 Perry. 



6. A park marked near Buckworth, 

 which in Speed's map is called 'Buck- 

 worth Grove.' 



7. A small park marked at Elton, near 

 Fotheringhay, on the borders of North- 

 amptonshire. This was the seat of the 

 ancient family of Sapcott. 



The present parks in this county are 

 Kimbolton and Cunnington : — 



1. Kimbolton, supposed to have been 

 enclosed at an early period; 150 acres are 

 fenced off for deer, but the park is much 

 larger. There is at present a herd of 260 

 fallow-deer. 



2. Cunnington. A small park or pad- 

 dock of 46 acres, enclosed before the year 

 1800, with a herd of from 80 to 90 fallow- 

 deer. 



Existing Parks in Huntingdonshire, 

 I. Kimbolton 



2. Cunnington 



The Duke of Man- 

 chester. 

 Mr. Heathcote. 



* Printed in the Appendix to the nth Re- 

 port of Commissioners on the Woods, &c., 

 p. 701. 



