120 



tiEER AND DEER PARKS. 



CH.V. 



There is a park of fallow-deer at Somer- 

 leyion, in the north-eastern angle of the 

 county. In this neighbourhood is Flixton, 

 erected about the year 1616, by Sir John 

 Tasburgh, in the centre of an extensive 

 park. 



A little to the south is South Elmham, 

 from the year 1094 a residence of the 

 Bishops of Norwich. ' The Park Farm ' 

 still points out the site of the ancient 

 Episcopal park here, and which is de- 

 scribed in an Indenture of June 22, third 

 of Elizabeth (1561), 'between Edward 

 Lord North of the one partye and John 

 Laurence of South-Elmham in the county 

 of Suffolk, yeoman, of the other partye,' 

 witnessing that, for the consideration of 

 1000/., Lord North, who was in posses- 

 sion of this estate (and of much more 

 ecclesiastical plunder), sold to the said 

 John Laurence, ' all those the grounde and 

 soyle called the newe Parke, as it is now 

 enclosed with a pale, in the parish of Saint 

 James in South Elmham, and all the soyle 

 betwene the pale of the said parke, and 

 the dyche wi"'out the same pale, together 

 with the soyle of the said dyche, and also 

 all his dere, his woods, and tymber grow- 

 ing or being wi"'in- the same parke, or 

 within the lymites of the said dyche with- 

 out the said pale, or between the same 

 pale and the said dyche." This deed 

 proves the ancient right of Freebord al- 

 ready referred to (see p. 1 1 8), and gives 

 the probable date of the destruction of 

 this ancient park, which is not likely to 

 have been continued after its sale to the 

 Suffolk yeoman. 



Helmingham, in the central parts of 

 Suffolk, midway between Needham and 



' Original Deed pmes the Baroness North. 

 1566. 



Framlingham, has been, from the Eliza- 

 bethan period, the venerable seat of the 

 Talmache family, though not marked in 

 Saxton's Survey. It is at present a park 

 of 396 acres, with herds of 30 red, and 

 450 fallow-deer, and is celebrated for the 

 beauty of its fine oak timber. A more 

 modern park exists at Shrubland, the seat 

 of Sir G. B. Middleton, Bart. 



In the more southern districts of Suffolk 

 Saxton marks a park at Nettlested, in the 

 hundred of Cleydon ; and another near 

 Hadley, in that of Cosford. The latter 

 is perhaps identical with that park en- 

 closed by license at Hadlegh in com. 

 Suffolk, in the forty-third year of Edward 

 III., granted to Helminges Le-Gette, Esq., 

 comprehending 300 acres of land, 20 acres 

 of meadow, 180 acres of pasture, and 139 

 acres of wood. There is an existing park 

 at Polstead about five miles south of 

 Hadley. 



In this neighbourhood, a few miles 

 south of Ipswich, on the western bank 

 of the Orwell, is Wool-versto?ie Park, con- 

 taining 380 acres, and a herd of about 300 

 fallow-deer of the menell or spotted 

 variety. This park appears to have 

 been enclosed about the time of the 

 erection of the mansion, which was in 

 1776. 



On the opposite bank of the Orwell is 

 a smaller park which takes its name from 

 the river. It is an area of less than 200 

 acres, with about that number of fallow- 

 deer. Orwell Park appears to have been 

 enclosed by Lord Orwell, before 1764. At 

 Brightwell, near Ipswich, there was also 

 a park belonging to Sir Samuel Barna- 

 diston, Bart., in 1714 ;'' and there is an 



^ Kip's Views of Seats. 



