122 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch, V. 



Chevington has been already noticed as 

 a park recognised by Saxton in 1575. It 

 was an ancient seat of the Abbots of St. 

 Edmund, and from its retired situation in 

 a woody undulating country, it soon be- 

 came a favourite retreat. There was a 

 park here, adds Gage, well stocked with 

 deer. Upon the Dissolution, the Manor 

 and Park of Chevington were granted to 

 Sir Thomas Kytson, whose son appears to 

 have transferred the deer to H engrave in 

 1587. 



That there was a park also at Hawsted, 

 the ancient seat of the Drury family, in 

 this vicinity, there is no doubt ; both great 

 and little park occur on the old plan of 

 the estate, engraved in the ' History of 

 Thingoe,' and in the reign of Queen Eliza- 

 beth, the rector received a buck and doe 

 in lieu of tithe for the demesne lands.'^ 



At Liver?nere, near Culford, is a mo- 

 dern and existing park, praised by Mr. 

 Young for its beauty. 



Euston, on the borders of Norfolk, the 

 seat of the Duke of Grafton, is the largest 

 park in this county, though it is at present 

 without deer, having been disparked by the 

 father of the present Duke. It contained, 

 according to Neale in his ' Views of Seats ' 

 (1821), 1,450 acres ; it was the theme of 

 Blomfield's ' Farmer's Boy.' 



Where smiling Euston boasts her good Fitzroy, 

 Lord of pure alms, and gifts that wide extend ; 

 The fanner's patron, and the poor man's 

 friend. 



In 1671, Euston belonged to Lord Arling- 

 ton ; and ' here,' observes Evelyn, ' my 

 lord was pleased to advise with me about 



1 Gage's Thingoe, p. 440. 

 " lb. p. 447- 



ordering his plantations of firs, elms, limes, 

 &c., up his parke, and in all other places 

 and avenues. I persuaded him to bring 

 his parke so neare as to comprehend his 

 house within it, which he resolved upon, 

 it being now near a mile to it.' ^ In an- 

 other place, this delightful and most gen- 

 tlemanlike author observes, 'Anno 1677, 

 August 29. We hunted in the park [at 

 Euston], and killed a very fat buck.' 

 ' The park pale 9 miles in compass, and 

 the best for riding and meeting the game 

 that ever I saw ; there were now of red 

 and fallow-deere almost a thousand, with 

 good covert, but the soil barren and fly- 

 ing sand, in which nothing wiU grow 

 kindly ; the tufts of firs, and much of the 

 other wood, were planted by my direction 

 some years before.' * 



Existing Deer Parks in Suffolk. ^ 



Heveningham . Lord Huntingfield. 

 Hklmingham . Mr. ToUemache. 

 Hengrave . Sir Thomas Gage, 



Bart. 

 Redgrave . . Mr. Wilson. 

 ICKWORTH . . Marquis of Bristol 

 FHXTON . . Sir RShafto Adair, 



Bart. 

 Woolverstone Mr. Berners. 

 . Mr. Tomline. 



8. Orwell 



9. Christ-Church Mr. Fonnereau. 

 lo. Livermere 



II. Somerleyton 



12. 

 13- 



14. 



Late Sir W. Mid- 

 dleton, Bart. 



Sir Francis Cross- 

 ley, Bart. 



Mr. Tyrell. 



Sir G. Brooke Mid- 

 dleton, Bart. 

 Campsea-Ashe . Mr. Sheppard. 



Polstead . 

 Shrub LAND 



Evelyn's Memoirs, 4to ed. vol. i. p. 426. 

 lb. p. 462. 



