142 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. VII. 



as there is no notice in Domesday Book 

 of any park or hay in this county, the deer 

 were probably confined to their primaeval 

 haunts — the forests of Leicester and 

 Charnwood, before the Norman Conquest. 

 Four parks are marked by Saxton in the 

 precincts of Leicester Forest. These, 

 according to Leland in his ' Itinerary,' ^ 

 were : — 



1. ' The parke by ^. Mary Abbey. (The 

 Frith park sumtyme a mighty large thyng, 

 now partely disparkid, and partely bering 

 the name of the new parke, welle palid).' • 

 The park of St. Mary Abbey was grant- 

 ed by Henry Duke of Lancaster to the 

 new college at Leicester, called the 

 Newark.'' 



2. ' Bellemonfs Leye, sometyme a great 

 park by Leicester, but now (writes Le- 

 land) converted to pasture.' 



3. Barne Park, also called Baron 

 Park, belonged, as the former did, to the 

 Earls of Leicester. ' Standing upon the 

 side of Leicester Forest, near unto Kirby, 

 was, in 1647, the Inheritance of Sir Henry 

 Hastings, of Braunston, knight.' ' 



4. Tooley Park, 'sometime belonging 

 to the Castle at Earle Shilton, now (writes 

 Burton) part of the Dutchy of Lancaster.' 

 ' All these,' adds Leland, ' be the king's,' 

 and all have been for many generations 

 disparked.' 



The Frith Park, Bird's Nest or New 

 Park, claims a more particular notice. In 

 1279 it was found by inquisition that Ed- 



' Leland's Itin. vol. i. p. 21. 



'' Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iv. pp. 782- 

 3, taken from Burton's corrected copy of his 

 History in 1641. 



' I find Tooley Park included in the list 

 of P^rks, &c. belonging to his Majesty in 1608. 

 See Appendix to the nth Report of Com- 

 missiWers on Woods, &c., p. 701. 



* Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iv. p. 774. 



mund Eai'l of Leicester had at Shilton, 

 'boscum et liberam chaceam eiparcum 

 qui vocatur Tholowd."^ 



In 1297 it was found that the same Ed- 

 mund Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, the 

 King's brother, at the time of his death, 

 held Frith Park, in the Forest of Leicester.'' 

 In the marriage-settlement of King Henry 

 VI., in 1444, he gives to his intended con- 

 sort, utter alia, the Honour of Leicester, 

 including several manors in and about 

 the forest, cum agistamento parci de la 

 Frith.^ 



In 1571 William Lord Cobham was 

 cited, to show by what title he held Frith 

 Park otherwise called the New Park of 

 Byrdesnest ;'' and in 1606, a survey was 

 made with a view to this park being 

 offered for sale ; the whole number of 

 acres, 815a. 2r. 3op., worth by the year 

 407/. 1 1 J. \id.^ 



In the precincts of Leicester Forest also 

 are Kirby and Desford, at both of which 

 were ancient parks ; Kirby, imparked by 

 William Lord Hastings by license, in 

 1474, now, says Burton, the inheritance 

 of Sir Henry Hastings ; and Desford, 

 which he includes among the disparked 

 parks, belonging to the ancient Earls of 

 Leicester, now part of the Dutchy of Lan- 

 caster. ' Newhall Park, belonging to Mr. 

 Turvile of Thurleston ' in this neighbour- 

 hood, is found in the same list, as well as 

 ' Hinkley sometime belonging to the 

 Barony of Hinkley .'» 



* Esch. 25. Edw. I., No. 51, Leicr. 



• Rot. Pat. 27 Hen. VI., vol. v. p. 118. 

 ' Trin. Rec. 14 Eliz. rot. 24. 



' Original document penes W. Herrick, of 

 Beaumanor, Esq., quoted by Nichols in the 

 History of Leicestershire. 



" Burton's Description of Leicestershire, 

 p. 6. 



