Ch. VII. 



WORCESTERSHIRE. 



163 



says Leland, ' a warren for conyes, and 

 fayre pooles, but the soyle about the 

 Castle is barren." A ParUamentary sur- 

 vey of about the year 1648 notes, ' to this 

 Castle adjoins a fair park, containing 86 

 acres and 20 perches, yearly value 43//.'' 

 Hartlebury was disparked after the death 

 of Bishop Carr, in the year 1841. 



Alchurch, recte Alvechurch, is also men- 

 tioned by Leland. ' The Bishop of Wor- 

 cester,' he writes, ' hath a fayre mannour 

 place a little by north-east without the 

 towne, standinge on an hill, and it was 

 lately in decay, and Bishop Latymer re- 

 payred it. There is a parke." Long 

 before Nash's time the park had been 

 converted into farms. 



Blockley. — Opposite the vicar's garden 

 is a hill called the park, supposed to have 

 been the Bishop of Worcester's park, who 

 had a palace here before the Reforma- 

 tion.' Both the parks of Alchurch and 

 Blockley are marked in Saxton's Map of 

 1577- 



Hallow or Hollow Park, in Grimley, 

 near Worcester, originally belonged to 

 the Priory of Worcester,* and afterwards 

 to the Dean and Chapter, and then to the 

 See of Worcester. The park here is given 

 by Saxton ; and here Queen Elizabeth, 

 according to the following record, hunted 

 on Thursday, the i8th of August, 1575. 

 ' Her Majesty rode to Hallow Parke, be- 

 ing Mr. Abyngton's,-on her palfrey — where 

 she hunted, and with her bow kylled one 

 buck, and struck another buck, w'* beyng 



' Leland Itin. vol. iv. p. 113, fol. 1 86 a. 



"^ Nash's Worcestershire, vol. i. p. 568. 



' lb. vol. i. p. 98. 



' In the 3rd of Edw. II. the Prior of Wor- 

 cester had license to impark his Wood of 

 Monkwood, in the Manor of Grimley. Cal. of 

 Inq., p. 71. 



recovered, she called for Mr. Abyngton, 

 asking hym how many bucks be kylled .' 

 and he said two bucks. And then said 

 she, " Let one of the bucks be brought 

 to the one BayUff's house, and the other 

 buck to the other Bayliff's house, with a 

 better good turn," which bucks were 

 brought to the Bayliffs' houses accord-, 

 ingly.' ' 



At Baltenhall, or Battenhall, near Wor-. 

 cester, was another park which anciently 

 belonged to the Prior. Here Queen Eliza- 

 beth intended to hunt the next day, and 

 rode there accordingly. 'But that she 

 found the game very scarce, she returned 

 again without hunting at all.' f 



The mitred Abbots of Evesham pos- 

 sessed several parks in Worcestershire. 



Schrewenhulle, or Shrevell Park, in 

 Bengeworth, enclosed by Abbot William 

 de Chiriton, between the years 1317 and 

 1344, as appears from the ' Chronicle of 

 Evesham,' « ' ubi seminare fecit quercus et 

 fraxinos et alias arbores.' After the Dis- 

 solution it was granted to Sir Philip 

 Hoby, Knight, in the thirtieth of Henry 

 VIII. In 1376 (fiftieth of Edward III.) 

 Abbot John de Ombresley obtained a 

 patent from the king to impark his wood 

 of ' Lynholte,' containing 300 acres of land 

 and wood within the Manor of Ombresley, 

 now Ombersley, which remained with the 

 Abbey till the Dissolution.' At Offenham 

 also there appears to hjave been a park 

 appertaining to this greatl Abbey,' for John 

 Norton, elected Abbot in 1483 (1 R. III.), 



' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. 

 p. 541, extracted from the Chamber Order 

 Boofc of the City of Worcester. 



» Printed in 1863, 8vo. Loidon, ed. W. D. 

 Macray. 



' lb. pp. 301, 339. 



