172 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. VIII. 



old seat of the Duke of Devonshire. Here 

 is an existing deer park, which, although 

 ancient, is not found marked in the Sur- 

 veys of Saxton or Speed. It is noticed, 

 however, by Leland in his ' Itinerary.' ' 



In the adjoining parish of Pleasley was 

 a park in the fifteenth century,^ and at 

 ScarcUffe the Prior of Newsted had a park 

 in 1330, which was granted to the Pierre- 

 pont family in 1344.' 



To the north of Chesterfield Saxton 

 marks parks at Stavely and Woodthorpe, 

 in the same parish. 



Stavely was the chief house of the 

 noble family of Frecheville. The pai-k is 

 alluded to in a letter from the Earl of 

 Shrewsbury to his Countess, among ' the 

 Talbot Papers,' in which he recounts a 

 frolic of his stepson, Charles Cavendish, 

 ' enticed to go a stealing into Stavely 

 Park in the night.' This took place in 

 the reign of Queen Elizabeth.* 



Woodthorpe was the ancient seat of 

 the Rodes family, before they removed to 

 the adjoining parish oiBarlborough, where 

 also there was said to have been three 

 parks, containing about 400 acres of land, 

 according to a survey of the year 1630.^ 



At Holmsfield, in the parish of Dron- 

 field, and at Norton, on the borders of 

 Yorkshire, the Chaworth family had 

 parks in 1330, as appears by the quo 

 warranto roll of that year ; ° and at the 

 same period another was owned by Ralph 

 de Rye at Whitwell, on the Nottingham- 

 shire border, claimed from time imme- 

 morial. A park also existed at Norton, 

 in 1 81 7, belonging to Mr. Shore. 



In the parish of Bakewell, about the 



' Lelatid's Itxn, vol. v. p. 108, fol. 94. 



^ Lysons, p. .232. 



= lb. p. 252. 



' Hunter's nev Illustrations of the Life of 



centre of the northern division of Derby- 

 shire, were two ancient parks, at Haddom 

 and Harthill, the former the well-known 

 and venerable seat of the Vernons, ' The 

 Kings of the Park,' and the latter of the 

 Cokaynes. Both these parks, existing in 

 the Elizabethan period, have been long 

 disused and disparked. Two existing 

 parks have, however, taken their places, 

 Chatsworth and Stanton-in-the-Peak, the 

 former the magnificent palace of the Duke 

 of Devonshire in the parish of Edensor. 

 There was a park here when it belonged 

 to the Leche family, previous to the year 

 1550, and it appears in Saxton's Map in 

 1577, ' the Stand ' being particularly men* 

 tioned. The present park is said to be 

 nine miles in circumference. 



Stanton is in the parish of Youlgrave. 

 The par^k here, a wild and rocky enclosure 

 of 130 acres, dates from the year fSoo. 

 The deer, entirely black or dark, came 

 from the ancient park of Chartley in 

 Staffordshire. 



Returning towards the south, about the 

 centre of the county, there is an existing 

 park at Alderwasley, in the parish ot 

 Wicksworth, enclosed about the year 1715. 

 It contains 187 acres, and about 130 

 fallow-deer. 



In the neighbourhood of Ashbourn were 

 several parks ; one founded by Sir Thomas 

 Cokaine, who died in the reign of Henry 

 VIII., was in that parish, and another at 

 Tissington^ the seat of the Fitzherbert 

 family. At Bradley also, three miles 

 east of Ashbourn, was a park according 

 to Saxton, and another called ' Hugh 

 Park,' closely adjoining to it. 



Shakespeare, p. 55. 

 * Lysons, p. 44. 

 ' lb. pp. 220, 134-285, 

 ' lb. p, clxix. 



