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DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. VIII. 



quarter of a mile, containing in compasse 

 two miles and an halfe : the deere viewed 

 CLXX : in old trees dottred and stubbs of 

 oakes M and timber trees XXX.' 



' The park of Agardesley contains in 

 compass xxi furlongs.' 



' The park of Barton contains in com- 

 pass XVI furlongs and dim. and x poles.' 



The park of Heylyn's, in compass one 

 part XVIII furlongs and XIII poles, and 

 every part XV furlongs.' It appears from 

 a note in the State Paper Office that this 

 park was purchased from the usurping 

 powers during the Commonwealth, by 

 Gregory Walklett, who 'destroyed the 

 deer, felled the timber and ploughed up 

 the soil,' &c.' According to Mr. Wilkes' 

 ' List of Staffordshire Parks,' however, 

 Heylins, belonging to John Turton, Esq., 

 ' was stored with deer' in I735-' 



' The park of Sherrold contains in com- 

 pass X furlongs and dim. and x poles.' 



'The number of all the timber-trees 

 within the parks of Needwood are 



MMMCCCCCVI.' 



'The number of dottrell trees within 

 the said parks xxi"dcccxli after Xll" a 

 tree, for the dottrells come to DCXll/. and 



XXI'*.' 



Of these parks the four last are said to 

 have been stocked with deer about the 

 time of the Civil Wars, according to Sir 

 Simon Degge,' ' who also includes the 

 parks of Rowley and New-Park as be- 

 longing to the king, and stocked with 

 deer. The fornier had been granted to 

 Sir Thomas Lsigh. 



Other parks independent of the Castle 

 of Tutbury, but originally, no doubt, 



' S. P. O. Domestic. Charles II. Aug. 26, 

 1666, p. 69. 



2 .Shaw's S.affbrdsliire, vol. i, p. xxiv. 



granted by its lords, and taken out of the 

 forest on the western side of it, were those 

 at Hamstall-Ridware, Bagots Park, Brom- 

 ley, Horecross, and Wichnor. 



Of the great antiquity of Bagots, Park, 

 so celebrated for its magnificent oaks, 

 there can be no doubt, although the 

 precise date of its enclosure is unknown. 

 It contains at present about 1,000 acres, 

 and about 400 fallow-deer, chiefly black 

 and dun, the ancient Needwood Forest 

 colour ; also from 50 to 60 red-deer. In 

 this park is also a herd of wild goats, 

 which have been there from time imme- 

 morial, and according to Strutt, in his 

 ' Sylva Brittanica,' were originally pre- 

 sented to one of Lord Bagot's ancestors 

 by Richard II.* 



Brotnley was disparked before the 

 period of the Civil Wars, but is marked, 

 as Bagots Park, Horecross, and Wichnor, 

 are, in Saxton's Survey of 1577. 



Horecross is an existing park. It is 

 mentioned as such in Erdeswigk's Survey 

 of this county; began about 1593. 



Wichnor was a seat of the Somerviles, 

 and afterwards of the Oflleys. Horace 

 Walpole was here in 1760, and describes 

 'the pretty park, the situation a brow 

 of a hill commanding sweet meadows, 

 through which the Trent serpentines in 

 numberless windings and branches. The 

 spires of the Cathedral of Lichfield are in 

 front at a distance, with a variety of other 

 steeples, seats, and farms, and the horizon 

 bounded by rich hills covered with blue 

 woods. If you love a prospect, or bacon,* 

 you will certainly come hither.' Wichnor 

 now belongs to the family of I.evett. 



' Harwood's Erdeswick's Staffordshire, p. xix. 

 ' Stiutt's Sylva Brittanica, p. 3. 

 ' Alluding to the Wichnor flitch. 



