196 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. IX. 



9. WiLLIAMSTKIP 



10. BARNSLEY . 



11. FAIRFORD . 



12. MiSERDEN . 



13. Rendcomb . 



14. Sherborne . 



15. Batsford . 



16. Alscot . . 



Sir M. H. Beach, 



Bart. 

 Sir T. Musgrave, 



Bart. 

 Mr. Barker. 

 Mr. Raid. 

 Sir F. Goldsmidt. 

 Lord Sherborne. 

 Lord Redesdale. 

 Mr. West. 



17. DOWDESWELL . Mr. Lawrence. 



18. COLESBOURN . Mr. Elwes. 



19. Clearwell, The Dowager Countess 



of Dunraven. 



20. Lydney . 



21. Flaxley . . 



22. Stancombe 



23. Fretherne 



Rev. Mr. Bathurst. 

 Sir T. C. Bowey, 



Bart. 

 Mr. Purnell. 

 Rev. Sir L. Darell, 



Bart. 



HEREFORDSHIRE. 



Anyone who ascends the steep crest of 

 the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, and 

 looks down from the summit of the ridge 

 on the western side of the hills, upon the 

 richly wooded and beautifully undulating 

 surface which lies stretched beneath, as 

 far as the mountains of South Wales, 

 would at once be struck with the ' bosky ' 

 nature of the scenery and its perfect adap- 

 tation, according to our modern notions, 

 for the formation of deer parks and sylvan 

 residences. Herefordshire, indeed, from 

 the earliest historical times appears to 

 have been remarkable for the number of 

 its forests, chases, and parks, though the 

 merits of its surpassing beauty of scenery 

 could scarcely have been understood be- 

 fore the middle of the last century. 



Duncumb, in his ' Herefordshire Col- 

 lections,' observes that there were four 

 forests and the same number of chases 

 within this county, viz., the forests of 

 Aconbury, Deerfold, Ewyas, and Hay- 

 wood, and the chases of Bringwood, 

 Mocktree, Ledbury, and Penyard. Parks, 

 he adds, have been much more abundant j 



and he proceeds to give a list of thirty- 

 two, the major part of which were, at that 

 time (1804), disused, and adapted to the 

 common purposes of agriculture ; but 

 before we notice some of them in detail, 

 it will be well to begin with those 

 two venerable parks which appear in the 

 Herefordshire Domesday, one of which 

 belonged to the King, and the other to 

 Roger de Lacy. The Royal park alluded 

 to was at Haloede, and the Survey adds, 

 ' Ibi 5 parens feraru sed missus est ext m 

 cu tota silva.' This place is at present 

 unknown, but it was in Naisse Hundred, 

 in or near Worcestershire.^ 



Roger de Lacy's park was at Wibelei, 

 the modern WeoUey, and was probably 

 identical with that at Lenshall or Leons- 

 hall adjoining, noticed by Leland, and 

 which belonged to the Devereux family. 

 The Domesday Survey also informs us 

 that there were several ' hayes ' in various 

 parts of Herefordshire, the nature of which 

 has been already described. 



Saxton, in his survey of this county, 

 which was engraved in 1577, notices but 



Duncumb, vol. i. p. 62. 



