Ch. IX. 



HEREFORDSHIRE. 



197 



eight parks within its limits. They were 

 at Netherwood, in the north-eastern part 

 of the county, on the borders of Worces- 

 tershire, at Richards- Castle, Wigmore- 

 Castle, and Brampton-Bryan-Castle, in 

 the north-western angle ; a park at Erdes- 

 ley in the west ; and two at Newcourt and 

 Morehampton, in the south of the county; 

 and one at Holm-Lacy, six miles south- 

 east of Hereford, the well-known seat of 

 the Scudamore family. 



The park oi Netherwood, or Northwood, 

 belonged to the House of Devereux. It 

 contained about 300 acres, which has long 

 been enclosed and converted into tillage.' 



Near Netherwood a park is marked in 

 the modern maps at Wolverlow, on the 

 edge of the county of Worcester, and there 

 was one at Sapey adjoining. 



Close to Ludlow is Ludford, an ancient 

 seat of the extinct family of Charlton. 

 Here was a small deer park, disparked in 

 the early part of the present century. The 

 parks at Richards-Castle and Wigmore- 

 Castle have been long disparked, that at 

 Brampton-Bryan, the old Harley seat, 

 still exists. It is a park of 500 acres, and 

 a herd of 300 fallow-deer, and is a good 

 specimen of a thorough English park, 

 with well-broken ground, and fine oak 

 timber. 



In this neighbourhood were the more 

 modern parks of Shobden, Staunton, P em- 

 bridge. Croft Castle, Titley, Eyewood, and 

 Newport. 



Staunton Park contains no acres, 

 though the deer have access to but a third 

 of the park, which was enclosed about the 

 year 1770-5. The number of the herd of 

 fallow-deer here is about go. 

 Erdesley has been long disparked, but 



' JDuncumb's Herefordshire, vol. ii. p. 225. I 

 -2 Gal. Pat. Rolls, p. 278. ' I 



modern parks exist at Garnstone and 

 Moccas in this part of the county. The 

 former has been enclosed upwards of 

 sixty years, and contains about 200 acres, 

 and the same number of black and dun- 

 coloured fallow-deer. 



A large park exists at Hampton Court, 

 once the fine seat of the Coningsby family,, 

 six miles south of Leominster ; it appears 

 originally to have been enclosed in the 

 thirteenth of Henry VI. by Sir Rowland 

 Lentall, Knt., who obtained license to im- 

 park 1,000 acres of land here, and to 

 crenelate, or embattle his mansion at the 

 same time.' In former times this park is 

 said to have been nearly eight miles in 

 circumference, containing a separate en- 

 closure for red deer. At present it con- 

 tains but 150 acres, with 160 fallow-deer. 

 The ancient parks of Newcourt and 

 Morehampton, noticed in Saxton's Sur- 

 vey, no longer contain deer, and the same 

 may be said of several other parks which 

 figure in Duncumbe's List. 



Meend Park is now disparked, but 

 Kentchurch^ on the borders of the county 

 of Monmouth, an ancient seat of the 

 Scudamore family, is an existing park. It 

 contains between 300 and 400 acres, and 

 a herd of about 130 fallow-deer. This 

 park appqars to have been enclosed before 

 the reign of Henry VIII. Near Hereford 

 is Rotherwas, once a deer park, but now- 

 disused, and on the western side of the 

 city, Sugwas, on the banks of the Wye, 

 disparked in Leland's time.* 



The ancient park of Holm-Lacy still 

 exists, and is celebi:ate,d for the beauty of 

 its scenery and the magnificence of the 

 timber. It is a park of 280 acres, with a 

 herd of 130 fallow-deer. 



' Leland's Itin. vol. viii. p. 57, fol. 870. 



