Ch. IX. 



HON MO UTH SHIRE. 



199 



of mind, said to have belonged to Sir 

 David Gam, Knt. It was also near 

 White-Castle, which with the Castles of 

 Grasmont and Skenfrith belonged from 

 an early time to the Duchy of Lancaster. 



Raglan Castle. — There were two parks 

 belonging to the Castle, noticed in Le- 

 land's ' Itinerary,' with a series of lakes or 

 fish-ponds. These appear to have been 

 disparked and destroyed when the castle 

 was dismantled after the famous siege 

 during the Civil Wars. 



' Llanyrhangle Tonneygroyse. ' — This 

 must have been the park of the abbey of 

 that name ; after the Dissolution in the 

 reign of Elizabeth, the abbey, which was 

 then probably dismantled, came into pos- 

 session of a branch of the Morgan family, 

 and a mansion was erected on the site of 

 the abbey. The enclosure of the park by 

 a wall still in some degree exists; but 

 there have been no deer within the me- 

 mory of man. 



St. Julians. — This was an ancient man- 

 sion of the Herbert family, and belonged 

 to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and in his 

 time doubtless the park existed. It has, 

 however, been disparked for very many 

 generations. 



Tredegar. — This, the chief seat of the 

 elder line of the Morgan family, is a very 

 ancient park. Of the time of its enclosure 

 there is no record ; it may probably have 

 taken place after the dissolution of the 

 Lordship Marcher of WentUwch or New- 

 port, in the time of Henry VIII., but this 

 is only conjecture, for the family was cer- 

 tainly established there as far back as the 

 early part of the fourteenth century. The 

 park is surrounded by an ancient wall, 

 and contains about 400 acres and about 

 600 fallow-deer. It occupies the mouth 



of the valley of the river Ebbw, which 

 flows through it, embracihg a portion of 

 the hills on either side. This is called 

 ' the Old Park,' in maps ; there were two 

 other parks, one called ' the New Park,' 

 now the Home Farm, and the other 

 Cleppa Park, which once belonged to 

 another mansion of a branch of the family 

 of Morgan. Lord Tredegar is in pos- 

 session of a grant of Free-warren, given 

 by James I. to Sir William Morgan, Knt., 

 in 1617, authorising the enclosure of parks 

 in certain parishes. 'The New Park,' 

 above alluded to, was probably then en- 

 closed. The following curious account of 

 this place is from 'The Life of Marmaduke 

 Rawdon of York,^ written in the year 

 1664:— ' Tredegar, a seate belonging to 

 Squier Morgan, which we were told was 

 the chiefe Morgan in Wales. He hath 

 there a stately parke through which runs 

 the river Ebwith, soe that in his parke he 

 hath salmon, trouts, and what fish that 

 river doth afford. He hath likewise seve- 

 ral fish ponds, with what fish will live in 

 ponds ; He hath a warren near his parke, 

 and in his parke a thousand head of 

 deere, besides wild goates and other cattle 

 about his grounds, soe that I thinke he 

 is pretty well provided towards house- 

 keepinge.' 



In a document of 1498, mention is 

 made of certain lands having been ex- 

 cepted from the rental of the Manor of 

 Develes, near the village of Castleton, in 

 the Lordship Marcher of WentUwch or 

 Newport, for the purpose of forming a 

 park by the lord's order. This is the park 

 mentioned by Leland by the name of 

 Parkvehan, or the Little Park, which he 

 says 'hath neither deer or pale, now it is 

 the king's,' the king having come into 



' Printed by the Camden Society, 1863, p. 185. 



