202 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. IX. 



where Le Strange's Park fence came down 

 to the water of Peveree (Perry,) to the end 

 of Le Strange's meadow on the side of 

 Plettebrug Mill. This was to enlarge Le 

 Strange's Park, and he was to pay a rent 

 of one doe yearly in acknowledgment.* 



Very close to Ruyton is Boreatton, 

 where there exists a park said to be 

 ancient, though it is not marked in 

 Saxton's Survey ; it contains about 150 

 acres, and about 40 fallow-deer. 



Further south and nearer to Shrews- 

 bury is Shrawardine; here was an ancient 

 castle, which at one time belonged to the 

 Fitz-Alans Earls of Arundel ; here a park 

 appears to be indicated in Saxton's Survey. 



In the most northern part of this 

 county on the borders of Cheshire, four 

 ancient parks nearly contiguous are given 

 by Saxton : at Blakemere, Ightfield, Shen- 

 ton ( Shavington^, and yi therley ( Adderley). 



The first, which originally belonged to 

 the Le Stranges, is thus noticed by Leland 

 in his ' Itinerary' :— From Whitchurch a 

 mile and a half, I cam by the pale of the 

 large parke of Blackmer longying to the 

 Erie of Shrewsbiri, wherin is a very fair 

 place or loge. The Park hath both redde 

 dere and falow. In the park (as I herd 

 say) be iii faire poles, of the wich I saw 

 by the pale the largest, cauUid Blakein, 

 whereof the park is named." Of Ightfield 

 he writes : — ' Syr Richard Manoring, chefe 

 of that name, dwelleth a iii miles be est 

 from Price (Frees) village, at a village 

 cauUid Hightfelde, having a Parke and 

 greate plenty of wood about hym." 



The park at Adderley was enclosed by 

 Walter de Dunstanypl by agreement with 



' Eyton, vol. x. p. 113. 



2 Lelaiid's Itin. vol. v. p. 90, fol. 8i. 



3 lb. vol. vii. p. 24, fol. 35. 

 ' Eyton, vol. x. p. 2. 



the Abbot of Shrewsbury, between the 

 years 1175 and 11 90.* 



The great House of Le Strange had 

 also a park at Cheswardine on the borders 

 of Staffordshire, and here Sir John Main- 

 waryng, Knt., was keeper of the park 

 and of that of Blakemere, in the thir- 

 teenth Edward IV.^ 



Saxton marks a park at Hodnet, midway 

 between Cheswardine and Wem: this was 

 an ancient park, recognised as early as 

 the year 1257,' when it was held by a 

 family who assumed their name from 

 hence. Near Hodnet is Hawkstone, the 

 seat of Viscount Hill. Here is a very ex- 

 tensive park ("1,200 acres), celebrated for 

 its romantic scenery. It is said to have 

 been disparked about the year 1770, and 

 restored in the year 1830. It does not 

 appear, however, to have been an ancient 

 park. At present it is stocked with a herd 

 of 500 black fallow-deer, and 30 Barbary 

 deer. 



Saxton recognises a park, now long 

 disused, at Stanton upon Hine-heath, a 

 few miles south of Hodnet, and another 

 at Shawbury, near adjoining: here Giles 

 de Erdington had license from Henry III. 

 in the thirty-seventh year of his reign to 

 make a saltory or deer-leap in his park.' 

 The site is still called Shawbury park.' 



At Haughmond Nbhe:y,nea.rtr to Shrews- 

 bury, a large park is noticed by Saxton: 

 its origin may apparently be traced to the 

 Patent granted by Edward I. in the twenty- 

 fourth year of his reign to enclose 20 acres, 

 and by Edward II. in 1313 to enclose 60 

 acres, of their bosc or wood, which lay 

 within the Royal Forest of Haghmon.' 



" Duke's Antiquities of Salop, p. 143. 



" Eyton, vol. ix. p. 330. 



' Pat. 37, Hen. III. m. 10. 



" Eyton, vol. vii. p. 296. 



