206 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. IX. 



reign of Elizabeth let to Sir John Savage, 

 Knt., the owner of the adjoining seat of 

 Rocksavage, for thirty-one years at the 

 annual rent of 6/. -js. id. It was granted 

 in reversion to Mr. Davison for fifty years 

 in the twenty-sixth year of the same sove- 

 reign.i Both these parks have been long 

 disparked, as is the case also with two 

 ancient parks of small dimensions on the 

 northern side of the river Wever, at Asfon 

 and Button, which appear in Saxton's 

 Survey. 



The same authority notices but two 

 parks between NorthwichandAltringham, 

 those of Warburton z.n6.Dunham-Massey. 

 The latter is an existing park, belonging 

 to the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, 

 being the seat of his ancestors of the 

 family of Boothe. Leland writes, ' I cam 

 by a park on the lifte Honde, wher Mr. 

 Leyrcestre dwellith \TableyY\, and a iiii. 

 miles farther I cam by a parke on the 

 lifte Hond wher Master Bouth dwellith.'* 

 Ormerod observes of Dunham-Massey, 

 ' There are two parks, one of which is 

 enclosed by a wall and supports four or 

 five hundred head of deer. Both of the 

 parks and the adjacent domain are full of 

 fine timber, which in several instances 

 has attained an extraordinary growth." 

 ' Le of Bouth, half a mile from Knuttes- 

 ford, hath a park,'* writes Leland. This 

 no longer exists, but immediately north of 

 Knutsford is the very extensive and well- 

 wooded park of Tatton, from ten to eleven 

 miles in circumference, and containing 

 about 2,500 acres, and herds of 800 fallow 

 and 40 red deer. This park is noticed in 

 Speed's map of the county engraved in 

 the reign of James I. It was greatly en- 



1 Cotton MSS. Titus B. iv. f. 297. 



2 Leland's Itin. vol. v. p. 93, fol. 82. 

 " Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. i. p. 406. 



larged by Samuel Egerton, Esq., about 

 the year 1760. It is at present by far the 

 largest park in the county, if not through- 

 out the whole of England. 



East of Knutsford is the hundred of 

 Macclesfield, where there have been 

 ever several parks. In connection with 

 this hundred Ormerod writes, ' From the 

 tenures specified in the inquisitions given 

 under Wilmslow, Cheadle, &c., it will be 

 found that the lords of these districts 

 (which appear to have been formed out of 

 the wastes attached to the earl's demesne 

 of Macclesfield and Adlington) were 

 bound yearly to repair the fences of the 

 " combes " in Macclesfield Forest, and the 

 former of them to send a guard for the 

 protection of the earl when hunting in the 

 forest. The combes were probably earth- 

 works, or a kind of forest pale, constructed 

 for a retiring place in case of danger, and 

 were probably situated near the chamber 

 of the forest.'^ 



Oi Adlington Ormerod observes, ' King 

 Edward IV., in the second year of his 

 reign, by letters patent dated at West- 

 minster, gave leave to Robert Legh of 

 Adlington and his heirs to enclose certain 

 lands in Adlington and Whitley, in the 

 Forest of Macclesfield.' ° If a park, how- 

 ever, existed here it had been probably 

 disused before Saxton's time. He marks 

 but five in the hundred of Macclesfield — 

 at Lyme, Poynton, Bromhall, Wynslow, 

 and Gawsworth. 



The Park of Lyme, which is very ex- 

 tensive, is celebrated for the fine flavour 

 of its venison, and contains a herd of 

 wild cattle, the remains of a breed which 

 has been kept there from time imme- 



■• Leland's Itin. vol. vii. pp. 32-3, fol. 42. 

 ° Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 281 note. 

 " lb, vol. iii. p. 334. 



