CHAPTER III 



BAGSHOT PARK 



Not long after the Norman Conquest, William I. fixed on 

 Windsor as his principal residence. A vast tract of country 

 to the south and south-west of the castle was retained by the 

 Crown as a royal hunting park. Here and there in Berkshire, 

 Surrey and Hampshire much of this land to the present day 

 is Crown property, though large parts have passed by long 

 lease, sale or gift into other hands. Windsor Great Park 

 extends four or five miles south of the castle, and a little 

 further on come Bagshot Park and Heath. The history of 

 Bagshot Park as a royal domain, therefore, goes back to about 

 1070, and from then and till comparatively recent times it 

 was a favourite hawking and hunting estate of English Sove- 

 reigns. It is probable that there was a royal lodge not far 

 from the site of the present mansion for many centuries. At 

 all events, in Stuart times there certainly was a hunting seat 

 there known as Holy Hall. Bagshot Park with the adjoining 

 heath made an estate covering fifty square miles, the whole of 

 which was surrounded with high deer-fencing. It was pro- 

 bably joined on to the south of Windsor Forest, and thus 

 constituted a very large and important royal hunting ground. 



During the great Civil War in the reign of Charles I. it 

 was disparked, and the fences were broken down and destroyed. 

 For some years it lay waste and afforded shelter for numerous 

 highwaymen, who took advantage of its desolate wildness to 

 plunder travellers on the road from London to Winchester. 

 After the Restoration, Charles II. replaced the fencing and 

 once again stocked the park with deer brought over from 



France. A few months after the accession of James II., 



3a 



