36 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
the Park, were in course of time confined to a small 
area on the north-west side, called Buckdean Hill. 
They were kept for sport during the first half of the 
eighteenth century, and the last time royalty took part 
in killing deer in the Park was probably in 1768. The 
exact date of the disappearance of all the deer is difficult 
to ascertain. They are remembered by some who saw 
them towards the end of the thirties, but by 1840 or 
soon after they were done away with. 
The roads in Hyde Park must have been rather like 
South African tracks at the present day, and driving at 
night was not free from danger even at a comparatively 
late date. Attacks from highwaymen were to be feared. 
Horace Walpole was robbed in November 1749, and the 
pistol shot was near enough to stun though not otherwise 
to injure him. The Duke of Grafton had his collar bone 
broken, and his coachman his leg, some ten years earlier, 
when, on his way from Kensington to “ the New Gate to 
make some visits towards Grosvenor Square, the Chariot 
through the darkness of the Night was overset in driving 
along the Road and ” fell “ into a large deep pit.” 
Soon after William III. purchased Kensington Palace 
from the Earl of Nottingham in 1691, he commenced 
making a new road through the Park. This became 
known as the King’s Road, or “ Route du Roi ” : a cor¬ 
ruption of the latter is Rotten Row, the name now given 
to King William’s Drive. In the eighteenth century it 
was called the King’s Old Road, and the one which 
George II. made to the south of it was called the King’s 
New Road. When this was finished in 1737, it was 
intended to turf the older “ Rotten Row,” but this 
plan was never carried out. The old road was much 
thought of at the time it was made, and the lighting 
