84 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
lands belonging to the Abbey of Barking in Essex. In 
the thirteenth century it was held by Robert de Vere, 
and passed by descent through his daughter to the 
Earls of Arundel. Later on the manor was divided, 
and a fourth share came to Henry V. as heir to the 
Earls of Derby. The greater part of the manor was 
bought by Thomas Hobson, and his son, who was Lord 
Mayor in 1544, exchanged it with Henry VIII. for some 
church lands elsewhere. So it became part of the royal 
hunting-ground, and the same enactment concerning 
the preservation of game applied to Marylebone Park, 
situated within the manor, as to Hyde Park. Queen 
Elizabeth leased part of the manor to a certain Edward 
Forset, and James I. sold him all the manor except the 
part known as Marylebone Park, now Regent’s Park. 
It was again sold by the grandson of Edward Forset 
to John Holies, Duke of Newcastle, and passed to his 
daughter, who married Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, 
and through their daughter, who married the second 
Earl of Portland, to the Bentinck family. The Park 
has always remained Crown property, although it has 
frequently been let by the reigning sovereign. Charles I. 
granted it to Sir G. Strode and J. Wandesford as a 
payment of a debt of £2318 for arms and ammuni¬ 
tion. It was sold by Cromwell with all the other 
royal lands, but after the Restoration it went back 
to its former holders till the debt was discharged, 
and after that to various other tenants. It was on 
the expiration of a lease to the Duke of Portland in 
1811 that the laying out of the Park in its present 
form commenced. 
During the early period incidents connected with 
it are meagre. It is for the most part only in royal 
