Moor Park 
or fifty Pounds or a hundred marks for the 
keeping thereof, and since it hath been in 
the|King’s hands, it hath cost his Highness 
forty or fifty marks a year, as Mr. Hennage 
can show you, and now it is utterly destroyed, 
and all the knots marred. Wherefore if it 
be not looked on betimes it will be past re¬ 
covery. Sir, if the King will give 8 Pence a 
day, I will see that it shall be well kept, that 
his Highness shall be well contented, though 
it cost 6 Pence a day on my own purse. And 
also for the keeping of the fish there, it hath 
been chargeable unto me hitherto; where¬ 
upon if there be not a trusty fellow to have 
the keeping of the garden that shall have the 
oversight thereof there will be much displeas¬ 
ure done, and but little fish left, for I had never 
so much ado to keep it as I have now. Sir, 
I put you always to pain, but you may 
command me as your own. Whereupon I 
heartily desire you as you will do me pleasure 
that you would solicit the King’s Highness 
as well for the paling of the Park as for the 
garden and the keeping of the fish,—for an 
his Highness should come thither and see it 
so far in ruin as it is, his Highness would lay 
it to my charge and think the fault were in 
me, which were greatly to my rebuke and 
shame as knoweth our Lord who keep you. 
“At Charley Wood, the first day of May 
“Your assuredly to my power 
“J. Russell.” 
It is hoped that the good ranger obtained 
his money and a good “trusty fellow” for the 
garden; otherwise, when Henry and his fifth 
Queen, Catherine Howard, came five years 
later, he would certainly not have escaped 
the anger of the passionate King. The 
royal pair stayed three weeks, and seem to 
have courted seclusion rather than the usual 
courtly pleasures. The second Earl had to 
fly for his life from the burning questions of 
Queen Mary’s reign, but after her death re¬ 
turned to enjoy his own again, both as owner 
of his ancestral home at Chenies and as 
ranger of Moor Park, which was subsequently 
granted to him by the Queen, at the request 
of Sir William Cecil, on the payment of an 
annual rent of £ 120 . 
The third Earl who ruled at Moor Park 
was the grandson of the second Earl of Bed¬ 
ford. His sprightly Countess was a favourite 
of the Court, where she bloomed as “the 
crowning rose in a garland of beauty.” James. 
I. granted to him the estate absolutely. The 
Countess constructed the famous gardens 
celebrated by Sir William Temple, of which 
no trace remains. She was immensely ex¬ 
travagant, and was forced to sell the place to 
William, Earl of Pembroke, in 1626. He was 
succeeded by his brother, Sir Philip, in 1630, 
who deserted King Charles, and joined the 
rebels. A year later he sold the property to 
Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth. The 
Duke of Ormond, a faithful supporter of the 
royal cause, purchased it in 1663, whose 
eldest son took his title from the estate, and 
was styled “Lord Butler of Moor Park.” In 
1670 it was sold to the unhappy Duke of 
Monmouth, who, as I have already stated, 
pulled down the old house, which had so 
many noble and illustrious owners, and had 
witnessed so many scenes of splendour and 
magnificence. The old house is gone, but 
its glories remain imprinted on many a page 
of English history. Its lineal descendant 
lives on, a palace worthy of its distinguished 
ancestry, owned by a family as illustrious as 
any of those which have preceded it. The 
Grosvenors have deserved well of their coun¬ 
try, fought its battles, and contributed to its 
prosperity. May the tenure of the scions of 
that noble family whose lot it is to dwell in 
one of the fairest of Hertfordshire manors 
continue far longer than that of many of their 
predecessors, whose varied fortunes and 
vicissitudes I have attempted to trace. 
I am indebted to Lady Ebury for the loan 
of many valuable papers which have been 
most useful in the preparation of this sketch 
of the history of Moor Park. Amongst them 
are some interesting letters by Mr. J. A. 
Froude and Lord Bulwer Lytton, Mr. Henry 
Mitchell’s paper on “The History of the 
More,” and Mr. R. Baynes’ “Moor Park.” 
I beg to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
these writers for much important infor¬ 
mation. 
59 
