SECTION I - PARKS IN ESSEX
M.W.HANSON
Parks with particular reference to Essex
The tradition of enclosing an area of land and stocking it with animals was established inEngland,
almost certainly before the Norman Conquest. An Anglo-Saxon will of 1045 refers to "the
wood..............outside the deerhay (deerhage)" at Ongar in the same place where Domesday
some forty years later records a park, one of 35 or so (two in Essex) mentioned. Ongar Park at
about 1,200 acres (500 ha.) was a sizeable park. It is mentioned as the great park of Aungre in
1243, but had ceased functioning as a working park around 1640. Much of it survived until the
1950s and its destruction is described by Oliver Rackham as one of the "most grievous losses to the
south Essex landscape". Part of the boundary bank of the park still survives, as does Ongar Park
Wood, part of its coppiced woodland. Much of the land is now farmed and a golf course is currently
under construction on part of its site.
The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were the heyday of the medieval park. Probably well over
2000 were created in Britain, with Essex known to have had around 160 deer parks up to 1535, at
least 100 of these being recorded in the period 1230 -1350. The density works out al approximately
one per 10 square miles, one of the densest concentrations in England. Unlike Forests, created
mainly by the King (although some nobility - for example the Earls of Richmond and the Bishops
of Winchester and Durham - also had forests), a park could be created by anyone wealthy enough
to be able to afford one. Most early parks were, however, created by the Crown, nobility or the
Church. The establishment of a park required three things - a licence to enclose the ground
(particularly in or near a royal forest), a pale (fence) to keep the animals in and the introduction of
some deer (sometimes other beasts of the chase). A lodge was also required to oversee the day-to-
day working of the park.
Parks would usually be created in a w ooded area, although the deer needed grass as well to graze
on. Parks usually consisted of existing woodland, pasture and even cultivated land. Heath land is
recorded as being emparked at Great Baddow in 1247. There are also mentions of 'launds' - grassy
plains being created in parks by grubbing-out existing woodland.
Larger parks were created early on in this period. It is assumed that it was easier then, particularly
for the Crown, to gather together larger parcels of land. Some of these large early parks may have
had red deer, as well as fallow. Large early parks include Ongar (1,200 acres) mentioned in 1045,
Rayleigh (800 - 1,000 acres) mentioned in 1086, and Havering (1,300 acres) mentioned in 1157.
Havering and Rayleigh were royal parks (of at least 18 in Essex). Havering remained in royal
ownership until disparked. Some of the other royal parks were only briefly held by the Crown.
There are many records of royal grants of deer to start parks in Essex. Henry III gave twenty does
to Hugo de Nev ille to stock his park at Great Hallingbury in 1221. Havering Park (near to what is
now Collier Row) is first mentioned in 1157. As a royal park, Havering supplied deer for the King's
table for feasts and as gifts in the form of venison and also live animals to start other deer parks.
Domestic stock also grazed the park. It was also a significant supplier of timber. In many parks
pollard trees and coppiced woodland -the latterfenced off (compartmented) from browsing livestock
- provided firewood and wood for other uses. In Havering, timber from the park was used in
building works at the Tower of London; in 1278 100 oaks were ordered (with 120 to come from
Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex
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