Parks with particular reference to Essex
Hadleigh Park as well). In 1217 oaks had been ordered for works at the old St Paul's Cathedral.
Other, lesser uses, of oak from Havering Park included that for construction or repairs to various
other buildings, including the King's houses at Havering in the early 13* century and the construction
of a chapel at Hornchurch in 1313. In 1220 Oak from Havering was given to make two refectory
tables at Barking Abbey. Oak is also recorded for laths and shingles. Much dead wood was given as
firewood. Later, in 1609, timber from Havering is recorded as being used for repairs to the 'Clapgate,
dccrlcapc, water-gate and lodges'. In 1652, when Havering was finally disparkcd. the big trees
remaining were marked for the use of the Navy.
Early parks, such as Hadleigh, may have been considered to be an integral part of a much larger
estate. Hadleigh Castle (built outside the park) in the 13th century was surrounded by a demesne
fann, with arable, meadow and pasture, a vineyard, coppiced woodland, a coastal fishery and a
water-mill, as well as the deer park. It was only later that deer parks came to be seen in isolation, in
their own right, not just as part of a utilitarian enterprise, but as great symbols of the power, status
and wealth of their owners (particularly as. from the fourteenth century onwards, more and more
grand houses came to be built within the confines of the park pale). The role of parks began to
change from being a utilitarian supplier of venison to the setting for a splendid mansion.
During the Dissolution, the confiscation of monastic estates and their subsequent re-distribution
amongst the faithful courtiers of Henry VIII caused probably a third of England to change ownership.
The vast land holdings of Lord Richard Rich made it easy for him to enlarge parks, create new
parks, or consolidate his ownership of existing medieval parks, as he did at his seat of Leez Priory
near Littley Green. His three parks clustered around Leez Priory alone totalled almost 1,500 acres
(625 ha.).
Henry VIII confiscated numerous parks from the church, as well as creating new ones. In south-
west Essex alone, he appropriated Copped Hall and created new parks at Fairmead in Epping
Forest, Waltham and Nazeing. Elizabeth I is said to have inherited at least 180 royal parks. Perhaps
the most important and enduring legacy of Henry VIII is Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge (which
was actually neither Queen Elizabeth's nor a Hunting Lodge) built around 1542 - 43 as a Great
Standing when Henry emparked Fairmead in Epping Forest. Parokes, a complex series of internal
enclosures, were also constructed at Fairmead at this time. They w ere probably intended to control
the numbers of deer being entered for a stage-managed Tudor ritual hunt.
The practice of siting mansions in parks also led to gardens being created around the house and as
the fashion of the time led to a change of emphasis from a utilitarian enterprise producing venison,
to visual amenity, the actual landscape of parks began to change. The early gardens, with their
parterres, knot gardens and topiary, in some cases came to be extended into the park, with avenues
of trees and later elaborate formal plantings of trees. One of the earliest avenues of trees axial to a
house was planted at New Hall, Boreham, in 1624 by John Tradescant, Keeper of His Majesty's
Gardens to Charles I. The avenue, a mile long of 1,000 lime trees in four rows, each of 250 trees
some 3ft in diameter, were felled and sold to a Chelmsford timber merchant in 1800. A partial
replacement avenue has been planted.
It is thought that between 1570 and 1620, more new country houses were built in parts of England
than at any other period of time. In Essex, the huge Jacobean 'palace' of Audley End near Saffron
Walden was created between 1605 and 1614 by Thomas Howard, grandson of Sir Thomas Audley,
who had acquired the Benedictine Walden Abbey (founded c. 1140) and park in 1538. Sir Thomas
Audley adapted the Abbey for domestic use. but his grandson Thomas Howard subsequently
4
Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex