An account of the construction of the King's 'newe parke' adjacent to the recently dissolved Waltham
Abbey in 1542, mentions the inclosing and paling of the park - the pales, posts and rails coining
from Cheton Wood. Part of the boundary of WalfhamPark may also have been partly hedged, since
the 'gatherying of quickesetts for the dyche by the parke syde' is also mentioned. This is possibly
a reference to that part of the park that runs by Cobbins Brook which, because of the meandering
and bank erosion, would probably have been difficult to pale. The Hylands Park of 1777 was
completely surrounded by a pale, as was the enlarged park of 1838 when much of the oak paling
was renewed.
Park walls, presumably because of the expense and time involved in construction, are a rarity.
Audley End's wall was extant in 1676. but was reported to be ''falling Downe in many places" in
1701. Braxted's wall at 3.4 miles long completely surrounds the park and was built 1825 - 31 in
soft red brick. This too had collapsed in places, but like Audley End, is now in a good state of repair
with sections replaced and earlier piers built to hold-up the leaning wall. Hylands wall, almost a
mile long, was originally built c.1841 by John Attwood along the boundary of the London Road,
probably for privacy reasons, rather than to retain livestock. This wall was re-built in the 1930s
within the boundary of the park when the London Road was dualled. A circa 180ft section of the
southern end of this wall collapsed in 2002 (reinstated in 2003). Shortgrove has a later low brick-
capped flint wall.
In many cases the pale stood on top of a bank and ditch, often good evidence where the park is now
gone. The Saxon Ongar Great Park, now a scheduled monument, has an imposingly massive ditch
and bank, the bank in places being four to five feet or more high. Braxted has a curious boundary
in that part of the length of the north wall is followed by a deep ditch, the far side topped with
hornbeam stools that have laterally extended branches to form a barrier. The ditch is six or seven
feet deep in places (at one point I believe nearer ten). The Braxted Park of 1831 was much enlarged
in the west and east from the park shown on the Chapman and Andre map of 1777.
Weald Park was fenced with a cleft-oak pale as late as 1933 (supplied by Brace of High Ongar),
although it was apparently largely destroyed in World War 11.
Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex
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