Glossary of Park Terms
Aper - boar
Arcus-bow
Averria - mentioned in 1229 in Havering Park, the term seems to refer to domestic rather than wild
swine, both of which arc recorded in the park at this time
Avesagium - payment for pannage
Ballista - crossbow
Bank and ditch - parks often had a boundary bank with an internal ditch to keep animals in.
Sometimes a significant earth-work as at Ongar Great Park, in other cases, as in the Tudor Fairmead
Park, no trace of a boundary bank and ditch can be found. The bank was usually surmounted with
the park pale (see fossatum)
Battue - The hue and cry that drove the deer from their enclosure, the paroke, towards the hunting
party in a Tudor ritual hunt
Berner - (also Bernarius) - keeper of dogs
Bovettus - (also bouettis) - a young ox
Brake - brake fern or bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), rarely recorded in park literature. It was
usually collected in the autumn for animal litter and for covering root vegetables to keep the frost
off. Its main use for deer was as cover for the fawns. In 1331 - 2 bracken was sold from Rayleigh
Park
Brocket - young male red deer
Browse - branches cut from pollards as a supplementary feed for the deer
Buck - a mature male fallow deer
Buckhay - an enclosure for holding deer (see also deerhay)
Buckstall - a device for trapping deer
Cablicium - fallen wood
Capreolus - roebuck
Clap-gate - a self-closing swing-gate that prevented deer and other livestock from straying from a
park. Clap-gate Lane at Waltham Abbey possibly commemorates such a gate on the northern edge
of Waltham Park
Compartment - an enclosed area within a park, often with a boundary bank with an external ditch
(to keep animals out). Coppiced woodland is the usual reason for a permanent enclosure. Temporary
enclosures (fenced) could be made to separate livestock
Crotties - deer droppings
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Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex