Glossary of Park Terms
Saltory - a deer-leap (see back)
Slot - a deer's foot-print
Sorel - (later sore) - a young male fallow deer
Staddle - tree left in cleared woodland, or left to grow on when the rest of the coppice has been
cut
Stag - a male red deer
Standing - an observation tower from which a ritual hunt could be viewed, as in Queen Elizabeth's
Hunting Lodge. Probably also built in other parks as a raised observation platform to oversee the
park
Stew pond - (also stank) - retaining pond for holding fish until required for the table
Teazer- smaller dog used to flush-out game or drive deer forward for the greyhounds Io pursue
Tiercel - (also Tercel or Tassel) - a male falcon or hawk; a 'tercel gentle' was a male peregrine
falcon
Timber- some parks, such as Havering, were important suppliers of structural timber for building.
Timber from Havering went to the Tower of London, old St Paul's Cathedral and possibly even
into the great hall of Westminster Palace
Toils - heavy-duty nets used to catch deer alive, either for subsequent slaughter or for transporting
alive to another park
Underwood - coppiced woodland, compartmented in a deer park and protected from browsing
animals by a ditch and bank with a fence or hedge
Vadletti - generic term for huntsmen, it was strictly speaking a term for varlcts, as opposed to the
senior huntsmen in the royal hunting establishment's hierarchy
Wall - because of the expense, parks were rarely walled. Exceptions include Richmond Park,
with several miles of wall and in Essex, Audley End, Braxted and Hylands (partly)
Warren - an area specifically for rearing rabbits
Water-gate - mentioned for Havering Park in 1609; presumably a gate that allowed the parker to
regulate the water level in ponds or lakes
Wild-swine- (also wild boar) - another royal beast, largely extinct in the wild by the 15th century,
but kept on in some parks; in Havering and also Chalkney Wood, in the latter up to the 1520s -
1530s
Wood-pasture - (also silva-pastilis) - a land-use type characteristic of the medieval period and
in its simplest form, where the grazing of animals was combined with the production of wood and
timber. Broadly covering ancient royal Forests, chases, wooded commons and parks
Wyppys - one of a number of diseases that afflicted deer in the medieval period. Others included
garget, rotte and murrayn
60 Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex