THE No. 2.] OR, Devon and Cornwall Mote-Book. JULY, 1884. DEER PARKS OF DEVON AND DE CORNWALL. BY J. P. B. PART I. DEVON. EVON has always been famous for its deer parks, and even now, when the olden glories of the parks have departed, there are only three counties which contain a larger number--York, Gloucester, and Stafford. The west and south-west of England has indeed from earliest Norman times been rich in parkland. In Devonshire there are at present, as nearly as I can discover, some fifteen or sixteen parks containing deer. So far as I know, every county of England, save Cambridge, contains red or fallow deer. Some shires, like York and Gloucester, have between twenty and thirty parks; others have six or eight, and some only one or two. For the last three centuries there has been a steady decline in the number of parks containing deer. Queen Elizabeth's reign was the golden age of sport, and there were then some 700 parks sown thickly about the country. Now there are barely half that number, and the tendency is still to decrease. As the necessity for cultivating a larger area becomes more urgent, the parks grow more sparse; and during the present century a very large number of these beautiful enclosures, for which England has has always been renowned, have been disparked, and their sites cultivated or used for pasture. The Cromwellian civil wars ruined the glory of the English parks. The deer were killed and eaten, the trees cut down for the use of the navy, and the fences burned for firewood. When Charles II. at length ascended the throne, the Royal parks were so empty of deer, that the King conferred a baronetcy upon [Vol. 4. a gentleman in the Isle of Ely who made him a present of some. Many cruel reprisals were practised during and after the struggles between Cavalier and Roundhead. When, shortly after the death of Cromwell, the Royal cause finally triumphed, the parks of the country gentlemen who had assisted the Parliament were emptied of their deer to replenish the denuded parks of the Royalists. But, despite presents of deer and the importation of a large number from the Continent, many parks remained empty, and were given up to the plough. The civil wars, however, only completed what the extravagance of the Elizabethan courtiers had begun. Under the rule of Elizabeth, England grew for the first time really prosperous, money became plentiful and the usual extravagance resulted. Scores of old landed families were ruined, and their parks were either sold or given up to the growing of beef and mutton. More "new people" took their places among the English county families during the Elizabethan period than at any other time until the present century. I cannot pretend to say how old is the practice of keeping deer in a semi-domesticated condition, either as ornaments to a domain, or for the purpose of sport; but there is some presumptive evidence that the Saxon Thanes were accustomed to take their pleasure in their parks, for at the compilation of Domesday there were in England 31 parks containing deer. There could be no better proof of the mutations which deer parks have undergone than the fact, that although we can recognise almost every parish mentioned in Domesday, it is no longer possible satisfactorily to identify a single park which it enumerates. There is some reason to think, although the evidence is incomplete and unsatisfactory, that Lord Abergavenny's park at Eridge, in Kent, is the "Reredfelle" of Domesday. If the identity could be proved, there would no longer be any room for doubt which is the oldest deer park in this country. It is often assumed that Woodstock, one of the endowments of the first Duke of Marlborough from the nation, is the oldest; but, as a matter of fact, there are several which were licensed earlier. Many of our existing parks were enclosed during the hundred years which followed the compilation of Domesday, while others have been formed within the last few years. The fate which has followed the deer parks all over the country has not spared those in Devonshire. Three hundred years ago there were more than fifty parks in the county; now, as I have said, hardly one-third of them remain. Many of these extinct parks were of great antiquity, and one of them, at Winkley, in Tiverton Hundred, was mentioned in Domesday. Probably it was an old park then, for I find no later mention of it. In a county which has from first to last contained so large a number of these enclosures, there is, of course, a very large quantity of disparked land. It is only possible to make mention of some of the more noteworthy of those parks which have ceased to exist. There was Umberley, the seat of the Willingtons, in the parish of Atherington, which has long been disparked. Testock, near Barnstaple, the ancient seat of the once mighty Bourchiers, Earls of Bath, a family whose name knows its place no more, also had a park. When it disappeared I do not know precisely; but it was in existence in 1575. The park at Mohuns Ottery, which belonged to the Carews, has for generations been under cultivation. Colriche has shared the fate of Chulmleigh, which appertained to the great Devonshire house of Courtenay. This latter park ceased to exist more than 250 years ago. The Marquess of Exeter's park at Colcombe is another of the long list of parks of which the history alone remains. The park of another great family, the Marquesses of Dorset, however, still exists at Shute. It extends to about 100 acres, and usually contains from 100 to 150 head of fallowi deer. Unless some radical change should be made in those ancient and interesting forms. of land-tenure which still exists more or less in every county, Shute is likely long to preserve its park; for the estate is held under the Crown upon the tenure of keeping at least ten head of deer in the park. Shute is, I think, the only deer park remaining in western Devon. There is no wall or pale surrounding this interesting park; but it is fenced in by an earthen bank, ten feet high, topped with alders. At Crediton the Bishops of Exeter long had a park which has now disappeared. Neither of the two parks which existed at Tiverton in the time of Charles I. now remains. A tragic story is connected with the old park of Annery, at Monkleigh, near Bideford. The park has gone, but its story has often been told. In the time of Henry V., Annery was the country-seat of Sir William Hankford, Chief Justice of England. When the Courts were not sitting, Sir William was wont to take his ease in that remote corner of England, where suitors troubled not, and where news of the disastrous times was long in coming. The Chief Justice seems to have been a worthy and patriotic man, and he continually lamented the troubles which had fallen upon his country. He grew tired of life at length, and made no secret of his desire for death. His conscience would not allow him to commit suicide; but he came to his end by what was, nevertheless, practically self-murder. He gave his keeper strict orders to shoot anyone whom he might find in the park at night, unless they could give satisfactory accounts of themselves. That same night Sir William, of set purpose, went into the park, and when challenged by the keeper made no answer, and was shot dead. Among other extinct Devonshire parks may be mentioned Inwardleigh, which was a park in the possession of the Coffin family before Edward III. ascended the throne; Hartland, where there were two parks belonging to the Abbots of Hartland; Molland, the seat of the Bottreaux family; Uffculme, of the Cogans; Lyneham, near Plympton, of the Crockers; King's Nympton, of the Pollards; Langtree, of the Browns; Wembury, of the Heles; Ashton, of the Chudleighs. One of the finest existing deer parks in Devonshire is that of Werrington. It may, indeed, be claimed as a Cornish park, for the river Attery, which flows through it, divides the two counties. Werrington park is wild, beautifully diversified, and heavily timbered. Its extent is 352 acres, and at one time it contained as many as 630 fallow deer. Werrington must always be interesting to Devonshire men, for with it is associated the great name of Sir Francis Drake. The vanquisher of the Armada made a park at Werrington, but, as he had not obtained the Royal license to do so, he was much troubled by trespassers who declared that it was no park at all. Therefore, on the 28th of February, 1631, he petitioned Charles I. for a license to enclose, which was duly granted. Earl Fortescue's park at Castle Hill is 153 acres in extent, and usually contains about 300 fallow deer. This park is probably of considerable antiquity, although it not marked upon Saxton's Elizabethan maps, in which the then existing deer parks are carefully indicated. Lord Clifford of Chudleigh's well-stocked park at Ugbrooke, for natural beauty, is a worthy fellow to Werrington. Bicton Park dates from the time of Queen Elizabeth. Sir Robert Denning enclosed it during that reign at the time that he rebuilt the old house. It is a small park, the area not exceeding 100 acres, and it contains a not very numerous herd of fallow deer. Lord Poltimore's park, at Poltimore is undoubtedly ancient; but it is not known when it was enclosed. It was, however, in existence as long ago as 1575, as we know from contemporary records. One of the most venerable of Devonshire deer parks has disappeared within the last five and twenty years. Great Fulford was originally the seat of the ancient family to whom it gave its name. was looked upon as an old park even in 1463, when Sir Baldwin Fulford, Knight, was attainted and the estate granted to John Staplehill. Fulford was disparked and divided into farms about the year 1860. Shobrooke Park, or Little Fulford, as it is sometimes called, is almost a survival of the old park, for the deer which it contains are said to have been there more than two centuries. Its present extent is little more than 200 acres, and the deer number some 150. The Earl of Devon's park at Powderham is exceedingly fine. The scenery is eminently park-like, the enclosure is studded with beautiful timber; while the waters of the Exe add the greatest of all charins to the landscape-the charm of running water. Here, as at Mount Edgcumbe, there is a considerable herd of deer. Among eminently beautiful Devonshire parks, Whyddon, in the parish of Moretonhampstead, occupies a foremost place. It It is difficult to compile an entirely accurate list of parks in a great county, but I think the following almost, if not quite, exhausts the deer parks still remaining in Devon:-Bicton, Castle Hill, Clovelly, Heanton, Hall, Killerton, Little Fulford, Mount Edgcumbe, Newnham, Poltimore, Powderham, Stevenstone, Shute, Ugbrooke, Werrington, Whyddon. (Reprinted, by permission, from the Western Morning News.) ܀ BUDDELL, BUDDLE, BUDLEIGH, OR S OME difference of opinion having existed as to the proper title of the umbrageous lane which connects Dunsford and Okehampton toll-gates, in the parish of St. Thomas, the writer would suggest, that beyond all question, "Budgell Lane" is its correct designation. It is well-known that the family of Eustace Budgell (the famous, but somewhat licentious, contributor to the Spectator, who was on his mother's side a cousin of the celebrated Addison) for many years possessed a property in St. Thomas, and that their estate, which is said to have produced an annual income of £950, was lost by the essayist in the South Sea Bubble," shortly after the unhappy close of his brilliant career as a member of the Irish Parliament and Comptroller-General in the Sister Isle. The title-deeds of properties in the vicinity of St. Thomas' Church, on both sides of Cowick Street, recite the names of former proprietors, and in these the names of Eustace Budgell, sen., his widow (Elizabeth Budgell), and Gilbert Budgell, Doctor of Divinity (respectively grandparents and father of the gifted but unfortunate writer, who committed suicide by drowning himself in the Thames, 1737) frequently appear. Through the courtesy of Mr. John James, of Rio Cottage, Cowick Street, the writer has had access to a deed in which it is repeatedly stated, that a "walled courtilage" or enclosure anciently extended in a westerly direction from St. Thomas' Churchyard (clearly the old churchyard prior to any enlargement towards the west) as far as the old Vicarage garden, "in which stood a mansion formerly occupied by the Rev. Gilbert Budgell, Doctor of Divinity." The same documents, and also the land-tax papers bearing upon the locality, confirm the view that the "Budgles" (as they are some. times styled in the tax papers) owned land on the north side of Cowick Street, opposite the present Vicarage, which extended as far as what is called "Buddle Lane," in a westerly direction. There is therefore little doubt that the Budgells gave their name to the pretty shady lane which separated their lands from the Barley Estate, now owned by Sir Charles Brune Graves-Sawle, Baronet, but in those days the seat of his ancestor, Sir Thomas Carew, Knight of Barley, Recorder of Exeter, was buried with much lamentation in who " St. Thomas, 29th July, 1681," and whose daughter (Grace) married Francis Sawle, Esq., and conveyed the estate into that family. The Rev. Gilbert Budgell, D.D., above referred to, was Rector of Symondsbury, in the Diocese of Salisbury, from 1684 to 1695, but died and was buried at Uplyme (his own living), in the Diocese of Exeter, where for many years he discharged the duties of his sacred calling. His son-Eustace, jun.-the essayist, was baptised at Symondsbury, September 2nd, 1686; and his daughter-Elizabeth-(as we learn from Burke's Peerage, article "Graves Barony") married Rear - Admiral Thomas Graves, 1723, and became the mother of Thomas first Baron Graves, direct ancestor of the present Lord Graves. His wife was Anne, daughter of Dr. William Gulston, Bishop of Bristol, who was his immediate predecessor in the living of Symondsbury. În St. Thomas' Register of Burials there is evidence that the Rev. Dr. Budgell constantly resided in the parish from 1695 to 1707, and he is also mentioned in connexion with the funeral of his mother (Elizabeth Budgell), 1691, when the Rev. Prebendary John Reynolds (grandfather of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated painter), instituted 1662, was still Vicar of St. Thomas. These facts would seem to confirm the tradition alluded to by Dr. Oliver; namely, that several of the essays contributed by Eustace Budgell, jun., to the Spectator were composed in a summer-house which stood on the borders of Budgell's Pond, near St. Thomas' Church. Being strongly in favour of preserving historic names and ancient land-marks in parishes, may the writer venture respectfully to suggest to the popular Chairman and Local Board of St. Thomas that they should immediately look into this matter, and, if satisfied of the correctness of the proofs which he has advanced, erect a sign-board, at at each end of "Budgell Lane" by which the cause of euphony will be served, and the corruptions which have gathered round an ancient name and obscured its historical significance effectually removed. Oxford has its "Addison's Walk "-let the worthy parochial authorities enquire whether St. Thomas has not also its "Budgell Lane,” in memory of the family of his gifted, but less honoured kinsman, whose literary aid was once so freely accorded to him in the pages of the Spectator. It may interest some of your antiquarian readers to know that a monumental slab in St. Thomas' Church, in the rear of the pulpit, to the memory of the daughters and infant son of Eustace Budgell, sen., of St. Thomas (freeman of the city of Exeter, who died October, 1680) bears the following mutilated inscription:-"(Hic) jacent Dorothea et Margarita Eustathii Budgell (filla) de Sancto Thoma, prima, tabe consumpta, obiit ultimo Marti 1689, altera, quantum dimissam sororem deflere non possit, post tres dies, et ipsa morte (erepta) Ricardus ejusdem Eustathii filius, obiit Dec., 1657." In close proximity to this tomb is that of Rev. Prebendary (John) Reynolds, M.A., who at the time of his decease, in July, A.D. 1692, had been 30 years vicar of St. Thomas. He was the son of Joshua and Margaret Reynolds (who are also interred beneath St. Thomas' Church) and by his two wives, whose virtues are commemorated upon the tomb, appears to have left four sons, (John, Joshua, Samuel, and Thomas) and two daughters, (Elizabeth and Mary); John, the only son of his first wife, baptized in St. Thomas,' July 9th, 1671, became Canon of Exeter Cathredral, and Head Master of Exeter Grammar School, where he founded and liberally endowed the Reynolds' Exhibitions, &c. Samuel the sec ond son by his second wife ("Elizabeth Aynsworth, of the parish of St. Thomas,") baptized in St. Thomas', February 13th, 1681, also took Holy Orders, and became Head Master of Plympton Grammar School. Of the younger sons of this divine, one (upon whom was conferred the Christian name of his uncle and great-grandfather,) became Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous painter, first President of the Royal Academy-Born at Plympton St. Maurice, July 16th, 1720, and buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, 23rd February, 1792. Rev. Prebendary Reynolds was a man of cultivated mind, and evidence is not wanting of the fact that an intimate friendship subsisted between him and the Recorder of Exeter, above alluded to, whose wife (styled in the Registers "the Lady Elizabeth Carew,") erected, in 1657, the "Carew" or "Barley Aisle,” on the north of St. Thomas', when the church was rebuilt on the old site after the destructive fire of January 30th, 1645. 46 In reference to the obsequies of that gentleman, he records in the Register of Burials:My most Honored and singular good friend Sir Thomas Carew, Knight, died July 25th, 1681. "Quis funera fando, temperet a lachrymis." In 1684, when pews were erected in the nave of Exeter Cathedral, and that portion of the church opened for public worship,Prebendary Reynolds was the appointed preacher. In his sermon on that occasion, he thus alludes to the desecration of the Cathedral in the days of Oliver Cromwell: Before the introduction of printing and cheap newspapers, our ancestors, following in the wake of their fathers, inherited religion and politics alike; there was a party of progress, and a party that preferred to stand still; both fortified themselves by family alliances, but the party of action, quickened by Wyclif, prevailed and turned the current of our history. Wyclif's patrons, John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, and John de Montacute third Earl of Salisbury, were distinguished ancestors of Queen Elizabeth, who, with her Devonshire descent, inherited Lollardy, a drawback with the Papists, though the descent helped Devonshiremen with Elizabeth. Accounts of Montacute's doings and of his penance are given in the Chronicle of St. Alban's and in the works of Drake's friend, Fox the Martyrologist. His daughter, Anne Montacute Duchess of Exeter, had, by Sir Richard Hankford of Devonshire, her first husband, an heiress married to Thomas Earl of Ormond and Baron Rochfort, whose second daughter and coheiress married Anne Boleyn's grandfather. The Devonshire estates passed by the marriage of the eldest daughter to St. Leger, the Rochfort title went to Anne Boleyn's unfortunate brother. As Francis Drake told Camden that he was the godson of Francis Russell Earl of Bedford, we have some data for determining his age. John Lord Russell, while serving abroad in 1545, left his son Francis, aged seventeen or eighteen, on his newly acquired estate at Tavistock and under charge of Edmund Tremayne, once M.P. for Plymouth, whose father was very friendly with the Rev. William Drake, vicar of Whitechurch, adjoining Tavistock, where Drake was born in or about 1546, as we independently infer from the evidence of the authentic portrait taken from life, in his 43rd year, and engraved by a Dutch hand after the defeat of the Armada,-Stow also gives this date. Edmund Tremayne who lost two sons in their infancy, each named Francis, was through life on such terms of intimacy with Francis Russell that he made him overseer of his will, and divulged state secrets to him when Earl of Bedford, for which he had to apologize to Walsingham. Tremayne assured Walsingham on another occasion that he regarded Francis Drake and |