The Bishop of Winchester's Deer Parks in Hampshire, 1200-1400
Proc. Hampsk. Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 44, 1988, 67-86 THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER'S DEER PARKS IN HAMPSHIRE, 1200-1400 By EDWARD ROBERTS ABSTRACT he had the right to hunt deer. Whereas parks were relatively small and enclosed by a park The medieval bishops of Winchester held the richest see in pale, chases were large, unfenced hunting England which, by the thirteenth century, comprised over fifty grounds which were typically the preserve of manors and boroughs scattered across six southern counties lay magnates or great ecclesiastics. In Hamp- (Swift 1930, ix,126; Moorman 1945, 169; Titow 1972, shire the bishop held chases at Hambledon, 38). The abundant income from his possessions allowed the Bishop's Waltham, Highclere and Crondall bishop to live on an aristocratic scale, enjoying luxuries (Cantor 1982, 56; Shore 1908-11, 261-7; appropriate to the highest nobility. Notable among these Deedes 1924, 717; Thompson 1975, 26). He luxuries were the bishop's deer parks, providing venison for also enjoyed the right of free warren, which great episcopal feasts and sport for royal and noble huntsmen. usually entitled a lord or his servants to hunt More deer parks belonged to Winchester than to any other see in the country. Indeed, only the Duchy of Lancaster and the small game over an entire manor, but it is clear Crown held more (Cantor et al 1979, 78). that the bishop's men were accustomed to The development and management of these parks were hunt deer in his free warrens. For example, recorded in the bishopric pipe rolls of which 150 survive from between 1246 and 1248 they hunted red deer the period between 1208-9 and 1399-1400 (Beveridge in the warrens of Marwell and Bishop's Sutton 1929).
[Show full text]