Monument record 2830 - Royal Deer Park, Kingscliffe

Site of 13th century royal deer park covering 360 hectares to the east of the parish. [Possible maximum extent mapped from Rockingham Forest Project data.]

{1} Enclosed park shown.

{4} No park shown, wood only (maybe Morehay Lawn).

{5} Park part-walled by pales, part-walled (Leland). Over 1600 acres of which one third was woodland in 1565; it was disparked by Lord Tresham Burghley and used by descendants for grazing. In 1592 - granted in fee - farm to Earl of Essex.

{6} The first reference to the royal park is in 1227-31. 1237-42 John de Neville was ordered to hand over to the Bishop of Norwich 10 oaks 'in parco de Clive' to enclose his park of Gaywood. The king's men of Kings Cliffe and Apethorpe were allowed to have common pasture inside the bounds of the forest outside the park. Further grants of timber were made, including to the keeper of the royal fishponds at Kings Cliffe, supplied with four oaks from the park to repair his ponds (1264-8). In 1268-72 Radulph de Cameys was allowed 9 does and 4 bucks to stock his park at Torpel.
Evidently forced labour was employed to fence the King's parks. In 1339 two parts of the park of Kings Cliffe were enclosed by the tenants of Kings Cliffe and Woodnewton who petitioned next year that this should not be taken as a precedent. In 1361 the building of a stone wall 7ft high round 178 acres of park is recorded. In the next reign carpenters and other workmen were 'arrested' to fence Queen Anne's part at Cliffe. It is reckoned that by the C15th only the park walls and the keeper's lodge were being maintained.
Parks were not kept simply for deer. In the late C15th the keeping of herbage and pannage of the parks at Brigstock and Kings Cliffe was leased out for 20 years (26s 8d for Kings Cliffe).
In 1517 the keepership of the park was granted to David Cecil (sergeant-at-arms) and Richard Cecil (page-of-the-chamber) in survivorship. In the C16th it was the largest park in Cliffe Bailiwick, conatining over 1,600 acres, of which one third was woodland in 1565. There were 1,350 oaks recorded in 1564.
In 1592 Elizabeth I granted the park with all herbage, pannage and other appurtenances to Thomas Compton and others as the assigns of the Earl of Essex. On the fall of Essex in 1598 Lord Burghley possessed it and is said to have disparked it.

{7} Dated 1228 onwards, medieval deer park owned by the crown.

{10} The deer park occupied the greater part of the eastern third of the parish. It is first recorded in the early C13th and was the Royal Park for the Royal Hunting Lodge adjacent to the church in Kings Cliffe. Deer from it were frequently granted to owners of other parks. It was not disparked when the lodge was abandoned and Leland described it as "partly waullid with stone and partly palid". The date of its final disparking is not known.
The park covered some 360 hectares of generally flat land east of the village. Its boundaries are shown on a map of c.1600 but these are not now clearly defined along much of the perimeter.

{11} Kingscliffe Park was anciently in the hands of The Crown but custody was give to different persons. In the 32nd year of reign of Edward III (1359) the tenants of Apethorpe and Newton manors were engaged to inclose Kingscliffe at their own cost, the material for that purpose being given them by The Crown. It was disparded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by her treasurer Cecil and is now possessed by his descendants. It contains 1136 acres of forest measure (2a forest measure being equal to 3 statute acres).

{18} The western boundary of the survey area is co-terminus with the parish boundary and forms the easternmost extent of a former royal hunting park.

{19} Further details of the history and boundaries of this park have now been published {6}.

{2} OS Record Card [TL 09 NW 4] for the Royal hunting lodge suggests that the park was eventually disparked by Lord Burghley. No date given.

<1> Saxton, 1576, Map of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire & Rutland, (unchecked) (Map). SNN42112.

<2> 1600 (circa), Kings Cliffe Estate Map?, (unchecked) (Map). SNN7825.

<3> Speed J., 1610, Map of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN559.

<4> Eyre T. (Revised by Jefferys T.), 1779, Map of the County of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN1852.

<5> Pettit P.A.J., 1968, The Royal Forests of Northamptonshire: A Study in Their Economy 1558-1714, (unchecked) (Series). SNN42130.

<6> STEANE J.M., 1975, The Medieval Parks of Northamptonshire, p.227 (checked) (Article). SNN37713.

<7> BURT J., Note, (unchecked) (Index). SNN46182.

<8> Brown R.A.; Colvin H.M.; Taylor, 1963, The History of The Kings' Works (Vol.II), p.970 (unchecked) (Series). SNN3801.

<10> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.60/Site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<11> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.432-3 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<12> Serjeantson R.M.; Ryland W. (Editors), 1906, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.581-82 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100369.

<13> Leland J., 1543, Itinerary, (unchecked) (Series). SNN13988.

<14> Cantor L., 1983, The Medieval Parks of England: A Gazetteer, p.15 (unchecked) (Gazetteer). SNN101447.

<15> 1800 circa, Map of Kings Cliffe (BEO M119), (unchecked) (Map). SNN106963.

<16> 1813, Kings Cliffe Enclosure Map (NRO Map 2860), (unchecked) (Map). SNN106964.

<17> Foard G.; Hall D.;Britnell T., 2004, The Historic Landscape of Rockingham Forest, p.88 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109359.

<18> Holmes M., 1994, An Archaeological Evaluation at KSR International Works, Nassington, Northants, 1994, p.3 (checked) (Report). SNN76731.

<19> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 190/Site 6 (Series). SNN77382.

<20> LEE, E S., 1991, RCHME Recorder, Lee E S, 13-Aug-1991 RCHM Recording (Note). SNN114837.

<21> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire I (North-East), 890485 (Archive). SNN113295.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:33PM