A HISTORY OF SURREY UNGULATA 35. Red Deer. Cervus elaphus, Linn. The red deer was a native of the primeval forests of England. Their remains have been found together with those of the mammoth in the gravel deposits of the Thames valley, and no doubt it roamed free all over Surrey until the time of the Conquest, when the Normans arrived on the scene, with their love of hunt- ing, and formed the first parks for that pur- pose, enclosing large tracts of the country and making the most stringent laws regarding them. In the twelfth century Henry II. re- duced the whole of Surrey to the state of a forest, and converted the royal manor of Guild- ford into a deer park. This excessive extension of the royal forest of Windsor was complained of by the county ; and under Richard I., John, Henry III., Edward I. and Edward III. successive and at last successful efforts were made which ended in reducing the bounds of Windsor Forest to the boundaries of the counties of Surrey and Berkshire, but in leaving the Surrey parishes west of the Wey and north of the Hog's Back as a purlieu of the forest, known as the Surrey bailiwick. 1 Here the red deer were numerous, not only in enclosed parks, but all over the country. Keepers were appointed whose business it was to drive them back to Windsor Forest. This was not always done, it was probably impossible, and the wild red deer are continually spoken of as present in the county. A stag and a hind were ordered in 1519 to be delivered yearly to Sir Chris- topher More from the Surrey bailiwick of Windsor Forest. 8 In Queen Elizabeth's reign the Surrey bailiwick was practically treated as forest, and the deer were preserved there. On April 24, 1573, the Earl of Leicester wrote to William More and Edward Docwra, Esquires, appointing them to view the deer in the walks of the Surrey bailiwick of Windsor Forest, and to certify him of their numbers and state. 8 Disorders and poaching in Surrey are continu- ally spoken of in the Loseley Papers as calling for the interference of the verderers of Wind- sor Forest, whence probably they include deer stealing. This offence is specified on one occasion, July (no day), 1604.* The red deer were common in the royal and many other 1 Manwood, Treatise and Discourse of the Laws of the Forest, 1598, pp. 243-86. 2 Loseley MSS., August i, 1519, ix. p. 9. s Op. cit. April 24, 1573, i. p. 82.
- Op. cit. July, 1604, i. p. 50.
parks, whence no doubt they often escaped. 5 A curious monument to John Selwyn, the royal keeper at Oatlands, in Walton church, represents him astride upon a deer and plung- ing a knife into its throat. The feat is said to have been performed in the presence of Elizabeth. 6 James I. hunted in Surrey in the open country outside the royal parks. 7 He was fond of hunting deer, as we learn from the number of references to the sport in the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, and did all in his power to preserve them. In a letter from Secretary Conway to the justices of the peace of Surrey, 8 dated April 5, 1624, temp. James I., we read, ' requests them to put the laws into execution as far as possible against Taddy Farnwill, who has killed red deer in Windsor Forest (in the bailiwick of Surrey), the king being very particular to have justice done in such cases.' In the time of Charles I. the deer became so plentiful in west Surrey that the inhabi- tants sent a petition, dated 1630, to Henry, Earl of Holland, lord warden, asking for his help as the deer had impoverished the land to a very great extent by eating all the grass and corn. We also learn that Charles I. had two stags turned down in Sir Francis Leight's park at Addington for his disport. 9 At the time of the Commonwealth the soldiers killed many of the deer and tore down the park fences, and those that escaped the soldiers took to the woods again. We find that in 1652 red deer were kept in Hampton Court Park. 10 When Charles II. came to the throne the royal parks were nearly denuded of deer, so he collected them from various private enclosures to restock his own herds. In a letter dated March 7, 1662, an order for a warrant was made to pay Sir Lionel Tolle- mache, Bart., 300 for feeding the deer lately brought to Richmond Great Park for the king s disport. 11 Charles II. also imported a large number of both red and fallow deer from France to replenish his parks of Richmond and Sher- Op cit. August 26, 1583, x. p. 93, an d Au 8 ust 31, 1583, vi. p. 27. . 6 Grose, in the Antiquarian Repertory, vol. i. p. 27, tells the story. The monument is extant. 7 Loseley MSS., June 8, 1608, i. p. 55- Cat. S. Papers, Domestic, p. 208, 1624. 8 Op. cit. p. 294, 1624. 10 Op. cit. p. 349. 1652. 11 Op. cit. p. 302, 1662. 224
