Reasons for Designation
Deer parks were areas of land, usually enclosed, set aside and equipped for
the management and hunting of deer and other animals. They were generally
located in open countryside on marginal land or adjacent to a manor house,
castle or palace. They varied in size between 3ha and 1600ha and usually
comprised a combination of woodland and grassland which provided a mixture of
cover and grazing for deer. Parks could contain a number of features,
including hunting lodges (often moated), a park-keeper's house, rabbit
warrens, fishponds and enclosures for game, and were usually surrounded by a
park pale, a massive fenced or hedged bank often with an internal ditch. Some
parks were superimposed on existing fieldscapes and their laying-out may have
involved the demolition of occupied farms and villages. Occasionally a park
may contain the well preserved remains of this earlier landscape. Although a
small number of parks may have been established in the Anglo-Saxon period, it
was the Norman aristocracy's taste for hunting that led to the majority being
constructed. The peak period for the laying-out of parks, between AD 1200 and
1350, coincided with a time of considerable prosperity amongst the nobility.
From the 15th century onwards few parks were constructed and by the end of the
17th century the deer park in its original form had largely disappeared. The
original number of deer parks nationally is unknown but probably exceeded
3000. Many of these survive today, although often altered to a greater or
lesser degree. They were established in virtually every county in England, but
are most numerous in the West Midlands and Home Counties. Deer parks were a
long-lived and widespread monument type. Today they serve to illustrate an
important aspect of the activities of medieval nobility and still exert a
powerful influence on the pattern of the modern countryside. Those deer parks
which survive well, are well-documented, and contain within their boundaries
significant well-preserved evidence of earlier landscapes, are normally
identified as nationally important.
Details
The monument is a c.130m length of dyke and ditch at Hollins Scar which formed
a boundary, or pale, of a medieval deer park. It is aligned east-west. It
measures up to a maximum of 4.2m wide by 1.1m high and is flanked by a ditch
up to 1m wide on at least one and occasionally both sides. The dyke is one of
seven lengths of dyke associated with the deer park at, or adjacent to, Cow
Green, Crosby Gill and Hazel Moor. Additionally, five medieval shielings are
located in close proximity to lengths of the dyke.
The deer park was enclosed in 1336 by the Threlkeld family of Crosby Lodge,
then known as Crosby Gill, and extended to about 700 acres. During medieval
times it was owned successively by the families of Pickering, Wilson and
Rawlinson.
A modern field boundary running along the dyke is excluded from the
scheduling but the ground beneath it is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
22506
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
