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.
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
landscape. Where a deer park survives well and is well-documented or
associated with other significant remains, its principal features are normally
identified as nationally important.
Details
The monument includes a continuous section of park pale and ditch which form
the surviving northern side of Ruislip Park. The section is roughly 1.5km
long and at the eastern end runs into a section of later medieval earthwork.
Ruislip Park was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as a 'Park for
Woodland Beasts' and is one of only two such Parks in Middlesex mentioned in
the survey, the other being Old Park, Enfield. Pinner Deer Park, which is
also a scheduled ancient monument, is first recorded in 1273.
The Park originally enclosed an area of about 340 acres immediately to the
north of St Martin's church at the junction of the roads now known as Bury
Street and Eastcote Road. It was oval in plan and the River Pinn crossed it
from west to east. About half of the original Park is still open space,
partly in Park Wood and the remainder along the edge of the River Pinn. About
two thirds of the original park boundary pale have been lost under modern
development but this section from just north of Broadwood Avenue in the west
through Park Wood survives as a clearly visible earthwork of varying height.
The earthwork consists of a substantial earthen bank about 1 metre high and
up to 4 metres wide with a ditch towards the outside (north). Although the
ditch is partially infilled and water filled in places, it measures between
3m and 6m wide where visible. Although there are a number of sections where
the bank has been levelled and where original entrances may once have stood,
the buried remains of the ditch and the terminal ends will survive so that
the entire surviving section is of archaeological importance. The park pale
is known to have been repaled, ie. re-fenced, in 1436 by the then owners
King's College. This shows a continued use of the park for containing deer
and other animals four hundred years after it was originally built.
The Park is believed by some to have been established by the Anglo-Saxon
Manor of Wlward Wit at the time of Edward the Confessor, and to be associated
with an Anglo-Saxon manor which was possibly on the site of the later motte
and bailey (also a scheduled ancient monument).
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
30902
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
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
