Monument record MDO1261 - Hooke Park, Hooke

(Centred ST 529021) The medieval deer park of Hooke Park was certainly in being by 1338. It lay north of the village and not at Hooke Park, perhaps an 18th century creation, marked on OS maps. A large part of the parks perimeter is still traceable (see illus. card). At the foot of Park Pond (ST 53400154) a hedge comes down from the west and is believed to be the line of the park pale. More convincing remains can be seen beyond Hill Buildings (ST 53120156) where the hedge continues to the corner of Westcombe Coppice. Along the northern edge of the wood the park pale survives as an open grassy bank with a shallow ditch on the inside. From a width of 11' at the north east corner of the wood the bank increased to 18' at the north west but it is never more than 4' high. The bank then turns northwards and for 400 yds forms the east side of a bridle path. Beyond the path the bank turns north east (ST 52380260) and is at its more impressive i.e. 22' wide and runs unbroken to the main road. Of the eastern boundary nothing remains in the immediate vicinity of Park Pond. It is believed that the correct line of the pale is along the hedge which runs straight up the hillside from the foot of the pond and then turns northwards along the Western edge of Park Pond Coppice (ST 53540172). Here where it becomes the line of the parish boundary, the bank at its widest is no more than 12' and is crowned by a modern hedge. Not until it has crossed the track, which leads from the pond, does it become larger i.e. 16' wide. The line can then be followed to the corner of Ridge Coppice (ST 53320229). It then follows the southern boundary of the wood and is 11' wide and 3-4' high with a shallow ditch. It widens out to 17' as it nears the main road though it is very low. <1-4>

The park encloses a fairly steep sided dry valley. The circuit occupies the lip of the coombe. For ease of description the park circuit has been divided into segments (see O.S. detail).
A. This stretch comprises a very low intermitent bank 0.3 - 0.4m high and 4.5m wide. The bank forms the west edge of Ridge Coppice.
B. Along this section the bank is accompanied on its south side by a ditch. The overall width is 6m; the bank occupying 3.7m - 4.3m of this total, stands to a height of 0.8m - 1.1m on its south. The ditch is 0.5m deep. At the south east corner of Ridge coppice the ditch ends and there is a junction with the east boundary of the wood, which continues south for a short distance and turns toward C. The similarity between the wood boundary and the so-called Park pale described above suggest that the latter is merely a woodland bank.
C. There is a flat topped bank on lip of coombe. the ground fallssteeply to the south. An external ditch was also evident. The overall width was 5m. The bank was 3.7m wide, standing 1.4m high from the south; 0.5m high from the north. The ditch to the north is 0.4m deep.Although no ditch was present south of the bank, a ledge 2m wide was observed.
D. Forms the west boundary to the track. Basically this is simply a hedge line. In places the west side forms the lip of a steep drop into the park.
E. The ground here is very disturbed and irregular. It appears as if a former boundary has been demolished.
F. The bank and ditch (on E.) at times are non-existant. Where best preserved, the overall width is 6m. The bank is 3.2m wide standing to a height of 0.7m. At Park Pond Coppice there is again a bank with ditch on E. The overal width is 6.2m. Bank itself is 2.5m wide and 0.7m in height. The ditch is 0.4m deep. From Park Pond to Hill Buildings the remains consist of a bank with ditch to the north. The overall width is 6m; the bank is 4.8m broad. The bank is 0.6m high on its south and 1.5m high to the north. The ditch on the north is 0.8m deep. Both features are very sharply defined; they appear to cut a lynchet (aligned north - south). Towards Hill buildings, the boundary has gone, presumably due to building activity in the area of the structures.
The section from Hill Buildings to Westcombe Coppice is solely a bank (no ditch is evident) 5m wide and 1.3m high on its north side.
The stretch which forms the north boundary of Westcombe Coppice has a bank and to the north, a ditch. The overall width is 6.2m. The bank, which on the north stands to a height of 1.1m, is 4.6m wide. On the south it is 0.8m high. The ditch is 0.4m deep. At the west end of the coppice, the earthwork is well preserved, being 6.6m in overall width. The bank is 4.9m wide and is 1.6m high on the north; 0.8m high on the south. The ditch is 0.7m deep.
The west section, from Westcombe Coppice to the main road, is a bank 5.3m wide, with a relatively flat-topped profile. Height on the east
side is 0.7m. The pale in this area may have been damaged by activites associated with the race course within the park boundaries.
This is a dubious Deer Park circuit; resembling in the majority of cases woodland banks. <5>

The deer park at Hooke was certainly in existance in 1338 when Leland visited it (a). In 1583 it was "in compass one mile or thereabouts." The pale is 12-18 feet wide and up to 4 feet high with an inner ditch. <6>

<1> Shirley, E P, 1867, Some Account of English Deer Parks, 94 (Monograph). SDO17697.

<2> Cantor, L M and Wilson, J D, 1961, The Medieval Deer-Parks of Dorset I; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 114-116 (Article in serial). SDO12546.

'23. HOOKE PARK. We have been able to discover little of the history of Hooke Park. It was certainly in being by 1338, for in that year it is recorded that the lord of the manor, Robert Syfrewast, made a present of "a doe in his park of Hoke" to a witness of the baptism of his grandson in Powerstock church (I.P.M. Ed. III Vol. 10, pp. 534-4). It is a couple of hundred years later that we find another reference to it, in Leland's Itinerary, and he is inaccurate in his details. "Hoke Park, having an auncient Manor Place on it is but a Mile dim. by Est South Est from Bemistre". (Leland's Itinerary, 2nd Ed., Vol. 3, p. 62). The park is in fact three miles from Beaminster, slightly to the north of east, and is almost a mile from the manor house, Hooke Court (v. Fig. 2). These inaccuracies apart, it is interesting to note that Leland seems to attach first importance to the park rather than to the house.

In the 1583 inventory of parks, Hooke Park, then the property of the Marquis of Winchester, is described as being " in compass one mile or thereabouts". (S.P.Dom. 1583). As already noted, it was one of the few Dorset parks which still at that time contained deer. …'

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 164 (Serial). SDO64.

<4> Cantor, Leonard, 1983, The Medieval parks of England: A Gazetteer, 26 (Monograph). SDO17933.

<5> McOmish, D S, Various, Field Investigators Comments DSM, F1 DSM 28-APR-87 (Unpublished document). SDO16333.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Unpublished revision RCHME Dorset I (West) Undated (Hooke file) (Unpublished document). SDO18827.

<7> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 195954 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 17 2022 4:44PM