Monument record MDO5441 - Leigh Park/Canford Little Park, Colehill

The boundaries of Leigh Park, also known as Canford Little Park, a Medieval deer park, are referred to in a perambulation of the Manor of Kingston Lacy in 1590. The River Stour formed the south boundary of the park and the highway from Wimborne to Ringwood formed the north boundary. The east and west boundaries are still parish boundaries running south-south-east on either side of Park Farm (SZ 030996) <1>.

It was disparked by 1583 <2>

(Centred at SZ028994). No trace remains of the park pales. <1-2>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1978, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1976, 7-8 (Serial). SDO76.

<1> Wilson, J D, 1978, The Mediaeval Deer-Parks of Dorset XV; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO13958.

‘CANFORD GREAT PARK (7), CANFORD LITTLE PARK (8) and KNIGHTON PARK (48) … There is no doubt of the location of the parks and it is disappointing that no trace of typical park earthworks has been found anywhere in the area. Saxton’s map of 1575 shows two parks, one north and one south of the Stour. … Canford Little Park, or Leigh Park, was north of the river, and indeed Leigh Park and Park Farm nearby are still shown on the Ordnance Map.

Quite specific reference to the boundary of Leigh Park are found in a perambulation of the Manor of Kingston Lacy made in 1590. It is quoted in full in A. Lindsay Clegg’s A History of Wimborne Minster and District, in the form in which it was included in the Gilt Book of the Manor compiled in 1775, and Clegg appends explanatory notes on points in the perambulation which were added by the compilers of the Gilt Book. The Manor boundary is described as following the River Stour eastwards from White Mill Bridge, Sturminter Marshall, past “Great Canford Bridge” and “… following the same River Eastward to the West Hedge of Canford Park continuing the same Hedge Northward to a way which leadeth Eastward by a Ditch and a Row of trees to the Easter Pale of the said Parke and so out to the Highway which leadeth to Wibmorne Westward …” (Clegg, p. 204). It is clear that we are here dealing with the park north of the river, since an explanatory note of 1775 to the word “Highway” says: “Turnpike Road from Wimborne to Ringwood” (ibid. p. 208). On “the West Hedge of Canford Parke” the compilers of the Gilt Book commented: “Canford Park now belongs to Sir John Webb, and is converted into meadows. The boundary here described is the boundary of Wimborne Parish.” (ibid. p.207). As for “the Easter Pale of the said Parke”, they remarked: “The Park pales are now down.” (ibid. p.207). Both the western and eastern sides of Leigh Park here mentioned are still parish boundaries, running south-south-east to the Stour on either side of Park Farm. No embankments could be found, and the line of the “Easter Pale” is for much of its length marked by a drainage channel. Here we may have a clue to the absence of park earthworks in the area: that the ground may have been too damp for the construction or maintenance of embankments, and the park enclosed with palings only. This has been suggested as a reason for the absence of embankments at other parks in Dorset … It may also be significant that the western hedge and eastern pale of Leigh Park are referred to without mention of bank or ditch although elsewhere in the Elizabethan perambulations bans are mentioned as significant features. The “Ditch and a Row of trees” referred to between the western and eastern sides of the park can perhaps still be identified as the hedge line which approaches the Wimborne-Ringwood road at an angle due north of Park Farm. The having a slight bank and ditch, this is by no means characteristic of a park bank. The Tithe Apportionment names three fields around Park Farm as “The Parks”, “Stoney Park” and “Corders Park”. There is thus no doubt as to the exact location of Leigh Park, which comprised an area of some 170 acres and there is a strong presumption that it was never embanked.’

<1.1> Lindsay Clegg, A, History of Wimborne Minster and District (Monograph). SDO18291.

<2> Shirley, E P, 1867, Some Account of English Deer Parks, 93 (Monograph). SDO17697.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458063 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 10 2022 11:30AM