Monument record MDO900 - Deer park, Chideock

The earliest reference to a park at Chideok is from 1475 when Katherine, widow of Sir John Arundell appointed Richard Yeo as keeper of the park and mansion therein. The position of the park can be fixed by a series of 'park' field names in the Tithe Apportionment, although the exact layout of the park is unknown, and few if any banks resembling a typical deer park boundary bank: indeedCantor and Wilson (1970, 200) conclude that the park may never actually have been embanked, noting that parks after the mid fourteenth century Black Death were normally provided with fenced boundaries instead..

(Centred SY 427931) A deer park at Chideock was first mentioned in a deed of 1475, and is recorded by Leland.
By 1583, the park, which was said to have been about 1 1/2 miles in circumference, has been disparked and converted to tillage.

The only possible length of park boundary which could be found runs from 'A' (SY 42249298) to 'B' (SY 42279314), measuring about 13 or 14 feet wide by 2 to 3 feet high, and may only be part of the enclosures in the immediate neighbourhood of the castle. The late date of the park may indicate that it was fenced rather than embanked.

The small stream on the west side of the above-mentioned bank is thought to represent the west boundary of the park, and the main road (A35) may mark its southern boundary. Significant field names to the north and east suggest its possible extent in those directions. (See plan). <1>

Air photographs show a probable extension of the hedge bank running from SY 42559360 to SY 42689358, on the line of the suggested park boundary. <3>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1970, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1969, 197-201 (Serial). SDO69.

<1.1> Smith, T L (ed), 1964, Leland's Itinerary of 1535-43, 245 (Monograph). SDO18717.

<2> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3271-73 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11238.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450238 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 1 2023 3:52PM