Park

A park is the term given to a small area of land enclosed and used as a private hunting reserve in the medieval or post medieval periods. The land, or the right to enclose it for this purpose, was generally granted by the king. Any person living within it, other than the holder, was not allowed to hunt animals or to damage the vegetation growing within the park. The enclosing of such an area was termed ‘impalement’, the fence, ditch or bank was the ‘pale’ and a ‘Parker’ administered the area. An example of a medieval park in Buckinghamshire is the deer park at Langley Park, recorded in woodland survey.

Later, in the post-medieval period, it became fashionable amongst the rich for large areas of grounds to be formally arranged and planted, often with the addition of specific landscape features and these are termed ‘landscape parks’. An example of this kind of park is Newlands Park in Chalfont St Peter.