Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/716

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��Subsequent grants of the custody of the manor (q.v.) included that of the park until the Commonwealth, when the latter was valued at 220 $s. and sold by order of the Parliament to William Brome of London." Shortly afterwards it seems to have come into the hands of Sir John Trevor. 68 On the Re- storation the custody of the park, here still called the New Park, was granted to Edward Villiers, and the park itself in 1664 to James, Duke of York. 69 In 1675 Edward Villiers, then custodian, obtained licence to keep a pack of beagles to hunt within the manor. 70 At this time the royal palace was fast falling into decay, and the lodge in the Little Park, situated to the east of the present Kew Observatory, 71 became the chief residence in Richmond. Originally the keeper's lodge, 72 it had been distinguished by the presence of Wolsey in the time of Henry VIII. It seems to have been occupied by a Mr. Webb before the Civil War and to have been then appropriated by Sir Thomas Jarvis. 73 In 1694 the lodge was leased for thirty-one years to John Latton, 74 who sold his interest, soon after the accession of Queen Anne, to the Duke of Ormqnde. 75 The latter petitioned that the lease might be renewed to him for ninety-nine years or three lives, and this suit was granted in 1 704. The duke, who was also ranger or keeper of the park, rebuilt the lodge and lived there until his forfeiture in 1715." It was granted by George I to George, Prince of Wales, for ninety-nine years, or for his life and those of his wife and his daughter Anne, in 1 722." In that year it was thus described by Macky : ' His (the Duke of Ormonde's) ' lodge a perfect Trianon ; but since his forfeiture it hath been sold 79 to the Prince of Wales, who makes his summer residence here. It does not appear with the grandeur of a Royal Palace, but is very neat and pretty. There is a fine avenue which runs from the front of the house to the town of Richmond, at half a mile's distance, one way, and from the other front to the river-side, both in- closed with balustrades of iron. The gardens are very spacious and well kept. There is a fine terrace towards the river. But, above all, the wood cut out into walks, with the plenty of birds singing in it, makes it a most delicious habitation.' M On his accession George II settled the lodge on his queen, Caroline, 81 and it continued to be one of their favourite resorts. The queen had a dairy and menagerie here, 61 and among the additions to the gardens made by her were a hermitage and a grotto called Merlin's Cave. 61 George III made the lodge a frequent place of residence during the first few years of his reign, and, as his grand- father had done, settled it on his wife in 1^61.^ Queen Charlotte pulled down the lodge about 1770, intending to build a new palace on its site, but

��although the foundations were laid the design was never completed. 84 In the course of these alterations in 1769 eighteen houses, the remains of the hamlet of West Sheen, were pulled down and the site added to the royal grounds. An Act of Parliament of 1785 enabled the king to unite Richmond Gardens with Kew Gardens by closing a footpath of over a mile in length called Love Lane. 86 The park is still Crown land, but ninety-seven acres are held on lease by the corporation and are open to the public ; 87 part of this is used as a golf-course ; another part, acquired on lease by some of the leading tradesmen, 88 is reserved as an athletic ground, and here also the far-famed Rich- mond Horse Show takes place every year.

The other park, at first called the 'New Park ' and now Richmond Park, was inclosed by Charles I from lands extending into the parishes of Richmond, Petersham, Ham, Kingston, Wimbledon, Mortlake, and Putney, partly owned by the Crown and partly by private persons. In 1634 the king declared his intention of making a new park for deer, and issued a special commission to Francis Lord Cottington and others to compound with owners in the parishes for the purchase of the necessary property. 89 An account is given by Lord Clarendon M of the refusal of some of the proprietors to meet the wishes of the king, who determined nevertheless to proceed with his resolution. He did in fact begin building the sur- rounding wall before he had obtained the consent of his subjects, and thereby caused a great deal of bitterness. The park, which was stocked with red and fallow deer, 81 was completed in 1 637, and the first rangership granted for life in that year to Jerome Weston, Earl of Port- land, with a fee of I zd. a day, pasture for four horses, and the use of the brushwood. 9 * Owing to the many objections made against the formation of the park, gates were placed at intervals in the wall, and per- mission was given to the public to use the roads, the poor of the various parishes being also allowed to take away firewood as they had formerly been accustomed to do. 9 * After the execution of Charles I the park was settled by the House of Commons on the mayor, commonalty, and citizens of London and their suc- cessors, with the expressed desire that it should be preserved as an ornament to the city." On the Restoration it was returned by the corporation to Charles II, 96 who appointed Sir Lionel Tollemache, bart., and his wife Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart, to the rangership in 1 66o, x shortly afterwards granting the reversion of it to Sir Daniel Harvey. 97 In 1664 a warrant was issued forbidding any person to bring a dog within ten miles of Richmond during hay and corn harvest in order that the game might be pre- served, 98 but two years later Lord Crofts was authorized

��'" Lysons, op. cit. i, 446.

68 Mystery of the Good Old Cause, printed in Corbett's Parl. Hut, Hi.

69 See Manor.

7 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1675-6, p. 73.

7 1 The observatory was built in 1768-9, (Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 414).

1* N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518.

1* Mystery of the Good Old Cauu.

' 4 Pat. 6 Will, and Mary, pt. ix, no. II.

' Land Rev. Mite. Bks. ccxxvi, fol. 166-82.

" 6 Pat. 3 Anne, pt. iii, no. 4.

" N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518.

W Pat. 8 Ceo. I, pt. vi, no. 10.

��7> Presumably by the Earl of Arran, who was empowered to re-purchase his brother's estates in 1721 (G.E.C. 1'cer-

"g' '5 2 )-

" N. and Q. (Ser. 6), viii, 518. 81 Pat. i Geo. II, pt. i, no. 9. " Lysons, op. eit. i, 446-7.

83 Folkestone Williams, op. cit. iii, 296-7.

84 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 414 ; Statutes at Large, xzv, 4.

84 N. and Q, (Ser. 6), viii, 518 ; Cam- den, Brit. (Cough's additions), i, 177.

86 Statutes at Large, xxxv, 130 ; Bray- ley, op. cit. iii, 66.

536

��^ Information kindly supplied by Mr. H. Sagar, town clerk.

88 Gascoyne, Recollections of Richmond, 144.

89 Rymer, Foed. xix, 515.

90 Hist, of the Rebellion (ed. Macray), i, 132-5. See also Cal. S.P. Don. 1635, p. 25 ; 1636-7, p. 388.

81 Ibid. 1636-7, p. 457.

99 Ibid. 1644, p. 234.

98 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 415.

M Commons Journ. vi, 246, 365.

96 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 416.

96 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1660-1, p. 142.

"i Ibid. 1660-1, p. no.


 * Ibid. 1663-4, pp. 654, 659.

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