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Around 1280, Richard, Earl of Cornwall enclosed a large area of common land north of Berkhamsted Castle, and the area was emparked (officially designated as a new deer park). For centuries, kings and nobles would hunt deer here, providing sport for royalty and venison for the Castle larders.
Historical deer park features transcribed from Norden’s 1612 map, overlaid on a modern aerial map
Berkhamsted Castle deer park was a critical part of the historic landscape for nearly 400 years until it was disemparked in the late 17th century. Its distinctive layout is still preserved today in the line of field boundaries to the north of the town. Although intrinsically linked with the castle, the deer park was so much more than a playground for the rich, it was a carefully managed sustainable resource providing timber, meat, fuel, and revenue to the royal household.
A deer park was a hunting ground, timber source and status symbol of wealthy aristocrats who had the privilege to enclose land for private use. The park was a carefully managed landscape and was surrounded by a ‘park pale’; a sizeable fence to keep deer in and poachers out.
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c.1066
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Berkhamsted Castle built by Robert of Mortain. |
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c.1280
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The Earl of Cornwall encloses former common land to create a new deer park. |
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1337
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Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, expands the deer park. |
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1495
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Castle is abandoned after the death of the Duchess of York. The deer park is retained for hunting and as a resource for timber. |
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1580
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Sir Edward Carey leases the park from Elizabeth | for the price of a rose. He builds Berkhamsted Place at Castle Hill, using stone from the castle. |
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1612
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Charles Stuart (later King Charles I) encloses an area north of the park, known as the Coldharbour Enclosure. This is met with fierce opposition from local people, who hold commoners’ rights to the land. The park reaches its full size at just over 522ha. |
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1628
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Charles turns most of the park over to farming, leaving just 151ha of the inner park. |
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1862
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The Duchy of Cornwall sells the Berkhamsted estate (except the castle) to Lord Brownlow for the sum of £144,546. Brownlow also owns Ashridge by this period. He rents the castle from the Duchy and uses the bailey to host local events. |
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1914-1919
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During WWI, the Inns of Court Officers’ Training Corps establish a training camp at Berkhamsted. Practice trenches are dug to the north of what is now the cricket club. |
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1921
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On the death of the 3rd Lord Brownlow the estate is sold off. The former parkland is divided into lots and sold to individual owners, although the castle remains part of the Duchy Estates. |
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1929
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Berkhamsted Castle passes into the guardianship of the state. |
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2017
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Berkhamsted Castle Trust set up to promote and engage people in the history and protection of the castle and parkland. The Trust works alongside English Heritage as custodians of the site. |
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2024
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Deer park study and consultation launched |
Disemparkment
Modern aerial map showing the phases of disemparkment in the 16th and 17th centuries
Deer parks were a prominent feature of the British landscape until they were either broken up and converted into agricultural land or incorporated into post-medieval country estates.
Starting in the reign of King Charles I, the Berkhamsted deer park was progressively turned over to farming.
A number of ancient deer parks survive today, such as Richmond Park or Knebworth House, but today, most of Berkhamsted’s former deer park is a patchwork of farmland and woodland, held by many different private landowners.
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