Monument record 1740/1 - Beeston Castle Deer Park

Beeston Castle Deer Park is 50 acres in extent and surrounded by a stone wall. It was owned by Lord Tollemache of Peckforton and Helmingham and contained 20 fallow deer. An eighteenth century print implies that the hill on which Beeston Castle stands and the castle itself were converted into a post-medieval deerpark. Deer Parks were used to house deer, which were an important source of fresh meat. A royal licence was required to create a park and only the very wealthiest could afford to create one. The deer were kept in a fenced and ditched enclosure and could be released to allow hunting. Some parks had a system of ditches and banks known as deer leaps which allowed wild deer (the monarch's property) to enter the park but not escape, so increasing the herd. Deer Parks were expensive to maintain and many were disparked from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Those that were retained reinforced the high status of their owners. The widespread park landscaping of the eighteenth century often incorporated surviving deer parks. These new gardens were a contrast to the formal gardens of previous centuries with their carefully designed "natural" appearance.