Monument record 1101/3 - Possible Deer park at Brereton Hall

Site of a Deerpark at Brereton Hall. Mentioned in a list as a park and Saxton's 1577 map of Cheshire shows a park to the west of the church as does Speed's map of Cheshire, 1605-10. By 1910 the mansion was said to be 'disparked'. 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 15th to the 17th centuries. Those that were retained reinforced the high status of their owners. The widespread park landscaping of the 18th 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.