Monument record 944/1 - Deer Park at Dutton

There is a deer park at Dutton of small dimensions, on the north side of the River Weaver. It is shown on Saxton's map of Cheshire, 1577 and there is a reference to the park of Dutton in 1673. It is not shown on later maps and has long been 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.