Monument record 4003 - Deer Park in Chowley

2 hays (enclosures for deer) in Audlem are recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086. 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.