Prevention is Better than the Cure !
The medieval ‘deer-leaps’ of Sherwood Forest

 by

Richard Rutherford-Moore

As readers of my book A Thousand Years of History of Bestwood Park are already aware, there are some medieval remains there and this article will look at one feature in particular.  Royal Sherwood Forest survived for over five hundred years for the sole purpose of hunting large animals such as deer and boar ; the ‘extras’ of revenue from timber and controlled agriculture playing a far lesser role. Gradually, with the increasing population and expansion of Nottingham and surrounding villages coupled with rising administration costs and decreasing numbers of game, these roles had reversed by the year 1600. This article deals largely with the period 1130 - 1350.

The choicest areas in England for hunting purposes were well-known by the Anglo-Saxon period, to be re-designated by the Danish kings after the year 1003 with all deer anywhere in the realm being claimed as ‘sole royal property’. The application and severity of ‘forest law’ is often mistakenly blamed on the Normans, as this law existed in England well before 1066 ; only the enforcement of the law differed after that date beginning with William I and continuing through to Charles I - though by 1500 the legal machinery of ‘forest law’ had largely collapsed through disuse and the attempted resurrection of it in 1620 by the latter monarch to raise revenue for the Crown  was widely opposed and hence failed.

Three separate hunting-parks existed in medieval Royal Sherwood, Bestwood Park being one of these. At Clipstone Park further north, a ‘medieval’ map shows a schematic pale or palisade extending around that park ; this is a fence to keep deer inside the park from straying and not primarily a boundary or giving some security from poachers.

Note : From medieval sieges, it’s where the old saying beyond the pale originates. The other ‘hunting park’ was to the west and north of Nottingham Castle but despite it’s convenient situation the close proximity to the new Norman town meant that this park was always very difficult to control and administer.

The pale would have taken a lot of work to create and required regular work to maintain when completed but would have had to be at least eight feet high to serve the single purpose. The height of the fence can be lowered to a more manageable height to avoid potential wind damage and requiring far less raw material and still serve the purpose by digging a deep ditch and throwing up the excavated soil to create a bank.

Note : Standard medieval siege-work inherited from the Romans ; a useful obstruction that can be thrown up pretty quickly (the Legions did it every night when on the march to protect their camp). Another applied military term was the ‘wolf-pit’, a deep hole dug on a battlefield or siege covered with branches with the bottom of the pit lined with broken arrows or sharp stakes for the enemy to fall onto, standard practice against these large predators in a royal forest or village from well before 1066 for the obvious reason.

The plan would first be approved and surveyed by the Chief Agister and the ‘woodwards’ informed from whence the raw materials for the pale could come ; the next step would be for the appointed ‘reeve’ to assemble work parties on certain days (probably supervised by foresters, verderers or lesser agisters) from local villages under the terms of ‘boon work’ or simply as paid labourers. The fence being made of wood would deteriorate and eventually become derelict as ‘forest law’ receded. However, parts of the bank and ditch remain today and in examining it one can see the logic behind the construction - the thought is to keep deer from getting out of the park but also succeeding in getting into the park. As most of the soil of Sherwood consists of sand and hence doesn’t hold water, the stretch of the River Leen was a popular watering place for deer who would have to come for miles around to drink. As ‘verderers’ would encourage deer through the careful preservation of their natural foodstuffs, any deer would be attracted by the relative privacy and eatable greenery within Bestwood Park. The main problem for foresters along the western part of the park is the medieval highway of the “Kings Great Way” : for travellers by far the easiest way to approach or access the park and an obvious temptation for any existing or potential poachers.

Note : Offences such as trespassing or poaching in the hunting parks came under ‘common law’ not ‘forest law’ so were handled in a different court, though day-to-day administration was identical. Punishments for convictions under ‘forest law’ were far more severe and several medieval court records show punishments inflicted after incursions by people from nearby villages such as Linby, Papplewick, Bulwell and Hucknall.

Clipstone Park in Sherwood Forest, from a medieval map; note the encircling 'pele' (a pale or palisade).  A road is shown passing through the park which would have been controlled by gates.  The nearby hunting lodge was built by 1135 but isn't shown on this map.

The photograph and cross-section sketch shows part of the deer-leap created around the western part of Bestwood Park ; the ‘take-off’ incline on the outside of the park is differently constructed from the ‘take-off’ incline on the inside of the park making it easier for deer to ‘leap’ in than jump out. This stretch of the ‘buck-leap’ as it became known was constructed by the order of Edward III between the years 1340 - 1350 but some form of ‘deer-leap’ was already in place before that date following a grant from Henry II in 1170 to nearby St Mary’s Priory (founded in 1170 and now known as Newstead Abbey) and a sunsequent grant and order from King John dated 1199.

Note : King John upon his accession confirmed the grant of his father Henry II in permitting the monks from Lenton Abbey access to the park in order to collect firewood and bedding materials. His renewal of this grant includes the wording ‘with free entry and without hindrance from the foresters’ indicates that the park boundary was enclosed with gates fitted in the boundary fence and also very likely that these monks had probably been challenged and harassed by the royal foresters. By the year 1200, Royal Sherwood was suffering from increasing incursion simply because no firewood existed anywhere near the steadily expanding town of Nottingham.

Edward III in 1340 also ordered the entire seven-mile long perimeter and boundary of the park be enclosed by a pale - the ‘buck-leap’ was fifteen feet within this pale inside the park boundary. Another ‘buck-leap’ exists within the park but for serving a different purpose ; the deep gorge formed by two ‘dales’ on either side made an ideal funnel through which deer could be driven by foresters to be shot at using bows by huntsmen standing on either side of the incline. The ‘buck-leap’ here prevented any mature ‘warrantable’ deer escaping towards the relative western safety of Rede Hill. The ‘Kings’ Stand’ near Edwinstowe served the same purpose, constructed by foresters from excavated earth to give a royal hunter an elevation to be able to shoot arrows at passing driven deer. As Henry I, Henry II and Richard I are traditionally said to have used this ‘stand’ and hence gained the name, though never excavated indicates longevity well before the 14th Century.

Edward III rode off from Nottingham to go hunting several times in Bestwood Park and had very strong links with it, but after the time of Richard III - who also hunted there - deer and other game were very scarce and such outings were mainly seen as a brief escape from Nottingham and affairs of state.

Note : Edwinstowe, a village in Sherwood has acquired or assumed the name “Robin Hood’s Village” to attract tourism but apart from local traditions dating to the 18th-19th Century there is no evidence that the famous outlaw spent any more time there than anywhere else. Evidence exists to indicate Henry I was the first monarch to use this ‘hunting stand’ on a date before 1138, staying overnight at nearby Clipstone Hunting Lodge  -  the remains of which are now named King John’s Palace -  which Henry I ordered built circa 1130.