ABSTRACT
The Forest Law and forest courts of Normandy, which were originally derived from Carolingian imperial law, were introduced into England after the Conquest to service the rapid, and at times possibly violent, extension of forest land. It is certain that although the Anglo-Saxons and Welsh knew the high or red deer and roe deer, the fallow deer was an exotic species not found in Britain before the Conquest. Various references in the Domesday Book indicate that there were already enclosures for the retention of animals in the Anglo-Saxon period; some thirty-five ‘parks of woodland beasts’ are mentioned. Most of the medieval parks have subsequently been cleared and enclosed for agriculture but their curving linear earthworks survive as modern boundaries, and place names such as Park Farm, Park End or Lodge are often found indicating the site of a former park long since departed.
