Bagshot, Surrey

Map

The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:

Open location in Google Maps: 51.361593, -0.691490

2 Annotations

First Reading

JWB  •  Link

BAGSHOT PARK

"Not long after the Norman Conquest, William I. fixed on Windsor as his principal residence. A vast tract of country to the south and south-west of the castle was retained by the Crown as a royal hunting park. Here and there in Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire much of this land to the present day is Crown property, though large parts have passed by long lease, sale or gift into other hands. Windsor Great Park extends four or five miles south of the castle, and a little further on come Bagshot Park and Heath. The history of Bagshot Park as a royal domain, therefore, goes back to about 1070, and from then and till comparatively recent times it was a favourite hawking and hunting estate of English Sovereigns. It is probable that there was a royal lodge not far from the site of the present mansion for many centuries. At all events, in Stuart times there certainly was a hunting seat there known as Holy Hall. Bagshot Park with the adjoining heath made an estate covering fifty square miles, the whole of which was surrounded with high deer-fencing. It was probably joined on to the south of Windsor Forest, and thus constituted a very large and important royal hunting ground. During the great Civil War in the reign of Charles I. it was disparked, and the fences were broken down and destroyed. For some years it lay waste and afforded shelter for numerous highwaymen, who took advantage of its desolate wildness to plunder travellers on the road from London to Winchester. After the Restoration, Charles II. replaced the fencing and once again stocked the park with deer brought over from France." p 31, 'Royal Gardens', Cyril Ward

http://books.google.com/books?pg=…

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

http://www.bagshotvillage.org.uk/…

There had been a royal hunting lodge at Bagshot (now Bagshot Park) through Stuart and Tudor times and it is likely King Charles was at Bagshot Park when he signed the warrant establishing the Royal Mail in 1635.

Apart from supporting the hunting lodge, development of Bagshot occurred due to its position on the main London to the West Country road (the Great West Road established in Elizabethan times, late 16th century, and now classified as the A30).

The roads were dirt or gravel and narrow.

Many inns developed to provide services to the stage coach passengers, and stables to provide the coaches with fresh horses.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bag…

The original Bagshot Lodge was built between 1631–33 as one of a series of small lodges designed for King Charles by Inigo Jones.
Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village 11 miles (18 km) south of Windsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a 50 square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire.

Bagshot Park occupies 21 hectares (51 acres) within the designated area of Windsor Great Park.

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In December 1648 King Charles spent a night at Katherine Howard Stuart, Lady Aubigny and James Livingston, Viscount Newburgh's house in Bagshot, Surrey, on his way from the Isle of Wight to Windsor, and the couple seem to have made some attempt to secure the king's escape. Their plans were foiled by the precautions of Major-Gen. Thomas Harrison, but they were able to pass messages from Charles to his Queen Henrietta Maria, then in exile in Paris.

I don't think this was Bagshot Park, however.

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http://www.exploringsurreyspast.o…

Bagshot Heath was notorious for highwaymen during the 17th and 18th centuries.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1667

1668

  • Sep