Response on the Medieval Deer Park and the Park Pales

Since promoting Chawton Park Farm through the emerging East Hampshire District Council Local Plan, Harrow Estates has instructed a team of technical experts to consider a range of specialist areas to ensure that the most appropriate form of development can be created.

Appointments to the team include specialist Heritage expertise. Their work has included detailed consideration of the site and was informed by Historic England data and historic maps and documents. Reference has also been made to the Historic England Scheduling Selection Guide on Gardens (Historic England 2018).

The park pales have been considered in relation to historic descriptions of the two parks thought to have been present in the medieval period. Documentary sources describe these as having been of a larger area than the area loosely enclosed by the extant banks, suggesting what survives is a remnant of a larger feature with at least some of the ‘pales’ being possible internal boundaries, rather than forming the outer boundaries of a discrete park or parks.

Whilst it is the case that some examples of pales which survive particularly well as upstanding earthworks have been scheduled, the Historic England Scheduling Selection Guide (on Gardens, 2018), states that “short lengths of pale divorced from other surviving associated features are unlikely to be scheduled, although these will certainly be of local interest.” And also that: “Deer parks in their entirety will generally be too extensive and lack the ‘works’ needed to qualify for scheduling.”

Harrow Estates considers these to be features of the site which should, of course, be respected and that through careful design the pales can be provided with greater interpretation and public access.

The case for scheduling is clearly of local interest, although if the pales were to be scheduled, there would be no automatic buffer required and the linear features could be accommodated within the planned development as has always been the intention.

For clarity, the pales have been known about for a long time and there has been no contact between Historic England and the landowners.

Harrow Estates will continue to review this issue and all other technical matters pertaining to their proposals.