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69-477: Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres), including a deer park , to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private 265 hectares (650 acres) Home Park , which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically

138-602: A Royal Mausoleum for Albert. She was later buried there upon her own death, along with a number of other subsequent members of the royal family. During the 19th and early 20th century, one of the main events for farmers near and far was the Christmas sale of stock from the Royal Windsor Estates. Held on the same week as the Smithfield Show , buyers came from all over the country to buy something from

207-458: A factory dispersal site (to minimize the risk of Luftwaffe bombing) for Vickers-Armstrongs , who built and maintained Wellington bombers here. Other wartime aviation activities included use as a Relief Landing Ground for de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers at nearby No. 18 Elementary Flying Training School at Fairoaks . The Smith's Lawn area of the Park was also used for housing troops. During

276-578: A favour, a signed warrant for a specified number of deer, usually one only, specified as buck or doe, which the recipient would present to the park keeper who would select and kill one and hand the carcass to the grantee. The Lisle Papers dating from the 1530s contains many such letters from prospective grantees requesting such gifts from the park of Honor Grenville , the lady of the manor of Umberleigh in Devon, and also contains reports to her from her bailiff listing grants of venison made from her park during

345-533: A large (for the time) twin-engine Imperial Airways airliner, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy ("City of Glasgow"), at Smith's Lawn. In 2016, the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial at Smith's Lawn to its use as an airfield. He himself had made his first solo flight from there in 1952, after regular use of the site as an airfield had ceased. During the war, aviation related activities included

414-534: A park pale. Examples include Barnsdale in Yorkshire and Burghley on the Cambridgeshire / Lincolnshire border. Boundary earthworks have survived "in considerable numbers and a good state of preservation". Even where the bank and ditch do not survive, their former course can sometimes still be traced in modern field boundaries. The boundaries of early deer parks often formed parish boundaries. Where

483-626: A private area of the estate. Tree experts estimate the tree's age as 1,300-1,500 years old, making this ancient tree the oldest oak in the United Kingdom since the collapse of the Pontfadog oak , surpassing the 1,000 year old Bowthorpe Oak , and the 1,200-year old Marton Oak in Cheshire, the latter of which also being the widest tree in the UK. Other famous and ancient trees in the park include

552-550: A result of a local territorial dispute or vendetta or merely from high spirits. The penalties inflicted by royal justice were severe in such instances. For example, in 1523 Sir William St Loe (d. 1556) of Sutton Court , Chew Magna , Somerset, together with 16 others, armed with bows and arrows, crossbows and swords, broke into Banwell Park in Somerset, attached to Banwell Abbey , a residence belonging to Bishop of Bath and Wells William Barlow , and killed 4 bucks and other deer. In

621-551: A species protected by law in the UK. It is currently considered for inclusion in the SSSI register due to the diversity of fungi. The park has a healthy population of Red kite , which can be seen soaring all over the park on sunny days, and seeing and hearing Ring-necked parakeet is commonplace. Other birds recorded from the park include the nationally threatened Lesser spotted woodpecker and Mandarin duck . A new visitor centre designed by Glenn Howells Architects and Buro Happold

690-746: A specified exit where the king and his favoured courtiers would be awaiting with bows and arrows to kill them. Thus several dozen if not hundreds of deer could be killed in a single day, to the impoverishment of the local countryside for several months if not years into the future. Thus any landowner with a licensed park, even if within the circuit of such a drive, would be immune from the entry of such beaters into his park, and his deer would remain untouched. The French ambassador Charles de Marillac in his despatch of 12 August 1541 described this process as King Henry VIII went on royal progress to York: The King's fashion of proceeding in this progress is, wherever there are numerous deer, to enclose two to three hundred in

759-487: Is Snow Hill and the avenue of trees known as the Long Walk runs between here and Windsor Castle. The area is accessed by a number of gates: Queen Anne's Gate, Ranger's Gate, Cranbourne Gate, Forest Gate, Sandpit Gate, Prince Consort's Gate, Blacknest Gate, Bishop's Gate and Bear's Rails Gate and the original medieval park pale can still be seen in places. The main road known as Sheet Street (A332) into Windsor runs through

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828-567: Is a gently undulating area of varied landscape. It has sweeping deer lawns, small woods, coverts and areas covered by huge solitary ancient oak trees. There is a small river in the north of the park called the Battle Bourne running to the Thames near Datchet. The River Bourne runs through a number of ponds to the south. Chief amongst these are Great Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond, near the great lake of Virginia Water . The most prominent hill

897-471: Is on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens . Windsor Forest and Great Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest . Windsor Great Park is a nationally important site for fungi. Over 1,000 species have been found on the park's territory, including 43 species confined exclusively to Windsor. Several of Britain's rarest and most endangered species of fungi occur on the park's territory. The Great Park

966-440: Is one of the many useful tasks awaiting the field-worker with patience and a good local knowledge". Most deer parks were bounded by significant earthworks topped by a park pale , typically of cleft oak stakes. These boundaries typically have a curving, rounded plan, possibly to economise on the materials and work involved in fencing and ditching. A few deer parks in areas with plentiful building stone had stone walls instead of

1035-516: Is the name of a deserted medieval village . The farm offers pre-booked private tours of the tree. The hollow interior of the trunk had been fitted with seats and has apparently been used as a dining room for 20 people in the past. The tree has now been fenced to protect the roots from soil compaction . The oak was selected as one of 50 Great British Trees picked by The Tree Council in 2002 to spotlight trees in Great Britain in honour of

1104-433: Is the tranquil Heather Garden. The Savill Garden Visitor Centre houses a gift shop; toilets; restaurant; coffee shop; ice cream counter; and a shop selling many plants found in the garden. The gardens are open to visitors between 10:00 and 16:30 in the winter and 10:00 and 18:00 in the summer. Virginia Water Lake , in the south of the park, is an artificially-created lake of around 1 km (0.4 sq mi) dating from

1173-403: Is to say to enclose the land with a wall or hedgebank and to establish a captive herd of deer within, with exclusive hunting rights. This grant is witnessed by a charter on parchment, to which is affixed a rare example of a perfect great seal of Henry VIII, now hanging in a frame beneath the main staircase of Dyrham Park . It clearly was handed down with the deeds of the manor on the termination of

1242-505: The Arundells had the 'stateliest park' in the shire. To establish a deer park a royal licence was required, known as a "licence to empark" —especially if the park was in or near a royal forest. Because of their cost and exclusivity, deer parks became status symbols. Deer were almost all kept within exclusive reserves with the larger ones often used as aristocratic playgrounds, for hunting, often with deer being driven into nets; and, there

1311-548: The English Civil War , the area remained the personal property of the monarch until the reign of George III when control over all Crown lands was handed over to Parliament . The Park is owned and administered by the Crown Estate, a public body established by Act of Parliament in which the monarch and family members associated with its particular parts have non-executive, advisory roles. The Grade I listed park

1380-572: The Labour Rate ) and urban poverty led to the introduction of lump sum capital taxation such as inheritance tax and a shift in power away from the aristocracy . Deer parks are notable landscape features in their own right. However, where they have survived into the 20th century, the lack of ploughing or development has often preserved other features within the park, including barrows , Roman roads and abandoned villages . The Tudor cartographer John Norden wrote of Cornish deer parks that

1449-703: The Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror seized existing game reserves. Deer parks flourished and proliferated under the Normans, forming a forerunner of the deer parks that became popular among England's landed gentry. The Domesday Book of 1086 records thirty-six of them. Initially the Norman kings maintained an exclusive right to keep and hunt deer and established forest law for this purpose. In due course they also allowed members of

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1518-651: The Palace of Versailles during his exile from Britain when it was the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell . The creation of the Long Walk was one of his first improvement plans. In 1710 Queen Anne had the path through the centre of the trees replaced by a road so coaches could use the route to enter and leave Windsor Castle. The Long Walk runs south from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse statue of King George III atop Snow Hill. The cast statue, which

1587-593: The Scout and Girlguiding camp WINGS ( W indsor I nter n ational G uides and S couts camp), last held in August 2014. At the 15th World Conference of WAGGGS it was decided to mark the centenary of the birth of Lord Baden-Powell , the founder of Guiding, by holding a World Camp with four locations — Doe Lake, Ontario , Canada; Quezon City , Philippines ; Lac de Conche , Switzerland; and Windsor Great Park, from 19 January to 2 February 1957. The Crown Estate has allowed

1656-407: The 1740s. Among the lakeside features are the 30-metre-high (100 ft) high Canadian totem pole , carved by Mungo Martin , Henry Hunt, and Tony Hunt Sr. , commemorating the centenary of British Columbia , and a collection of ornamental Roman ruins, transported from the site of Leptis Magna (modern-day Al-Khums ) in 1816 and installed at Virginia Water in 1826. Beside a smaller lake, known as

1725-621: The 18th century many deer parks were landscaped, where deer then became optional within larger country parks, several of which were created or enlarged from wealth from trade and colonization in the British Empire . These later mostly gave way to profitable agriculture dependent on crop prices, with large parts of the workforce having been attracted elsewhere following increasing industrialization . This created pressure to sell off parts or divide such estates while rural population growth pushed up poor law rates (particularly outdoor relief and

1794-484: The 18th century, and illegally inclosed (made private) by George III . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was reported to be "furious". Ubi and his allies repeated the festival in 1973 with at least 1,400 in attendance. In 1973, the Windsor Great Park regulations were introduced. In 1974, 7,000 people turned up but it was violently broken up by police, who made 220 arrests, and the festival was banned. Dwyer

1863-474: The 1940s, much of the deer park was ploughed and farmed for food, which involved the felling of hundreds of ancient trees. Over 200 large bombs fell on the land, including several V-2 rockets . During the 1948 Summer Olympics , the park was used as the road cycling venue. In the 1950s, the Park was gradually turned into the recreation area open to the public that it is today. This involved the re-planting of Savill Gardens (which had been allowed to run wild during

1932-528: The Copper Horse (depicting George III ) and the Obelisk (in honour of William, Duke of Cumberland ). George III had a set of 2,000-year-old Roman ruins imported from Libya and placed in the park. Virginia Water was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then Ranger of the Park. Few details are recorded of the building of the lake; however it has been suggested that prisoners of war from

2001-855: The Denys era at Dyrham. The charter is of exceptional interest as it is signed as witnesses by men of the greatest importance in the state, who were at the King's side at that moment, at the Palace of Westminster. The text of the document, translated from Latin is as follows: Henry by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, abbotts, priors, dukes, marquises, earls, barons, judges, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all our bailiffs and faithful subjects. Let it be known that we, motivated by our especial grace and certain knowledge of him, have granted for us and our heirs to our faithful servant William Denys, esquire of

2070-496: The Long Walk was originally a path from Windsor Castle to Snow Hill. The high ground is said to have been the location where Henry VIII waited to hear the news that his second wife, Anne Boleyn , had been executed. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II had double rows of elm trees planted along the entire length of the path. The king was inspired to develop Windsor Castle and the surrounding parkland after he lived at

2139-653: The Obelisk Pond, is the Obelisk memorial to the Duke of Cumberland . This is inscribed This Obelisk raised by command of King George the Second commemorates the services of his son William Duke of Cumberland The success of his arms and the gratitude of his father This tablet was inscribed by His Majesty King William the Fourth. It was originally inscribed "Culloden" but this was erased on Queen Victoria's orders and replaced with "Cumberland", inscribed within an inset in

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2208-478: The Park ", the current title-holder being Charles III . Kings Edward I and Edward III used the park for jousts and tournaments and the latter had his Royal stud there to supply horses for the Hundred Years' War . The moat at Bear's Rails contained the manor house of Wychamere, the home of William of Wykeham while he was building the castle. It was later used for bear-baiting . By the 18th century,

2277-774: The Queen ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1894 At One o'Clock precisely Carriages will meet the Trains at both Windsor Stations The Smith's Lawn area of the Park began to be used for flying in the 1920s, an activity which continued in various forms until the early 1950s. Improvements were made to the grass landing area in the mid 1930s, when it was used by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII ). He operated several different types of aircraft from here, including several types of de Havilland airplanes, ranging from Moths to Dragon Rapides . On 29 April 1931, Gordon Olley landed

2346-639: The Royal Body, to him, his heirs and assigns, the right to empark 500 acres of land, meadow, pasture and wood together with appurtenance at Le Worthy within the manor of Dereham in the county of Gloucestershire and enclose them with fences and hedges in order to make a park there. Also that they may have free warren in all their demesne lands within the said manor. No other person may enter this park or warren to hunt or catch anything which might belong to that park or warren without permission from William, his heirs or assigns under penalty of £10, provided that

2415-474: The UK, and has not been recorded in Europe as well. Collection of fungi for consumption has been long forbidden in the park to safeguard the population of rare fungi, with significant sanctions in place if this law is ignored, much like with Epping Forest . Other fungi which have been reported from the park include Boletus aereus , Gyroporus castaneus and six species of tooth fungi such as Hericium coralloides ,

2484-541: The deer park reverted to agriculture, the newly established field system was often rectilinear, clearly contrasting with the system outside the park. In Ireland, the placename Deerpark is common, but it is post-medieval in origin and does not indicate a Norman-era deer park. Ireland's best-known deerpark, for example, is the Phoenix Park , but that was not stocked with deer until 1662. Bowthorpe Oak The tree can be found on Bowthorpe Park Farm. 'Bowthorpe'

2553-406: The first parker was appointed, and in 1240, King Henry III officially set out the borders of the "Park", a region many times larger than the current Great Park. The castle was a mere fortress at this time and, when hunting, King Henry would have been resident at the more comfortable manor house of Old Windsor (what later became known as Manor Lodge). The title "Parker" exists today as " Ranger of

2622-617: The following August he made a similar raid and killed more than 20 deer, the heads of which he stuck on the boundary palings. He was ordered to appear before a magistrate, but the record of his punishment if any has not survived. However, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries a short while later, in 1552 Sir William obtained for himself from the crown the office of Keeper of Banwell Park. In 1955 W. G. Hoskins remarked that "the reconstruction of medieval parks and their boundaries

2691-493: The food value of the parkland to Windsor had decreased in importance and the new Hanoverian monarchs preferred to build on and garden the land rather than hunt in it. The Long Walk had been laid out by King Charles II and the planting of its trees completed by William of Orange in the 1680s, with double rows of elms which lasted until World War II , but the Georges extended it and built numerous features and monuments, such as

2760-452: The house and its surroundings. Throughout her life Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. Her daughter Princess Helena of the United Kingdom lived at the Lodge for over fifty years, presiding over elaborate re-building after a major fire in 1869 and extensive alterations in 1912. Lord FitzAlan , last British Viceroy of Ireland, was the last private person to be entrusted with the Lodge. It

2829-561: The land is not within our forest . Witnessed by: Given by our hand at Westminster on the 5th day of June in the 3rd year of our reign. (1511) From the size of the present park it appears that only about 250 acres were ultimately enclosed. The grant of emparkment was separate from and in addition to the grant of free warren in his demesne lands. This latter allowed him to hunt exclusively on his unenclosed, other untenanted lands which were managed by his own staff. High dry-stone walls, typical of Gloucestershire, still survive around parts of

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2898-410: The latter of which has not been encountered for many years. Windsor Great Park is the only place in the UK where a confusing form of R.legaliae with entirely yellow pores occurs, and is the type locality for Boletus immutatus, as suggested by Ainsworth et al. a variable colour morph of Neoboletus luridiformis with metabolic abnormalities, which occurs exclusively at Windsor Great Park and nowhere else in

2967-535: The masonry. Due to the presence of ancient trees and ancient grasslands, Windsor Great Park is an important wildlife site in the UK, and is nationally important for its fungal diversity. 250 rare species have been found in the park, some of which are confined exclusively to the park and occur nowhere else. Windsor Great Park is regarded as an important bolete site by mycologists, and a few nationally rare species occur here, including Imperator rhodopurpureus , Rubroboletus legaliae and Butyriboletus fuscoroseus , although

3036-450: The monarch. The sale in 1850 was held on 17 December by Messrs Buckland & Sons of Windsor. It included Superior Fat Heifers for £20 each; 10 fat ewes, fed by Prince Albert, for 33/10; Fine Old Wether Sheep, fed by His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch , for 40/6. The sale made a total of £226. On 12 December 1894, Messrs Buckland & Sons were proud to announce: The Prince Consort's Flemish Farm A Xmas sale of fat stock belonging to HM

3105-469: The native Gaelic Irish . Research by Fiona Beglane identified forty-six Irish deer parks established before 1400. James I was an enthusiast for hunting and had an extensive deer park created at Theobalds Palace , but it became less fashionable and popular after the Civil War . The number of deer parks then declined, contemporary books documenting other more profitable uses for such an estate. During

3174-634: The nobility and senior clergy to maintain deer parks. At their peak at the turn of the 14th century, deer parks may have covered 2% of the land area of England. After the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, many deer parks were established in the new Lordship of Ireland . The fallow deer is not native to Ireland and is believed to have been introduced at the royal deer park at Glencree in 1244. The Cambro-Norman landlords also used deer parks to produce timber and charcoal , and to protect their livestock (cattle, sheep, etc.) from being stolen by

3243-610: The northeast of the park. On the western side of the park is The Village, built in the 1930s to house Royal estate workers. It has a village shop and infant/junior school. Other buildings include the Royal Lodge , Cumberland Lodge , the Cranbourne Tower and Norfolk Farm. The park lies mostly within the civil parish of Old Windsor , though the eastern regions are in the Borough of Runnymede and there are small areas in

3312-411: The organisation is simply known as Cumberland Lodge. Cumberland Lodge today is an educational charity dedicated to initiating fresh debate on questions facing society. The grounds are not generally open to the public, but the house is continually holding conferences, open days and lectures. The private Cranbourne Tower is easily viewed from surrounding paths. It is all that survives of Cranbourne Lodge,

3381-598: The parishes of Winkfield and Sunninghill . Areas associated with or attached to the Great Park, but not officially within its borders include the Home Park , Mote Park, Flemish Farm, Cranbourne Chase, Forest Lodge and South Forest. Windsor Great Park has one of the largest collections of ancient oaks remaining in Western Europe. The oldest is a huge pedunculate oak known as King Offa's Oak , which grows in

3450-508: The park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest , Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate , and is the only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks . Most parts of the park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden . Except for a brief period of privatisation by Oliver Cromwell to pay for

3519-528: The past year. Such grants acted as common features of the mediaeval social machinery. King Henry VIII appointed Sir William Denys (1470–1533) an Esquire of the Body at some date before 5 June 1511. It was perhaps at the very time of William's appointment to that position at court that the King promised him the honour of a licence to empark 500 acres of his manor of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, which

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3588-567: The popular Conqueror's oak in Cranbourne Park. Windsor Castle was begun in the 11th century by William the Conqueror as it afforded a good defensive point over the River Thames . A vast area of Windsor Forest to the south of the castle became reserved by the King for personal hunting and also to supply the castle with wood, deer, boar and fish. It was not until later that it became necessary to formally define this area. In 1129,

3657-597: The present parkland, which is still stocked with a herd of fallow deer. The park was thus an area in which Denys's deer would be at his own disposal and would be safe from being hunted or otherwise taken by any other person, including his neighbours and the king himself. The king when on royal progress throughout his kingdom was accompanied by an enormous entourage which needed daily feeding and entertainment, both of which functions were achieved by holding driven game shoots, in which an area of ground several miles in area would be surrounded and any deer within would be driven towards

3726-413: The recent Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart hill, were involved. The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780, Paul and Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an artificial waterfall , Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond. The lake replaced a small stream of the same name which

3795-531: The residence of the Keeper of Cranbourne Chase. It is thought to date back to the 16th century. In the south-east of the park, near Englefield Green , are the Savill Garden Garden and Valley Gardens which were designed and built by Eric Savill in the 1930s and 1940s. They include an extraordinary range of flowers and trees from around the world. Smith's Lawn and Polo Grounds are also nearby, as

3864-497: The trees and then send in many greyhounds to kill them, that he may share them among the gentlemen of the country and of his court. Deer situated within licensed deer parks were thus immune from such mass round-ups, and the grant by the king of such licences therefore had the effect of depriving himself of much valuable game with which to feed his followers. Early historical records are replete with instances of noblemen breaking into each other's parks and killing deer therein, often as

3933-428: The use of Windsor Great Park as a filming location. The park was used in the production of the following: Deer park (England) In medieval and Early Modern England , Wales and Ireland , a deer park ( Latin : novale cervorum, campus cervorum ) was an enclosed area containing deer . It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank, or by a stone or brick wall. The ditch

4002-659: The war) and the new Valley Gardens. In 1951, a large wall for creeping plants was built at Savill using bricks from bombed-out London buildings. In 1958, a Totem pole was installed nearby, a gift from British Columbia to the Queen. In 1972 the Irish anarchist Ubi Dwyer organised the "People's Free Festival", the first of the Windsor Free Festivals in the Park, attended by 700 people. A co-organiser Sid Rawle claimed that Windsor Great Park has been common land until

4071-526: Was built in 1825 by Jeffry Wyattville and regularly used by George IV during the refurbishment of Windsor Castle. It was later remodelled in the Gothic Revival style by Samuel Sanders Teulon and Anthony Salvin . Queen Victoria often attended the chapel as did the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It was regularly used by Queen Elizabeth II when she

4140-734: Was erected 1829, is 2.65 miles (4.26 km) from the George IV Gateway at Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse. Other equestrian statues in the park include one of the Prince Consort , to the west of the polo grounds, and one of Queen Elizabeth II near the Village. The Royal Lodge was built in the centre of the park as the Deputy Ranger's house. It was made into a retreat for the Prince Regent from 1812, but

4209-532: Was in his time, in 1936, that the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin , discussed the crisis over King Edward VIII 's desire to marry Wallis Simpson , talks which led to his abdication of the crown a few weeks later. In 1947, the King made the Lodge available to the newly established St. Catharine's Foundation, later known as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St Catharine's. Today

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4278-465: Was in residence at Windsor. Other notable buildings in the park include Cumberland Lodge , built in 1652 during the Commonwealth . After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the Lodge quickly became the home of the Ranger of the Great Park, an office in the gift of the sovereign. Each Ranger made his – or in one case, that of Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough, her – own mark on the features of

4347-446: Was jailed the next year for distributing leaflets to promote another festival and Rawle was given three months for reproducing parts of Ubi's leaflets in the underground newspaper International Times . The modern enclosed deer park is at the northern end of the Great Park. It is home to a large herd of semi-wild red deer , reflecting the original medieval purpose of the park. The tree-lined 2.64 miles (4.25 km) avenue known as

4416-510: Was largely pulled down after his death. The remains were renovated, in the 1930s, as a home for the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth . It is now the official residence of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and not accessible by the public. The Royal Chapel of All Saints was built after the chapels of the Royal and Cumberland Lodges proved too small for growing numbers of household staff. The chapel

4485-715: Was manipulated to produce a habitat that was both suitable for the deer and also provided space for hunting. "Tree dotted lawns, tree clumps and compact woods" provided "launds" (pasture) over which the deer were hunted and wooded cover for the deer to avoid human contact. The landscape was intended to be visually attractive as well as functional. Some deer parks were established in the Anglo-Saxon era and are mentioned in Anglo-Saxon Charters ; these were often called hays (from Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”). After

4554-461: Was no legitimate market for venison without an established provenance. Thus the ability to eat venison or give it to others was also a status symbol. Consequently, many deer parks were maintained for the supply of venison, rather than hunting the deer. Small deer parks which functioned primarily as household larders were attached to many smaller manors, such as at Umberleigh in Devon. Owners would grant to their friends or to others to whom they owed

4623-402: Was on the inside increasing the effective height. Some parks had deer " leaps ", where there was an external ramp and the inner ditch was constructed on a grander scale, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving. Deer parks could vary in size from a circumference of many miles down to what amounted to little more than a deer paddock. The landscape within a deer park

4692-511: Was opened in June 2006, and was nominated for the 2007 Stirling Prize . Park access via Rangers Gate is strictly for authorised vehicles only. There are several other road, horse and foot entrances. Access to some of the private areas of the Great Park is available, on application, for an annual key rental fee. Access to the park is governed by Windsor Great Park Regulations 1973. Every five or six years since 1993 Windsor Great Park has been home to

4761-486: Was probably named after Queen Elizabeth I , who was known as the "Virgin Queen". Queen Victoria created the park that still exists. The Windsor Castle Act 1848 was implemented to reform land use and rights around Windsor Castle . This led to the removal of existing roads and the creation of new ones to redirect people away Home Park . The changes were the result of the death of Prince Albert , when Queen Victoria largely withdrew from public life. At Frogmore she built

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