[Illustration: OSLER’S GLASS FOUNTAIN AND THE TRANSEPT. THE GREAT EXHIBITION. _Frontispiece._ ] HYDE PARK FROM _DOMESDAY-BOOK TO DATE_ BY JOHN ASHTON AUTHOR OF “SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE,” ETC., ETC. _ONE MAP AND TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS_ London DOWNEY & CO. YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON 1896 [_All rights reserved_] LONDON: GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED, ST. JOHN’S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL ROAD, E.C. PREFACE. The only History of Hyde Park, at all worthy of the name, is Vol. I. of “The Story of the London Parks,” by Jacob Larwood. But, its author says, definitely, “What happened in Hyde Park subsequently to 1825, approaches too near to contemporary history to be told in these pages.” This (for Hyde Park has a history since then), added to the inaccuracies and imperfections of the book, has induced me to write a History of Hyde Park from Domesday Book to Date. JOHN ASHTON. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE The forests round London--The Manor of Eia in Domesday Book--Its subdivision--The Manor of Hyde--The Manor of Ebury--The Manor of Neate--The Neat houses--Henry VIII. and Hyde Park--Queen Elizabeth and Hyde Park--James I.--The deer in the Park--Last shooting therein--Foxes--The badger 1 CHAPTER II. Hyde Park in the early Commonwealth--Its sale--Toll on horses and carriages--A hurling match--Cromwell’s accident--Attempts to shoot him in the Park--Notices against trespassers--The Park at the Restoration 14 CHAPTER III. The camp in Hyde Park during the Plague of 1665--Boscobel Oaks in the Park--When first opened to the public--What it was then like--The Cheesecake House--Its homely refections--Orange girls 24 CHAPTER IV. Foot and horse racing in the Park--Prize fighting--Duelling--The duel between Lord Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton 32 CHAPTER V. Duelling in Hyde Park 39 CHAPTER VI. Skating on the ponds and Serpentine--The Ring--Many notices thereof--Fireworks in the Park--Bad roads therein, and accidents caused thereby--Regulations in the time of Queen Anne--Making the drive--Riding in the Park 49 CHAPTER VII. Rotten Row, the King’s Old Road--The New King’s Road made and lighted--The Allied Sovereigns in the Park--The Park after the Peninsular War--The Duke of Wellington in the Park--The Queen and Royal Family in the Park 61 CHAPTER VIII. The springs in Hyde Park--Used as water supply for Westminster--Horses in the Park--The Westbourne--Making the Serpentine--The “Naumachia” thereon--Satires about it--The Jubilee Fair 65 CHAPTER IX.