This is a highly original, profusely illustrated, and well  researched account of deer parks. With humility and respect  Fletcher touches on errors commonly made by archaeologists and  historians, taking issue with long held theories while drawing on  his lifetime working with deer to formulate plausible  explanations as to, for example, why they were not domesticated  until the 20th century, how parks evolved from  haga  and  elricks , why deer parks were created throughout Eurasia, why fallow so rapidly ousted red deer from medieval British parks, and much  more.  

 

He ranges from meat sharing amongst chimpanzees to the symbolism  of venison as the elite product of  hunting, ensconced within  seven centuries of the English Royal Warrant, through the 300  year long prohibition on its sale within England and the  continuing illegality of selling hunted venison within the USA,  the aristocratic pursuit of park breaking, and the imposition of  the Black Act. He stresses  the cross-cultural importance of  rulers being seen to hunt, compares ancient Chinese parks, the  colossal Asian ring hunts, and the water hunts of Germany as  expressions of man's urge to contain deer.

 

Within Britain, which has for a thousand years held more deer   parks than any other part of the world, he describes how deer  were fed, transported, enclosed, captured, castrated and housed,  and how they were hunted in the confines of parks. The recent  theory as to the use of trenches for handling deer in medieval  Scotland is explored.  The international symbolism of white deer,  collared deer and enclosed deer is discussed. Recently, parks  provided deer for English carted hunts  and Scottish sporting  estates;  now we recognise their ecological and recreational  value. We learn how parklands may be our spiritual home - the  environment in which we are most content  - and that parks have  always been, in a fashion, designed landscapes.