One of the remarkable results of the project is that it has identified the existence of one of Humphry Repton’s Red Books for Lathom dated 10 September 1792, and which was purchased by the Lancashire Record Office (LRO) at auction in 2004. The Red Book provides vital mapped, written, and illustrated evidence for landscape and architectural features from up to a century before Repton’s visit, features for which other evidence is sparse or entirely lacking.

Pages from Humphry Repton’s 1792 Red Book for Lathom showing a sketch plan illustrating his proposals for a modified park
(reproduced with permission of LRO)

The deer park survey has shown that Lathom as a whole, and the parks in particular, have far greater archaeological and historical potential than has previously been recognised. The confirmation in recent years that the site of the fifteenth century defended mansion underlies the remains of the eighteenth century Leoni house has allowed the present project to develop, and to study other aspects of this important medieval centre of power.
The original creation of the park can now be dated to c.1250 or earlier. The best
insight into the character of the early parks comes from an important compotus
account of 1521-22 provides valuable information about the arrangement of the park, though does not provide clear geographical information.
The evidence of early published cartographic sources, such as the first moderatelyreliable Lancashire county map by Saxton (1577), is that the pre-Civil War Lathom Park extended a considerable distance east of the River Tawd, to the extent of being shown almost symmetrical to the river on some maps. The work of transcribing the tithe schedule of 1846 revealed a significant number of ‘park’ and ‘pale’ field-names which, coupled with information from other documentary sources, has helped to confirm a sequence of putative earlier park boundaries.

Smith’s 1603 map showing the two Lathom Parks (top centre)
enclosed by oak paling – note large buildings within park paling

From the Compotus of 1521-2 it is evident that the Lathom parks showed many of the typical parkland features of woodlands, launds and open spaces, extensive grassed areas normally used for animal pasture, tracts of arable land, a rabbit warren, ponds, deerhouses, and substantial and well-maintained perimeter fences, hedges and ditches.