Richmond Park’s open grassland, veteran trees, and roaming deer make it feel far removed from central London, though it remains part of the capital. The park’s landscape is both ecological habitat and a designed royal hunting ground, a history still visible in its scale and managed boundaries.
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The deer are not decorative additions to this landscape; they are part of the reason it exists. In 1625, Charles I turned Richmond into a park for red and fallow deer after bringing his court to Richmond Palace to escape plague in London.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- Richmond Park covers about 1,000 hectares.
- Charles I made it a deer park in 1625.
- The park’s deer include red and fallow deer.
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