This article written by Jackie Rickenberg appeared in the Parish Magazine in March 2024
Warren Park
Surely the smallest of the parish’s hamlets must be Warren Park. The archives contain little to no history about it, but potentially someone may know more?
“In 1618, Sir Robert More of Loseley and Henry Bell of Witley, set up a rabbit warren on what is now Thursley Common. At this time, artificial warrens were built to house rabbits, which were farmed for their fur and meat during the medieval and post medieval periods. A collection of these warrens was called pillow mounds and a licence was required from the King which gave the “Right of Free Warren”. The people who looked after these pillow mounds were called warreners. A house for said warrener was built on this site.
Over three centuries later, in 1939, long after this practice had been discontinued, a military camp for Canadian soldiers, similar to the one at Tweedsmuir, was constructed on the site. At the end of the war, after the Canadians had returned home, displaced Polish troops who fought with the British Army in North Africa and Central Europe, were temporarily housed in the now empty camp”.
Thank you to John Luff for this summary.
Loseley House
As is often the way when researching these articles, for several hours I have been down the proverbial rabbit hole, indeed a positive pillow mound of rabbit warrens! The reason the name of our society was changed from The History of Thursley Society to The Thursley History Society was exactly for this reason. It allows us to include tenuous historical links to areas outside of the village’s parameters – in this case we travel to Loseley House, near Guildford. Sir Robert More piqued my interest and it transpires setting up a pillow mound of rabbit warrens in Thursley was perhaps one of his lesser celebrated achievements.
Born in 1581 at Loseley House, Robert was the first son of Sir George More and his wife Anne. He came down from Corpus Christi, Oxford with a BA in 1598, making him seventeen years old at graduation.
It was said he lived in the shadow of his father, one of the most prominent parliamentarians of this period. Sir Robert (he was knighted at the grand old age of twenty-two) entered Parliament, becoming MP for Guildford whilst still a minor. He became joint keeper, along with his father, Sir George, and his grandfather, Sir William, of Farnham Little Park and Joint Constable of Farnham Castle.
Until his death in 1626 at the age of forty-four, he served as a JP for Surrey and an MP for Surrey or Guildford no less than six times. He left a wife and eleven children, all residing in “The Old House” at Loseley Park. Some of his more memorable (to me at least) committee seats were to prevent unlawful games, to consider recusant wives (wives who refused to submit to their husbands), better observance of the Sabbath and the naturalisation of the daughters of Sir Horace Vere (falling again down that warren!). Upon his death, More was buried in the Loseley Chapel in St Nicholas’, Guildford. His eldest son, Poynings More, succeeded him as an MP, serving Haslemere. His last remaining sister, Margaret, who had married Thomas Molyneux of Lancashire, inherited the estate. The present family of More-Molyneux are descended from this couple.
So there. We now have a better understanding of the man, Sir Robert More, his political career and his many public responsibilities. However, we also know that he had a passion/hobby for raising rabbits in the quiet surroundings of Thursley and whenceforth the origin of Warren Park’s name. Any filling in of the blanks between 1618 and 1939 would be most appreciated!