Hampton Court Park park. It is documented Cardinal Wolsey inclosed with a wall about 2,000 acres to form this park and Bushy Park for his purchase and reconstruction into an exceptionally grand house on the former manor house of Hampton. It formed what became before his death Hampton Court Palace, taken over by Henry VIII. The king was an avid hunter and had the park used for breeding rabbits and/or hares, pheasants and partridges. The inventory of Cromwell's goods made in 1659 records "about 700 deer", compared to "about 1,700" and "about 30 red deer" in Bushy Park. A tree, called the Mediaeval
Hampton, London Boat Club is across the river in Molesey, 500m west of Hampton Court Bridge. Hampton SC has a clubhouse and boatyard occupying all of Benn's Island. Aquarius SC is by Hampton Court Palace stable yard. These have rival rowing and sailing clubs on neighbouring reaches of the Thames, and in respect of sailing, on the Queen Mary Reservoir. The 1857 novel "The Three Clerks" by Anthony Trollope is set in Hampton, which was then a village on the western outskirts of London: "There are still, however, some nooks within reach of the metropolis which have not been be-villaged and be-terraced