90 acres in extent, reaching from the Bayswater Road to the
Thames, which was given by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de
Mandeville, who at his death bequeathed it to the Abbey of Westminster.
In Domesday Book it is divided into three manors of Hyde, Ebury, and
Neyte. Of these the first occupies the site of Hyde Park; Ebury, from
Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace Road; Neyte, nearer the river, was
the favourite residence of the Abbots. Here John of Gaunt lived, and
here, in 1448, John, son of Richard, Duke of York, was born. The monks
remained in possession until dispossessed by Henry VIII. in 1536. Hyde
then became a royal hunting-ground. Neyte, or Neat, and Ebury remained
as farms, which in 1676 came into the possession of the Grosvenor family
by the marriage of Mary, daughter and heiress of Alexander Davies of
Ebury, with Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bart. With her came also the
Grosvenor Square property, extending from Oxford Street to Berkeley
Square and Dorchester House, and from Park Lane to South Molton Lane and
Avery Row. Other large landholders in the district are the Crown--Hyde
Park, and Buckingham Palace; Lord Fitzhardinge, the Berkeley estate; the
City of London, New Bond Street and parts of Conduit Street and Brook
Street; Earl Howe, Curzon Street; Sir Richard Sutton, Piccadilly; the
Dean and Chapter of Westminster, Knightsbridge; and the Lowndes family,
Lowndes Street and Chesham Place.

More than a quarter of the district is covered by Hyde Park, 394 acres
in extent. Long before its acquisition by the Crown in 1536 it had been
a favourite royal hunting-ground, and it so continued until Charles I.'s
accession, when it was opened to the public. During this reign, and
until 1736, the world of fashion centred round the Ring, a circular
drive planted with trees, some of which are still carefully preserved on
the high ground near the Ranger's house, though all trace of the roadway
has long been obliterated. The Park was sold by auction during the
Commonwealth, but resumed by the Crown at the Restoration, and in 1670
was enclosed with a brick wall and restocked with deer, who have left
their traces in the name of Buck Hill Walk and Gate, close to the east
bank of the Serpentine. This prettily-laid-out area, formerly known as
Buckden Hill or the Deer Paddock, is now tenanted only by peacocks,
ducks and rabbits.

The Serpentine, a noble stretch of water of 50 acres, has already been
described in "Kensington."

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