Queen Elizabeth I gave the park to her friend, Robert Lord Dudley, and he immediately sold it to Sir Richard Shireburne for £1,618. Shireburne therefore became the first private owner of the park and the wider estate. Soon after this the park was reported to be well stocked with deer again and little farming had taken place.

Shireburne lived at Stonyhurst, but kept a house at Leagram – the old park lodge. Later descriptions of the lodge say it was built in an H-shape and constructed of wattle and daub, ie wooden laths held together and pasted over with a mix of soil, cow dung, straw and water. The roof was thatched with rushes.