 The Court of King Charles I paid frequent visits to Dulwich and its woods to hunt deer.By 1605 Edward Alleyn was a wealthy man and for £5,000 (a large amount in those days), was able to buy the Manor of Dulwich from the Calton family, who had owned it since the dissolution of the monasteries.Alleyn managed the woods in a business-like way, dividing them into ten coppices, one coppice to be felled each year when the trees were ten years old.