THE FOREST OF ESSEX
Although the forest of Essex was one of the most important in England,
not only in extent, but in consequence of its nearness to the metropolis,
the chapter concerning it will be about the briefest in the book. The
reason for this is that Mr. Fisher, in 1887, published a learned and
almost exhaustive work on _The Forest of Essex_, based on researches
among a great variety of original documents and authorities. Moreover,
Mr. E. N. Buxton has written a most admirable handbook to that “superb
fragment of natural forest,” of which under its new rule he is the
verderer—the forest of Epping.
The forest of Essex was known from the beginning of the fourteenth
century as the forest of Waltham. It is only in comparatively modern
days that it has taken its name—now that its area is so much more
restricted—from the little town of Epping. It was the custom in this
county not only to call the whole forest by the names of principal
places, such as Waltham and afterwards Epping, but also to write of
the outlying parts, such as Kingswood, Writtle, and Hatfield, as well
as integral portions such as Theydon, Loughton, Chingford, Havering,
and Hainault, as though they were independent forests. But they were
all ancient Crown demesnes, under the same forest regulations, and
administered by the same chief officers. The whole, as late as Henry
III.’s reign, was, more usually, rightly spoken of as the forest of Essex.
The whole county was brought under forest law, save perhaps a portion
on the north-west beyond the great Roman road, by the Conqueror and
his immediate successors. A small amount of disafforesting was carried
out by Henry II. and by John. The perambulations of Essex forests, a
necessary sequel of the Forest Charter of 1217, were completed in 1225,
and the result was that about three-fourths of the county were ruled to
be outside forest jurisdiction, because it had been formally afforested
after the coronation of Henry II. in 1154. The part that remained forest
was in the south-west corner, round Waltham and Romford, with the
adjacent Crown demesne of Havering. However, Henry III. audaciously upset
this disafforesting in 1228, alleging that the perambulating knights had
blundered, the disafforested parts being old forest of the time of Henry
I., which had lost its rights in the disturbances of Stephen’s days, and
had been only restored as forest by Henry II. The group of Essex venison
inquisitions for 1238-40 (the earliest extant of any county), cited by
Mr. Turner in _Forest Pleas_, show that forest law was then in active
operation even in extreme parts of the county north of Colchester, on the
borders of Suffolk.
Various perambulations were made in the time of Edward I. confirming
the extended area; but in 1300, when he was sore pressed for money,
the commons made a fresh and definite perambulation of the forests a
condition of their grant. The result of the 1301 examination of forest
boundaries and their authorities was on broad lines the same as that
of 1225. The forest area was restricted to the Waltham and Havering
corner of the county, with the addition of the vills, or small districts
immediately round the towns of Colchester, Writtle, Hatfield Regis, and
Felsted, as they were all ancient royal demesne.
In 1630 boundaries were again laid down which practically agreed with
those of 1301. Four years later much indignation was aroused by the Crown
officials attempting to raise money by extending the area of Waltham
forest. Failing in this, an attempt, also futile, was made to secure its
disafforestation and sale. This resulted in an Act being passed, during
the first session of the Long Parliament, to fix the boundaries, and a
perambulation showed that Waltham forest comprised about 60,000 acres.
The chief duty of the reeves of the forest parishes was to mark the
cattle of their respective parishes which were entitled to forest
agistment with a special brand. The mark consisted of a letter surmounted
by a crown, the letters running consecutively from A to R. Many of the
old branding irons, with letters about eight inches high, are still
extant, and impressions are given in Mr. Fisher’s volume, from which
those on the accompanying illustration are taken.
[Illustration: CATTLE BRANDS. ESSEX FOREST
A—_Waltham Holy Cross_
E—_Epping_
C—_Chingford_
K—_Barking (Maypole)._
K—_Barking (Crooked Billet)._
H—_Chigwell_
L—_Dagenham_
O—_Walthamstowe_
Q—_Wanstead_]
The machinery of the forest laws, so far as the local courts were
concerned, was maintained with some measure of strictness far later in
Waltham forest than elsewhere in the kingdom. It was in active operation
until nearly the end of the eighteenth century, and was certainly
effective in preventing encroachments.
In 1812 Mr. Wellesley Pole (afterwards Lord Mornington) became hereditary
lord warden in right of his wife. This gentleman, as Mr. Buxton puts
it, “saw that more profit was to be made in breaking his trust than in
keeping it”; he refused to support the authority of the verderers, and
did all in his power to bring the forest laws and customs into contempt.
Finally, he sold the rights he was appointed to guard.
In the middle of last century wholesale enclosures began, resulting in
the complete destruction of the woodlands of Hainault in 1851 and its
conversion into arable land. A manufacturer of steam ploughs entered
into a contract to clear the land. Attaching anchors to the roots of the
old oaks, including the Fairlop Oak of ancient memory, he completed the
whole operation in six weeks. This ruthless action began to bring about
a reaction, and after a legal contest, extending over fifteen years,
in which the Corporation of the City of London played a great part,
the preservation of 5,500 acres of Epping Forest was secured for the
enjoyment of the public. The victory was won in 1874, and the management
of the forest vested in a committee, consisting of twelve members of
the Court of Common Council and four verderers; the latter have to be
resident within the forest, and are elected by the commoners.
For full particulars as to the history of the deer of this forest, of
the woods and wood’s rights—especially of lopping, which was practised
more in Essex than elsewhere—of the pasture and pannage customs, of the
enclosures and encroachments, and of the verderers, foresters, and king’s
woodwards, the reader is referred to Mr. Fisher’s comprehensive work.