Chapter XXIII: 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.

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.