46
THE DEER OF EPPING FOREST.
By J. E. HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S.
[Read at Field Meeting, June 21st, 1884.]
We learn from Manwood's "Treatise on Forest Laws" that the essen-
tial characteristic of a forest is its being set apart for the preservation
of game ; that the trees, which are usually regarded as the real con-
stituents of a forest, are in law treated chiefly, if not exclusively, as
cover for game, and the pasturage of the forest merely as provision
for the support and nourishment of the same. We are further assured
by the same authority that a forest must always have beasts "of
forest," "of chase," or "of warren" in it, otherwise it is no forest at all.
"Beasts of venery," or of the forest, are, or were, the hart and
hind, wild boar, and wolf; "beasts of chase," the buck and doe, fox,
marten, and roe; and "beasts and fowls of warren," the hare, coney,
pheasant, and partridge.
At the present time Epping Forest still affords shelter to beasts
both "of chase" and "of warren," and on that account, therefore
(although shorn of much of its ancient timber), it is still strictly entitled
to be called "a forest," according to the old definition of the term.
The remarks which I have now to offer concerning this forest
will have reference to it chiefly from the point of view in which it was
anciently regarded, namely, as "a place for the shelter and preserva-
tion of the king's deer ; "and I propose to consider, firstly, its anti-
quity as a hunting ground of the kings and queens of England;
secondly, the nature of the deer which were hunted, and the present
condition of the different kinds of deer which are still to be found
there.
The Forest of Epping, once so much more extensive than at pre-
sent, was formerly called the Forest of Essex, as being the only forest
within this county, nearly the whole of which was anciently compre-
hended within it. As its extent became abridged, it was called the
Forest of Waltham, from the first village of importance which sprung
up within its purlieus.
The forest was divided in a marked manner by the valley of the
River Roding, which in winter was sometimes a broad sheet of water
interrupting communication between the eastern division (Hainault)
and the western (Epping).
Hainault was disafforested by Act of Parliament in 1851, and Epping
is now the only extensive remnant left of the great Forest of Essex.