THE DEER OF EPPING FOREST.
55
There can be no doubt that at one time all three kinds flourished
in the great forest of Essex. The roe was the first to disappear, then
(early in the present century) the red deer, leaving the fallow deer the
sole surviving representative of the genus Cervus in this forest.
The precise date of the disappearance of the roe from Essex it is
impossible to determine. We know that it once existed here, from
the discovery of its remains at various times in the deposits of the
Thames Valley,19 and from allusions to it in ancient charters and
Court Rolls ; but it had apparently ceased to do so some time before
John Norden wrote his Survey of Essex in 1594, for he makes no
mention of it, although he names both the red and fallow deer as
inhabiting the county.20 It is evident from Norden's concluding
words in his reference to the deer, that he considered the privileges
which the "neighbors'' enjoyed in the shape of firewood and pas-
turage on the wastes of the forest might well compensate them for the
damage done by deer in trespassing occasionally upon their holdings.
The red deer, however, from their greater habit of straying off the
forest, and damaging the farmers' crops,were naturally much "poached;"
and although an attempt was made to preserve them as long as possible,
the early part of this century witnessed their final extinction.
Cary, the well-known map engraver, published in 1786 his "Survey
of the Country Fifteen Miles round London," and in a copy of this
Survey which belonged to "J. Cary," containing annotations in his
handwriting, and which is now in the possession of one of our hon-
secretaries, Mr. B. G. Cole, he described Waltham or Epping Forest
(including Hainhault, not then disafforested) as comprising about
60,000 acres, of which 12,000 acres were unenclosed woods. Hain-
hault Forest then contained about 3,000 acres, the soil whereof
belonged to the King, being formerly part of the possessions of the
Abbey of Barking. He adds, "The Crown has an unlimited right
to keep deer in these forests, of which there is a stock of both red
and fallow deer."
In the above-mentioned annotated copy of Cary's Survey21 I find
the following interesting note, also in the author's own handwriting :—
"1827. Oct. 20.—I met the staghounds at Hoghill House, in Hainhault
Forest, to unharbour a stag. After drawing the coverts a short time, a fine old
stag was roused, and took a turn round the forest away for Packnall Corner, hence
to Dagenham, and was taken at Plaistow." He adds : "Red-deer to be so near
the Metropolis in their wild state I consider as a singular circumstance.—J. C."
19 Boyd Dawkins, Pop. Sci. Rev., Jan. 1868 ; Woodward, Geol. Mag., Sept. 1869; Walker.
Trans. Essex Field Club, vol. i. p. 38. 20 See ante, page 44, in the notice of Norden's Map of
Essex.—Ed. 21 See note in Proc. Essex Field Club, vol. i. p. xlvi.—Ed.