MORE EPPING FOREST.
141
In the "Rolls of the Court of Attachments"1 there are several
entries of leave having been given from time to time to cut the wood
in the "Sale." For instance, in the records of a Court held on
November 19th, 1720, it was
"Ordered that Wm. Row, Esq", have leave to fell a Grove called the Sale
in Walthamstow Walk at 3 severall falls, it appearing to be of full growth
cont. 80 acres."
And on the 3rd July, 1786, is recorded the following protest
against the attempted enclosure of this wood :—
"At this Court Sir James Tylney Long Bart. Lord Warden presented two letters
the one wrote by Himself to Governor Hornby owner of the Wood called the Sale
in the Forest of Waltham concerning His beginning to enclose the same &
Govr. Hornby's ansr. to the same ; which being read to the Court, The Court
are of opinion that it is necessary for the preservation of the Forest that the Wood
call'd the Sale cannot lawfully be enclosed."
And again on 30th July, 1787, "Bamber Gascoyne, John Con-
yer, and Eliab Harvey, Esqrs. Verdurors," report:
"We have viewed the Wood called the Sale in the Parish of Walthamstow
and part of the said Forest of Waltham at the request of William Hornby Esq"
Proprietor of the said Wood called the Sale. And we do declare that if the said
Wood is inclosed by Pale as now begun and intended to be carried on by the said
William Hornby Esqr that the same will be injurious to the rights of the Forest
and the Ruin and Destruction of the Red and Fallow Deer of the sd Forest 2
and thereby that part of the Forest called the Walthamstow Walk will be as dis-
afforested and we do not think that the present Proprietor or those from whom he
claims has or had any Right by Pale to inclose the same. And we do also present
that there anciently were one or more Roads and Ridings through the said Wood
called the Sale which have lately been and are still shut up and that the same
ought to be opened."
Action seems to have been taken at this Court to abate the enclo-
sure, for it is recorded :—"Note the Pailing taken down and the com-
munication bet" the Wood called the Sale and the other part of
the Forest opened." In spite of these presentments, "Wm. Hornby
Esqr" persevered in his attempts to enclose the Sale, and on
19th May, 1788, there is another record:—
"John Laver Under keeper of Walthamstow Walk presents William Hornby
1 " The Rolls of the Court of Attachment of the Royal Forest of Waltham in the County of
of Essex, from the 31st October, 1713, to the 6th December, 1848," printed by order of the
Epping Forest Commissioners, 1783. The Court of Attachments, anciently the Woodmote,
whatever may have been its original nature and jurisdiction, was held under the Charter of the
Forest, which directed that the foresters and verderers should meet every forty days to see the
attachments of the forest, both for "greenhue and hunting'' by presentments of the foresters.
There are no early records of this Court ill the Forest of Waltham, although they appear to
have been duly kept. There are a few of the time of Elizabeth in the British Museum. In
the reigns of James I. and Elizabeth the Court was held at Chigwell, and in 1713 and afterwards
its sittings were always "apud le King's Head in Chigwell."
2 Licences to enclose lands on the forest were only granted, as a general rule, 011 the under-
standing that the ditch or hedge should be low enough to allow a doe with her fawn easily to sur-
mount it, certainly not more than about four feet high.