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MONK WOOD, IN LOUGHTON.
The following are the members of the Organising Joint Com-
mittee appointed by the County Council and the Council of the
Essex Field Club respectively :—
(On behalf of the County Council) Mr. E. N. Buxton, J.P., Mr.
E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., Mr. J. H. Burrows, Mr. S. W. Squier, J.P.,
Mr. F. West and Mr. W. B. Whittingham. (On behalf of the Club)
Prof. G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., Mr. F. Chancellor, J.P., Prof. R.
Meldola, F.R.S., F.C.S., Sir Henry E. Roscoe, M.P., F.R.S., Mr. F.
W. Rudler, F.G.S., and Mr. J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S. At the
first meeting of the Committee held on July 20th, Mr. W. Cole was
appointed Secretary. It is too early yet to report any of the work of
the Committee, which it is hoped will be of considerable assistance
in the very difficult task now undertaken by the County Council.
MONK WOOD, IN LOUGHTON.
A FRAGMENT OF FOREST HISTORY.1
By W. C. WALLER, M.A.
ALMOST anything connected with Epping Forest seems to come
within the catholic embrace of the Essex Field Club, and a
note or two concerning Monk Wood, in Loughton, may, perhaps, not
be refused a place in the Essex Naturalist. It has probably
occurred to-many a rambler through the woodland to ask himself, as
he passed from the stunted growth of pollards which are the legacy
of lopping rights, into the great shady wood with its carpet of russet-
gold, how it came about that this particular spot fared otherwise than
the rest of the Forest. He may have asked a question and been told
that "fuel-assignments" used to be made, and that this was the "assign-
ment" of the lords of the manor, who dealt more gently with their
woods than people whose notions of primogeniture and inheritance
were less well developed. But the history of Monk Wood goes back
beyond the comparatively modern days of "assignments" and
"lopping rights."
Somewhere about the beginning of the thirteenth century one
l Authorities: Harl. MS. 4809. D. of Lanc. : Surveys and Depositions ; 24 Eliz. D. of
Lanc. ; Mise. Rec, ; xxv. F. 17 a.