12 THE AREA OF EPPING FOREST FOR FAUNISTIC PURPOSES.
The perambulation was made in pursuance of the Statute 16
Car. I. cap. 16, intituled "An Act for the certainty of Forrests and
of the Meetes, Meeres, Limits and Bounds of Forrests," by which it
was declared that the meets, meers, limits and bounds of all the
Forests should be those used or taken in the 20th year of the reign
of James I. The perambulation was fully set out in the Appendix
to the "Preliminary Report of the Epping Forest Commissioners,"
1875, and was accompanied with a map showing the lines of the
perambulation. This map is reproduced on Plate I. to this volume,
and we append a transcript of the main portion of the perambula-
tion, excluding the mere formal words, &c. This will not only be
useful as precisely defining the limits of the area we propose to
adopt as the "Epping Forest District" in faunistic publications, but
it is very interesting in itself as giving the ancient names of many
places in the district. It should be observed that the perambulation
includes Hainault Forest, and we have indicated the "meets and
bounds" of this now desecrated region by enclosing the words
descriptive thereof within [ ]. The map on Plate I. does not
include Hainault, the southern boundary line running only as far
as Ilford, then turning north along the course of the Roding to
Abridge.
The northern and north-western portion of the area has been
but little explored by naturalists, and steady work in those districts
will possibly bring to light many interesting additions to our forest
flora and fauna :—
PERAMBULATION OF THE FOREST OF WALTHAM, IN THE
COUNTY OF ESSEX, IN THE SEVENTEENTH YEAR OF
KING CHARLES THE FIRST (1641).
Essex, to
Wit.
INQUISITION taken at Stratford Langthorne, in the county of Essex, on
Wednesday, being the 8th day of September, in the 17th year of the
Reign of our Lord Charles, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.
Before &c.....[Commissioners] and forty and eight good and lawful
men, &c.....[Jurors].
"Which same jurors, as well by view upon their perambulation as by the
oaths of divers witnesses worthy of credit produced and sworn upon the inqui-
sition aforesaid, in the presence of the same Commissioners, jurors, and officers
of the Forest aforesaid, say, upon their oath, that all and singular the mears,
metes, bounds, and limits of the said Forest of Waltham, otherwise the Forest of
Essex, in the county aforesaid, which were commonly known to have been the
meares, metes, bounds, and limits of the same Forest, in the aforesaid 20th year
of the reign of the said Lord James, late King of England, &c., were in the same