THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 105
back to the pre-historic flint instruments, and then from that time in the early
history of man anything that bore upon the culture and civilisation of the people
should be collected together.
Mr. Deputy Halse said as far back as 1883 gentlemen taking an interest in the
Forest assembled at the hospitable residence of Mr. E. N. Buxton, and application
was made for the use of the Queen Elizabeth Lodge for such a collection, but at
that time the Corporation was newly in the saddle as controlling managers of the
Forest, and there was some fear entertained by some gentlemen very high in
authority that it would be undesirable that they should nominally part with the
control of the property to which they had succeeded. Although the notion of
forming this Museum slumbered, the gentlemen taking an interest in it did not
sleep, and other men had appeared on the scene. Last year application was made
to his immediate predecessor, Mr. James Salmon, to bring before the Forest
Committee the subject of the formation of this Museum. Mr. Salmon was
enthusiastic about anything connected with the Forest, and the Committee were
able to see their way, without parting with the control of the building, to give the
gentlemen interested in forming the Museum an opportunity of occupying it for
that purpose. The Committee retained control of it, and had the power of
terminating, if necessary, the occupation of it, but he did not think that was likely
to happen in his time, or in the time of any of them. He had the utmost pleasure
in the name of the Epping Forest Committee, and he thought he should say in the
name of the Lord Mayor and Corporation, of whom this Committee was but a
section, in declaring the Museum open, and that from Monday, November 4th, the
collections would be available for public inspection.
1 he party then proceeded to view the Museum, and (again to employ the words
of the report in "Nature") "great satisfaction was expressed at the amount of
material which had been brought together in a comparatively short time, and with
very modest financial means." Some very appreciative notices of the Museum
appeared in various newspapers, particularly in the "Field," "Natural Science,"
the "Essex County Chronicle," the "Essex Times," and many others, and the
following passages from the "Daily News" of November 4th, may be taken as a
fair description of its contents, as viewed by the representative of that paper :
" The Essex Field Club has done a really good work in establishing the
Epping Forest Free Local Museum, which was formally opened on Saturday
afternoon. The quaint, well-preserved old-world house, known as Queen Elizabeth's
hunting lodge, adjoining the picturesque Forest Hotel at Chingford, is not large,
but it serves admirably for the purpose of the moment. The sub-committee of
the Club do not pretend that the Museum in its present shape is anything but a
beginning, but they well deserved the congratulations and praises spoken by the
gentlemen who took part in the proceedings of Saturday. The Museum has a
distinct educational character, since it is designed and arranged to illustrate the
natural history, archaeology, and history of a most interesting district, and the
Lodge itself, with its antique staircase and upper banqueting room, is an anti-
quarian object of rare value. The map of the old Forest of Waltham broadly
defines the district covered by the collections in the Museum, and it is curious to
note that Epping, which gives the remnant of forest its modern name, was in
1641, which is the date of the last "perambulation," only a purlieu. Chigwell
was then almost the centre of the forest, and its boundaries extended from Roydon
Hamlet to Stratford-le-Bow in one direction and from the Bourne Brook to the
River Lea in another. The Essex Field Club, in making its preparations for the