26
A NEW FOREST OF WALTHAM.
grace and a desire to benefit the poor cottagers by a not illiberal
allotment of commons. The manorial landlords had no such
scruples; they aimed to "convey " (to use Ancient Pistol's word)
the whole remaining open lands. The division of the "Forest"
into parish commons having been made, the supineness of the
people and a compliant Parliament made the rest easy, and six
of the seven commons carved out of the old woodlands,
were "acquired" within a very few years. As Sir Robert
Hunter says, "in order to abolish the common thus left, and to
reduce the whole parish to the much desired condition of private
land, but one more step was necessary—an enclosure carried out
under ordinary conditions. By the aid of the Enclosure Com-
missioners, every parish common save one was cut up and
allotted among the lord of the manor and the landowners, and
the destruction of the ancient forest was at last complete.
Happily there was one exception. The Lord of the Manor of
Lambourne, father we believe of the present Colonel Mark
Lockwood, member for the Epping Division of Essex, does not
appear to have suffered from the prevalent rage for converting
woods, commons and pastures into arable land. He did not
apply for an enclosure of the Lambourne parish allotment; and
it remains, a bit of old Hainhault Forest, to the present day."
The King's Wood lands allotted to the Crown comprised
1,873 acres. The whole of the timber was cleared off, the
stumps dragged out, and most of the land put under the plough;
in place of a beautiful woodland there appeared a barren looking,
meagre, and somewhat unprofitable farm—and so the ancient
glories of Hainhault remained eclipsed for 50 years.
It is not proposed in the present short article to recount the
ancient history of this portion of Waltham Forest, or to give
any description of its scenery and former natural productions;
this is reserved for future papers, in which also we hope to
review the botany and general natural history of those portions
still retaining a forestal character. We have simply to recount
the present stages of a noble scheme of reclaimation for public
uses and enjoyment of the existing woodlands, and of gradual
re-afforestation (in the non-legal sense, of course) of portions of
the "King's Wood" lands.
The thought that so much of the land remained in the
possession of the Crown has often tempted lovers of open spaces