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THE WOODLANDS OF ESSEX.
By J. C. SHENSTONE, F.L.S. ; Vice-President, E.F.C.
WITH MAP OF ESSEX SHOWING FOREST AREAS (PLATE III.).
[Read October 26th, 1907.]
EARLY HISTORY.
HISTORIANS and writers upon Essex are fond of asserting
that in early times our county was almost covered with
dense forest. But we must not hastily conclude that this was
true at any epoch during the historic period.
Documentary history gives us very little information as
to the extent of Essex woodlands in early times. In order
therefore to arrive at correct conclusions upon this matter,
we must trace the development of agriculture, and learn what we
can from the nature of the soil.
Caesar gives a very clear account of the condition of Southern
Britain at the time of his invasion (B.C. 54-55).1 He landed
on the shore of Kent or Sussex, and crossing the Thames above
London, probably proceeded to St. Albans. On more than
one occasion Caesar's army was surprised when reaping corn in
the fields, and upon two occasions "the Britons having hidden
themselves in the woods, suddenly attacked the Romans whilst
they were scattered in the fields." Caesar also tells us that the
maritime counties of Britain were inhabited by a great number
of men, who had come from Belgium ; that the number of their
cattle was great; that their chariots were drawn by horses, and
had attached to them scythe blades. These were made in this
country, and the Britons were dressed in a kind of cloth, also of
their own manufacture.2
It is quite certain that the South of England was at that time
populated by an agricultural and warlike people, who were
advanced in the arts, and that there were extensive tracts
of cultivated laud interspersed with dense woodlands.
Caesar did not penetrate into Essex, but the Trinobantes,
who inhabited this county, sent ambassadors to Caesar, who
demanded corn for his army, numbering some thirty or forty
1 Caesar, Dr Bello Gallico IV., v.
2 Origins of English History, Elton, 1882 ; and Social England, Trail, 1893, Vol. I., p. 86.
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