THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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with pleasure to the fact that the County Council had voted a sum of not more
than £100 towards the restoration of the Boundary Stones of the old Forest
of Waltham, subject to the Essex Field Club locating the same and carrying
out the work.
Mr. Miller Christy seconded the proposition, which was heartily carried.
Mr. Green briefly replied, saying how pleased they were to see the members
of the Club that afternoon.
Mrs. Green kindly distributed a pretty card of photographs of the old Hog
Hill House, Hainhault Forest, as a souvenir of the visit.
The evening was devoted to a ramble through Hainhault Forest. The party
walked along the summit of Hog Hill, from which extensive views are to be
obtained, embracing the Thames and the Kentish Hills, the Tower Bridge, the
Crystal Palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral. The isolated groups of oak trees
which surmount the hill, and which are such prominent landmarks for many miles,
are slowly dying. This Mr. Buxton attributes to exposure, consequent on the
disafforesting of the surrounding land. The party on the hill watched a long
procession of holiday-makers in the valley beneath, and learned that the visitors
to the forest were sailors' wives from Stepney, and that each day this week huge
excursions from East London to Hainhault have taken place. The land which a
few years ago was cultivated as Foxburrow's Farm is naturally re-afforesting itself.
It is strange that on land that was under the plough for fifty years bracken
should once again be springing up, without any artificial assistance. Much has
been done in the way of sowing grass and planting undergrowth ; forest trees are
springing up naturally, and the broom, gorse, and thorns are making a fine show.
Only trees that are indigenous to the forest will be planted, and in the
open spaces the idea is to get the appearance of the Downs as much as possible.
It is surprising how very near to the likeness of the original sketches of what was
desired in the open spaces the slopes of Foxburrow's Farm have become, and the
result of Mr. Buxton's excellent work evoked warm commendation. Forest
Keeper Jones also proved an admirable guide, and afforded much information to
enquirers. An incident of the walk through the long wet grass was the capture
of a tiny leveret by Mr. Buxton, who exhibited this specimen of the wild fauna
of the forest, and gave it its liberty after it had been elected with one acclaim a
life member of the Field Club. The plunge into the forest proper was heralded
by a smart shower, and a short cut was taken through breast-high bracken,
beneath dripping branches, to the northern border. Mr. Buxton told the story
of how the forest was cleared of gipsies, who were a menace to the countryside.
An injunction to restrain the nomads from encamping in the green wood was
unheeded, and orders of committal for contempt of court were only executed when
a formidable body of law officers were sent into the forest. Three gipsies were
thrown into prison, and this so scared all the others, save three families, that they
hastily struck their tents and vanished. A proclamation that the imprisoned
men would be kept in custody until there were no more gipsies in Hainhault
Forest led to the return of those who had taken flight, for the purpose of
summarily ejecting the three obdurate families. This effected, the prisoners
were liberated, and Hainhault Forest has seen the gipsies no more. Instead, the
woodland has become the playground of the toiler of London, and a pleasant
resort for the immense population of suburban Essex.
The brakes awaited the party at the Beehive Inn, Lambourne End, and
returned to Woodford by way of Chigwell Row,