158 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
A seemingly well-informed local writer in 18592 records that
some time previous to that date three or four poor labouring
men of Theydon Bois had actually "commenced a law-suit
with the lord of the manor, on account of his annoying them
in their wood-cutting, and brought the matter to a trial at
Chelmsford ; but instead of appearing they became frightened,
and allowed judgment to proceed by default. The lord of the
manor proceeded against them for the law costs, and threw
them into prison, where they remained some months in the
debtors' gaol. Since which," adds the author, "the lord of the
manor has carried things with so high a hand, that one might
be almost ready to suppose that he considered that this incident
gave to him absolute power over the forest affairs of Theydon
Bois manor."
Nor is it at all remarkable that the manorial lords should
take this view of their powers. They had been pressed by
Government agents to purchase for cash the Crown rights in
Epping Forest, under the threat that, if they refused, these
would be offered to outsiders ; and they were assured by the
officials that, once these Crown rights had been so purchased,
they would be free to do as they pleased with the Forest, each
within his own manorial limit. Naturally enough, they believed
the statement, and in or about the year 1858 they purchased
the Crown rights accordingly, at the rate of approximately
£4 per acre.
At that period, the policy of enclosure of waste lands was
regarded, not by the Lords alone, as a righteous action in the
interests of public morality. Thus, in Coller's People's History
of Essex, published in 1861, we read, under the heading of
Loughton :
" The proximity of the forest, and the pretext of procuring
firewood by means of the loppings of the trees, which the
inhabitants claim a right to cut during the winter months,
encourage habits of idleness and dislike of settled labour, and
in some cases give occasion for poaching, all of which are injurious
to the morals of the poor. Enclosures, however, seem to be
commencing in the neighbourhood, which will probably check
these irregular and, to a certain extent, demoralising tendencies ":
2 Maynard's Concise History of Epping Forest, published 1860 by the author, John Maynard,
at the School House, Theydon Bois.