xxxii Journal of Proceedings.
thirteen rides of the Forest of Waltham, which contained this number
of rides as late as the reign of Charles I. A great many parishes where
there was now no forest land whatever were formerly wholly or in part
within the bounds of this great forest, and Havering-atte-Bower was
included in the demesne of Hainault. Having dwelt on the etymology of
the name of Havering, incidentally mentioning at the same time the
probable etymology of the names of Chigwell and Lambourne, the
speaker alluded to the old story as to the absence of nightingales within
the park. Morant says that Havering-Bower was "an ancient retiring
place of some of our Saxon kings, particularly of that simple Saint
Edward the Confessor, who took great delight in it as being woody and
solitary, fit for his private devotions. The legend says it abounded with
warbling nightingales, that they disturbed him at his prayers, and he
earnestly desired of God their absence ; since which time, as the
credulous neighbouring swaines believed, never nightingale was heard
to sing in the park, but many without the pales, as in other places."
Mr. Boulger also referred to the very curious tenure "of the gathering
and yearly making of the wardstaff of the king and the watch, ward, and
Service Royall incident to the same," by which Lambourne and several
other manors were formerly held, and then went on to give a slight
sketch of the botanical history of Hainault Forest, the materials for
which are, unfortunately, very scanty indeed. In Gibson's ' Flora of
Essex ' a large number of plants were mentioned, as growing in Epping
Forest, but only twenty-one were mentioned as growing in Hainault,
most of which were marsh plants. Of these twenty-one, nineteen were
first recorded in this district of the county by Edward Forster, who
seemed to have visited the forest between 1795 and 1801. Beyond
Forster's occasional researches and those of a few others still living, or
until lately living, Hainault seemed scarcely to have been visited by
botanists at all, or if they did visit it they have left no traces of their
observations.
An adjournment was then made for a ramble in the remnant of
Hainault Forest, of which about 300 (?) acres were awarded as parish
commons by the commissioners when the woodlands were destroyed, and
are still in a more or less primitive condition. Many people recollect
Hainault in all its glories of chequered light and shade, its pleasant
rides, glades and "wents," and its insect- and flower-loved mossy swamps
and ponds, but very few indeed are the records now obtainable of its
characteristic plants and animals. Even Mr. English, the well-known
Epping naturalist, could tell us little of its plants or birds, but he very
kindly jotted down a few memoranda for our information, of which the
following is the substance :—
" I have much pleasure in giving you a few notes, but very frag-
mentary, I fear, since years have rolled by since my young days, when I
used to frequent Hainault. The old and charming forest with its stately
oaks, swampy morasses and ferny glades, very varied in plant life, was a