xxxiv
Journal of Proceedings.
pole ' to refresh ourselves before journeying back to Epping, always
well pleased with the day's excursion."
In ' Kidd's Own Journal' a pleasant chatty magazine of natural
history and cognate subjects, we find in the volume for 1852 some
"Notes on a July ramble to Wanstead and Hainault Forests" by an
anonymous contributor, from which we may usefully take a few sentences.
The writer walked from Hackney or Homerton past Temple Mills and
through Wanstead Park, and then :—
"We rambled down the Chigwell road, cheered by the song of the
birds on either side, till, about noon, we arrived at Hainault. Before
entering the forest, we got some refreshment at the ' Crown and
Crooked Billet,' situated on the top of the hill. I merely mention this
here on account of the fine view obtainable over the surrounding
country from the gardens beside the house. Leaving this place we
entered the forest, so celebrated for its number of oaks—alas ! now
no more ! the cupidity of man has laid them low; and by the side of
where they once stood so nobly there they lay—their bare poles
bleaching in the sun. They say it is necessary to clear the forest,
but a lover of nature cannot but regret it. The insects found here
are numerous in the extreme. In beetles we have Calosoma inquisitor,
Adhelocnenia nubila [? Mesosa nubila], Toxotus meridianus, all from the
oaks ; in June the first abundantly. In July Gnorimus nobilis, Rhagium
bifasciatum, and numerous others. In Lepidoptera, in July, we have the
'rose-wing moth' (Callimorpha rosea) [= Calligenia miniata], and
the Wood-white butterfly, Leucophasia sinapis....."
Such are a few reminiscences, which may give some idea of the state
of these celebrated woods immediately before the carrying out of one of
the most uncalled-for acts of vandalism ever sanctioned by even a
British parliament in the "dark ages" circa1840-60. We have still a
few acres serving as the village common, but with almost all the plants
eaten close down by the cattle and gipsies' donkeys. Near Woodford
Bridge is yet some woodland in an untouched condition, but in private
hands. Is it too much to hope that, by the exercise of a little private
and public energy and generosity this relic may be snatched from the
clutches of the speculative builder and preserved as a sample of what
Hainault once was ?
The pleasant woodland ramble occupied the early evening, and then,
returning to the "Beehive," the omnibus was chartered to take the
members to Woodford Station through the villages of Chigwell and
Woodford Bridge.
Monday, August 6th, 1883. Field Meeting.
This being one of the Bank-holidays, or "St. Lubbock's days," as
Londoners are wont to call them, a whole-day meeting was improvised
at a very short notice for the purpose of visiting by road the fine stretch