12
presumably by this date or shortly after the
warren had ceased to operate as a profitable
enterprise.
The last warren, on Wanstead Heath, the
Aldersbrook Warren, is the best documented.
It was also the largest at around 30 acres and
this too, probably as early as the mid—16th
century, had a warren house. In 1660 the
tenant at the warren house, Roger Tapper, was
presented before the Court of Attachment for
encroaching an acre into the wastes to enlarge
his coney-burrows. Francis Osbaston who
leased the warren to Tupper was fined £1 and
required to pay an indemnity of £20 for his
tenant's future 'good abearing'- The warren
house was later tenanted by the Heybourne
family well into the 18th century. John
Heybourne caused some problems by closing the
footpath across the warren from Little Ilford
to Wanstead Park and digging a number of holes
in the pathway, lightly covering each with turf
so that the unwary traveller easily fell into
the trap. A complaint was made and the
footpaths were speedily reopened. In 1718 a
complaint against one Henry Davis was made for
not erecting a 'spurr gate' in Cranbrooke Heads
leading to Mr. Lethieullier's Warren. This is
one of the few mentions of a spur gate in
Essex. It was a gate through which a horse
and rider could pass.
By the early 19th century rabbit warrens seemed
to have ceased to exist in Epping Forest:, but
even today evidence of this once flourishing
land-use is still to be found.
MARK HANSON