Table 3. Areas of physical Forests.
Epping
Wintry
Hainault
Area in 1774 Area in 1978
Acres sq. km Acres % of 1774
6340 25.6 5630 89
290 1.2 270 93
4900 19.8 300 6
11530 46.6 6200 54
The traditional topography of Epping Forest
The base of reference for this study is Chapman & Andre's map (Fig. 10,
centre-spread) (8), surveyed in 1772-4; it depicts the south-western Forests when
they were still almost wholly rural, at the end of a period of stability dating back
(as I shall argue) at least 600 years and shortly to be disrupted by enclosure and
urbanization.
Epping Forest in 1772-4 was a little larger than it is now (Fig. 5, Table 3).
It had a straggling shape, with concave outlines, projections of which funnelled
out into the many roads and tracks which crossed the Forest. The perimeter was
surrounded, densely in places, by the commoners' houses, which faced on to the
Forest and backed on to their own private fields. Gates, called hatches, stood in
the necks of the road-funnels and served the purpose of the modern cattle-grids.
Hainault was more compact in shape but shared the other features. Around and
between the Forests the map shows many parks and private woods which are
clearly differentiated from the wood-pasture of the Forests.
In Essex there were many other commons, wooded and unwooded, which
also had the concave perimeter, roads and road-funnels, boundary houses, and
the hatches whose names still sprinkle the map. Epping Forest differed from
these only in its size and the large number of trees. Woods and especially parks,
in contrast, have compact outlines — reflecting the expense of fencing — and
are not bordered by houses. Roads pass round or between woods but rarely
through them.
The northern half of Epping Forest is almost unaltered in outline since
1774 and most of its boundary features can still be seen.
The earliest map of the whole Forest dates from c. 1640 (21). It is much less
accurate than Chapman and Andrg, but shows no significant difference apart
from a minor encroachment at Wanstead Park. As well as Epping and Hainault
Forests, it shows many private parks and woods, and also the extensive wood-
pasture commons north-east of Hainault which had disappeared by 1774.
Earlier still is an oblique aerial view of the Forest, said to be of c. 1590 (22).
This is sketchy and incomplete, but shows the whole north-west boundary of the
Forest almost exactly as it is now, with some of the Forest roads, the boundary-
house of Woodredon Farm, and the lanes, fields, hedges and hedgerow trees
between the Forest and Waltham Abbey. On this side at least, the topography
has hardly changed in 400 years.
21