Grazing
The king had no grazing rights other than for deer in the Forests. He used
to the full the grass in Havering Park, but never sent his own livestock into
Hainault Forest, nor did he hire it out, as he did Kingswood (18), for a grazing
rent. Some other landowners had extensive rights; for instance, Waltham and
Stratford Langthorne Abbeys were each entitled to send 960 sheep into Epping
Forest (24,5).
Grazing by commoners gave rise to most of the vert offences in the Forest
courts. Goats were always forbidden and confiscated if found, though in
practice redeemed for less than their value; thus Simon Bright of Havering paid
6d in 1324 to recover three goats (17). The penalty did not deter, for several
hundred goats appeared before the fourteenth-century courts. Pigs were
prohibited in the forbidden month, presumably lest they eat new-born fawns; if
impounded they were redeemed for 4d, 6d or 12d according to age (about a
quarter of their actual value (47)), although often their owners got into further
trouble by breaking into the pound and taking them away (16,17).
There are very many cases of grazing the Forests with too many animals or
by persons with no grazing rights. The fines were usually so small as to be
merely a means of collecting a grazing rent, with little or no penalty element.
For instance, in 1318 John de la Roe of Lambourn — there is still a Roe's Well in
Hainault Forest — "overburdened the pasture of the Lord King's beasts in
Hindholt with 20 steers (bouettis)" and was fined 2s; he paid a further 2s for
100 sheep in Hainault (16). Presentments of sheep — sometimes 200 or more —
are more common than of cattle.
The practice of pannage — taking pigs in autumn to fatten on acorns in a
good acorn year — is mentioned incidentally in a poaching case in Hainault in
1239 (55). In many places, including Havering Park, a pannage rent was paid to
the lord of the manor, but I know of no such payments in the south-western
Forests.
Conclusions
Forest activities were concerned both with trees and with grassland. There
are distinct indications that the grazing was more intensive than in later cen-
turies: it included large numbers of sheep and goats. The trees were evidently
suitable for wood rather than timber: Henry III could find only a few hundred
timber oaks in Hainault. As we shall see, there were many treeless areas called
plains, including heathland, in the physical Forest.
From the king's point of view, the S.W. Essex Forests were not a
productive use of land; although so near London, they were less fully exploited
by the Crown than many more remote Forests. They were a moderate producer
of venison; but they were not a big producer of timber, like Weybridge (Hunts)
or Kingswood; nor of underwood, like Grovely (Wilts); nor of minerals, like
Dean. Although deep in debt and anxious to make money out of his Forests,
Henry III was restrained by the interests of other parties, and particularly of the
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