This feature presumably resulted from one or other of the three attempts at enclosing
the wood (in 1572, 1670 and 1781); prior to this Knighton Wood itself was wood-
pasture, as evidenced by a number of fine beech pollards, and would not have required a
woodbank. The present ditch and bank is very irregular in size, in some sections it is
barely perceptible and yet in others a double bank appears to be present: nowhere is the
woodbank very large, a further indication of its relatively recent construction. Along the
top of the bank are to be found a number of coppiced beech and hornbeam trees as well
as standard oaks and at one point a rather poorly pollarded wild service. Pine and
rhododendron have obviously been planted on the bank.
Monkhams Lane itself has been colonised at one point by sallow and in two places
quite extensive areas of pendulous sedge.
Apart from gravel workings and their associated drainage ditches, Lords Bushes is
apparently devoid of any obvious recognisable pre-twentieth century man-made feature.
There are, however, three holes about four feet square and rather shallow, these may
have been trial gravel diggings or possibly one of these is the "coal hearth" (used in
charcoal burning) which is mentioned for Lords Bushes in the Victoria County History
of Essex (70). On the north edge of the wood are the remains of a small 'dump' from one
of the cottages that backed on to the wood.
THE FLORA OF LORDS BUSHES
Introduction
In order to put the present day flora of Lords Bushes into historical perspective I
have felt it necessary to include brief notes based on work carried out elsewhere in
Epping Forest and summarised mainly from Corke (14). These notes deal with the flora
of the prehistoric wildwood, its relationship to the present flora, and most importantly,
how management as wood-pasture has affected the flora. Further sections include an
appraisal of the few known historical records of plants for Lords Bushes and also a
detailed account of the present day flora including bryophytes and lichens of Lords
Bushes.
The Wildwood
Recent analysis of the pollen record from bog deposits has shown that the
prehistoric wildwood in lowland England was dominated by lime {Tilia cordata) and
recent studies suggest this is true also for what was to become Epping Forest (3). A
characteristic feature of the pollen diagrams from all sites in Britain is a decline, often
rapid, in the frequency of lime pollen at certain points formerly thought to be climatic in
origin. This decline is now attributed to clearances by man. Lime decline was not a
synchronous event, it took place in various areas at different times but mainly in the
Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages. The lime decline in Epping Forest was remarkably late,
radiocarbon dates indicate the middle Saxon period (as late as 950 A.D.) and was
possibly associated with the rise of wood-pasture.
In the Epping Forest area lime gave way initially to birch and ultimately to horn-
beam and beech. Oak throughout this period maintained a fairly constant presence in
the pollen diagram, increasing a little after the lime decline. These species are
characteristic of the Epping Forest area (including Lords Bushes) today.
Lime is no longer present as an indigenous tree in Epping Forest (it is present as a
rare planted tree, there are two by St Johns Pond, Buckhurst Hill). It is thought lime was
unable to maintain a hold because of the rise of the wood-pasture system in Epping
Forest. Lime is sensitive to browsing, it only survives as a native tree in Essex in coppice
woods (59).
17