Tree Species
It is very likely that Lords Bushes (as part of the wildwood) would have been
predominantly lime. The abundance of beech and hornbeam we see today is probably
only of recent origin surviving along with oak (specifically Querus robur) because they
are unpalatable to browsing livestock. Grazing animals are the probable reason for the
virtual absence from Epping Forest of many otherwise common, but palatable, tree
species among them hazel and ash. Ash occurs as a single tree in Lords Bushes which
was probably able to establish itself in the late nineteenth century following the cessation
of grazing. Hazel grows very well locally, outside the Forest. I have a rather prolific
coppiced example in my garden which is near Lords Bushes; it was also recorded along
with ash growing in a hedgerow on Squirrels Lane (now sadly built on) just outside Lords
Bushes (25). There it was probably a long established hedgerow tree free from the
pressure of browsing in the nearby physical Forest.
The Plains
In wood-pasture there is a conflict of interest between the grazing animals and the
trees — the more trees the less grazing and the more animals, the more difficult it
becomes to replace the trees. In Epping Forest this conflict was resolved by having
definite grassy plains and heathy areas where grazing was concentrated and by
pollarding the trees, which if persistently managed in this way, grow indefinitely
(standard trees have a definite life-span).
Although prior to 1976 Lords Bushes was almost 100% dense woodland this cannot
always have been the case. The name 'Lords Bushes' implied some degree of open
'shrubby' growth (Rackham pers. Comm.) and the pollards indicate that animals were
grazed there. Notable also is the presence of four small patches of grassland still today
called plains. These patches of grassland are the remains of much larger open areas and
as I shall argue later were much more of a healthy nature than is apparent today. The
plains existed until a hundred or hundred and fifty years ago when grazing became slack
and was finally terminated by urbanisation, since when they have suffered from a
continuous encroachment by secondary growth.
HISTORY OF THE FLORA 1771 1974
There are no early complete records of the flora of Lords Bushes, though the
Woodford, Roding Valley and Luxborough Lane area was favoured by the eminent local
botanist Richard Warner author of the famous 'Plantae Woodfordienses' published in
1771, one of the first comprehensive local floras ever produced (74). This little book now
makes rather melancholy reading, the decline and indeed outright loss of many plant
species (due mainly to habitat destruction, and lack of habitat management) in the areas
that Warner botanised in, is very marked.
Warner recorded species such as primrose (Primula vulgaris), common cow wheat
(Melampyrum pratense) and slender St Johns wort (Hypericum pulchrum) as being very
common in local woodlands and though all three species are still present locally they are
either extremely rare or very uncommon. In additon to these generalised records.
Warner makes a number of interesting specific references to plants found in or about
Lords Bushes, among them mistletoe (Viscum album) which he recorded on oak,
stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) which he found "opposite a farm house at
Muncombe" (probably a garden escape) and most interestingly the orchid autumn
ladies tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) "found on the Forest near the Bald Faced Stag on the
right hand of the road, not far from the eight mile stone." (Note: the public house
known today as the Bald Faced Stag is labelled as the Bald Stag on the Chapman and
Andre Map of 1777).
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