I assume the treated sewage went into the Ching Brook. At least some of the elms at this site
may have been planted as relatively fast growing trees to screen the site. The elms include what
may be a recent type of Hybrid Elm, a large mature East Anglian Elm and another completely
different East Anglian Elm in the hedgerow around the house here. Wych Elm occurs along
the Ching Brook as a number of small trees and a larger tree outside the Hatch Grove woodbank.
I recorded White-letter Hairstreak very close to this site in 1989.
c) Warren Hill Enclosure 369 TQ 413954
This is another site with an unusual land use history for part of Epping Forest. In 1875 this area
west of the Loughton High Road was an arable field and completely devoid of trees. It was
ploughed and ridge and furrow is visible in the corner nearest the junction of Manor Road and
the Loughton High Road. This area of land, formerly belonging to a Mr. Gellatly and listed as
belonging to him on the Epping Forest enclosure map (as enclosure 369), was returned to the
Forest by the Arbitrators' Award at the time of the Epping Forest Act of 1878. For some time
the conservators had considered the establishment of a nursery for young trees in the Forest and
when an opportunity arose some 332,779 young trees, at a cost of one farthing each, were
purchased from the Lawson Seed and Nursery Co. Ltd. of Edinburgh. The larger trees were
planted at a site in Chingford and in enclosure 369 some time prior to 31st January 1884. The
current tree cover of Warren Hill exemplifies their choice of non-local trees - False Acacia.
Sycamore, Hybrid Black Poplar, Lime, Horse Chestnut, and Sweet Chestnut are all to be found
growing here and also a number of elms including Wych Elm, a Hybrid Elm now growing as
abundant suckers near the Loughton High Road and a type of East Anglian Elm. One of the
dead elms has a girth of 7 ft. 10 in. In the very north-east comer of the old enclosure is a group
of English Elm suckers, these suckers may pre-date the 1875 enclosure. 'Stocks Elm' is
mentioned as occurring exactly in this spot on a map of the parish of Loughton c. 1820 (V.C.H.,
1983). I imagine the parent tree, if destroyed, left enough root to produce suckers, the
descendants of which survive today. I recorded the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly here in 1976.
d) Birch Wood, Theydon Bois TQ 441985
Walking up the green lane from the winding road that runs past Debden Green, you soon come
across an abundance of English Elm suckers, slowly encroaching on to the open part of the
green lane. In a hedgerow at one point there is something like 300 ft. of pure elm suckers. This
track way, marked on the Chapman and Andre map of 1777, at one point leads off to the left
(now blocked by elm suckers), presumably to allow commoners access to the grazing in the
Forest and access for the owner of Birch Wood to crop his wood. The 'ghost' of Birch Wood
(also known as Birch Grove) still survives as a well-defined woodbank with Oak and Ash
pollards and in one place Service trees. The coppice stools have long since gone, but some large
Beeches grow in the wood. The boundary bank of the wood shown on the 1777 Chapman and
Andre map runs beyond the edge of the wood as defined then, running the length of the trackway
also shown on the map (see Fig 5). It seems Birch Grove pre-1777 was a much larger wood,
part of the Red Oak (or Ruddox) Wood and Gaunt Wood Complex now part of the Deer
Sanctuary at Theydon Bois. Of relevance to this booklet there are the stumps of numerous felled
English Elms on the eastern end of the boundary bank. One of the larger stumps I measured
was 4 ft. 5 in. in diameter. The elms have prolifically suckered, a favourite haunt of fallow deer.
Some sucker growth is invading approximately 50 ft. northwards, other suckers, from trees
on the other side of the trackway are invading far into the old meadows of the Debden Green
campsite; the elm invasion being fronted by a dense growth of bramble. Some isolated suckers
are now some 80 ft. into the meadows! Lack of grass mowing has enabled the suckers to
penetrate this far.
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