Introduction
It is now well over a hundred years since Edward North Buxton produced his classic "Epping Forest".
This small book, first published in 1884, was subsequently reprinted in at least nine editions. The
book is no longer in print and second-hand copies command significantly higher prices than its original
cover price of one shilling! For some years it had been my intention to produce a book on similar
lines, with up-to-date accounts of the flora and fauna and a reassessment of the Forest's archive
material, relating the many facets of the Forest's complex land-use history to the plants and animals
that have found a home here. The Essex Field Club (founded in 1880 as the Epping Forest and County
of Essex Naturalists' Field Club) has published much of interest relating to the Forest; most recently
in 1978, Epping Forest - the natural aspect? and in 1979 The Wildlife of Epping Forest, respectively
volumes 2 and 4 in the new series of the Essex Naturalist. This book (volume 11) is a companion
volume to these publications, concentrating on areas not covered in volumes 2 and 4.
In this book I have attempted to produce a balanced account of the Forest. Many people still regard
a forest as an area of land with trees; of equal importance are the tracts of grassland and heathland
that add so much to the wildlife diversity. One fundamental property of the modern Forest that I
mention in the pages of this book is the northern, mainly wooded and largely ungrazed, half of the
Forest, contrasted with the mainly open, southern half of the Forest (including areas such as Wanstead
Flats, Leyton Flats, Gilbert Slade, Woodford Green, Woodford Golf Course and Whitehall and
Chingford Plains) which is still grazed. The area of study is that defined on the 1983 Ordnance Survey
map of Epping Forest produced by the Epping Forest Cententary Trust (revised in 1985), although a
few references are made to areas outside the Conservators' jurisdiction. It must be remembered that
this book is mainly concerned with the 'physical Forest', that part of the Forest that actually existed
and not the 'legal Forest'. The boundary of the legal Forest was subject to often quite radical changes
in the area it covered (at one time virtually the whole of Essex).
This book contains many published 'firsts' for the Forest. It is the first time full accounts have
appeared of the Forest's bees and wasps (Hymenoptera), grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera) and
several other invertebrate groups. Of the vertebrates, this is the first occasion a full list of the fish has
been achieved. Field-work in the Forest, over many years, has brought many pleasant surprises, among
them the finding of a swarm of over 75 Broad-leaved Helleborine Orchids and the discovery of some
240 Adders-tongue Ferns, both rare plants in the Forest. Studying the Forest's hoverflies (Diptera:
Syrphidae) has produced records of many now rare species typically found in ancient woodland. One
particularly interesting discovery was a small black wasp, Stigmus pendulus, discovered on Wanstead
Flats in 1989, only the second British record. Other important discoveries include the boundary bank
at Gilwell Lane (see page 48).
Throughout the book there are references to the roll of the Court of Attachments of the Royal Forest
of Waltham (denoted by the letters CA followed by the volume number and page number). This has
been an extremely rich source of information about day to day events in the Forest, particularly in the
18th and 19th centuries. Of especial interest have been the references relating to the rabbit warrens
(see page 36) and the Forest lodges (page 9). The Epping Forest Arbitration Proceedings (denoted
by the letters EFA followed by the volume number, page number and in some cases the paragraph
number) of around 1879-80 have also provided useful information, in particular to the role of fuel
assignments in the past management of the Forest. These volumes can be referred to in Loughton
Library.
I would like to thank the many authors who have contributed to this book; chapters without
ascription are my own. Opinions expressed in this book are not necessarily shared by the Council of
the Essex Field Club.
This is not a book you can read from cover to cover, but 1 hope people who know the Forest will
derive as much pleasure and enjoyment from the book as I did in compiling it.
M. W. Hanson