The money thus accrued was assumed to be equal to the costs of bringing the ground into a fit state
of cultivation for the use of the poor (CAIII p.133. 141 and 145).
Pollards and other types of trees were not infrequently used as a method of payment or as perquisites
for various Forest officials. In 1725 (CA I p.83) it was proposed that the cost of repair or rebuilding
of the Forest Lodges be met partly by the Lord Warden of the Forest and partly by the sale of 'underling
and unthrifty trees' from the Forest. In another entry in the attachment roll the woodward of the Forest
was asked to allot to Christopher Crow Esq. ' ... for the year 1735 the usuall allowance of Dead log
wood' that was annually allowed to the master keeper of Woodford Walk. In the 17th century the
woodward Gilbert Jones was brought before the Court of Attachments for causing 3,000 bundles of
wood (faggots) to be made up on the Forest as the court states 'he ought to have carryed it off the
fforest before ffaggotted'. He was ordered to have no more assignment wood for 3 years and fined
4d. for faggotting his livery wood on the Forest (Sharpe. 1986). Other uses of pollard trees include
their use as wholves. a covered drain under a path or roadway; presumably a hollow pollard tree was
used. In one case it was to be laid in Gravel Lane in Chigwell (CA I p. 152) a road which even recently
was prone to quite severe flooding. A few trees were given as gifts - in 1718 the Widow Betts was
given two trees for firewood. On another occasion George Waters, the King's woodward was
instructed to give Mrs. Green at the King's Head. Chigwell (the venue for the Court of Attachments)
two pollards towards repairing the well (CA I p.124). Another entry in 1737 asks the surveyor of
Collier Row to be allowed to have a pollard or timber tree to make a bridge over a brook to enable
foot passengers to get to Romford Market. Lastly, there are a few mentions in the attachment roll
sanctioning the lopping of trees to provide winter browst for the deer in times of bad weather - probably
much under-recorded.
Charcoal Burning
Charcoal burning was once of widespread but rather local occurrence in Essex. There is evidence
of it occurring in various Forests, among them Hatfield, Writtle. Hainault and Epping. Charcoal
burning was probably never common, but appears to have died out by the end of the 19th century in
Epping Forest. It was revived for a short period of time in 1908-9 in the Cuckoo Pits area (Hazzledine
Warren. 1909). From photographs of wood stacks 'cords' taken at this time it seems that the regrowth
of pollard trees was used. Sometimes a coal hearth was specifically dug to bum the charcoal in.
Hazzledine Warren mentions some large circular charcoal-filled excavations below Loughton Camp
and others are mentioned for Lords Bushes (Hanson, 1983). In the 1908-9 revival no hearth was dug
but the burning was protected from excessive wind hastening the process by a fence constructed of
vertical faggots leaning against a low wooden rail.
Changes in Attitudes towards Pollard Trees
The 19th century saw a radical change in attitudes towards pollard trees. It is clear from many
accounts that until the middle of that century the vast majority of trees were to be found as pollards
in Epping Forest. Standard (i.e. maiden) trees were in a definite minority. Prior to the Forest becoming
used extensively for recreation, there was little or no comment about the aesthetic appeal of pollard
trees. People for hundreds of years had accepted, without question, a landscape punctuated by tens of
thousands of shorn pollard trees. In 1748 Per Kalm, the Swedish naturalist visited the Forest noting
the trees thus:-
'The trees were not, however, allowed to grow to their proper height, but were cut down to nine or
twelve feet from the ground for firewood. This cutting had caused numerous branches to shoot out
on all sides so that the stem ended in a round crown' (EN XX p.213).
With the growth of recreation in the Forest in the 19th century, this attitude changed. In
1864, originally published in the Cornhill Magazine, one correspondent wrote of the pollards
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