In the mid-nineteenth century a small brickworks was established on Pole Hill, just south of where
the obelisk stands, much of which is now built on. The Ordnance Survey map of 1896 does show the
site (field number 466) equipped with six kilns, and in 1897 the Chingford Rise Estate Company who
were engaged in building houses in Chingford offered for sale these brick works, together with other
properties in North Chingford. The Bill of Sale describes the brickworks as covering an area of 15
acres and consisting of six kilns, engine house, drying house 30 ft. by 100 ft., several out buildings
and brick making plant and machinery. By 1920 the number of kilns had been reduced to two and by
1923 the works covered just 8 acres. The brickworks finally closed in 1930 (Law and Barry, 1978).
A brick-field was in operation on the northern edge of Wanstead Flats c. 1830-90 (VCH VI p.329).
One legacy of the excavations here, presumably to get access to the London Clay beneath the terrace
gravels, is the embankment in the corner of the Flats between Centre Road and Aldersbrook Road,
now the best site in the Forest for aculeate Hymenoptera (see page 127). The brick-field site is shown
on the 1863 Ordnance Survey Map. Buxton (1890) shows the 'Wintry Park Brick and Tile Works'
marked on his map of the Lower Forest just north of Epping Plain. Law and Barry (1978) indicate
there was a small brick-kiln by the side of Bury Road on Chingford Plain on what is now the golf
course. The small, reed-filled pond still present today is presumably one of the former clay-pits. The
1863 Ordnance Survey map shows a brick-field in an enclosure east of the Robin Hood public house.
There are few references to unlicensed clay diggings in the Court of Attachments. Unlike gravel or
sand, clay could only be used in quantity from the area it was found in and required the establishment
of a nearby kiln.
In 1757 (CAII p.57) Henry Nottridge of London was presented for digging clay in a place called
Hardings Plain (I don't know the location of this area but it was in the Forest within the manor of
Loughton). At the same court Richard Bruce of Loughton was presented for digging clay at Mill Hill
(now Warren Hill) and Edward Allis of Goldings Hill was presented for digging pits for pot earth (i.e.
clay for pottery) without fencing the excavations and the excavations being deemed to be dangerous.
Henry Nottridge had previously been presented for digging clay in 1750 again in Loughton manor.
Occasionally licences would be granted for the extraction of clay to fulfil a small requirement. In
1728 (CAI p. 103) Philip Wilsher was licensed to 'digg a small quantity of brick-earth in Waltham
fforest' and in 1745 (CA I p. 177) Edward Emmett was given leave to dig clay on the Forest for his
own use, to raise a storey to his house (the reference is to East Hainault).
References
Buxton. E. N. (1890) Epping Forest (3rd Edn.) Facing page 53. London.
Fisher, W. R. (1887) The Forest of Essex. London.
Hanson, M. W. (1983) Lords Bushes: the history and ecology of an Epping Forest woodland, Essex Naturalist (N.S.) No. 7 p. 13-14.
Law. A. D. & Barry, S. (1978) The Forest in Walthamstow and Chingford. Chingford Historical Society.
Layton, R. L. (1986) Gravel Workings - a Landscape Feature in Epping Forest. Lon. Nat. No. 65. p. 31-33.
Ramsey. W. and Fowkes, R. (1986) Epping Forest - then and now. Plaistow Press.
Roberts, N. F. (1882) Notes on the London Clay and Bagshot Beds at Oakhill Quarry, Epping Forest. Trans. Essex Field Club. Vol. III. p.
231-236.
Winstone. B. (1891) Extracts from the Minutes of the Epping and Ongar Highway Trust - From its commencement in 1769 to its termination
in 1870. Harrison and Sons.
Rabbit Warrens
The rabbit is thought to have been introduced into Britain early in the 12th century. Some of the earliest
archaeological records are from south-east Essex from Rayleigh and Hadleigh (Lever, 1977;
Rackham, 1986). By the 13th century the animal had become commercially important and was kept
in special areas called 'warrens'. The largest of these were on heathland, for example in the Breckland
of East Anglia. Lakenheath Warren, in Suffolk, was over 2,000 acres in extent, set up probably in the
12th century by the Bishop of Ely. Later smaller warrens were created in parks and forests, probably
including those in Epping Forest. Rabbits were principally kept for their meat, although their fur (as
felt) was also a valuable commodity.
In Epping Forest there is evidence for five Warrens. The earliest goes back almost certainly to at
least the late 16th century (Iyan Chown. 1941). Farmer (1735), the historian of Waltham Abbey, wrote
of Epping Forest:- '... On the other side lies a fpacious large Foreft, called in all charters Waltham
Forest... and is well ftored with Plenty of other Game and a Number of Coney-Warrens'.
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