have Free Warren in all their lands within their manors by right of grants from Richard I (1157-99)
and Henry III (1207-72) to the Abbot of Waltham who formerly held both manors. Neither produced
the grants at the court but merely referred to records of grants and it seems likely that they confused
the right to operate a warren with the right to 'Free Warren'. This was a special grant from the crown
to hunt game, such as hare and partridge and later pheasant and rabbit within a specified area.
Other warrens are mentioned for Hainault Forest - a Mark's Warren is mentioned in the 1641
perambulation of Waltham Forest (EN VI p. 13). One of the boundary stones of the Forest shown on
the Chapman and Andre map of 1777 is named as the Warren Stone, presumably because it was located
near the warren.
There are numerous associations with rabbits in the Epping Forest area. An inn called the 'Three
Rabbits' still exists at Little Ilford. Formerly known as the 'Three Coneys', it was a notorious haunt
of deer stealers. Another public house, the 'Warren Wood', is situated on the Epping New Road at
Buckhurst Hill. On the Copped Hall estate, Epping, the Chapman and Andre map of 1777 shows a
private woodland called the Warren, most of which has been grubbed up and replanted. It is possible
a warren existed here; a small building nearby is still called the 'Warren Lodge'. Rabbits are
commemorated in various field names. Reaney (1969) mentions a 'Coniborowefeild' for Chingford
in 1645 and a Warren mead for Theydon Mount. Court records provide us with a few references
relating to rabbits. Fisher (1887) tells of the huge fine of £33 6s. 8d. being imposed under Forest Law
for a coney burrow. In 1686 Edward Robinson of West Ham was brought before the justices for assault;
his occupation was given as warrener. Lastly, in 1725 Mr. Justice Fortescue was presented before the
court of attachment for illicitly fencing Cony Wood to keep out the deer.
Rabbit Warrens seem to have declined to being non-existent by the late 19th century in Epping
Forest. An attempt at reviving a warren during the Great War was made, but permission was not
granted by the Conservators. However, a Mr. W. Fortescue was briefly given permission to ferret
rabbits in the Forest (Layton, 1986). Thus the final chapter closed on an interesting and otherwise
little known aspect of the land use of Epping Forest.
References
Daniel. W. B. (1812) Rural Sports. Vol. 1. p. 459-461. London.
Farmer. J. (1735) The History of the ancient Town, and once Famous Abbey, of Waltham, In the county of Essex From the Foundation to the
present time. London.
Fisher. W. R. (1887) The Forest of Essex.
Hazzledine Warren, S. (1926) Excavations in Pillow Mounds at High Beach. Essex Naturalist Vol. XXI p. 214-226.
IyanChown, C. H. (1941) Aldersbrook Farm and the preservation of Epping Forest. Essex Review. Vol. 50. p. 20-28, 118-122 and 163-175.
Layton, R. L. (1986) Agriculture in Epping Forest during the Great War. Essex Journal Vol. 21. p. 63.
Lever, C. (1977) The Naturalised Animals of the British Isles, p. 62-75. Paladin.
Morant, Rev. P. (1763-68) The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex. Vol. 1. (Repr. 1978) p. 27. Essex County Library,
Rackham, O. (1986) History of the Countryside, p. 292-294. Dent.
Ramsey, W. and Fowkes, R. (1986) Epping Forest - then and now. p. 41. Plaistow Press.
Reaney, P. H. (1969) The Place Names of Essex. CUP.
Repton, H. and Repton, A. (1816) Fragments on the theory and Practise of Landscape Gardening, p. 77. London.
The Deer
During the 17th century, the Fallow deer seem to have declined and the population of Red to have
remained stable. In 1670, on about two-thirds of the Forests there were said to be 90 Fallow and 140
Red (Rackham, 1978). Deer were taken for the King's table, but increasingly they formed perquisites,
'fee deer', for Forest officials and others. In 1813, when the lord of the manor. Sir William Wake,
applied for his deer, the request was initially refused on the grounds that the original warrant was
specific to an earlier lord of the manor. However, it was found that Sir William Wake had been served
with deer on other occasions and that a warrant from the Lord Chief Justice had been issued as early
as 1631 on behalf of the lord of the manor of Waltham and so Sir William Wake kept his deer (CA III
p.122).
A major problem at this time was the poaching of deer. In 1689 Samuel Meakin of Woodford (a
local blacksmith's servant) was brought before the Court of Attachments after admitting to killing a
hind (a female Red deer) in Monkham Grove. He was gaoled in Stratford to await the next Swainmote,
but it was reported some two weeks later that he had 'broke ye pryson house' and had made his escape.
At the same time a reward of 40 shillings was offered for the capture of two inveterate deer-stealers,
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