EPPING FOREST RETREATS
A brave retreat is a brave exploit. Dr. Thomas Fuller,
"Gnomologia"
'Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat to peep at such
world. William Cowper
"The Winter Evening"
The need for places to which the public could resort for food and
refreshment has always been important. In the first to the fourth
centuries, alongside the straight roads constructed by the Romans,
were tabernae to cater for travellers.(1) They were marked by a pole
indicating that drink was available and, where wine too was served the
pole was decorated with a spray of greenery, the so-called bush. In
Anglo-Saxon England many families brewed their own ale because
often the rent they paid included a quantity of ale as part of the payment.
Nevertheless ale-houses, taverns and inns had their place and had so
proliferated that King Edgar (959-975) issued an edict in an attempt to
limit the numbers. Later still, in 1189, the Court of Common Council
of the City of London issued an order forbidding all alehouses not
licensed by the Common Council except those belonging to persons
who will build of stone 'that the City may be secure'. No baker was
allowed to bake or ale-wife to brew by night. (2) Whilst this order was
primarily for fire prevention purposes it was also an effort to reduce
the number of such establishments.
These, and similar attempts by the Church and other property-
owning authorities, gave rise to the complaint that the Common Law
did not fully extend to those who lived and had their livelihood in the
forests; therefore the control by law of the number of alehouses did
not apply to foresters, who took advantage of their exemption and
opened alehouses without threat of compulsory closure. The complaint
had little basis in fact for justification. The greater number of forests
of the realm were "Royal Forests" and as such were subject to the
severe Forest Laws. The Court of Justice Seat performed within the
forest many of the duties which were commonly discharged by the
Court Leet of a manor. It dealt inter alia with the keeping of unlicensed
alehouses. Alehouses were always treated as nuisances, because they
harboured poachers and the numerous vagabonds who resorted to
the forests. At the Justice Seat of 1670, the Lord Chief Justice (Sir
Thomas Fanshawe) by the advice of Chief Justice Vaughan, Justice
Wyld and Baron Wyndham and the King's Counsel present, declared
3