The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
GRAHAM SMITH
48 The Meads, Ingatestone, Essex CM4 OAE
Introduction
' The perambulation of the Forest of Writtle made on Tuesday the Feast of St Leonard in the year of
King Edward the Third after the conquest 22nd November 1358. It is begun at the holding once of
Geoffrey de Reynes and now of Thomas de Welton for the whole of his life whence the succession
belongs to John, son of Robert de Bauroh "chevalier" and from thence going direct by a certain
lane on the south of the said holding as far as a certain riverbank running to Chelmsford and thus
across the said river as far as a certain house called "le Waterhouse " of Thomas Hughe. And thus
from there by the boundary of a certain hedge and ditch which separates the towns of Writtle and
Chelmsford going by the said riverbank as far as a certain field called Westfield. And thus rising
by a certain ditch of the said field which separates the towns of Writtle and Moulsham as far as a
certain great way which leads from Writtle to Chelmsford from the front of a certain croft formerly
Thomas Vintners of Braintree called Balihurlesland and thus from thence going by the said way as
far as a certain cross called Widford Cross wh ich cross stands at the head of a certain lane which
leads to a croft late of Henry Genett and thus from there by a certain ditch called Hollewelldiche
asfar as the land formerly of Walter de Burris and now belonging to the Manor of Widford and
thus by a certain water running to the bridge called Widford Bridge' (ERO D/DP L26 5 and 6).
Punctuation was obviously not a strong point of scribes in the fourteenth century (or possibly the
modern day translator of the Latin original) but these opening few lines of a perambulation of 1358
(which probably repeats one that was made in 1297) describe the contorted boundary of the Forest
from Lawford Lane, Writtle as far as the bridge over the River Wid, just below Widford Church. It
is from the river that the area gets its name, Writtle being a modern derivative of Writoloburna, the
Old English name for the Wid. From Widford Bridge, and often quoting names that are still
recognizable today, the perambulation skirts what is now Hylands Park and continues past
Southwood, Coptfold (Margaretting) and Edney Common as far as "the Great Park of Writtle". It
then follows the parish boundary stream with Ingatestone from Redingdyke Farm through Deerslade
Wood to Monks and Barrows, the site of a medieval hermitage, and thence northwards along the
edge of Birch and Parson's Springs to Horsfrith Park, near Radley Green. From there it skirts the
edge of Shellow Bowells and Berners Roding and passes close to Pepper's Green en route for
'Touchers", on the edge of Good Easter parish. It then bears east and after passing Farmbridge End
and Great Ncwarks edges past the parishes of Mashbury, Chignal Smealey, Chignal St James and
Broomfield before returning to its starting point outside Writtle. As is the case with Hatfield Forest,
the perambulation of the legal forest almost exactly coincides with the parish boundary at that time.
At 13,568 acres it was the largest parish in Essex and has since been split into three parishes -
Writtle, Highwood and Roxwell. Even today, seven hundred years on, it is possible to walk virtually
all the perambulation using roads and footpaths.
In 1066 Writtle was a private estate belonging to King Harold and following his defeat at the Battle
Of Hastings passed into the hands of William the Conqueror. Domesday records that the manor had
'woodland for 1200 swine' in 1086 (plus a further 200 on two private estates within the manor) and
the main woods, then as now, appear to have been in the south of the parish. The three parishes
abutting these woodlands to the south and east - Margaretting, Fryerning and Ingatestone - had a
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
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