The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
considerably in excess of that required had been raised, the surplus disappearing without trace
(Wilde 1913 p. 180) Although the main Forest springs had probably been coppiced on a regularly
basis for several centuries the practice was not spelled out in detail until a survey of 1781, when it
was stated that:
"In the woods.... after the cutting of the Copse Wood, Lord Petre has the right to enclose them for
the space of seven years, after which it is thrown open to the tenants of the manor for a further
space often years, when it is again cut down as Lord Petre's property" (ERO D/DP P55).
In practice, coppice cycles seem to have varied between twelve and seventeen years. Often, an
entire spring would be harvested at one time. This system of management seems to have continued
into the modern era as an air photograph taken by the Germans on 31 August 1940 shows all the
Forest springs and also Fryerning Wood being actively coppiced. Four species of Fritillary butterfly
- Silver-washed Argynnis paphia, High Brown A. adippe, Dark Green A. aglaja and Pearl Bordered
Boloria euphrosyne - survived in the latter area until the early 1950s, a sure sign that proper
management was still taking place. On the other hand, Stoneymore Wood remained uncoppiced
between 1860 and the latter part of the twentieth century and several attempts were made during
the Victorian/Edwardian era to turn it into an oak/conifer plantation, European Larch Larix decidua,
Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii and Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris being planted in large numbers.
Conifers were also planted in the woods at Coptfold and - to a lesser extent - in those at Howlett's
Hall while the dreaded Rhododendron ponticum was added as a fashion accessory to several woods
at this time. Fortunately, it has not proved to be invasive in this area.
During the 1960s around one fifth of the Forest springs were grubbed out and made into arable
land. From the perspective of the current, more conservation minded, age it seems an act of almost
criminal folly but at that time - following hard on the heels of seventy years of agricultural recession
and the hardships of food rationing during the war - it was looked upon as progress; as indeed were
similar clearances during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. During the past decade
the cleared areas of Great and Little Edney Woods have been given over to long-term set aside and
the resulting grassland has proved to be attractive to breeding Tree Pipits Anthus trivialis. At the
present time it is slowly - very slowly - being reclaimed by the surrounding woodland. Two small
areas of College Wood were also cleared in the post-war years and replanted with Scots Pine but
the remaining woodlands escaped this fate, so fashionable at that time.
Since that conflict coppicing work has been sporadic although it has increased during the past two
decades and been resumed on a small scale in all of the Forest springs and a few of the woodlands
elsewhere. This has occasionally resulted in spectacular resurgences of a woodland flora that had
been shaded into oblivion by years of neglect- as was the case in Barrow Wood in the early 1980s
and Stoneymore/Deerslade Woods a decade later - but just as often the response has been very
poor, especially in the drier areas. The beneficial effects of coppicing during this period pale into
insignificance compared with the aftermath of the greatest natural event- the hurricane of October
1987. Greeted as a disaster both by the media and many conservationists (not to mention the odd
local historian) but hailed as a godsend by Oliver Rackham and a few other wiser heads it has
proved to be hugely beneficial not only to the flora but to fungi and invertebrates as well. Several
hundred trees were toppled by the wind that night in woodlands throughout the area. Many of them
were top-heavy chestnut coppice but virtually all species were affected, including large numbers of
oaks and, alas, several old Hornbeam pollards in adjacent hedgerows. Many of these last retained
up to fifty per cent on their roots in the ground and defied expectations by continuing to thrive,
sending up a forest of new shoots from the exposed sides of their trunks. A couple of fine examples
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
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