Thoughts on the Proposed Inclosure of Waltham (commonly called Epping) and Hainault Forests / In which a new plan is suggested for disafforesting the same: with the heads of the bill now proposed for that purpose

by Thomas Street

At the meeting held at Woodford, on the 26th of November last, certain resolutions were entered into, in which the persons passing them seemed to have been impressed with an idea, that a general inclosure was meant to be forced upon them, which, I believe, it never was in the contemplation of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to attempt; and, in their eagerness to oppose such a measure, they have in my opinion, overlooked the beneficial effect which must necessarily result from a partial inclosure, and passed some resolutions founded on erroneous principles; for instance, the first resolution asserts “that no injury is sustained in the said parish by the depasturing of the deer.” Now, it is most extraordinary how such an allegation could be made and sanctioned by the majority at such a meeting; for, to my certain knowledge, for upwards of thirty years past, the depredations committed by the deer have been a continual subject of complaint by the inhabitants of the parish of Woodford.

In the next resolution it is stated, that, “at the date of the 15th Report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, it appeared, by the evidence of Bamber Gascoyne, Esq. that the utter destruction of his Majesty’s deer had, at that time, almost taken place, and that the persons present at that meeting had yet to learn that the number of deer had so materially increased, since that Report was made, as to render a total disafforestation or general inclosure necessary.” If those gentlemen are really disposed to learn what the state of the deer now is in the Forest, they have only to ride about for a few hours in the retired parts of it, and they will see such herds as will easily convince them, that (presuming the Report, above alluded to, to be strictly accurate in this respect) the numbers must have increased prodigiously within the last twenty-five years; and this may be readily accounted for, when it is admitted that only twenty one brace annually are killed, for the use of persons claiming a right to venison from the Forests, (and I believe not a single head is destroyed for his Majesty’s use,) and consequently the increase of these animals, which, in various parts of the Forests, may frequently be seen thirty or forty in a herd, must, in a very great degree, exceed the annual destruction. I will venture to assume, and I am sure I shall be borne out, on inquiry, that there are not less than 600 head of deer in Waltham and Hainault Forests; and, allowing but one-half of these to be does, they would, on a moderate calculation, now give an increase of 300 head annually, or at least of 200, allowing for those killed, destroyed, or lost, by various contingencies.

It is not in the power of the Crown, in opposition to the proprietors of land within any district, to enforce a general inclosure; and although, from local circumstances, there may be such well-founded objections to the measure as fully to justify the feelings of the gentlemen at that meeting in the resolutions they passed, yet it seems to me that, on the principle of commuting the rights of the Crown, and effecting inclosures to such an extent, only, as would satisfy the Crown for a sacrifice of those rights, they reject a proposal which it would be most desirable for all the parishes within the Forests, and for the parish of Woodford in particular, to have carried into effect. The quantity of waste land in the parish of Woodford is estimated at about 300 acres, and the Crown claims for its interests therein about one-third of that number. If a bill were brought into Parliament for inclosing such proportion only as the Commissioners should deem the Crown entitled to, or to allot a certain proportion to be specified in the Act, it could be productive of no advantage whatever to the parish of Woodford to have 100 acres of land inclosed for the growth of timber, nor would it answer the purpose of the Crown to have an inclosure of a similar, or, in many instances, a much less quantity allotted in different parishes for that purpose; a very different appropriation of such land would, I have no doubt, be much more desirable; and the plan I would suggest is, that the Commissioners should have a power of selling the lands allotted in lieu of the rights of the Crown, and that the Bill should contain clauses, directing the Commissioners to make their allotments in parcels of not less than two acres, but not exceeding five or ten, and preferring those situations where the proprietor of any dwelling-house or grounds should express to the Commissioners his assent to the inclosure of waste lying near or contiguous to such house or grounds, and that such owner should be allowed a right of pre-emption of the allotment so inclosed, at a price to be set thereon by two surveyors, one to be appointed on behalf of the Crown, and the other on the part of the purchaser; such surveyors, in case of disagreement, having power to elect a third, to decide between them. Now, supposing 100 acres to be so allotted, I would ask, if there are not twenty houses in the parish of Woodford, the owners of which would be glad to have an addition of five acres of contiguous waste inclosed; and if there are not, in every other parish within the Forest, proprietors of land who would be glad to have such a partial inclosure as would afford them an addition of a like quantity of land. It clearly appears to me, that an inclosure, carried into effect upon this principle, and to this extent, would be a most desirable measure for the proprietors of houses and lands in every parish on the Forest: and there should be a clause restraining the Commissioners from making inclosures within a certain distance of any dwelling-house, without the consent of the owner, so that no one should have the inclosure brought to his door, without his own consent. This plan would, in all probability, not occasion a single additional building; the 36,000 paupers, of whom so dreadful a picture has been drawn, (and whose numbers appear to have been calculated upon the visionary foundation of some antient adage,) would all vanish, and the new inclosures, which it is highly probable would, in most instances, be converted into ornamental grounds, and be adorned with new plantations, would add greatly to the bounty of the country; and a very abundant portion of waste would still be left to preserve the rural scenery, for which this district has been so much and so deservedly admired. The value of the landed properly, I have no doubt, instead of being deteriorated, by pursuing this system, would be very considerably increased.

Let us now look forward to the situation in which the proprietors of houses and land, in these Forests, would stand as to the remaining waste, which would become merely wastes of the respective manors, relieved from any rights of the Crown over them, and from the paramount power of the forty days court, which, of course, must cease with the extinction of the Crown’s rights; and any proprietor wishing for an addition of one or two acres to his premises, (which in many instances, no doubt, it would be highly desirable to obtain,) might, on application to the Lord of the Manor, with the consent of the Homage Jury, procure a grant thereof as copyhold, an advantage not now to be obtained on almost any terms: the right of Common, too, would be relieved from the necessity of withdrawing the cattle during the fence months, and be general through the year.

There is another circumstance mentioned in the Commissioners’ Report, about the state of the timber, in the year 1783, which, I think, must have considerably changed since that period, namely, “that, out of 11,000 oaks, there were 2,700 fit for the use of the Navy.” Now, I verily believe that, at the present time, not one-fourth of the number could be found fit for that purpose; and, as to the 7,000 young trees, mentioned in the same Report, there are scarcely any of them that have not, as they attained a certain age, been converted into, and are now become, old pollards; for the right of cutting fire-wood is, in the ideas of the lower sort of people, confirmed and increased, by preventing trees from becoming timber, and converting them to pollards, of which it is the common course of the country to cut the tops for fire-wood; and, in most parts of the Forest, the beauty of the scenery and utility of the timber are totally destroyed by the decapitation of the trees.

In the New Forest, in the Forest of Dean, and in Marlborough Forest, there is a great deal of beautiful forest scenery, where the practice of reducing the trees to pollards is not permitted; but, in much the greater part of Waltham Forest, the beauty is totally destroyed by this practice; and, therefore, it must be a most desirable measure, as regards the appearance of the country, to have the rights of cutting fire-wood totally abolished.

I have not entered into any wild speculations, but have confined myself to a plain and, I hope, intelligible statement of a plan that I now see reason to hope will be carried into effect, and, I have no doubt, will prove of real advantage to the proprietors of houses and lands within this district.

As many of my readers may not have seen the last Circular Letter, of the Surveyor of Woods and Forests, on the subject of the inclosure, and the Heads of the intended Bill, in which the plan submitted in the preceding pages is meant to be adopted, I have added copies, by way of Appendix.

I cannot easily imagine on what grounds any serious opposition can be attempted to the measure now proposed, unless the Commissioners of Woods and Forests are to be told that they shall keep and preserve Royal Forests and extensive and useless Wastes, with all the severity and arbitrary spirit of the barbarous days of William Rufus, on the one hand; or that, on the other, if they do adopt any species of inclosure, it shall be in rood [17] allotments, for the accommodation of cottagers and paupers,—the inevitable consequence of which would be that every parish in the Forest would be inundated with persons dependent on daily labour for subsistence, where employment for such numbers could not possibly be found, and they must, of necessity, become burthens to the several parishes in which they might thus be domiciled.

Viewing the subject, then, calmly and deliberately, with a mind wholly unbiassed either by local prejudices or party-spirit, I cannot conceive a more desirable medium than the plan intended to be carried into effect by the Bill now proposed, as it seems not easy to devise one that can more effectually meet the wishes, and bring to the very door of the proprietors of houses and land within the Forests a degree of accommodation and convenience—the want of which has been so long lamented, owing to the insuperable difficulties of obtaining any small inclosures or grants of land, under the existing system.