174 MONK WOOD, IN LOUGHTON. 



The following are the members of the Organising Joint Com- 

 mittee appointed by the County Council and the Council of the 

 Essex Field Club respectively : — 



{On behalf of the County Council) Mr. E. N. Buxton, J. P., Mr. 

 E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., Mr. J. H. Burrows, Mr. S. W. Squier, J. P., 

 Mr. F. West and Mr. W. B. Vv'hittingham. {On behalf of the Club) 

 Prof. G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., Mr. F. Chancellor, J. P., Prof R. 

 Meldola, F.R.S., F.C.S., Sir Henry E. Roscoe, M.P., F.R.S., Mr. F. 

 W. Rudler, F.G.S., and Mr. J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S. At the 

 first meeting of the Committee held on July 20th, Mr. W. Cole was 

 appointed Secretary. It is too early yet to report any of the work of 

 the Committee, which it is hoped will be of considerable assistance 

 in the very difficult task now undertaken by the County Council. 



MONK WOOD, IN LOUGHTON. 

 A FRAGMENT OF FOREST HISTORY.' 



By W. C. WALLER, M.A. 



A LMOST anything connected with Epping Forest seems to come 

 within the catholic embrace of the Essex Field Club, and a 

 note or two concerning Monk Wood, in Loughton, may, perhaps, not 

 be refused a place in the Essex Naturalist. It has probably 

 occurred to many a rambler through the woodland to ask himself, as 

 he passed from the stunted growth of pollards which are the legacy 

 of lopping rights, into the great shady wood with its carpet of russet- 

 gold, how it came about that this particular spot fared otherwise than 

 the rest of the Forest. He may have asked a question and been told 

 that "fuel-assignments" used to be made, and that this was the "assign- 

 ment " of the lords of the manor, who dealt more gently with their 

 woods than people whose notions of primogeniture and inheritance 

 were less well developed. But the history of Monk Wood goes back 

 beyond the comparatively modern days of " assignments " and 

 " lopping rights." 



Somewhere about the beginning of the thirteenth century one 



I Authorities : Harl. MS. 4809. D. of Lane. : Surveys and Depositions ; 24 Eliz. D. of 

 Lane. ; Misc. Ree. ; xxv. F. 17 a. 



