THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 183 



Field Meeting in IlAiNAni.r Forest District and Barkingside. 

 Saturday, June 20th, 1891. 



A pleasant afternoon excursion was made round the Hainault Forest district, 

 under the direction of Mr. Walter Crouch, P'.Z.S., one of the V^ice-presidents ; and 

 the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, M.A., the Vicar of Barkingside. Over sixty mem- 

 bers were present, the drive commencing at Woodford Station about 2.30, and 

 though the day was warm and fine there was a cool breeze which tempered the 

 heat. 



The route taken was by the lower portion of Snakes (Sakes) Lane, and over 

 the River Roding, through Woodford Bridge, passing the lodges and entrance to 

 the new Claybury Lunatic Asylum. On the left hand the view is very pretty 

 over the valley to Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill. Thence by the new road 

 through a belt of woodland, a remnant of the Forest of Hainault, disafforested in 

 185 1. Attention was called to the extensive Asylum Buildings on the right, now 

 in course of erection, close by Toms Wood, and extending over twenty acres ; and 

 to the view on the left towards Grange Hill and Chigwell Row, and across Fair- 

 lop Plain (now under cultivation) to the wooded heights of Havering. The view 

 extends southward, over South Essex into Kent, and in front the spire of Ilford 

 Church, with Shooter's Hill as a background. The drive was continued by Toms 

 Wood Hill and Lane, past Fairlop Place, to Fullwell Hatch (named from an old 

 mansion which formerly stood here, owned by Adam Fullwell ; in the time of 

 Dorothy Barley, the last Abbess of Barking). Here is the " Old Grey Goose," 

 with its motto, " Live and Let Live," and opposite, the "Old May Pole Inn," 

 where no doubt the May-pole stood, and the May dances took place in the olden 

 days. 



The party was here joined by the A'icar of Barkingside and his family, and 

 proceeded to Fairlop Plain, where, close by the site of the famed " Fairlop Oak," 

 blown down in 1820, a paper by Mr. W. Crouch on " Hainault Forest " was read 

 bv him from the box-seat of the private carriage of Mr. Green, of Hainault House. 

 This was compiled mainly from parliamentary reports and acts, and other original 

 documents ; a contribution towards what the writer regretted was still a much- 

 needed work, viz., a well-digested history of the Forest of Essex. In this, after a 

 slight sketch of the " Forest of Essex " and " Waltham Forest," a more detailed 

 account was given of the portion known as " Hainault Forest," which was mostly 

 crown land ; of the old perambulations of 1301 and 1640 ; of the three Forest 

 Courts ; the Verderers for petty offences ; the Court of Swainmote for jury trials, 

 and the Court of Justice Seat, held by the Lord Chief Justice in Eyre, till abol- 

 ished in 1777 ; and of the various attempts at enclosure and the litigation which cul- 

 minated in the act for disafforesting, passed August, 185 1. The subsequent spoli- 

 ation, settlement of claims for rights of pasturage, estovers for fuel, vicarial tithes, 

 and poor widows' rights were then described ; and a short notice of the ancient 

 Fairlop Oak was given, illustrated by a number of engravings of the famous tree, 

 some from Mr. Crouch's and some from Mr. Furbank's collections. In conclu- 



And doth with evei^- sort of Grain ahound. Of seven ribs, three on each side, and one mid- 

 The young men there do bear the Bell away iron. 



From all the Towns about at Foot-hall play. But ere they laid them on they did them Salt, 



Unto a Farmer's house I went out-right, A Shoving-horn to draw down juice of Malt. 



Who entertained me like to a Knight : Yet this much of his Beer's strength I do know 



And though at Newport I had din'd before, 'Twould well go down without helps there- 

 Yet here with him 1 must eat one bit more, unto ; " 

 Some ribs of Pork, new kill'd, broil'd on a Grid- 

 iron 



