EPPING FOREST. 119 



the rights of the Commoners of the district, of turning 

 out cattle in it. 



la 1351 an Act was passed (14 and 15 Victoria c. 

 43) for the disafforesting of Hainault Forest and for its 

 inclosure. The waste consisted of 4,000 acres, of which 

 2,842 were in the Manors belonging to the Crown ; and 

 in this part was the beautiful King's Wood a far finer 

 woodland district than anything in Epping Forest. Of 

 this, 1,917 acres were allotted to the Crown, and the re- 

 mainder was given in compensation to the Commoners. 

 The Lord Warden received 5,250 in compensation for 

 the abolition of his hereditary office. The trees were 

 grubbed on the Crown allotments, at a cost of 42,000, 

 which was paid for by the sale of timber. The cleared 

 land was laid out in farms. As a result, in 1S63, the 

 rent of the land was 4,000 a year as compared with an 

 annual income from the Forest of 500. But it resulted 

 that there was lost for ever one of the most beautiful of 

 natural Forests in the south of England, within easy 

 reach of London. Not a protest seems to have been 

 raised against this course, either in Parliament, or on 

 the part of the Press or the public. 



In view of this proceeding of the Crown, it was 

 perhaps to be expected that the owners of the Manors in 

 Epping Forest should consider that they were only pur- 

 suing the same public policy, in endeavouring to follow 

 its example, by inclosing the waste lands of the Forest 

 within their several Manors, but with little regard for the 

 rights of Commoners, and still less for the rights or inter- 

 ests of the inhabitants of their districts, or of the people 



