122 HPPING FOREST. 



London that they should be deprived altogether of 

 such open spaces. 



In 1863, Mr. Peacocke, one of the members for the 

 County of Essex, induced the House of Commons 

 to pass an address to the Crown, praying that thence- 

 forward there should be no further sales of its forestal 

 rights in Epping Forest. 



In the same year a Committee of the House of 

 Commons inquired into the subject of the Forest 

 and reported upon the inclosures. It was of opinion 

 that to employ the forestal rights of the Crown to 

 obstruct the process of inclosure to which Lords of 

 Manors and their Commoners were entitled, would be 

 of doubtful justice, and would probably fail in effect. 

 It recommended the sanction of Parliament for the 

 inclosure of the residue of the Forest, and for the 

 ascertainment of rights, and that partly by these 

 means, and partly by purchase, an adequate portion 

 of the waste should be secured for the purposes of 

 health and recreation, for which the Forest had been 

 from time immemorial enjoyed by the inhabitants of 

 the Metropolis. 



In the Committee on London Commons in 1865, 

 Epping Forest again formed the subject of inquiry. 

 In its report, already referred to, the recent inclosures 

 of the waste were described, and the opinion was 

 expressed that they would prove to be illegal if 

 challenged in the Courts of Law. The report of this 

 Committee was followed by still further and larger 

 inclosures of the Forest, the Lords of Manors being 



