EPPING FOREST. 125 



was the tradition of the people that this custom had its 



origin in a grant from Queen Elizabeth, and that it was 



conditional on their beginning to lop the trees as the 



clock struck the hour of midnight on the preceding night. 



They were wont to meet for that purpose at Staples 



Hill within the Forest, where, after lighting a fire and 



celebrating the occasion by draughts of beer, they 



lopped from twelve till two o'clock, and then returned 



to their h6mes. The branches, according to the custom, 



could not be faggoted in the Forest, but were made 



into heaps six feet high, and were then drawn out of 



the Forest in sledges. In olden times the first load 



was drawn out by white horses. The wood could only 



be cut for the use of the inhabitants of the parish. 



Whatever the origin of this right niav have been, it 



was certainly much older than the time of Queen 



Elizabeth ; for the rolls of the Manor in the early part 



of her reign mention the user as a custom. As there 



is generally some foundation for such traditions, it is 



possible the Queen may have confirmed this customary 



right by some document, which has since been lost. 



Whatever the origin of the custom, there cannot be a 



doubt that it had been persistently maintained by the 



inhabitants of Loughton for many centuries. 



The story ran that about a century ago, the then 

 Lord of the Manor, wishing to extinguish the custom, 

 invited all his parishioners to a banquet on the eve of St. 

 Martin's Day, and plied them plentifully with liquor, in 

 the hope that midnight would find them in such a condi- 

 tion that they would be unable to perambulate the Forest, 



