54 EPPING FOREST. 



OBJECTS OF INTEREST WITHIN AND 

 AROUND THE FOREST. 



A monk ther was, a fair for the maisterie ; 



An out-ryder, that loved venerye . . . 



He gaf not of that text a pulled hen 



That seith that hunters be noon holy men . . . 



Greyhoundes he had as swift as fowel in flight : 



Of pryking and of huntying for the hare 



Was al his lust. — The Canterbury Tales. 



WANSTEAD PARK. 



I AM indebted to my brother verderer, Mr. Andrew 

 Johnston, for the following note on Wanstead 

 Park : — 



Wanstead Park has a history exceeding in in- 

 terest any other part of the Forest. Just above 

 the round pond, called the Basin, is the site of the 

 great mansion, erected by the first Earl Tylney in 

 1 7 15. Old maps of the neighbourhood show 

 avenues radiating from the house in all directions, 

 those to the north-west extending as far as the 

 Eagle at Snaresbrook, and there appears to have 

 been little distinction at that time between the 

 Park and the surrounding Forest. The avenues 

 were planted for the Earl's father. Sir Josiah Child, 

 under the direction of the famous John Evelyn of 

 Watton, the author of Sylva, who informs us "of 

 Sir Josiah Child's prodigious cost in planting wal- 

 nut trees about his seat, and making fish-ponds 

 many miles in circuit in Epping Forest on a 



