EPPING FOREST. 107 
said, “to give over ploughing and sowing their arable 
land, of which the greater part of the demesne of his 
Manor consisted. He was still obliged to pay com- 
position, in wheat and oats, for the King’s household, 
though not a foot-of the demesne had been ploughed 
for the last ten years, by reason of the number of deer, 
which would utterly destroy the corn; and the cessa- 
tion of ploughing caused the increase of deer, by reason 
that the barren and dry fallows were converted into 
sweet and fresh green pastures to layer and feed the 
cattle.” * 
The uninclosed parts of Waltham Forest were 
confined, even in early times, to two wide and distinct 
districts: the one known as Epping Forest, which 
consisted probably of 9,000 acres; the other, Hainault 
Forest, of about 4,000 acres. It does not appear 
that the ownership of the soil of Epping Forest, or 
of any substantial part of it, was even in early days 
vested in the Crown—at all events, from the time of 
Henry II. at latest. The district had been granted 
out in yet earlier times, in very numerous Manors, 
and the waste land was vested in their Lords, subject 
to the rights of Commoners. Epping Forest alone 
was divided between no fewer than nineteen such 
distinct Manors; Hainault Forest between seven 
Manors. 
Of the Manors in Epping Forest, thirteen were 
granted at various times by successive Sovereigns, from 
* Fisher’s “Forest of Essex,” p. 58. 
