EPPING FOREST. 117 
the verderers that no injury would be done to the rights 
of the Crown. In 1805, the Commissioners of Woods and 
Forests sold the Manor of West Ham with its wastes 
and forestal rights. The result of these inclosures 
was that the area of what was strictly forest or open 
land in Epping Forest was reduced, by the year 1845, 
from 9,000 to 7,000 acres. 
This process was facilitated by the fact, that from 
the beginning of the present century, the Court of 
Attachment in the Forest, which was specially charged 
with the duty of preventing inclosures, gradually fell 
into desuetude. The growth of London also, and the 
proximity of a large population, made it difficult to 
maintain the forest laws. 
The old use and value of the Forest for sporting 
purposes came to be disregarded, while its new value in 
relation to the health, recreation, and enjoyment of 
the great and constantly growing population of London, 
was not as yet recognised and appreciated. The 
general current of public opinion was still in favour of 
the inclosure of common lands. It was mindful of 
the vices and hardships of the forest laws, as enforced 
in olden times, and sympathised rather with the 
owners of land in the Forest, as against the claims 
of the Crown, and looked with utilitarian views to the 
greater return of produce or rent, which could be 
obtained from inclosed land, than from common or 
forest land. 
In 1848 a Committee of the House of Commons, 
presided over by Lord Duncan, took this view both of 
