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 homes. 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 may have been, it 
was certainly much older than the time of Queen 
Khzabeth ; for the rolls of the Manor in the early part 
of her reign mention the user as acustom. 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 phed them plentifully with lquor, in 
the hope that midnight would find them in such a condi- 
tion that they would be unable to perambulate the Forest, 
