XXX11 
Appendix Xo. 1. 
V. 
The Essex Field Club’s Statement in re “ The Great Eastern 
Railway Bill, High Beach Extension (1883).” * 
Drawn up by the Honorary Secretary. 
The Council and Members of the Essex Field Club wish most respect¬ 
fully to place before Members of Parliament, students and lovers of 
Nature, and the public generally, the following objections to the scheme 
for running a line of railway from Chingford to High Beach across 
Epping Forest:— 
1. Although the scheme (and former ones of a like nature) is (and have 
been) fomented and aided in every possible way, for inscrutable reasons, 
by the great influence of the Corporation of London, acting as “ Con¬ 
servators” of Epping Forest, and also by individual members of the 
Epping Forest Committee, we submit that such tampering with the Forest, 
and promotion of private companies’ schemes of speculation, is in direct 
contravention of the letter and spirit of the Epping Forest Act, 1878. 
The Act directs [Section 7 (1)] that:—- 
“ The Conservators shall at all times keep Epping Forest unenclosed and 
unbuilt on, as an open space for the recreation of the public; and they 
shall by all lawful means prevent, resist and abate all future enclosures, 
encroachments, and buildings, and all attempts to enclose , encroach, or 
build on any part thereof, or to appropriate or use the same, or the soil, 
timber or roads thereof, or any part thereof, for any purpose inconsistent 
with the objects of this Act.” And (2) “ The Conservators shall not 
sell, demise, or otherwise alienate any part of the Forest, or concur in any 
sale, demise, or other alienation thereof, or any part thereof.” And (3) 
“ The Conservators shall at all times, as far as possible, preserve the 
Natural Aspect of the Forest.” 
We are informed that, in the face of these express stipulations, the 
Corporation Seal has been affixed to an agreement by which the Forest 
land required for the line is to be conveyed to the Railway Company, the 
only consideration being the formation of roads and ways, which would 
be in themselves a furthur encroachment upon the Forest. 
2. We most emphatically assert that the proposed Hue is wholly 
unnecessary, inasmuch as there is at present ample accommodation for 
public access to the Forest. There are tiro lines of railway skirting the 
woodlands on the eastern and western sides, with Forest Stations at (1) 
Wood Street (within three furlongs of lovely forest glades); (2) at Hale 
End (half-mile from excellent woodland district, “ Oak Hill” and “ Rushy 
Plain”); (3) Chingford (on the Forest, within a very short distance of 
masses of natural “ bush ” and woodland, including 1650 acres within two 
miles radius ; touching parts of the Forest “beautified” and“ improved ” 
by the Conservators, and crowned by the “ Royal Forest Hotel”); f (4) 
* This document was issued by the Council on February 27th, 1883, and sent by post 
to all the members of the House of Commons, to the principal London newspapers, and 
to various gentlemen known to be interested in open spaces. It is believed that the facts 
therein brought forward placed the matter in its true light, and contributed in some 
degree to the rejection of the Bill by Parliament. As the “ Statement ” is referred to in 
the opening pages of this pamphlet, it is given here in extenso, as a justification of the 
action of the Club in opposing the projected railway invasion, and as a collection of data 
which will probably he useful in the future in any efforts to withstand other schemes of 
Vandalism so likely to he put forward, it is rumoured, while the management of the 
Forest remains in its present unsatisfactory condition.— Ed. 
t Those who wish well to the cause of open spaces and rational holiday-making should 
study the results of the four years’ Conservatorial management and taste exhibited at 
Chingford. The “forestal” operations will he noted: such attempts at tree-j lanting 
