The Forest of Writtle
The remaining woodland of the Forest associated with Writtle lies 5 miles South West of the village green. The woodland lies between lngatestone, and Fryerning and Highwood, and is north of Mill Green. Before the Norman Conquest, the manor belonged to Harold. There is a contemporary reference to a forester in the king's wood.
When the Royal Forest of Essex contracted, Writtle remained within the Forest as it was Crown demesne. Henry III granted the manor to Isabel de Bruys in 1241, but he still retained the hunting rights. At a Forest Court in 1250 Isabel, in a document claiming her rights, refers to the forest officials; foresters, verderers, regarders, as well as woodwards. The king recovered the manor when Robert de Bruys became King of Scotland, in so doing committing an act of treason. Within the wooded area are a number of indicators of human activity, including the remains of sawpits and brick kilns.
Mill Green Common
Mill Green Common has been invaded by secondary woodland (with much Silver Birch) to the South of the road passing The Viper. The remaining clearing opposite, where one can park, is now being colonised by gorse and heather in the absence of any grazing.
Mapletree Lane
Mapletree Lane leads North West for half a mile from Mill Green Common before turning South West in the direction of Park Farm, the lane continuing a Roman road to Chelmsford. The larger trees bordering Mapletree Lane are predominantly Oak, Sweet Chestnut and Hornbeam fill the coppiced, wooded area of Stoneymore Wood, to the East of this lane. 'Mature' coppice demonstrates the lack of recent, active management.
The remains of an earlier route way appears to be adjacent and parallel to East of Mapletree Lane. This route is double-banked with some aged trees growing on the bank.
Monk's and Barrow's Farm, Bedemannesberga and Assarted Land
The clearance to the North East of Mapletree Lane is an old assart, a clearance of the woodland for the purpose of agriculture. King Stephen in an undated charter made full provision for Robert the monk to live here within the Forest in a hermitage. A second monk was subsequently housed there, and the hermitage, known as Bedemann's Berg, was granted to the Abbey of St John the Baptist at Colchester. Certain forest rights were granted to the monks along with 4d. a day pocket money!
Some fragments of a wall, now lying on its side, scattered tiles and brick are all that remains of the hermitage. A 'holy' well has been recorded but a recent search could only locate it within 'a clump of bushes'.
Coppice Banks
The coppice banks close to the bend of Mapletree Lane define boundaries of the coppiced areas. Trees would be coppiced within these banked areas in sequence, the young shoots then being protected from the deer by a barrier made from brushwood laid on the banks. These areas in Writtle Forest are irregularly shaped , probably in order to accommodate the drainage pattern within the wood. The coppiced areas were cut in rotation and it has been estimated that there were around twenty, similar areas in Writtle, requiring a rotation cycle of about twenty years. Near to these banks is a pollarded oak tree, but pollards are very unusual for this woodland.
Ditched Enclosure
Further to the W of the main track, within Birch Spring, there is a ditched enclosure, about 80 metres by 100 metres in extent. The enclosure is regular and probably the site of early occupation. The structure is similar to Portingbury Rings in Hatfield Forest.
Moore's Ditch
Moore's Ditch is an extensive feature lying within Mill Green Common. It is a deep ditch about 300 m long. "Its function is obscure." The ditch is best viewed from the end nearer The Viper car park. Some gravel workings are also visible close by.
Writtle Park
Writtle Park lies between Writtle and Mill Green. There is no record of any licence to empark, implying that the date of the park is likely to have been earlier than 1200, and probably earlier than 1238, when the lordship of the manor was granted to Isabel de Bruys. In 1328, the length of the boundary of the park was stated to be 1½ leagues, and later surveys give the area as 300 acres; both these measurements compare well with the tithe award of c.1840. Some sections of the boundary bank are still evident.
Horsfrith Park
Horsfrith Park lies about 2 miles North of Mill Green. The licence to enclose Horsfrith Park was granted in 1280 to Richard de Bruys.
King John's Hunting Lodge
Writtle Hunting Lodge was built c. 1200, one of the many residences of the king to be built in the period. The lodge was entrusted to the care of the chief forester in 1217. Recorded royal visits to the Forest were scarce; Henry III visited Writtle in 1248 and Edward I is known to have visited in 1277 and 1305. The archaeology of the lode, as a result of excavations carried out in the period 1955-57, has been fully described.
Medieval Documentary Sources The Industry of the Forest
Close Rolls: Records of the Court of Chancery, so called because registered copies of letters and documents were closed with a seal; further copies were made and stitched together and stored in rolls.
Patent Rolls: Registered copies of documents issued by the Court of Chancery, over the period 1201 to 1946, relating to public business (grants, licences and privileges, for example). Those for 1509-47 are included in Letters and Papers (Foreign and Domestic) of the Reign of Henry VIII.
Pipe Rolls: Pipe Rolls are the annual accounts of Crown revenues, sent by the sheriffs to the Exchequer. The name derives from the manner of storage where they were rolled around rods or 'pipes' for storage. The earliest survives from 1130-31 but the continuous series begins in 1156.
Charters: Documents granting rights or privileges. A lord of a manor who wished to hunt in a park or chase would need to obtain a royal charter. Hence -
Charter Rolls: Records again from the Court of Chancery of royal grants of land or rights. The records cover the period 1199-1517.
Fine Rolls: Fine Rolls contain record of payments to the Crown for writs, grants, privileges, pardons, appointments, and orders sent to sheriffs.
Rolls of the Forest Eyre: These are printed in Select Pleas of the Forest.
Feet of Fines: Fines are copies of agreements between parties made before the king's justices. Fine is derived from fines or end. They served as a record of title being written on a sheet of parchment three times; the three copies were then cut, two pieces being given to the parties concerned and a third, from the foot of the sheet, tiled among the rolls of the Court of Common Pleas.
More detailed lists of medieval sources are available. Victoria County History of Essex is incomplete but is valuable for reference to primary, county sources.
The Industry of the Forest
The woodland vert within the Royal Forest provided:
• pannage from the oak and beech mast
• fuel derived from the underwood, after conversion to charcoal
• hedging from the brushwood
• poles from coppice woodland for fencing, tools, some housing etc.
• timber from woodland standards for housing, farm buildings, abbeys and ships, in addition to
• cover for the deer and the opportunity to hunt, and
• an income from amercements etc.
The king's demesne land situated within the Royal Forest usually housed a hunting lodge. The king, and his household travelled around the kingdom and such lodges provided convenient shelter. There is a correlation between the king's itinerary and Forest lodges.
The Royal Forest was carefully managed to provide reliable supplies of timber and venison over a long period. Hence, the hunting of deer was controlled with about ten per cent of the deer being taken yearly from a Forest. The supply of timber was also managed to enable output to be maintained typically over more than a century, and this is a considerable period to wait to realise an investment.
Barn Timber
Oliver Rackham has carried out a useful analysis in order to understand one aspect of the medieval timber economy - the construction of buildings. The analysis involves the measurement and counting of the structural timbers in the barn. The timbers are then roughly classified into representative groups. Since the timber was generally cut at the size required, thereby avoiding unnecessary working, an assumption can be made on the 'occupancy' of timber within the woodland. A final calculation allows an estimate to be made on the acreage of wood that is required to provide the timber to build a barn over a particular period of time. The Barley Barn at Cressing is chosen to illustrate the technique but data is quoted for other Essex barns in the paper.
Hunting
Any reflection on hunting should include three approaches; hunting by royalty, hunting by the king's huntsmen, and common poaching. Strangely, royal hunting may have been a rare occurrence, especially when considered in relation to the acreage of land under the Forest Laws. Accounts of hunting maintain a strong continental flavour. However the king employed professionals, equipped with packs of specialist dogs, and staff to run the packs. These huntsmen were both expert and highly organised.
The Decline of the Forest System
The decline of the Forest System reflects the changing fine balance of power between king and landowners. Disafforestment, notably in the decade around 1200, provided one means whereby the acreage under the Forest Laws reduced. King John continued to sell charters disposing of individual woods and manors.
The Charter of the Forest (1217) resulted in concessions being granted by the king. To determine the extent of the Royal Forest, a perambulation was initiated. Some surprising results were returned but Henry III's regent did not accepted the returns. The exercise was repeated the following year. The new returns were the same and were rejected similarly. A new Chief Justice, Hugh de Neville, tried again in 1224 to establish the boundary of the Forest but generally matters were shelved until the king came of age.
On 9 January 1227, Henry III came of age. Next day, orders were sent to sheriffs demanding foresters to show their warrant and regarders to perambulate again. Large areas, including within Essex, were reclaimed into the Forest. Geoffrey de Langley was an 'energetic' chief justice who tightened the grip of the courts on the Forest, but subsequently this grip weakened and Henry again resorted to raising money by selling huge amounts of timber. Opposition to the Forest system grew. In 1238, as a sop to the barons, the Forest Charter was ordered to be read out in full county court. During the war between Simon de Montfort and Henry III, the administration of the Forest again lapsed.
Edward I endeavoured to restore the system, taking a close interest in the Forest and even sitting in judgment at the Forest Eyre. The judicial system was now losing ground and intervals between the Eyre courts lengthened, meeting so rarely in some Forests that ample opportunity was given for transgressors to die before coming to court.
The Shrinking Forest
Further perambulations were held in 1277 and 1278, and it was again confirmed that the whole of Essex, south of Stane Street of course, was Forest. In 1300, the perambulation appeared to release more than half of the forested area but in 1306, Edward I again reinforced the Royal Forest by revoking the apparent disafforestation that the perambulation implied. After a period of almost continuous dispute with the knights, the king and his Chief Justice, Hugh Despenser, both died, and in the absence of control the Forest Law was ignored, hedges planted and deer hunted.
Edward III again sought to re-establish his Forest, but now no forest official was safe from the populace. The decline had reached a point of no return. The Forest Eyre was now cumbersome and unworkable. The decline of an effective legal system was almost complete. The comprehensive Forest Eyre of 1489-90 was not repeated for some 150 years. The varying in the extent of the Forest of Essex during this period are detailed in The Forest of Essex. The last Forest Eyre in Essex was held at Waltham in 1489. However, the use of the Forest changed, prompted by the timber crisis in the Royal Navy.
The Royal Navy Timber Crisis
For over two centuries, from the seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century, the shipbuilding programme of the Royal Navy laboured under a perpetual timber supply crisis. The crisis originated in a shortage of suitable timber. Dry rot in ships, through the use of unseasoned timber, foreign wood, which could be relatively unseasoned, lack of ventilation and improper ship construction, was a recurrent problem. For most of this period, the timber crisis appears to be self-inflicted; the Navy Board permitting ships to be built from only four timbers - oak, elm, beech and fir, and even in the case of oak, Sussex oak was preferred, irrationally. Elm could be used below the waterline for the keel, for example, beech for the planking, fir for the mast and spars and oak was suitable for those areas of the ship alternately wet and dry. The serviceable larch was allowed in construction later in 1792.
'Compass' timber, hedgerow timber, was much prized, and the irregular shapes from these trees would build the knees and braces of the ship. It was this wood that was most scarce. However, the life of wood at sea was limited and ships were required to have extensive and regular refits to maintain them in a seaworthy condition. English oak lasted about 12 years, but some woods fared less well. Teak was the most durable and ships were sometimes manufactured in India. However, Napoleon was waging both military and economic wars against Great Britain, and foreign supplies were unreliable..
Quality control, administered by a 'timber taster', was an important step in the improvement of ships built in the six naval dockyards at this time. Advances in ship design and construction, the design and manufacture of guns, and in tactical seamanship contributed to the success of Nelson's daring strategy at Trafalgar (1805). To balance, the administration of contracts for timber did allow some corrupt practices to develop.
The Forest - to the Present Day
Introduction
In the sense that the Forest Laws of William I defined the whole of Essex to be within Royal Forest, some surviving evidence of the Forest may be anticipated anywhere in the county. Physical survivals are to be found in the landscape and woodlands of the county and within documentary archives. The most significant woodland survivals are to be found in Epping Forest, and Wintry Wood, and the Forests of Hainault, Hatfield, Writtle and Kingswood. In particular, the history of Hatfield Forest indicates its survival to be remarkable. The recent history of these woodlands is summarised here.
Hainault Forest
The Fighting Temeraire was said to be built from Hainault timber. The Crown owned most of the assets of Forest. In 1851 the Forest was enclosed by Act. Shortly after and with great speed, 92 per cent of the forest was destroyed. The remaining, original forest has preserved some ancient pollards. Some replanting has taken place.
Writtle Forest
The king was the owner of Writtle but in 1238, Henry 111 exchanged the manor of Writtle (and the manor of Hatfield) to Isabel de Bruys. Isabel had inherited from the estate of her father, the Earl of Chester. The king kept the Forestal rights, but became concerned about Isabel's maintenance of the vert.
In 1252, Isabel died and Whale passed to the hands of her son Robert, and thence to Robert the Bruce. By accepting the crown of Scotland in 1306, Robert I had committed high treason against Edward I, and as a consequence his English estates were taken back into the king's ownership. The wife of Robert the Bruce, Eleanor, was permitted to keep a one third interest in the manor of Writtle (and Hatfield) during her lifetime.
In 1327, Edward II gave Writtle and Hatfield to his sister Elizabeth, who had married Humphrey VIII de Bohun. Court fines were also ceded to him. In 1360, Edward III even allowed William de Bohun to hunt in Hatfield Forest. After political meddling, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, had his lands confiscated. In 1421 Anne Stafford inherited their estates. Anne's son became Duke of Buckingham in 1444, the king passing to him Forestal rights in 1446. Writtle then ceased to be a Royal Forest. Writtle Forest came into the ownership of the Petre family in 1455 when Essex estates were being acquired.
Hatfield Forest
The earlier medieval history of Hatfield Forest runs a parallel course to that of Writtle Forest. The Duke of Buckingham was killed, alongside his son, at the Battle of Northampton in 1460. His estate passed to his grandson, Henry. Henry lost his head when he opposed Richard III, Henry's lands reverting to the king. Richard's reign was short. The new king, Henry VII, forgave Henry Stafford, restoring to him Hatfield, and Writtle.
The third Duke of Buckingham was the major landowner of England. In 1509 he tried to enclose the Forest but commoners objected and plans were checked. His fortunes declined suddenly when high treason, proved against him, resulted in execution.
Lord Rich was the next owner of the Forest, and of the Forestal rights, of Hatfield after Edward VI had promoted him to Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Barrington family had purchased Hatfield Priory, and believing they had a claim from Domesday to be hereditary woodwards of the local Forest, raised legal challenges to the Riches. An Act of Parliament was called upon to determine the rights and promote a compromise.
The Rich family sold their interest in the Forest to Lord Morley and the rest of their estate to the Barrington family in 1612. The 'ruffianly' rivalry between these two litigious landowners provoked disputes over the next two hundred years. Lord Morley, following the judgment of a corrupt Royal Commission, was permitted to disafforest Hatfield and claim the Forest for himself. The Vicar of Hatfield, in challenging this judgment, appealed successfully to the Inner Star Chamber. Following a pattern, the career of Lord Morley now declined and he became the fifth owner of the Forest to be convicted of treason and in 1649 his lands were confiscated.
Thomas Turnor owned the estate until 1729, when the Houblon family purchased Great Hallingbury and the Forest. Well-heeled, four of the Houblon family had founded the Bank of England. Strife between the Houblons and the Barringtons continued where Lord Morley had left off. Despite this early wealth, the Houblon family fortunes turned down and Hallingbury was vacated in 1909. In 1923, after his auction bid was mislaid, and after the Forest was sold to a timber merchant, Edward North Buxton purchased Hatfield from the successful bidder. In 1924, the Forest was given to the National Trust.
Epping Forest
A parliamentary act, the Epping Forest Act of 1878, transferred the management responsibility of the forest to the Corporation of London. The board of management was to consist of twelve members from the Corporation's Common Council and four verderers drawn from those living within the bounds of the Forest. Epping Forest was disafforested and the right of Queen Victoria to vert and venison ceased. Edward North Buxton was probably involved again in developing the management plan for the forest.
The Rabbit and the Medieval Economy
A proceeding from a court at Westwood near Dunwich (Suffolk) in 1442 illustrates the high status of the rabbit. In the autumn of that year, three Augustinian canons from Blythburgh Priory had been caught poaching rabbits with their own, specially reared, greyhounds - a flagrant display of the increasing worldliness of the religious orders. The outraged court officials fined them the substantial sum of 46s 8d, and also recorded that the operation had the express knowledge and support of no less a person than the Prior himself.
The Introduction of the Rabbit
The rabbit, unlike the hare, is a French introduction to the British Isles. In 1176, there were rabbits on the Scilly Isles. It is likely that there were rabbits on the Isle of Wight in 1225. Some rabbit bones have been unearthed at Rayleigh Castle, probably indicating that they had been buried in the first quarter of the 13th century. This does not mean that the rabbits were living here at the time, since their origin may have been the islands off the Essex coast, such as Foulness and Wallasey, both manors in the Honour of Rayleigh.
At this time there were many grants of warren established, but only occasionally do these grants mention the animals reserved to the owner. Most commonly these animals were hare and fox, at least into the early thirteenth centuries.
No case of trespass involving the rabbit has been traced before 1268, when Richard, Earl of Cornwall, complained that his coney warren (or coneygarth) at Isleworth (Middlesex) had been broken into.
The earliest reference found in the British Isles is found in a charter of 1204. The actual existence of a coneygarth dates from 1241, when the king ordered hay to be carted from his cuningera at Guildford. There are earlier references since in 1235, the king presented a gift decem couninos vivos from his park in Guildford, and in 1242 he sent men there to catch thirty or forty rabbits secundum quod invenerint prefatum cuneram fertilem.
In 1240, the king ordered a supply of rabbits from a number of sheriffs; three returns were received:
100 from the bishopric of Winchester,
200 from the Earl of Warenne, and
200 by the king's escheator.
In 1243, the king required:
180 from the estates of the bishop of Winchester, with 100 coming from the Isle of Wight, and
300 from the estates belonging to the bishop of Winchester.
The critical period for the spread of the rabbit appears to be from 1230 to 1250 when there are numerous records to the stocking of parks. Rabbit remained a very expensive meat during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, costing four or five times as much as chickens, and they must have been regarded as a luxury. Rabbit skins were also much sought after.
In 1305, the rabbit population was sufficient to enable them to be exported and a record from the port of Hull, dating from 1305 refers to the export of 200 skins. By the mid-sixteenth century, rabbits were plentiful. Conrad Gesner wrote in 1555: "There are few countries where coneys do not breed, but the most plenty of all is in England." At about the same time Richard Hakluyt pointed that the export of black coney skins might well be increased, presumably because they sold at a premium.
A charter conferred the granting of free-warren. It permitted the recipient the sole right to hunt specified beasts of the warren; fox, hare, pheasant, partridge and rabbit. The right to keep and kill rabbits was the exclusive right of owners of free-warren. It was a valuable privilege. Most East Anglian villages had been granted free-warren by the 1280s.
Enclosed deer-parks were sometimes used for breeding rabbits, sometimes excluded from crops through the use of an internal ditch. A substantial deer-park at Lopham produced 300 rabbits for the Countess of Norfolk in 1386. Most warrens (although not necessarily allowing the hunting of the rabbit) had been founded by the late thirteenth century, but sometimes the rabbit (cunicularium) was added to the charter subsequently.
The rabbit did not colonize easily, and it is likely that most warrens were artificial creations. Few medieval warrens culled more than 3000 rabbits in one year, but culling generally fluctuated wildly. Henry III requested the bailiff of Guildford to send fifty rabbits to Windsor but only if the loss could be sustained.
By 1341. there are indications that the rabbit population was thriving, land uncultivated and crops destroyed. In 1391, Mildenhall (Cambridgeshire) lost all of its oat crop. There were complaints that church tithes had reduced through the action of the rabbit.
Warreners were well paid. At Dunningworth the warrener was paid fifty-two shillings a year, while in the fifteenth century, the warrener at Ely Abbey was paid £5, but the Abbey reserved the right to dismiss him if the work was unsatisfactory. The warrener could be assisted by additional men or by a ferreter.
Poor winters in the mid-fifteenth century required warrens to be restocked.
Revenues from the rearing of rabbits increased markedly in the fourteenth century. At Lakenheath, for example, revenue from the warren was double the revenue from wool, previously the staple product from the demesne. Exporting the skins was now 'big' business and there are numerous examples of enabling licences being granted by the king; John Calwere shipped 12,000 skins to Flanders in 1365, and in 1383 Collard Chierpetit exported 10,000 to Holland; William Groom and others each exported 5,000 fells of rabbits.
Poaching was a flourishing pastime as court proceedings document. In 1435, the parson of Cressingham (Norfolk) owed a £10 amercement for poaching in Swaffham. In 1425, Thomas Sherman, an Augustinian canon from Blythburgh Priory, was known as 'a poaching canon'. Another Blythburgh canon, leased well-trained ferrets to other poachers. The poacher often used a lurcher (greyhound/collie cross?) for poaching on open ground.
Poachers in the mid-fifteenth century had organised themselves into gangs. A Thetford gang of the 1440s, attired in 'soldiers tunics, steel helmets, bows and arrows', and sometimes 'cudgels and staffs' attacked and wounded three members of a rival gang at Elveden (Suffolk) and then 'unjustly imprisoned' them in the town of Thetford.
The exploitation of the rabbit in farming gives some idea of the willingness of the farmer to adapt to changing conditions. The decline in arable farming is accompanied by a corresponding increase in the rearing of rabbits, both for meat and for the skins. The rabbit was important because it readily colonised waste ground having the right soil conditions.