In 1923 the Hallingbury Estates, including Hatfield Forest, were broken up and put up for sale by the Houblons.

Hatfield Forest’s greatest benefactor appeared in the shape of 83-year-old Edward North Buxton, a council member of the National Trust and a life long preserver of forests. He is credited with saving much of Epping Forest and what was left of Hainault Forest. This generous man had already given other properties to the National Trust, including Paycock’s House, Coggeshall.

Edward Buxton’s health was already failing him when he inspected the forest in late 1923. He decided to buy the forest and give it to the National Trust. Regretfully after an administrative error, another would-be purchaser, Mr Place, a respectable timber merchant, bought most of the forest.

He began to fell trees, fortunately mostly timber trees, plus only a few of the pollarded trees. Thankfully most of the large oaks, elms, ash and beech were left. At the time it was seen as a tragedy, but from Oliver Rackham’s research, Place was only catching up on the reduced timber felling over the last 100 years.

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The Buxton’s great gift
Buxton, a man not to be defeated quickly, negotiated with Place to purchase the forest and on his deathbed completed the purchases of most of it. He left instructions with his sons, Anthony and Gerald to conclude the purchase of the rest of the forest that was for sale. They carried out their father’s instructions to the letter, presenting the forest to the National Trust. On the 10th May 1924 Lord Ullswater, Vice President of the Trust, opened the forest to the public.

Major Houblon, who still owned Woodside Green at the southern end of the forest, kindly gave it to the Trust in 1935. Wall Wood, adjacent to Woodside Green, was owned by the Essex and Puckeridge Hunt and was presented to the Trust in 1946. This brought the remaining parts of the forest together, thus preserving and protecting this unique ancient forest with its animals, plants, insects and historic infrastructure for generations to come.

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Early years under the National Trust
The National Trust in 1924 was in its infancy with only 2000 members, and lacked the raft of expertises, management direction and conservation identity it has today. A local committee, including Theresa Buxton, Edward’s sister, managed the forest. It was managed very much on the same lines as the Houblon’s in their declining years, as well as allowing and seeing the forest as a public amenity.

Grazing continued and at times increased, but the Trust failed to restore the already poor fencing around the coppices. Coppicing continued, but changed to thinning and removal of under wood, hoping to encourage young trees like hornbeam and oak. The re-growth after thinning was thin and weak and with the poor fencing the cattle got in resulting in extensive damage.

©NTPL / David Kirkham
Cattle grazing wood pasture at Hatfield Forest.

The trees that had been felled by Place in the coppices and the damage caused when the trees were removed had gone unmanaged, allowing thick scrub to grow in its place. Timber extraction continued but the larger trees in the coppices remained, allowing nothing to grow beneath their enlarging canopy.

Deer and rabbits were now seen as a nuisance and in 1937 1100 rabbits were snared in 6 weeks. The committee even considered exterminating the deer herds but fortunately this never happened.

Visitors to the forest in the early days were very poorly supervised, being allowed to drive motorcycles and cars around the forest, picnic as they wished, and roam at will. This of course damaged the fragile balance of grasses and flora in the top two inches of soil, as well as spoiling the grazing and creating large areas of mud for visitors and animals alike. Scouts and guides had their summer camps and the army were even allowed to carry out manoeuvres in 1937.

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The Second World War made very little difference to the forest, except for a nearby airfield at Stansted Mountfitchet that would later dominate the area. The Ministry of Defence used Table Coppice to conceal buildings and installations from the enemy. The earliest air photographs of the forest were taken by a German reconnaissance plane during the war, obviously they felt the ancient forest was hiding something. The old foundations of the buildings have now nearly gone, but the road through the coppice to the old installation is still used today.

Unfortunately this period is poorly documented due to a fire in the forest office, but it is clear that the Trust still had some way to go in the management and conservation of the property.

The forest still had one more major dispute in the 20th century. The Trust in 1955 decided that the forest lacked new young trees, but did not have the money to replant. So it was decided to lease part of the forest to the Forestry Commission to make a plantation of supposed oak and larch. This was viewed with great suspicion, as the Forestry Commission was renowned then for replacing ancient woodland with conifers.

The Trust was divided on the subject and local opposition grew, led by Anthony Buxton, son of Edward Buxton. Anthony had succeeded his aunt on the local forest committee. He was so appalled by the idea that he publicly resigned from the committee. He was strongly supported locally by groups including the Ramblers Association, Youth Hostel Association, Womens’ Institute and other local landowners.

The plan was eventually shelved, but that was not the end of the story. Four years later the Trust negotiated an “Approved Woodlands Scheme” for some 50 acres of coppices to be grubbed out and planted with oak, beech and conifers. The Trust would retain control, but would be subsidised by the Forestry Commission for managing the wood.

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The return of traditional techniques in forest management
In the 1960s the old overgrown rides through the coppices were bulldozed and turned into grassland. It was of popular opinion that they should be restored, but as always money was in short supply. However, in the ‘60s money was collected for a small amount of tree planting.

By the ‘70s the National Trust had got to grips with the management of the Forest, understanding the critical balance between the conservation of the forest with that of the visitors. Coppices were fenced after coppicing, pollarding resumed after 70 years, with a programme for each stage of growth of the older trees, and areas of the younger ones. New rules were introduced to help control the large increase in visitors.

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Visitor management
The huge increase in visitors gave the Trust opportunities to put money back into the forest. Revenue was not only gained from entrance fees, but also from a new café and kiosk which were opened beside the lake. Fishing tickets, permits allowing horse riding in restricted parts of the forest, and timber products were sold. Value was added to the visitors’ experience with a nature trail, a new eight acre nature reserve on marshland north of the lake, new paths, car park by the lake, disabled toilets, guided walks and special events days. The ‘Friends of the Forest’ was founded to raise much needed money.

The current situation
The Forest now has a full time complement of five experienced staff, led by the Property Manager. The Wardening department comprises of a Head Warden, two Wardens and occasionally a Careership Placement (an apprentice). An education officer was recruited to co-ordinate the many education groups visiting the forest. Students on placements studying forest management and seasonal staff swelled the ranks and an administrator was also employed.

The future of the forest is in safe hands however, there are still threats to its future. The National Trust is an independent charity dependent on donations for funding its future improvements. More significantly, Hatfield Forest is a self-financing property largely relying on visitor numbers to generate its income. This is severely threatened by the expansion of London Stansted Airport, with its proposed 2nd runway ending only one mile from the forest’s northern boundary. Although the forest’s topography in itself is not threatened, the pollution around and above is an issue.

Acknowledgement
Hatfield Forest is most grateful to Oliver Rackham, whose book 'The Last Forest' has been an invaluable source of information.

Written by David E Kidner, National Trust volunteer, Jan 2003.