Maps from over 100 years ago show there were many more trees on the green, mostly around the margins, so that it was more like a woodland pasture. With the help of funding from the People's Postcode Lottery, we are undertaking a programme to restore this historic landscape.
In December 2018, we planted over 100 new trees, each protected by a substantial metal tree guard. These were mainly field maple, pedunculate oak and hornbeam but also included small numbers of hawthorn, blackthorn, wild cherry, crab apple, black poplar, small leaved lime, large leaved lime, beech , whitebeam, and sessile oak.
Wall Wood
Wall Wood was presented to the Trust in 1946 by the Essex and Puckeridge Hunts, to whom it had been given by the Stacey family, in memory of Frank Stacey who had died in 1932. He had been a member of the local management committee for forest from 1928 to 1932, during which time he oversaw restoration of the forest floor, after the severe damage caused by timber extraction before the forest was bequeathed to the National Trust. A memorial plaque was subsequently erected in the forest.
The wood had been sold at the break-up auction in 1923 for £4,000, the quality of the timber and proximity to hard road access attracting keen interest and a good price.