History of Hatfield Forest

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A small herd of cows graze amongs long grass beside a track that passes trees — Cattle grazing in a meadow at Hatfield Forest, Essex | © National Trust Images/John Millar

Hatfield Forest National Nature Reserve is the most complete surviving example of a medieval royal hunting forest. Comprising over 1,000 acres of ancient coppices and wood pasture, which have been continuously managed for over 1,000 years, it provides a unique glimpse of how the countryside was shaped in the centuries following the Norman Conquest.

Fit for a King

Hatfield Forest was owned by the King of England, Harold (c. 1022–66). It then passed to William the Conqueror (1028–87) after his victory at the Battle of Hastings and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it supported a population of 61 villagers, 1 freeman, 30 smallholders and 22 ‘servi’ or enslaved people.

The royal hunting forest was created by Henry I (1068–1135) around 1100 and royal hunting rights remained in force until 1446. Most of what remains today is medieval in origin, in part because the land was never turned to arable farming. Coppicing of the woodland and pollarding of trees were techniques introduced by the Normans and these traditional methods of woodland management continue today.

‘Forest' was defined by the Norman rulers of England as an area legally designated as land reserved for deer hunted by the king and subject to special law. ‘Forest', therefore, did not just mean an area of densely planted trees as we understand the word to mean today: trees were merely a subsidiary to the main purpose of hunting.

The Normans also introduced fallow deer from Sicily. Their DNA can still be found in the Forest's herd today.

Late medieval period

A succession of different people and families, including Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), the Dukes of Buckingham, and the Rich, Parker and Turnor families, owned the forest in the next 500 years. The local Barrington family, from Hatfield Broad Oak, also held land on the east of the forest.

A wide grassy path leads through a dense coppiced woodland. — View looking down an ancient ride through the coppice near Eight Wantz Ways at Hatfield Forest, Essex | © National Trust Images/David Levenson

Big Money

In 1732, Jacob Houblon III (1710–70), MP and a member of the Cocoa-Tree Club - a chocolate house - purchased Hatfield Forest, part of the Hallingbury Place estate, using the fortune amassed by his extended family of bankers and traders. The family were wealthy city merchants, Huguenot exiles originally from Flanders, who had made their fortune trading with Spain and Portugal.

Jacob Houblon’s uncle, Sir John Houblon (1632–1712), was a founding member of the Bank of England and its first Governor. The Bank of England was founded in 1694 by Royal Charter and was principally used to service the national debt and to lend to the government of the day, financing wars, and colonial expansion.

As well as purchasing the estate, Jacob Houblon III improved it, building the Shell House in 1757 to a decorative design credited to his daughter, Laetitia (1742–1828). The interior and exterior are embossed with shells from the Caribbean, West Africa and the Indo-Pacific, some of which were associated with the transatlantic slave trade and were carried by ship from the Maldives, via India and Britain, to the African coast to be bartered for enslaved Africans, who were then transported to the Americas.

A single-storey Georgian pavilion, it's central facade is decorated entirely with shells. — Shell House, the ornate Georgian pavilion, at Hatfield Forest, Essex | © National Trust Images/James Dobson

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown

The renowned landscape designer ‘Capability’ Brown produced a plan in 1757 to modify the original lake by adding a long sinuous arm at each of its ends. This plan was only partially implemented, and forms what is now the Decoy Lake, at the end of the main lake.

The family considered the Forest an extension of Hallingbury Place, to which they would ride to enjoy picnics and entertainments in the Shell House and by the lake.

The Victorian era

During the 19th century, ownership of the Forest and the various mineral and timber rights it comprised were finally consolidated. Only a small proportion of the Forest was affected by 19th century Enclosure Acts, with its margins straightened in places where land was surrendered so that common land ownership could be re-established, and the current boundary of the Forest was formally defined.

Under the stewardship of John Archer Houblon (1773–1831), more exotic trees were planted, and the Forest was drained and protected from conversion to agricultural use, a fate which would befall the nearby forests of Hainault and Epping. The fascinating visitors' book in the Shell House describes trips to the Forest in this period by an amazing cross-section of society, both rich and poor.

Bequest to the National Trust

In 1923, the Hallingbury Estate was broken up and sold at auction. A timber merchant bought Hatfield Forest and began to cut down the standard oaks. The Forest was saved from further destruction by the intervention of the pioneering conservationist, Edward North Buxton (1840–1924). He died before his purchase of the Forest was complete, but, honouring his wishes, his family bought and bequeathed the Forest to the National Trust, who opened it to the public in May 1924.

Three horse riders travel over grassland with a dense tree-line behind them and a large oak tree to their left. — Horse riding at Takeley Hill in Hatfield Forest, Essex | © National Trust Images/Britainonview/Rod Edwards

The Forest at war

During the Second World War, the armed forces requisitioned parts of the Forest. Elgin’s Coppice became a concealed storage area for ammunition for use at nearby airfields, including Stansted. The foundations of several military huts can still be seen from the road.

Today

Hatfield Forest is a managed landscape, created by centuries of human intervention. The traditional woodland management techniques of coppicing, pollarding, and grazing continue today. It is home to over 3,500 species of wildlife, some of which are rare and threatened. The ancient trees, some over 1,000 years old, provide the perfect habitat for some of the Forest's rarest insects, lichens, and fungi.