Abstract
THE great expanse of primitive woodland in the immediate neighbourhood of East London declared “open” to the public on May 5, 1882, by Her Majesty the Queen, should be regarded as one of the numerous bequests to posterity marking the enlightenment of our times. The feelings leading to the agitation for the preservation of open spaces in and around the metropolis are sure indications on the part of the public of a recognition of the necessity for protecting and conserving our common lands for outdoor recreation—a recognition which must he considered as marking a decided advancement in the ideas of the British holiday-maker. If we compare a map of the environs of London of, say, twenty years ages, with the actual state of the country at the present time, it will be seen that large tracts of open land have disappeared; shady coppices and furze-clad heaths have been inclosed and built upon, and the country-loving Londoner has had to go further and further afield for his rambles. If it is obviously true that increased pressure of population demands more dwelling accommodation, it is equally true that a denser population requires more open spaces. The indifference of the public in former times to their own rights and to the wants of their successors is naturally making itself more and more seriously felt with a rapidly augmenting population and a corresponding spread of buildings. The formation of such public bodies as the Commons Preservation Society and the Epping Forest Fund was a healthy sign that people were beginning to be alive to the gravity of the situation, and we may now fairly say that rural London is on the defensive. The remarks which I am about to offer on the present occasion are based on an unpublished article written many months ago, when that wooded area in which our interest as a society centres was threatened by tramway invasion. The withdrawal of the Great Eastern Railway Company's bill for extending their line from Chingford to High Beech in 1881, and the apparent collapse of the tramway scheme had led to the hope that the “people's forest” would remain unmolested, and that the Epping Forest Act of 1878 would be carried out in spirit and its letter. But unfortunately new grounds of alarm have recently arisen, and our honorary secretaries, to whom I showed the original manuscript, did me the honour of thinking that the views which I had expressed would still be found to be in accordance with those of our own and kindred societies.
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The Conservation of Epping Forest from The Naturalists' Standpoint 1 . Nature 27, 447–449 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/027447a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027447a0