where the party so suspect dwellyth and serche the howsez yf any be founde lett yt be delyuered as ys aforsayd.

Item that euery noble man may hunt and take his disport and plesure in the same forest accordyng at ther perylle accordyng as the kynges lawez wylle suffer them and the keper to gyve them the lokynge ouer and to make them suche sport as yt aperteyneth to a noble man and the sayd keper to Certyffye the same at the next Swanymote.

Item that the Warrantes comaundementes and other fee deer be taken equally wher yt may be moste conuenyently sparyd by the ouersyght and discrecon of the sayd lieu tenaunt Rydyng foster and Ranger or one of them in absens of the resydew.

Item noo keper or foster lieu tenaunt Rydyng foster Ranger or ther seruantes hunt and any wyse by nyght onles yt be for the recouere of sum hurt or chasyd deer.

Item that noo person taken by the keperes or any other offyceres be comyttyd to warde or lettyn to baylle onles he be examyned by the lieu tenaunt Rydyng foster Ranger and Steward or too of them.'

Item that the obligacons for the baylle remayn wt the Steward of recorde.

Item that every keper obserue thez articlez apon peyn of the forfeture of his offyce and that apon dew examynacon and dew prove hadde byfor the lieu teuaunt Rydyng foster Ranger and Steward of the Swanymote the sayd offender to be dischargyd of the exersyng of his sayd office tyll the kynges plesure be further knowyng.

Item theez ffee deer to be alowed as hereafter folowyth.

ffyrst the Justices of the forest.

Item the lieu tenaunt.

Item the Steward.

Item the Rydyng foster.

Item the Ranger.

Item euery keper.

Item my lorde of Waltam.

Item my lady of Barkyng.

Item the ffreholderes.

(British Museum: Royal Roll, 14 B. xxxvi.)

The year 1603 brought in another dynasty; the Stuarts from Scotland. James I could not have had, from association, the same interest in the forest as that which influenced his predecessors, causing them, or their representatives, to be unwilling that it should be cut up by a high road; and the deer and game disturbed by the traffic passing over it. He is said, on his accession to the English throne, to have been anxious

to meet the wishes of his new subjects, for any adequate consideration.

Dr. Lingard writes, "He exhorted them to make known their grievances, and promised that the liberality of the sovereign to his people should be commensurate with their liberality towards him." And, as in 1611 a portion of the Crown lands were offered for sale, it is most probable that the "grievance' consisting of the obstruction caused by the royal forest, to a direct route from London into Norfolk and Suffolk, or the Eastern Counties, was brought under the notice of the King; and that he, for an adequate consideration, allowed sufficient forest land to be purchased to make the road from Loughton by Golden's Hill to Epping.

In 1622 a new aisle was added to the Chapel of St. John. In the County histories it is said the addition was rendered necessary on account of the great increase in the number of the inhabitants. There was no cause, as Epping is a purely agricultural, and not a manufacturing town, for the great increase in the number of its inhabitants, except a large addition to the traffic through the town; which would necessarily arise by opening up the road from Loughton through the forest. It may therefore be supposed that between 1611 and 1622 the road over Golden's Hill through the town of Epping by Wintry Wood to Thornwood Common became an important road into the Eastern Counties.

It is shown in the portion of Nordon's Map, 1594, in which is marked the road by Theydon Garnon and Abridge to London, that there was no road at that date through the forest. By the drawing of Winchelsea House, taken by Walter Metcalfe, Esquire, from an old deed relating to the property, the present road from Loughton, in front of it, was in existence in 1632. Winchelsea House stood on the triangular ground on which is now Epping Place, and the land detached by the road from the forest had been in the possession of Lady Winchelsea, sufficiently long for her to enclose, and build a mansion on.

There is no information respecting the condition of the

high road from Harlow Bush Common to Woodford, when the Act of Parliament made over its management to Trustees, or Commissioners.

As, in the minute book of the Trustees' proceedings, no mention is made of ruts, or other inconveniences arising from the use of narrow wheels, or from waggons being overloaded, it may be inferred that, by the assistance of the money bequeathed by Thomas Baker, the road had been kept gravelled, and sufficiently hard to bear the traffic passing over it, during the greater part of the year; but it is more than probable, frost and snow, and bad drainage, reduced it in winter to a condition similar to that of the Chelmsford Road, described in the 'People's History of Essex," where it is stated that in 1795 "seven loaded waggons remained stuck fast, sunk up to their axle-trees, in the Great Trunk Road, between Ingatestone and Chelmsford," a distance of six miles.