A survey of hedgerows in the parish of Ingatestone and Fryerning
The Ingatestone estate maps of 1600-01 and 1605 show a parish dominated by three farms -
Ingatestone Hall, Woodbams Farm and Handley Barns; the first two having an acreage of 300-350
acres and the last 136, plus a further 200 or so acres of demesne lands. Prior to 1600 Ingatestone
Hall Farm was given over largely to the provision of venison, a role that was transferred at around
this time to another of the Petre estates at Writtle Park. The map depicts a landscape that was
perhaps in transition between parkland and farmland, several small linear groves or avenues of
trees appearing at odds with the neat rectangular pattern of large, straight-edged fields superimposed
upon them. There is one small derelict wood known as the Hey Waste, possibly so-called because
the deer had eaten much of it! At Woodbarns, too, the fields were large and some of them were
bordered by linear strips of woodland dignified with the title of 'springs'. There were also two
pockets of ancient woodland - Woodbarns Spring and Portsmorhall Wood - both of which still
survive. The core farm at Handley Barns is also little altered since those days. A small ancient
coppice - Langer Hedge or Spring - was grubbed out in the early 1800s and there was some
reorganisation of the farm's field boundaries at this time (see map) but, as at Woodbarns, two small
ancient copses - Box and Well Woods - survive while another - Bushy Wood - was planted in the
mid 1700s. The rest of the parish consisted of a plethora of rented smallholdings ranging in size
from as little as half an acre up to sixty acres, although the majority were in the lower half of this
spectrum. The fields were often tiny - sufficient for the traditional cow, pig and a gaggle of geese -
but most are depicted as hedged, or at least bordered by trees. Around seventy copyholders are
listed in the preamble to the map. These smallholdings account for the bulk of the hedgerows in
Ingatestone parish at that time, approximately 145 km (91miles) in total.
By 1779 Ingatestone Hall had been tidied up: the avenues of trees had largely disappeared and the
Hey Waste had been converted to farmland. At Woodbams Farm several of the larger fields had
been split into smaller units and Woodbarns Spring had either been grubbed out or reduced to
wood pasture by the introduction of grazing animals; cither way, it is no longer recorded as woodland.
The linear springs, though, were still intact. Handley Barns was more or less unchanged, but had
gained a new copse, Bushy Wood. The rest of the parish appears almost unaltered since 1600 apart
from one of the larger smallholdings known as Hickes at Hyde. This had been acquired by Timothy
Brand, the son of a London merchant, in the early 1700s, and he enlarged the estate and built a
grand house on the site in 1719. His son, Thomas, later changed his name to Thomas Brand Hollis
in honour of his friend, Thomas Hollis, who had bequeathed him most of his wealth and property.
He was obviously a man with grand ambitions, as he tried to buy a seat in the House of Commons
- a common but nevertheless illegal practice at that time - and was fined and jailed for his temerity
(Ycarslcy 1997). Between spells in clink, and the odd trip abroad, he devoted his remaining energies
to landscaping the grounds. The result was a classic eighteenth century vision of nature perfected.
Visitors taking their ease on the terrace could enjoy restful views of the lake (known as The Canal),
beyond which acres of rippling grass, artistically strewn with ponds, hedgerows, spinneys, avenues
and informal clusters of trees, stretched to the edge of his domain. A herd of cattle, also artistically
arranged, and perhaps a few Fallow Deer, would have completed the scene.
The period 1779-1839 was one of agricultural prosperity, thanks largely to the high prices being
received for wheat. Even after the Corn Law was repealed, in 1845, it would be a further 20-30
years before cheap imports of grain from Russia and North America led to the onset of the great
agricultural depression of 1880-1940. Considering the incentive farmers must have had at this time
to modernise their farms, and increase yields, it is remarkable how little the field system at Ingatestone
changed during these sixty years. Handley Barns lost a wood - Langer Spring - and Woodbarns
Farm regained one - Woodbarns Spring - perhaps by excluding the grazing animals and allowing it
to regenerate. The tithe lists around 52 landowners and 72 tenants and most landholdings and their
fields remained very small. The hedgerow mileage was similar to that of 1600.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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