Winston Churchill was quite far sighted when he realised that Epping Forest would be a great resource for the people of London after the Second World War.  However, 'the lungs of London' were being protected before that and it was The Corporation of the City of London who were given stewardship of the 6000 acres of Beech forest after the crown gave up any rights to it in the mid-nineteenth century.

I often forget how beautiful the forest is, and particularly in sunshine, the trees look magnificent.  Oddly, the forest is managed intensively due to the actions of charcoal burners in the 17th Century.  Their policy of sustainably preserving the trees has led to a present day problem.  Coppicing trees for charcoal burning was an early tree management system that ensured the trees were not killed and encouraged more wood to grow at ground level.  As a result, many of the trees in Epping Forest have mulitple trunks.  After the charcoal business died, the coppiced trees continued to grow, producing trees with a top-heavy 'crown'.  As you walk through the forest, many trees have prematurely fallen, their shallow roots unable to support the mammoth weight above.  As a result, the Corporation of London has an ongoing task of pollarding the trees to remove some of the excess timber from the upper canopy of the trees.

Watch the video to watch this practice in operation and see just how 'un-natural' Epping Forest is!

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