Archaeology
Hatfield Forest has not been ploughed and as a result there are many archaeological remains. The principal ones are Portingbury Rings (or Hills) and the warren area. Portingbury may date back to the Iron Age, but recent research has cast doubt on this. The Warren was created for rabbits in an area of existing mounds. Warren Cottage was built for the warrener and the Forest Lodge for the head woodsman. Later remains are the Victorian fence columns. These were erected around 1857 when the Forest was enclosed. Some columns survived the 1930s, when many were sold, and sections of fencing have been recreated by the Shell House car park and in Gravel Pit Coppice, near the Lake. Parts of the Forest were used during World War II to conceal the storage of munitions for the airfield at Stansted. The remains of the huts that were constructed at this time can be seen alongside the entry and exit roads.
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