Place name
Could be named after former landowners John and Hugo or Hugh Hare who in 1604 briefly held Gaysham’s manor, which once stood on Longwood Gardens, before selling it on to Thomas Wight in 1609. Or, it could be a pastoral name chosen in connection with nearby Hainault Forest, one of the remaining sections of the former Forest of Essex. The woodland became a favourite hunting ground of Tudors and Stuarts and the types of prey they hunted appear in many local street names. Moreover the woods were owned by Barking Abbey, although they could only take game from them with the permission of the king. In 1220, Henry III allowed the abbess to hunt hares and foxes in her forest.
