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History

Epping Forest has been shaped by over 2,000 years of human activity, with some of the earliest recognised features being two Iron Age earthworks at Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp believed to have been constructed around 500BC.

The name Epping Forest however, was not recorded until the 17^th centaury, prior to this it was known as Waltham Forest.  The Forest was first given legal status by Henry III in the 12^th centaury as a royal forest – which gave the commoners rights to gather wood and foodstuffs and to graze livestock, but only the monarch was allowed to hunt there.  In Tudor times both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were known to hunt in the Forest, and in 1543, Henry VIII commissioned a building known as Great Standing from which to view the hunt at the Chase in Chingford.  The building was renovated in 1589 for Elizabeth I, and can still be seen today, now known as Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge.

Cattle have been grazed in Epping Forest for over 1000 years, and along with the annual wood harvest of lopping pollard trees, created a special landscape and enabling great biodiversity. This however, came under threat by the 18^th centaury Agricultural Revolution and the 19^th Centaury Industrial Revolution which swept away much of the countryside around London. This problem was compounded in Epping Forest by local Lords of the Manor who attempted to 'inclose' the Forest by erecting fences around their land.

Epping Forest only survives today because of the strength of the commoners in defending their rights to graze cattle and cut wood. The City of London took up the plight of the local community and acting as a commoner (it owned land at the City of London Cemetery) fought a lengthy legal battle to save the forest.  Fortunately the battle was won on the basis that ‘inclosure’ did not allow for the commoners to freely graze their cattle across all parishes, and was therefore illegal. Epping Forest survived and all of the fences were removed.

In 1878 the Epping Forest Act was passed, which placed the care of Epping Forest into the hands of the City of London Corporation who were to act as conservators. The forest ceased to be a royal forest and the crown’s right to deer and venison, and the commoners’ right to pollarding was terminated, although the right to grazing continued.  This act laid down a stipulation that the Conservators "shall at all times keep Epping Forest unenclosed and unbuilt on as an open space for the recreation and enjoyment of the people".