Epping Forest is set on a ridge of high land between the river valleys of the Lea and Roding, with its highest point a mile or so south of Epping. The ridge consists of patches of gravel laid down by the Thames aeons ago on top of beds of sandy clay, and it has a network of springs and water courses.
Probably declared a Forest by Henry I, it was originally part of Waltham Forest, a much larger area, although the wooded area has probably never been much larger than it is now. As Forest Law – the regulations that protected the deer for hunting – declined so parts of it were enclosed and by 1850 no more than 2,000 acres remained unaffected by enclosure.
In 1851 most of the neighbouring Hainault Forest was grubbed out and turned into farmland. This caused a public scandal and many people determined that Epping Forest should not suffer a similar fate. In 1871 a number of local commoners, including the Corporation of the City of London, took action against the lords of the neighbouring manors to prevent them from enclosing and building on the Forest.
The lawsuit succeeded and led directly to the Epping Forest Act of 1878 which established general public access and appointed the Corporation of London as 'Conservators of the Forest'. The campaign to save the forest can now be seen as the birth of the modern conservation movement.
The Act placed emphasis on maintaining the 'natural aspect' of Forest – in other words it was not to be turned into a public park. In the earlier years of the Corporation's stewardship we did not know as much about the management of ancient woodlands as we do now, and unfortunately this was interpreted as meaning 'leave it to nature'. Without continued cutting of pollard and coppice trees the canopy closed and the woodland floor lost most of its wild flowers and became dark and bare. Primroses, wood anemones and bluebells used to be widespread but are now few and far between.
About one-sixth of the original Forest consisted of open areas. As grazing declined, so most of these were invaded by birch and thorn scrub and today heathland plants such as heather are very scarce as well.
Attempts have been under way for some time to reverse the damage and are beginning to show real success, but the road back is slow and difficult after so many years of neglect. Very old pollards, for example, can easily die when repollarded, and birch trees are very difficult to eradicate from former heathland once established.
For all that, Epping Forest remains an unmissable experience. Here we cover the best sections of the Forest, starting with the Green Lanes and the Lower Forest to the north and working southwards down to Leyton Flats in the heart of east London (Wanstead Park is included in the East London section.)
Around Chingford
Barn Hoppitt
Gernon Bushes
Gilbert's Slade
Green Lanes
Heart of the Forest
Highams Park
Leyton Flats
Lord's Bushes and Knighton Wood
Lower Forest
Thornwood Flood Meadow
Walthamstow Forest
Visiting
The bulk of the Forest lies south-west of the junction between the M25 and M11 motorways, with Epping New Road (A104/B1393) cutting it in two running roughly south to north.
Leave the M25 at junction 26 and head east along the A121 towards Loughton. This brings you to the Wake Arms roundabout where the A121 meets Epping New Road and the road to Theydon Bois (B172).
The Wake Road turns off the A121 on the right just before the roundabout and leads to the Conservation Centre.
For the Lower Forest head north along the B1393 through Epping and turn right on to the Ongar road (B181). There is a parking area on The Woodyard, a turning on the right.
Chingford station (BR Liverpool St) is a short walk from Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge. The central parts of the Forest are a longer walk from Loughton or Theydon Bois underground stations on the Central Line. Useful regular bus routes: Essex route 240/250 from Waltham Cross to Debden via Wake Arms; London route 167 from Ilford to Debden via Chigwell; London route 20 from Walthamstow to Debden via Woodford Green.