Epping

Epping, a market-town of Essex, in a pleasant healthy situation, at the north end of Epping Forest, 16 miles NNE. of London. It is noted for its cream, butter, sausages, and pork. Pop. of parish, 2343.—Epping (formerly Waltham) Forest, where kings hunted in olden days, once covered all Essex, and extended almost to London. Inclosures gradually curtailed it from 60,000 acres to 12,000 in 1793, and to less than 4000 in 1871, when (the government refusing to stir in the matter) the corporation of London undertook the preservation of all that was left, and the recovery of the more recent inclosures. As an outcome of their exertions, and at a cost of about half a million of money, 5600 acres of Epping Forest were declared free to the public by the Queen on 6th May 1882. Reached easily from Loughton, Chingford, and other stations, Epping Forest is still a glorious place alike for naturalist and mere holiday-maker. Its 9 square miles of almost unbroken woodland, which at High Beech or Queen Victoria's Wood attain a height of 379 feet above sea-level, form one of the most extensive and beautiful pleasure-grounds in Europe. Separated by a stream from Epping Forest is Hainault Forest (the 'garden fair' of Sir W. Besant), which was disafforested in 1851. Here, till 1820, stood Fairlop Oak, the scene of a July fair, as famous in its way as the old Epping stag-hunt on Easter Monday. See E. N. Buxton, Epping Forest (1884; new ed. 1897); and W. R. Fisher, The Forest of Essex (1887).