Thames Tributary – tributary to the river Roding - Ambresbury Banks

Thames Tributary – tributary to the river Roding
The tributary rises in this area and flows eastwards towards the Roding.


This post covers a swathe of Epping Forest bisected by Epping Road - once the major A11.  The massive earthwork is on the eastern side while towards the west are woods and features connected to Copped Hall - the big house in a square to the east and on the other side of the M25

43 01
Post to the east Great Monk Wood 44 01
Post to the north Copped Hall Estate
Post to the west Crown Hill



Epping Forest
The name Epping Forest is on record from 1662 and it is the remains of the Forest of Waltham - land over which the Crown had hunting rights. In 1882 Corporation of London acquired the forest for the citizens of London
Ambresbury banks. This is a large earthwork covering 12 acres standing at one of the highest points of the forest. This ancient fortification with ramparts originally 10 feet high, is held by tradition to have been the scene of Queen Boadicea's last stand against Suetonius, although there is no evidence whatsoever for this. It is an Iron Age hill fort thought to date from around 700 BC. It has been the subject of archaeological examination a number of times starting with Pitt-Rivers in 1881. The area within and around it is completely wooded although this would not have been the case when it was in use and the tributary stream rises within it.

Epping Road
Coal duty post. On the east side by Ambresbury Banks and 800 yards south of the Bell Common Tunnel.

Lodge Road
This appears to be only the road from the Epping Road to Copped Hall – and is now bisected by the M25. It floods with overflow from adjacent ponds. The road forms a dam between two boggy valleys and carbon dating analysis of the bottom layers on the road date it to the early Bronze Age. Pollen analysis also shows a dominance of lime trees at a time when lime had died out in other parts of Britain – and comes to a sudden end as agriculture grew in the area around 1000 years ago. It is now a scenic 19th driveway owned by the City of London
The Warren. This arboretum was once part of Copped Hall Park and was acquired by The Corporation of London in 1992, as part of a purchase of 800 acres of Copped Hall estate. It was part of the pleasure grounds and includes 50 species of trees and rhododendrons. South of the M25 is now known as Holly Hedge Field and there are clumps of trees. The field was re-landscaped by spoil from the excavations for the M25 in the early 1980’s.
Entrance Lodges to the Copped Hall Estate. They are London Lodge East and London Lodge West – which with the entrance gates, are listed buildings. They date from 1775 when Copped Hall was redesigned by James Wyatt. They are designed as three-dimensional objects

Sources
Betts. London City and the People. 
Corporation of the City of London. Web site
Essex Journal
London Transport. Country Walks
Pevsner and Cherry. Essex
Walford Village 1

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