Epping

 

Buttercross Lane

Henry Doubleday lived there

Epping

A pleasant market town with a long wide main street. Population in the 1950s 5,400. Consists principally of one long, wide street and is seated on a ridge of hills called the Purliew bank. Owing to the cessation of coaching the prosperity of the town declined considerably, but of late years it has revived and many new roads and houses have been constructed. Epping has an ancient fame for its butter and cheese, produced on the pasture lands of the Roding. In an ambulator published in 1820 it is recorded that Epping butter was held in such esteem that it sold in London at a higher price than any other.  The town has a weekly market on Mondays which is well attended, and here also a fair takes place on 13 and 14 November for cattle and horses. Since 1924 the Epping Parliamentary Division was represented by Mr. Winston Churchill.                               

St. John the Baptist’s church. Founded in 1832 and became the parish church 50 years later. The tower was added in 1908. Rebuilt in 1890. Constituted the parish church in place of the church of All Saints at Epping Upland which is some two miles to the west of the town. Built of stone in the Gothic style of the fourteenth -century with a square tower and a clock

High Street

Town Hall Richard Reid Architects. New town halls are rare projects in an era of centralising state government's erosion of local Government authority. This one appears to owe something to the inspirations of architects such Jim Stirling and, perhaps, Terry Farrell - one can imagine either of them tackling this complex of accommodation with a similar approach. In fact, it is designed by Richard Reid, a skilled architect who cross-fertilises macular sentiments and images with the daring principles of high architecture. He is an appropriate selection for this small town London's green-belt which represents much at is quintessentially English. Apart from brightly coloured window frames, the Stirling influence is evident in the brick tower dominating the building and the area - the signifier of an important local institution. It joins in an architectural dialogue with other historic towers further along the village high street. The tower is one of a number of elements tended to present themselves forward of a theme running through the complex, parallel to the street, i.e. they place themselves in the public realm while, behind the wall, are the Bees of the bureaucracy. The former elements include the main entry porch, the council chamber, staff recreation spaces, and an existing Victorian building, as well the tower. They are all rendered, but the background wall is in brick. Ultimately, however, the finished building fails to realise the promise of its design scheme, betraying struggles against budgetary constraints, modem construction technologies and the erosive local politics common to this kind of commission. But go and see it: there aren't many new buildings of this type or ambition in the UK.

Epping Forest Motel

Bell Inn, later owned by Trust Houses, Ltd.  Tea gardens and a large field for sports. In his famous Diary Pepys mentions staying at this house for a night.