A RAMBLE TO EPPING FOREST AND HIGH BEECH.
FROM Foxe’s house it is a pleasant walk to Epping Forest and High Beech.
The way is by Farm Hill (almost opposite Foxe’s house) to Brookside,
thence sharp to the right over the bridge, and up the hill by the old
windmill for a little more than half a mile, to the hamlet known as Honey
lane, where the margin of the fine old forest, the heights of which will
have been viewed on the way, opens out. We turn up by the covered well
and trough into Honey lane itself. Those who may prefer to ensure a
right direction may keep to the roadway, which strikes up the hill
through the forest, and, bearing sharp to the left and right
respectively, leads direct to High Beech. It is more pleasant, perhaps,
to wander through the woodland, and such as would prefer to do this may
strike across the plain to the left of the bridge over the stream,
following the line of the watercourse, then, taking a break in the
thicket that will be found, a clear way called the Verderer’s Path will
soon be entered. Pursuing this to the right (south), we come out at the
top of the hill in Honey lane, near a cyclists’ caution board, and the
way to High Beech, the spire of the church being clearly noticeable, is
then straight along the road. Many a charming peep over the Lea Valley
will have been enjoyed on the way, but from High Beech Plain a panorama
of superb beauty is opened out to view. Those who have hitherto regarded
the home counties of Essex, Middlesex, and Herts as poor, flat, and
featureless parts of our England will be agreeably surprised at the rich
beauty of the landscape which this view of the Lea Valley affords.
Tennyson’s home.
It was a scene that the late Lord Tennyson, who resided for some years at
Beech Hill Park here, which lies a little to the west of the King’s Oak
Inn, loved and admired, as he also reverenced the ancient town and
minster of Waltham. It was the sonorous bells of Harold’s church that
inspired the beautiful lines of “In Memoriam”:
“Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky.”
His noble drama of “Harold,” too, doubtless owes its inception to the
poet’s residence in and intimate connection with this locality. High
Beech church lies a little beyond the King’s Oak Inn and the plain; it is
a modern building in the Gothic style.
From the church we retrace our steps to the inn named, and make the
historic earthworks known as Ambresbury Banks or Camp (a bee line of
about two miles) our next objective. The road continues beyond the
junction with Honey lane, whence we came, then bears to the right on to
the Wake Arms Inn and the main Epping road, a little less than a mile
along which brings us to the camp, this lying on the east side of the
road. But there is a very pleasant way thither through the heart of the
forest, which I will endeavour to describe. Here, however, I would
suggest that all who wish to enjoy the real beauty of the forest in this
way should take the precaution to carry a reliable compass, for it is
very easy to become confused about the geographical circumstances of
one’s surroundings among the wood and thicket.
We turn off across the open plain to the right, about 300 yards beyond
the King’s Oak Inn, where will be found a track or walk, which at times
is rather indistinct. Follow this for about half a mile, then turn sharp
to the right (east) through the glade into the valley, skirting the swamp
and Wake Valley ponds (leaving these to the north) on to the main road.
Here we turn to the left and continue to the Wake Arms Inn. Thence the
Theydon road (opposite) is taken, down Jack’s Hill for about half a mile,
and when the Verderers’ Ride is noticed on the left, this is followed to
Ambresbury Banks. This route will take the wanderer through parts of the
forest that are almost unfrequented, where oak and beech and hornbeam
flourish in all their wild grandeur; where many of the fungi and lichens,
for which the forest is so noted, will be met with, as well as many
beautiful flowering plants, rare-winged insects, and most of the birds,
so large and representative a number of which make their home in the
forest. Nor is it at all unlikely that a herd of the forest deer will be
seen, for these graceful creatures generally resort to this part. Upon
the walk one’s mind almost naturally reverts to the days when this 5,000
odd acres of woodland, now the “people’s playground,” was a mere morsel
of the great forest of Waltham, an almost boundless tract of wild forest
land, which formed the favourite hunting ground for the Saxon, Norman,
Plantagenet, and Tudor kings.
Of Ambresbury Camp, which we have now attained, much has been said and
written in dispute as to its origin. There, however, seems to be little
doubt that it formed an important British earthwork, and, despite all
that has been said to the contrary, it is extremely probable that it
formed the final stronghold of Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, from which
she and her vast army of Britons issued forth to do battle with the Roman
legions under Suetonius Paulinus, and suffered that terrible defeat of
which history tells us. This is a spot, therefore, that awakens solemn
thoughts.
Copt Hall and Upshire.
The road back to Waltham turns out of the Epping highway directly
opposite the camp, and takes us by the main entrance and lodges of Copt
Hall, once the stately seat of the abbots of Waltham, who frequently
entertained royal heads, potent princes, and great nobles here. Robert
Fuller, the last abbot, surrendered the beautiful mansion and domain to
Henry VIII. at the Dissolution. In later times Copt Hall was the
residence of the Princess Mary, subsequently the seat of the Earl of
Middlesex, patron of old Thomas Fuller, and is now held by the Wythes
family. Half a mile further on we enter the pretty hamlet of Upshire,
with its broad expanse of green and pretty little church, built a year or
two ago by Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Bart., lord of the manor, whose fine
domain of Warlies stretches far away over the undulating country to the
north. The entrance to Warlies is passed at the bottom of the hill.
Thence the way is by a pleasant country road, running through fields and
pastures, with here and there a farm-house or a group of cottages, to
Waltham Abbey again.
[Picture: The Eleanor Cross at Waltham]