Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EPPING

EPPING, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a forest in Essex. The town stands in the forest, on a rising-ground, near the source of the river Roding, 5½ miles-NNE of Loughton; has now a station on the Ongar railway; is irregularly built; comprises one long wide street; is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place; and has a head post office, ‡ a chief inn, a town hall of 1865, a church, and three dissenting chapels. It is well supplied with water from land-springs; it attracts visitors and residents, in the summer months, on account of its pleasant and healthy situation; and it was famous, till recently, for sending much dairy produce to London. A weekly market is held on Friday; and fairs on Whit-Tuesday, the first Friday of July, and 13 Nov. The parish includes also the hamlet of Epping-Upland-with-Ryehill. Acres, 5, 281. Real property, £11, 640. Pop., 2, 105. Houses, 465. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Earl Harold; was given to Waltham abbey; and belongs now to the duchy of Lancaster. Copped Hall, a very fine residence, is the seat of the Hon. A. Ashley. Copped Park contains an ancient British camp. The living is a vicarage in the dio. of Rochester. Value, £729.* Patron. H. J. Conyers, Esq. The p. curacy of St. John is a separate benefice. A fine suite of national schools, in the pointed style, was erected in 1861. Baker s charity has £168 a year; and other charities have £129.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Thoydon-Garnon, North-Weald-Bassett, Magdalen-Laver, and Nazeing. Acres, 16, 940. Pop, 5, 018. Houses, 1, 074.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Chigwell, containing the parishes of Chigwell, Chingford, Loughton, and Thoydon-Bois; and the sub-district of Harlow, containing the parishes of Harlow, Roydon, Great Parndon, Little Parndon, Netteswell, Latton, Sheering, and Matching. Acres, 46, 452. Poor-rates in 1862, £9, 098. Pop. in 1851, 15, 631; in 1861, 16, 549. Houses, 3, 383. Marriages in 1860, 84; births, 510, -of which 25 were illegitimate; deaths, 316, -of which 108 were at ages under 5 years, and 14 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 761; births, 4, 611; deaths, 2, 885. The places of worship in 1851 were 21 of the Church of England, with 5, 386 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 1, 263 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 1, 385 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 300 s.; and 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, with 170 s. The schools were 22 public day schools, with 1, 614 scholars; 31 private day schools, with 731 s.; 16 Sunday schools, with 1, 254 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 47 s. The workhouse is in Thoydon-Garnon.-The forest is a wild chase; extends from the vicinity of London southward to Walthamstow; formerly included a great part of Essex; is divided from Hainault forest by the river Roding; is under a lord warden and four verderers, elected by the freeholders; possesses great beauty, and is diversified with plantations, mansions, and villas; and formerly was a -favourite resort of the citizens of London for archery, and the scene of an annual festival on Easter Monday, when a stag was turned don't for a hunt by the civics sportsmen.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a forest"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Epping AP/CP       Epping SubD       Epping RegD/PLU       Essex AncC
Place: Epping

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