Epping Forest
The Epping Forest is a wooded area in the Epping Forest District north of London . The forest now extends from Woodford and Wanstead to Epping . It is 18 kilometers long but nowhere wider than four kilometers and is cut through by numerous roads, several motorways ( M11 , M25 ) and expressways.
history
The oldest finds from the forest go back to the Mesolithic and come from High Beach.
A Neolithic boardwalk is believed to be in the peat bog at Lodge Road . The forest also contains two Iron Age fortifications, Ambresbury Banks south of Epping and Loughton Camp northwest of Loughton . According to one theory, Queen Boudicca fought the Romans at the Ambresbury Banks in AD 61. This is where the notorious mugger Dick Turpin was hiding . In Wanstead Park there is a Roman villa rustica .
During the Tudor era , King Henry VIII and his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, hunted here . From at least the 14th century, charcoal was produced in the forest, which lasted until the beginning of the 20th century and was resumed during the Second World War. The Epping Forest Act of 1878 mandated the City of London to preserve the Epping Forest as a natural area .
vegetation
After the last ice age from around 8000 BC. Created in BC, the landscape is characterized by old deciduous forests and heather , but not very suitable for agriculture . The forest consists mainly of deciduous trees, until Roman times mainly of linden, today oaks with holly , beech and chestnut . It is very light and has rich undergrowth.
Attractions
- Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Chingford
- Visitor Center, High Beach
literature
- Georgia Green, Epping Forest through the Ages (Chingford, Kingfisher 1982).
- RT Brooks / E. A: Fulcher, An archaeological guide to Epping Forest (London 1979).
- Maynards' concise history of Epping Forest 1860, edited by Richard Morris. Loughton and district historical society, Loughton 2005.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 0 ″ N , 0 ° 3 ′ 0 ″ E