CHAPTER II.
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.