metres from the gate, look for a path on your left which keeps close to the pond, which will lead you downhill to cross the little Ching Brook. Just after crossing the brook, turn left in a clearing, the path soon becoming a horse-ride. This is one of the many broad paths cut through the forest with the needs of horses (and riders) in mind.
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S HUNTING LODGE
The timber-framed lodge, or ‘standing’ as it was known then, was in fact built in 1543 for Elizabeth I’s father, Henry VIII, so that royals could view hunts from the then-open top storeys. It is the only remaining standing in England that is still situated within the forest it served. Although Elizabeth did later arrange its renovation, she may never have visited. Her successor James I certainly had little if any use for it, and by 1608 it was converted to hold the Manor Court, a function that remained there for nearly 250 years. The Victorians then carried out an intrusive restoration, remedied in the early 1990s when a more weather-resistant, and traditional, limewash exterior replaced a hard plaster infill.
The lodge now hosts an exhibition on Tudor life; its neighbour, known as The View, has displays about the forest itself. Both are open from 10am to 5pm daily except Mondays, and occasional other events.
Cross a road and continue for 200 metres until turning right at a path crossroads. At Connaught Water you pick up the red waymarks of the Willow Trail. Follow them past the car park and the head of the Water (1). Here, you ignore both the boardwalk and the path on the right to continue straight ahead. Look out for a footbridge on your left in 350 metres, cross it, and turn left again. Keep following the waymarks for nearly a mile, in which there is first a right turn and later a left turn. Eventually you come to a triangular junction, where instead of veering left you turn half-right for a few metres. Continue ahead, over a crossing track, and turn left at the end of the clearing. Don’t worry about the ‘wrong way’ waymarkers on this stretch!
Hornbeam pollard, a staple of Epping Forest management
In 500 metres turn left on to a forest ride which dips down attractively to cross the Cuckoo Brook, a tributary of the Ching. After it, note the several pollarded hornbeams, a staple of the Forest’s silva. Just before a road, turn left for 50 metres, then right to cross the road, continuing ahead on a path waymarked for the London Loop. After nearly 400 metres take the path (2) which slowly diverges to the left, keeping close to the edge of a golf course. Eventually this climbs a little to bring you to the trig point and obelisk on Pole Hill. There’s a useful bench just beyond.
Cuckoo Brook
The obelisk here dates from 1824, as a marker for the Greenwich meridian. By 1850, however, new calculations put the meridian about six metres to the east, where (within centimetres) the trig point now stands. The obelisk also commemorates TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who lived in a hut on the hillside for a time in the 1920s.
Retrace your steps from the bench to the trig point and take the path half-right for just 25 metres, then half-left. Continue downhill and then, in a more open area, turn right. Turn right at the club house of the Royal Epping Forest golf club for Chingford station, or for the car park continue the few metres to Bury Road.
ARTIST’S BRACKET FUNGUS, Ganoderma applanatum
The bark of a tree is its first defence against damage. It’s living tissue, unlike the older heartwood at the tree’s centre. But if the bark becomes wounded, say by fire or frost, deer or man, fungal spores can enter, slowly rotting away the heartwood, and in time perhaps hollowing the trunk entirely. Weakened, the tree may topple to give opportunity for new growth, be it tree or insect – see for example the lifecycle of the stag beetle, Walk 17.
One type of such fungal invasion gives rise to the artist’s bracket fungus, which might well be seen on older beech and hornbeam trees in the Forest. As the bracket grows each year (it will live at least as long as the afflicted tree, so quite likely a decade or more), it lays down rings, mimicking the tree’s behaviour. The fungus itself is a ‘white rot’, turning the heartwood moist and spongy.
The artist’s bracket fungus is immune to the forager’s knife. Even if it could be prised off, it is rock hard, and no matter what the cooking would break teeth before it could do any damage to the stomach or brain. It can, however, be carved, hence the name.
WALK 4
Wanstead Flats and Park
| Start/finish | Forest Gate station (TQ 404 853) or Wanstead Park station (TQ 405 856) |
| Distance | 6 miles (10km) |
| Time | 3hrs |
| Maps | OS Explorer 174, Landranger 177 |
| Refreshments | Pubs and cafés in Forest Gate, tea hut in Wanstead Park |
| Parking | Centre Road car park, E7 0DL (TQ 405 861) |
| Local group | Friends of Wanstead Parklands www.wansteadpark.org.uk and Wren Wildlife and Conservation Group www.wrengroup.org.uk |
This, the southernmost section of Epping Forest, has a fascinating human history, of which the fate of the great house at Wanstead Park is just one facet. It also boasts a remarkable biodiversity. Although part of the area is managed for football, there is also an acid grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) here, plus the Forest’s southernmost woods and a complex water system in the former ornamental grounds.
The ornamental waters
Cross the road in front of Forest Gate station and walk to the railway bridge, where Wanstead Park station is situated for those arriving by Overground. Keep walking to the junction with Capel Road, where you cross over to a drinking fountain and enter Epping Forest land. Keep on along a narrow track on Wanstead Flats, not far from the main road, until Centre Road car park. This is where car drivers will start.
Advisory sign on the Flats
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