HGB Ep. 418 - Epping Forest

Moment in Oddity - Roman Dodecahedron

Brian Campbell was digging around in his yard in Romford, East London in 1987 when his shovel hit something metal. He quickly uncovered the clay-caked object and discovered an interesting artifact. He wasn't sure what to make of it and assumed it was some kind of measuring tool because it had multiple sized holes in the round object with 12 sides that was smaller than a tennis ball. He kept it on the windowsill and didn't think much of it until he saw a similar object decades later in a museum in Germany. It was then he discovered it was a Roman dodecahedron. The first was discovered 300 years ago and archaeologists have been baffled by them ever since. The artifacts are finely crafted from metal. More than 100 have been found in total and they are of varying sizes. There is no written documentation in any historical sources to shed light on their use. Were they used in trade like coins? Were they for ornamentation? Were they used in magical practices? Or were they a measuring tool as Campbell suspected? Nobody knows and that makes the Roman dodecahedron, very odd!

This Month in History - Georgia Becomes a State

In the month of January, on the 2nd, in 1788, Georgia becomes a state. Georgia was named after King George II and Europeans first settled it in 1733. That first settlement was Savannah. Georgia was one of the most prosperous British colonies, but that didn't stop the patriots in Georgia from sending delegates to the Second Continental Congress. The colony remained deeply divided during the Revolutionary War and Savannah was a stronghold for the British. In 1787, two Georgians named Abraham Baldwin and William Few Jr., signed the new U.S. Constitution at the Constitutional Convention. When the Constitution was ratified by Georgia on that day in January, it became the fourth state to enter the Union.

Epping Forest

There is nothing quite so epic when it comes to ghost stories as a haunted wood. About an hour outside of London is Epping Forest. This is an ancient woodland with more aged trees than any other site in the United Kingdom. One can only imagine how many elementals and fae people must call this place home. There is history and some legends and, of course, ghosts. Join us as we set off on an adventure through Epping Forest!

Waltham Forest is an outer borough of London, bordered by Essex, that was established in 1965. It's name is taken from an ancient woodland called Waltham Forest. The Waltham name was probably derived from Walthamtow. Roman and Saxon settlements cut down much of the original woodland and remnants of their settlements are still found in the borough to this day. What is left of that former woods is Epping Forest, which lies on a ridge between two rivers, Lea and Roding and covers 5,900 acres. This is more commonly known as the "People's Forest." Epping Forest is also its own government district in Essex that was formed in 1974. The town is referred to as a market town and is known to draw visitors to its steam engine tours, antique shops and historical re-enactments.

No one is sure just how ancient Epping Forest is, but it first was recorded in writing in the 17th century. Ruins dating to the Iron-Age were found, so the forest clearly dates back to that time. Benjamin Harris Cowper discovered an Iron-Age camp in 1872 and it was excavated by General Augustus Pitt-Rivers in 1881. The site was dated to 500 BC and is today marked off as several hill forts that sit in a line. They are named: Loughton Camp, Ambresbury Banks, Wallbury Camp, Little Hadham, Barkway and Littlebury. Loughton Camp covers 10 acres and is located at one of the highest points in Epping Forest. This camp more than likely had a single high rampart and there is a stone Iron Age grain millstone nearby. Ambresbury Banks is spread over 11 acres with a six foot high bank encircling it, hence where the Banks part of its name comes from. Puddingstone blocks were used in its construction.

(Rabbit hole) Puddingstone is a conglomeration of round pebbles that have been cemented to each other. The fact that the pebbels have colors that contrast with whatever cements them together is what gives them the name puddingstone because it looks like a Christmas pudding. Puddingstone is usually named after the paerticular area that it originates so there is Roxbury puddingstone, Hertfordshire puddingstone, Schunemunk puddingstone, St. Joseph Island puddingstone and so on. This is all naturally forming and the material that cements the pebbles varies from sand to silica to sandstone.

Not much is known about the other hill camps. Boudica is a British folk hero who was the queen of the British Iceni tribe. This was a group that rose up against the Roman Empire in 61 BC. There is a local legend that claims that Boudica used the camps for their last stand, but there has never been evidence of that found. The battle that legend claims took place on Ambresbury Banks was similar to the Battle of Bull Run. Families came out to watch that first battle of the Civil War in their wagons and the same was true for the Iceni. They far outnumbered the Romans and thought this would be a quick battle, just as Bull Run was predicted to be. Boudica's charge was faltered because they had to go uphill and the Romans fired a hail of javelins. The Iceni tried to retreat, but the wagons blocked them and trapped them and the Romans had a huge victory. Boudica and her daughters suicided on poison before the battle concluded. But again, in the dozens of times archaeologists have excav ated here, they found no evidence for this battle. Historians believe that it more than likely took place near Mancetter in Warwickshire. But the interesting thing is that the spirit of Boudica has been seen wandering around Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp. The sounds of drums and marching soldiers have also been heard.

The Anglo-Saxons cut down much of the forest in the area of the hill forts. The trees in this area were clearly a reforestation after the forts were abandoned because they are mostly wild service trees. There are many varieties of trees found in the forest including the beech-birch and oak-hornbeam trees. There are still around 55,000 ancient trees here including ancient Pollarding Trees. The Epping Forest also has around 100 ponds, grasslands, streams, a bog and a heath. Some of the ponds are man made since cattle were allowed to roam here. Other ponds formed from bomb impacts. Timber from the trees was used in the shipbuilding industry for the Royal Navy.

Much like the forest near St Briavels Castle, Epping Forest was a royal forest, first gaining that legal status during the 12th century under Henry II. Royalty would hunt here and villagers were allowed to let their cattle graze and they could gather firewood. The use of it as a hunting ground continued up through Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I. Henry VIII had a building known as the Great Standing built in 1543 to be used as a lodge. The building is still there and open to the public under the name Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge. It offers a great view of Chingford. Deer were the most popular game sought in the forest. There were populations of both red deer and black deer. Today, red deer or Roe deer are no longer found in the forest. There had been an ancient tradition known as the Easter Monday Stag Hunt, which officially ended in 1807. There were still some hunters who engaged in it after that time until a riot brought it to an end in 1882.

There were several lords who had manors in the forest and they erected many enclosures, which caused strife for years. The commoners would break down the fences on occasion, so their cattle could graze freely. By 1878, Epping Forest was under the jurisdiction of the City of London Corporation and no longer a royal forest. The city purchased the nineteen manors. Many things changed after this, starting with no more hunting for the Crown. People had more ability to let their cattle graze in the forest and they could collect firewood. One person was hired as the primary caretaker of the forest and this was the Superintendent. Twelve Forest Keepers were also appointed. On Whit Monday in 1880 they recorded 400,000 people in the forest. Queen Victoria visited in 1882 and reiterated that the wood was the People's Forest. The forest would reach the modern era when a road was planned out through the center of it and is today known as the Epping New Road that is part of the A104.

The Butler's Retreat is another building that remains from Victorian times and is adjacent to the Queen's Hunting Lodge. It is named for John Butler who once owned the property. The building was refurbished and reopened in 2012 as a cafe. Along with the lodge and the retreat, there is a coach house and stables that have been opened as an interpretation center. These four buildings make up the Epping Forest Gateway. Today, Epping Forest is made up of a Lower Forest, which is just north of the town of Epping; Bell Common that has a cricket pitch; Epping Thicks where the Ambresbury Banks Iron Age fort is located; Genesis Slade; Great Monk Wood; High Beech; Bury Wood and Chingford Plain, which has a golf course; Knighton Wood and Lords Bushes; Hatch Forest and Highams Park; Woodford Green, which also has a cricket pitch; Walthamstow Forest and Gilbert's Slade; Leyton Flats; Bush Wood and Wanstead Flats and Wanstead Park. And there are three visitor centers.

There are many legends connected to the forest and a few ghost stories. One legend features the highwayman Dirk Turpin who has turned up in a couple of our episodes. Turpin was born in Essex and took after his father as a butcher. In the 1730s, he joined an Essex gang of deer thieves. They were known as the Gregory Gang and they were notoriously violent. He eventually left them and became the legendary highwayman we all know him as. Loughton Camp in Epping Forest was a place of refuge for him and also his hunting ground. He worked with Thomas Rowden and eventually there was a bounty on their heads. A servant of one of the Forest Keepers named Thomas Morris saw Turpin in his hideaway in Epping Forest and decided to try to apprehend him. Turpin shot and killed him.

Eventually, Turpin was arrested and hanged in York in Knavesmire (York) on April 7, 1739. Turpin was buried in St. George's Churchyard in York, but his body didn't stay there long. He was exhumed by a man who sold him to a doctor that wanted to dissect Turpin's body. An angry mob showed up before that could happen and the doctor and body thief were arrested. Turpin was reburied, but he would not have a headstone for 200 years. Perhaps it was this little episode that has caused Turpin to be at unrest. His spirit is said to walk through Epping Forest and likes to hang out at his former haunt (hideout) near Loughton Camp. 

This wasn't the only crime going on in the forest. The Epping Forest is a good place to make things disappear and to dump a body or two. More than a dozen murder victims have been found in the forest since the 1960s. The most recent was in 2015. One of the more bizarre murders was of Patricia Parsons in 1990. She ran a local massage parlor. She apparently had a little black book of clients and was going to sell the details to a newspaper. So clearly more than massage was going on here. It is believed a contract was placed on her head and she was found dead in her car with a bolt from a cross-bow through her head. The murder remains unsolved. And there was a hit man style execution of an accountant named Terence Gooderham and his girlfriend Maxine Arnold in the forest in 1989. Gooderham was believed to have worked for the Clerkenwell crime syndicate laundering money and he extorted 250,000 pounds for himself. Nobody has ever been convicted of the murders, but a man described as "Britain's most notorious hitman", James Moody, was believed to be the trigger man.

A paper clipping from March of 1878 tells the story of an apparent suicide at Knocker's Pond, which is at Lindsey Street. It reads, "Early on Wednesday morning a hat and coat were seen by Mr. Bates' milk boy lying by the side of Knocker's Pond in Lindsey Street, Epping. The pond is a large one, within sight of a number of cottages, which get the greater part of their water supply from it. Under the coat was found the following letter: 'My dear brother - when you receive this my body will be lying in the pond at the lane near Epping. My brain is gone mad through that cursed horse racing and betting. I have spent my last penny in the town for bread, but I am driven mad through Croydon races. Please break the news to my unhappy wife and children. Tell her I have found her last words came true. Keep this from poor father, as it break his heart. Goodbye, my brother Walter; if it possible, never remember me no more. From your unhappy brother.'" The letter was addressed to a Thomas Morris and the paper says the pond was searched and dragged and no body was ever found.

So that's the real story, but the pond does have an amazing legend. The story morphed into a milkman and milk cart that managed to crash into the pond after he fell asleep while driving. Now people claim to see a cart and horses being driven by a headless man emerging from the depths of the pond on occasion. There are even some who claim it is carrying a body to the Angel in the Epping Cemetery in Bury Lane. Another story about this pond dates to the 1960s when visitors to the forest claimed to see two ghostly figures emerge from the pond and they were on horseback. They then rode in the direction of town. And speaking of ponds and suicide, there is another legend that claims another pond deep in the forest draws people to it to commit suicide in the water. This pond was said to be the scene of a tragic murder-suicide of two lovers around 300 years ago. The water is dark and murky and no birds sing here. The pond has been nicknamed Suicide Pond. No one knows the exact location and there was even a contest held one year for people to find it, but no pond seemed to match the description.

And speaking of headless spirits, the Wake Arms roundabout is home to a headless male spirit that is believed to be a biker who died here in an accident. He needs to watch out for the ghostly horse-drawn coach that comes through here as well. Perhaps the one from the pond in the forest? The Kings Oak Pub is a Victorian building that was built in 1887. The restored gastro pub has timber beams, antique crystal chandeliers and log fires where one can enjoy traditional pub food. There is also a headless horseman ghost that likes to haunt the area near the pub. And a little girl who drowned near the pub likes to pop up every so often.

We don't know for sure that anyone was hanged in the forest, but with its centuries of history there may have been an execution or two. One place with this reputation is Hangman Hill. The spirit of a hangman walks around this area according to local legend. And what he does sounds very familiar to our Spook Hills here in America. He likes to drag cars uphill. Just as with our hills, people put their cars in neutral on the hill and the car slowly drags up the hill. Perhaps just as the hangman dragged people to the noose. The high-pitched screams nearby though cause one to think this is more than just an optical illusion.

People love to spend an afternoon picniking in "The People’s Forest." The ancient trees make for a creepy and fun setting. There is much to do here from mountain biking to fishing to hiking to horseback riding, but be careful because many people claim to have been touched by things unseen, to hear phantom sounds and to feel as though they are being watched. Is Epping Forest haunted? That is for you to decide!