EPPING, a market town in the Epping parliamentary division of Essex, England, 17m. N.N.E. from London on the Chipping Ongar branch of the L.N.E. railway. Pop. of urban district (1930, 4,956. The town lies high and picturesquely situated at the northern outskirts of Epping forest. In 1889 the modern church of St. John the Baptist took the place as parish church of the old parish church of All Saints, Epping Upland, 2m. N.W.
Epping forest forms part of the ancient Waltham forest or great forest of Essex (q.v.), which once covered the greater part of the county. Disafforestation had already begun at an early date, and in the 17th century a royal commission estimated the area at 6o,000 acres. The forest became one of the common able lands of royal chases or hunting-grounds. But the various encroachments and enclosures, especially from the end of the 18th century (see CommoNs), having threatened total oblitera tion, at the instance of the corporation of the City of London, a board of commissioners was appointed (under the Epping Forest Act of 1871), and eventually the corporation purchased the freehold interest of waste land, and secured some 5,600 ac., magni ficently timbered, to the use of the public for ever. The tract was declared open in 1882. The ancient Court of Verderers was also revived, and the guardianship of the forest entrusted to a chief ranger, verderers, keepers, and the parish reeves repre senting the parishes on its outskirts. The present forest lies be tween the valleys of the Roding and the Lea, and extends south ward from Epping for about 7 miles. It is readily traversed from the villages on its outskirts, such as Woodford, Chingford and Loughton, which are served by railway, and is a favourite resort of Londoners in the summer.