ancient

earthworks
EPPING FOREST
B13 93

B1 82

ANCIENT EARTHWORKS

Epping

M25 Waltham Abbey Theydon Bois

B172

27

Victorian picnic at Ambresbury Banks

A121

26
A116

Ambresbury Banks M11

8

Epping Forest Visitor Centre

Loughton Camp Loughton

Epping Forest is one of a number of open spaces, parks and gardens around London owned and managed by the City of London as part of its commitment to sustaining a world class city. Each open space is a unique resource managed for the use and enjoyment of the public and for the conservation of wildlife and historic landscape. A full list of sites and visitor information can be found on our website at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/openspaces or by contacting the Open Spaces Directorate on 020 7606 3030.

A10

Queen Elizabeths Hunting Lodge

A1

06

70 B1

Buckhurst Hill

SOME IMPORTANT CONTACTS

Emergency 24hr call out Epping Forest Visitor Centre Heritage Education officer Epping Forest Field Centre 020 8532 1010 020 8508 0028 020 8529 7090 020 8502 8500 020 8532 1010 www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/epping epping.forest@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Ambresbury Banks

Chingford

Woodford
A1

Superintendents Office Website e-mail

Wanstead

Highams Park

A104

Manor Park

If you wish to receive a copy of this publication in your language or an alternative format such as large print, braille or audio tape please contact us using the details above.
PRINTED ON PAPER FROM SUSTAINABLY MANAGED FORESTS

Flint arrowheads from Epping Forest

ancient

Analysis of pollen found in bog samples

Forest

Iron Age

Ambresb suggests that there has been continuous tree ury Ban cover in the Epping Forest area for over ks

3,000 years, although the make-up of the woodlands has changed over time. In ancient days trees such as the Small-leafed Lime, Oak, Hazel and Alder were more dominant than todays Hornbeam. Animals such as Deer (Red and Roe), Wild Boar, Bear and Beaver would have roamed the Forest.

Epping Forest contains two Iron Age earthworks. It is believed that both Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp were built circa 500 BC and were used as animal folds in times of attack from another tribe, or as look-out posts and boundary markers between the neighbouring tribes of the Trinovantes and the Catevellauni. It is believed that they were in use until after the Roman invasion.

camps

as pot shards of Lo ug red, grey and black ht on ware, flints and flint Ca mp flakes, flint arrow heads and small lumps of burnt clay.

Loughton Camp
Loughton Camp is situated in Monk Wood about a mile north-west of Loughton just off the Green Ride. It was originally about the same size as Ambresbury Banks (around 4 hectares) but it has suffered more deterioration, is less complete and has not been investigated as thoroughly. However an Iron Age stone Iron Age Stone quern (for grinding grain) was quern found near Loughton Camp discovered nearby. Dick Turpin, the infamous 18th century highwayman whose turf was Epping Forest, was rumoured to have had a hideout or cave up against the banks of Loughton Camp. However, there are at least two other locations that vie for this privilege in the Forest!

Ambresbury Banks
According to local legend, Ambresbury Banks was the site of the defeat and death of the great British queen Boudicca (Boadicea), at the hands of the Romans in AD 61. In recent years, that story has been disproved. However, Ambresbury still retains a mystic and majestic atmosphere. Built in the Iron Age, circa 500 BC, just south of Epping, the earthen banks enclose over 4 hectares of land. When first built the banks would have been about 3 metres high and the ditches outside them 3 metres deep. These would have been built by hand and wooden or bone tools used to scrape up the soil. There was a gateway on the north-western side and excavations either side of the gateway have revealed postholes able to accommodate two large sets of gates. There is a stream running along and across the ditch this may have been dammed up inside the enclosure when it was in use. Archaeological excavations were first carried out in 1881, under the direction of General PittRivers, whose famous museum still exists in Oxford. Later digs revealed Iron Age finds such

Mesolithic Flints
Some of the earliest human artefacts in the Forest were found near High Beach. Hundreds of flints and flint cores have been excavated there and evidence of a shelter has been found suggesting a flint working site. No evidence can be seen now, but the City of London has some of the flints in its collection of historic artefacts. Occasionally, worked flints can be found scattered on the Forest floor showing that early hunters visited its woodlands in search of food.
Iron Age stone axe head

Loughton Camp map dated late 1800s