The Epping Highway Trust

The Epping Highway Trust was created by an Act of Parliament in 1768, when it took over responsibility for maintenance of the turnpike roads in this area, from the local and county Justices of the Peace. The Act, which came into force in May 1769, referred to the repairing, widening and keeping in repair of the road from the north part of Harlow Bush Common to Woodford. The road already had turnpikes and toll-houses erected upon it and tolls continued to be charged. The route at this time took the road through Epping, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill to Woodford.

The Act also gave the Trustees the power to divert, shorten, vary or alter any parts of the road through private lands, subject to agreed compensation. The roads were to be measured and milestones erected.

The first meeting of the Trust was held at Epping Place on 2 May 1769, and was attended by 49 Trustees, most of whom were well known local landowners. John Conyers, Esq, of Copped Hall, was appointed Treasurer, William Dare and Thomas Smith, joint clerks, and William Hatchman the (senior) surveyor. Golden’s (Goldings) Hill and Buckhurst Hill, two of the hills surrounding Loughton, were serious difficulties in the way of traffic into the eastern counties through Epping. In whichever direction a waggon or cart was travelling, it had to descend or ascend very steep hills.

The road through Loughton had existed since the early part of the seventeenth century, but no steps had been taken to lessen the gradients. However, in 1770 the Trustees instructed that a survey should be made of Golden’s Hill, and an estimate provided of the cost of making the ascent more easy. A committee was established to examine the results of the survey, and we find that Richard Lomax Clay (the family after whom Clays Lane is named) and William Hamilton, both residents of Loughton, were appointed members.

The estimated cost of lowering the hill was £360. A contractor was appointed to carry out the work, but there appear to have been problems and delays, which resulted in a new contractor being brought in to complete the work. Golden’s Hill was not again brought to the notice of the Trustees, except for occasional repairs to the railings by the side of the road, until October 1825, when the necessity for a drain at the bottom of the hill to carry off water from the road, was taken into consideration, resulting in an order that a brick drain of 18 inches in diameter, should be made. In December 1774 the Trustees’ attention was drawn to the state of Buckhurst Hill and the Surveyor was directed to fill up several holes, but it was not until 1777 that a survey and estimate for the reduction of the gradient was requested. Little was done immediately, although the road was widened in 1778. In 1780 action was taken to reduce the gradient. Following a meeting at the Roebuck, at which the estimated cost of £976 was discussed, it was proposed to make a cutting through the top of the hill, instead of following the route through North End and along the front of the Roebuck.

A short road would made at the bottom of the hill, where there was a sudden turn to the right. Work started, but increased costs led to an order to stop. Later the clerk to the Trustees was instructed to advertise in the Chelmsford papers for tenders to complete the work, but it was 1784 before this was done.

However, landslips resulted in a new survey in 1789 and work continued until 1794. In 1787 the responsibilities of the Trust were extended to include a turnpike road from Epping, through Ongar, to Chelmsford, and thus the Trust became known as the Epping and Ongar Highway Trust.

Vehicles travelling through Loughton had not only to contend with the gradients of Golden’s Hill and Buckhurst Hill, but also with both sides of Church Hill. Complaints by stage coachmen and others led, in 1824, to a lowering of the hill on the King’s Head side, at a cost of a little over £120.

At the meeting of the Trust in April 1830 a new surveyor was appointed – Mr James McAdam, son of the celebrated maker of roads. At a meeting on 14 June 1830, McAdam reported that a great improvement might be made in the road between Epping and Woodford, by adopting an entire new line between the Wake Arms and Woodford Wells. He was instructed to prepare a survey and identify the best line. A plan of the new route was produced very quickly, and the Trust agreed that £7,000 should be borrowed towards the expense of construction. A tender from Messrs Bough and Smith was accepted at a price of £5,417. This included a small deviation, made at the suggestion of General Grosvenor, which took the road slightly further away from his house – ‘The Warren’ Construction of the new road started before the end of 1830, continued throughout 1831 and into 1832. An extensive landslip occurred in 1832 and counsel’s opinion was sought as to who was liable. It appears that it was not the contractor, as he was paid an additional £540 to repair the road. However, in January 1833 the clerk to the Trust was ordered to write to the contractor to state the dissatisfaction of the Trustees at the contractor ‘having left the works of the new road in their present unfinished state, and unless they satisfied the Trustees as to their intentions with reference to completion of the work, the Trustees would commence proceedings against them and their sureties.’ Following discussions it was decided, in May 1833, that the Trustees would take into their own hands the completion of the work, and deduct from the (alleged) balance due to the contractor, the estimated cost of completing the unfinished work. In fact another contractor was brought in and the work was finished in 1834.

The lord of the manor of Loughton was paid £28 for trees used in the construction of the new road, but no money appears to have been paid in compensation for the manorial rights over the land taken from the Forest, for making the road.

In June 1835, Sir James McAdam, as he had now become, reported that the brick arch, underfilling at Long Valley, had broken in and become useless. A new drain was ordered to be made (drainage problems on this stretch of the road have continued, and major remedial works took place about four years ago, when the road was temporarily closed from the Robin Hood to the Wake Arms).

As there was no tollgate at the southern end of the new road, it was thought advisable to remove the turnpike by the Baldfaced Stag (called the Stag Gate) to a spot near the junction of the old and new lines of the road into Woodford. A new toll-house and gate were built, near to where today is Bancroft’s School, and old photographs showing this have survived. Other improvements to the road were carried out in 1837 and 1838, but thereafter the minutes of meetings of the Trust make no reference to the road until the 1860s.

The Trust continued to be responsible for turnpike roads until 1870, but in the last 20 years revenue from the tolls was falling, interest on loan capital still had to be paid, and railways had come to Loughton in 1856, and later to Epping and Ongar, causing competition for traffic. It was not surprising that a letter from the Secretary of State was received in February 1870 about the course to be adopted in winding up the Trust. Tolls were to be abolished and responsibility for roads was taken over by Highway Boards appointed under an Act of 1862. The County Quarter Sessions became a Highway Authority in 1878, and was responsible for bearing half the cost of the ‘main roads’ of the County.

In 1889 the newly-formed County Council took over the whole cost of these roads, but it was not until 1909 that money grants from central government were available to finance the cost of maintaining the roads, and in 1919 the Ministry of Transport was set up.