Military Connections Across Epping

Epping Forest District has a rich military history from Iron Age Forts to the jet age at North Weald Airfield and the associated Nuclear Bunker just outside Ongar.

Waltham Abbey is famous for its connections to King Harold, reputed to have been buried there after his last battle at Hastings. Waltham Abbey is also the home of the gunpowder mills which started out in private hands before being bought by the government to become the Royal Gunpowder Mills. The mills size and importance as a local employer grew as the empire grew reaching a peak during the First World War. The advance of air warfare by the second world war brought Waltham Abbey within dangerous range of enemy destruction so the traditional work of the mills ended but the site went on to pioneer scientific development of explosives and rockets.

Epping Forest has two Iron Age Forts within its wooded areas. One, Ambresbury Banks is quite close to the main road running nearby and can be seen through the trees as you drive past. The other, Loughton Camp, needs a journey into the forest to Great Monk Wood to discover it. Originally the fortifications would have consisted of a ditch up to three metres deep with the spoil creating a bank above three metres high. This would have been surmounted by a wooden palisade making the whole defence daunting for an attacker. The enclosed area would have formed a refuge for people and livestock in times of danger.

North Weald has a Victoria redoubt (fort) which was the end point in a chain of defences planned to defend London from a French invasion. Only parts of the defence were built and the redoubt at North Weald is an important remnant being one of the largest and most comprehensive of the forts built. Interestingly, the North Weald Redoubt was one of the few designed to mount guns and these pointed towards Chelmsford as one of the invasion scenarios was the French landing troops around The Wash or along the Norfolk/Suffolk coast and invading London from that direction. Construction of the redoubt started in 1889 with the announcement of the whole project and finished in 1904 by which time military technology had moved on and the defense line was redundant.

North Weald again came to prominence during the First World War when airfields were built to defend London from the new menace of aerial bombardment, first from airships, then from aeroplanes. The airfield grew after the war and was one of the key fighter stations during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. The airfield continued as a jet-age RAF station and provided staff to the satellite tracking station just outside Ongar at Kelvedon that was soon converted to a nuclear bunker.

Stapleford and the surrounding area has had connections to aviation pioneers since the earliest flights in Britain. During the Second World War, it’s airfield became a satellite airfield to North Weald to be used if the home airfield was put out of action. It was also home to some clandestine operations taking people into and out of occupied France.

Ongar has the remains of a castle. All that can be seen today is the motte or man-made hill on which the original Norman Castle would have been built. However there are still traces and signs of the original layout of Ongar as it would have been as a motte and bailey castle complete with inner and outer areas, walls and moat. The pinch-point where the High Street narrows between buildings is a reminder of a gateway entrance into the enclosed area of the castle.

All over the district there are other reminders of a military past when troops were stationed locally or defensive positions were created. More information on the district’s military past can be found at the Royal Gunpowder Mills, the District Museum and the North Weald Airfield Museum.