31
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LODGE AND THE
EPPING FOREST MUSEUM.
IN the annual report of the Council for 1897 (vol. x.,
pp. 252-3) a statement of the position of the Epping Forest
Museum was given, and hope was expressed that the whole
question of the repair and restoration of Queen Elizabeth's Lodge
so as to afford more space for the Museum would be taken in
hand by the Epping Forest Committee. This matter has been
brought to a head in a Report ot the Committee presented to the
Court of Common Council on April 13th last, which report was
unanimously agreed to by the Court and which has since been printed
and circulated. The report is of great importance with regard to
the future of the Lodge and the Museum, and some extracts
from it may be interesting. After summarising the history of the
Museum, the report goes on to say :—
" The exhibition is very popular, and has been visited by many thousands
of people, but the space at present available is insufficient for the increasing
number of exhibits. The Essex Field Club are desirous of enlarging the
Museum, if additional space can be provided in the Lodge.
" We have given considerable attention to the structural condition of the
Lodge, both externally and internally.
" The whole of the space on the first floor was originally one large room
corresponding in dimensions to that on the second floor ; but at some period
anterior to the Lodge being handed over to the Conservators, it was divided
into three rooms; some of the windows have been filled in, and it has been
otherwise mutilated
" We accordingly consulted Mr. J. Oldrid Scott, who is an eminent
architect skilled in Tudor architecture, as to the condition of the building, the
cost of throwing the rooms on the first floor into one, providing a new oak
ceiling and additional windows on the first floor, removing the plaster and
otherwise improving the appearance of the exterior and providing bedrooms
for the keeper in lieu of the rooms now used by him on the first floor."
A detailed estimate of the repairs, etc., is then given
amounting to £750 and the report continues :—
" We are of opinion that it is a matter of urgent necessity that the work
should be taken in hand at once, not only with the object of extending the
Museum, but also of strengthening the structural condition of the Lodge and
improving its external appearance, and that it should be carried out in
accordance with Mr. Scott's reports, of which we annex copies.
" We therefore beg to recommend bearing in mind the obligation thrown
upon the Conservators—that your Honourable Court will be pleased to grant
the sum of £500 for the structural alterations to the interior and restoration
of the exterior of the building, as advised by Mr. Scott