there is a direct reference to this in an Exchequer Special Com-
mission of 1589. The name also appears in other forms such as
Dannyor Hill as far back as the 13th century when this land was
held 'in fee' by the Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
in England. But there can be no doubt as to its identification
with the site of the lodge and the Attachment Rolls show that
the appointed woodwards of Chingford Walk were in charge here.
The question of the use of the lodge for meetings of the
manorial courts or the forest courts is controversial. W. R. Fisher
in his definitive work on the forest2 states that he can find no
evidence for this and that none of the Courts of Justice Seat or
Swainmote for which records have been found were held there.
But the Essex historian Elizabeth Ogbourne3 states that the courts
for the Friday Hill manor (Chingford Comitis) 'are held at a
house in the forest called Queen Elizabeth's lodge, occupied by
the gamekeeper'. Lysons4 maintained that the lodge was used
for the holding of the lesser forest courts (i.e. the Court of Attach-
ments) and E. N. Buxton3 held the same view. The balance of
probability would certainly suggest that this was so for there were
few other suitable buildings in the vicinity. But the fact is that
there is no record of this though it is documented that the Court
of Attachments was held at Chigwell from the 16th century ; after
1713 at the Kings Head. In more recent times the verderers'
courts used to be held at the Castle in Woodford.
The lodge enjoyed its heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries
when we may be sure it fulfilled its true purpose of serving
England's monarchs and their courtiers on their hunting expedi-
tions to the great forest in which they delighted. Chingford was
never again graced with such splendid occasions until the opening
of Epping Forest for the benefit of the public by Queen Victoria
on 6th May, 1882 when the station and its approaches were
bedecked with flowers and evergreens for the ceremonial arrival
of the royal party.
During the latter part of the 18th century and throughout
much of the 19th century the lodge was occupied as a farmhouse
and as the residence of the bailiff of the manor then held by the
Heathcote family. In those days Chingford Plain, then termed
Fairmead Plain, was under arable cultivation and the marks of
2The Forest of Essex—W. R. Fisher (1887).
3History of Essex—Elizabeth Ogbourne (1810).
4Environs of London—Daniel Lysons (1796) Vol. IV.
5Epping Forest—E. N. Buxton (1911).
4