The railway also seized upon the occasion. The Great Eastern
Railway's branch line to Loughton was opened in 1856 and extended
in 1865 via Epping to Ongar. In a collection of guides in the Epping
Forest Museum at Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge is a copy of
"The Guide to Epping Forest" issued in 1872 at a price of 2d and
published by J. Shillinglaw at the Chronicle Office, Whips Cross,
Walthamstow. This was probably the first guide to the forest.
Advertising in this guide the Great Eastern Railway gave details of
excursions to Epping Forest stations on the Loughton-Ongar line from
Bishopsgate and Fenchurch Street stations available by certain trains
for Sundays and Mondays only. There were also advertisements from
four of the forest public houses offering facilities for pic-nics, pleasure
parties, beanfeasts, and similar functions and describing the best and
various routes by which to reach the respective houses.
The railway to Chingford was not opened until 1873 and consisted
of a single line from Walthamstow. The doubling of the tracks and the
extension northwards from Bull Lane (now Kings Road) to the present
Chingford station was opened in 1878. During the 1880's the excursion
traffic increased considerably after the official opening of the forest by
Queen Victoria in 1882.
With the advent of the railways and the general public interest in
the forest more and more people were able to visit the area and the inns
and the local cottagers vied amongst themselves to provide teas and
accommodation for the visitors. At Loughton between the railway
station and the forest at Staples Hill are Forest Road and Smarts Lane
and until the outbreak of the second World War in 1939 a number of
the then residents along these roads exhibited notices inviting visitors
to the forest to have their teas in the shelter of the cottage gardens, or
in wet weather within the cottages themselves. Others in the same
road tempted the visitors with colourful bouquets of sweet williams or
sweet peas for sale. Yet others offered "wash and brush-up" facilities
in exchange for a few coppers. Several public houses along the same
route provided teas but also catered for those whose thirst craved for
something stronger.
By 1883, the year following the visit of Queen Victoria to declare
the forest open and less than five years after the passing of the Epping
Forest Act, a "Guide" to the forest by an enterprising publisher listed
the various catering places by parishes.(5) This list is headed by a note
that the insertions in this list are by agreement and presumably included
only those who had paid for suitable insertions in the publisher's
journal. This guide lists eleven tea gardens, either private or as an
9