Parks with particular reference to Essex
Initially Copped Hall may have been only a small park. Henry II (1154 - 89) had granted land of
two acres for a house and garden. The park was subsequently enlarged in 1231 and 1295, on the
latter occasion by just 15 acres. By 1303 the park was said to cover 60 acres. In 1350 Copped Hall
was conveyed to the Abbots of Waltham, who in 1374 were granted a licence to enlarge Copped
Hall Park and Harolds Park (in nearby Nazeing) by 120 acres. Waltham Abbey held Copped Hall
until the dissolution and eventually ownership fell to Elizabeth I. In 1562 a commission was set-up
by the Queen to view ''what spoil, waste or destruction hath been made of any of our timber, trees,
woods or underwoods.........and what pales, rails and posts or gates.........hath been lately pulled
down, spoiled, defaced or carried away......" in the park.
The lessee (Sir Thomas Cornwallis) was found to have felled much timber, but used it for building
a wash-house and for making furniture, including sixteen bedsteads and two great tables. By this
time the medieval Copped Hall was in a ruinous state and a later owner (Thomas Hcncagc) built a
new Copped Hall on the site in 1568, possibly incorporating some of the medieval building. The
Tudor Copped Hall was demolished in the 1750s and a new Georgian hall erected some distance
away by the owner, John Conyers, being completed about 1758. The park was landscaped by
Capability Brown, probably in the 1750s. In the late 19th century, very elaborate Italianate gardens
were created around the house.
The 18th century Copped Hall is now just a shell, but currently undergoing restoration. The house
was gutted by fire in 1917. Some of the old coppiced woodland shown on the Chapman and Andre
map of 1777 has been grubbed-up and some coniferised. The old stable block and dairy are converted
to domestic dwellings. The M25 has neatly divided the park into two sections. The park, along with
Warlies, lias also become part of the buffer lands around Epping Forest. Warlies and Copped Hall
(and Hylands) have all had what were formerly arabic fields returned to pasture or meadow grassland.
Perhaps the last word should go to the park of Easton Lodge, near Dunmow. The house was said to
have been built on the site of the park lodge. In the dark days of the second world war, the park of
700 acres was virtually completely obliterated by the construction of an American bomber base,
with the loss of many hundreds of trees.
Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex
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