Chigwell Village

Chigwell village once lay within the Forest of Essex on the main coaching route between London and Chipping Ongar (the High Road). The village boasts five Grade II* listed buildings, four of which are in the Conservation Area - Chigwell School (c.1620); the King's Head Inn (17th century); St. Mary's Church (12th century), and Grange Court (late 18th century house).

The King's Head Inn is a picturesque building of three storeys with attics and cellars and exposed timber framing, although as the photograph of c.1900 shows, it was once completely rendered. Each upper storey overhangs the one  below as a "jetty", and there are five differently sized gables. The Inn is referred to in "Barnaby Rudge" by Charles Dickens as The Maypole, and is described as having "more gable ends than a lazy man would care to count on a sunny day".