Copped Hall - Part I

Copped Hall is an ancient hunting park and rural estate dating from the 12th Century or earlier. The present mansion was built in the mid-1700s replacing a Tudor mansion, built for Queen Elizabeth’s Vice-Chamberlain Thomas Heneage in 1564-68. For years the future of the old house, which was gutted by fire in 1917, hung in the balance. Sadly by the 1950s historic mansions like Copped Hall had become unpopular and were being demolished.

When the M25 was built through a corner of the park, Copped Hall became visible and faced increasing threats from developers and the mansion, gardens and Crown Hill access were sold separately from the Estate in 1988 as a large-scale development site. But a successful campaign was fought by a few dedicated individuals, led by architect Alan Cox and in 1993 The Copped Hall Trust was formed. Two years later it saved the mansion and gardens by purchasing them. The Corporation of London had already saved the surrounding parkland by purchasing it in 1992. Loans to finance the purchase of the house and Estate were hard to come by because of the dereliction of the site but after much hard work and lobbying by the Trust, loans were made from The Architectural Heritage Fund and a private Trust. Copped Hall’s purchase by the Trust ensured a continuing low key use, compared to what might have occurred if it had been developed commercially.

The Copped Hall Trust’s main aim is to protect permanently the site and restore Copped Hall and its gardens for educational and community benefit. Financial support has been forthcoming from Epping Forest District Council and Essex County Council. The Trust has also been helped by The Essex Environment Trust, The Essex Heritage Trust, The Epping Society, The Lyndhurst Trust, The Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation, The Grange Farm Trust and many other organisations and individuals. The Friends of the Copped Hall Trust, set up in 1998, provide strong support both financially and through the growing number of volunteers who work both in the gardens and the buildings.