62 EPPING FOREST. 



ing walls and roof. The spires and chimneys of 

 Hackney and Walthamstow, seen dimly through a 

 curtain of London smoke, are not an unpicturesque 

 element in the view. 



Queen Elizabeth's Lodge is a building of the 

 Tudor period, constructed of massive timbers filled 

 in with brickwork and plaster. It is popularly 

 believed to have been the hunting resort of the 

 Virgin Queen, and there is inherent probability in 

 the tradition, though it is not confirmed by con- 

 temporary historians. All true foresters believe 

 further that she was in the habit of riding up the 

 staircase and dismounting at the top. Nor would 

 this be a very difficult feat, as each step is a solid 

 oak beam, and they are laid in short flights and at 

 a moderate angle. On the first floor the bed- 

 rooms contain some curious old tapestry, but the 

 chief feature of the Lodge is the large room which 

 occupies the entire second floor. The timbers 

 which form the walls and arched roof are black 

 with age, and give a venerable appearance. From 

 the windows there is an extensive view over that 

 part of the Forest which lies between Chingford 

 and High Beach. The house is kept by a widow 

 of a former keeper, and is partly used as a place 

 of entertainment for parties of teachers or children. 



The Abbey of the Holy Cross of Waltham, 

 or rather the nave of it, is all that remains of the 

 departed glories of the abbey, whose inmates ex- 

 ercised powerful sway over much of the adjoining 

 country. The Forest formerly extended around it 

 on the upland side, as the name, Weald-ham or 

 Village in the Forest, shows. The River Lea, in 

 very early times, formed a broad estuary on the 

 other side, and it is related that, when the Danish 



