Two possible hunting lodges
Yapping dogs and crackling logs
A hunting lodge would need space for a crowd of visitors on horseback, and the building in question was set a little way back from the High Road. A good lodge would have at least one large fireplace to warm huntsmen returning wet and cold, and a kitchen range to provide hot refreshments. A convenient supply of water would provide several kinds of comforts, and be appreciated by the horses and dogs. The High Road runs along a gravel ridge from which water was later pumped to extensive plant nurseries. Hunting lodges were usually on high ground and some were 2 or 3 stories high for a better view. They often had a ‘lawn’, ‘laund’ or ‘plain’ onto which animals could be driven for killing before spectators. (The Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge is an example, overlooking Chingford Plain.) The ‘Royal Lodge’ was on relatively high ground, one side looking across the High Road down Davies Lane to open Epping Forest land, the other into the valley of the Fillebrook which contained Wallwood.
