The name Epping derives from the
Old English yppeingas meaning 'the people of the raised place'. "Epinga", a small community of a few scattered farms and a chapel on the edge of the forest, is mentioned in the
Domesday Book of 1086. However, the settlement referred to is known today as
Epping Upland. It is not known for certain when the present-day Epping was first settled. By the mid-12th century a settlement known as Epping Heath (later named Epping Street), had developed south of Epping Upland as a result of the clearing of forest for cultivation. In 1253
King Henry III conveyed the right to hold a weekly market in Epping Street which helped to establish the town as a centre of trade and has continued to the present day (the sale of cattle in the High Street continued until 1961). The
linear village of Epping Heath developed into a small main-road town and by the early 19th century development had taken place along what is now High Street and Hemnall Street. Hemnall Street was until 1894 in the parish of
Theydon Garnon, as was the railway station. Up to 25
stagecoaches and
mailcoaches a day passed through the town from London en route to
Norwich,
Cambridge and
Bury St. Edmunds. In the early 19th century, 26
coaching inns lined the High Street. Two survive today as
public houses: The George and Dragon and The Black Lion. The advent of the railways ended coach traffic and the town declined, but it revived after the extension of a railway branch line from
Loughton in 1865 and the advent of the motor car. A number of listed buildings, most dating from the 18th century, line both sides of the High Street although many were substantially altered internally during the 19th century. Some of the oldest buildings in the town are at each end of the Conservation Area, such as Beulah Lodge in Lindsey Street (17th century), and a group of 17th- and early 18th-century cottages numbered 98–110 on High Street. The original parish church, first mentioned in 1177, was All Saints' in Epping Upland, the nave and chancel of which date from the 13th century. In 1833, the 14th-century chapel of St
John the Baptist in the High Road was rebuilt in the
Gothic Revival style. It became the parish church of Epping by the '''''' (
51 & 52 Vict. c. clii) and was again rebuilt. A large tower was added in 1909. The town is known in some quarters for the Epping sausage, and, in the 18th and 19th centuries, for Epping butter. ==Governance==