Epping Forest

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EPPING FOREST

Additions: 1974 Chigwell, Epping UDC, Epping & Ongar RDC, Loughton, Waltham Holy Cross

Official blazon

Arms : Argent a Cross engrailed Sable over all a Bugle Horn ensigned with an Ancient Crown Or on a Chief Vert four Axeheads bendwise Argent.
Crest : On a Wreath Argent and Gules upon a Mount Vert in front of a Castle of three Towers each domed and ensigned with a Cross Crosslet all Gules a Stag courant proper.
Supporters : On either side a Stag guardant proper holding in the mouth a Seax Argent the hilt and pommel inwards Or.
Motto: 'PER CRUCEM PER CORONAM' - Through the Cross through the Crown.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on December 31, 1975.

The shield represents the historic institutions which may be said to have been the precursors of the area's local government. The black cross on white is that of Waltham Abbey, which held most of the area in mediaeval times, was the mother church of the Forest parishes, and exercised many of the functions of a local authority. The cross is seen in the arms of Waltham Holy Cross U.D.C. The rest of the shield indicates the jurisdiction of the Forest.
Overlying the cross is the hunting horn which was the symbol of office of the Master Keepers, an office commonly held in later centuries by the lords of the Forest manors. The horn is seen in the Chigwell U.D.C. arms, and may be taken as a felicitous reference to Sir Robert Hunter, who, as solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society, gave valuable advice to the Corporation of London, in the action which bought the Forest under the Corporation's control, to be maintained in perpetuity as an open space for the benefit of the public.

The ancient crown denotes that this was a Royal Forest, subject to the Forest laws.
The axe heads represent the authority of the four Verderers, who were originally judicial officers appointed by the Crown to administer the Forest laws and are now elected by the commoners. The axes also represent the lopping rights enjoyed by the villagers of Loughton which figured in the famous Willingale case.

The livery colours are red and white, the principal colours of the arms of Essex and also the livery colours of London. The crest itself refers particularly to the Epping and Ongar areas. The grassy base signifies the 'aungre' or grazing ground which gives Ongar its name, and also commemorates the historic struggle of the Commoners to preserve their grazing rights.

Upon this stands a stylised castle with domed towers, each topped with a crosslet. This represents the castle built by Richard de Lucy, chief justiciar to Henry II, who obtained for the town rights for a market and fair. His castle is coloured red, like his shield; arid its domes bear three crosslets there from, which also appear in the arms of Waltham Abbey.
In front of the castle is the leaping stag of the Epping U.D.C. The supporters are derived from the crest of Waltham Holy Cross. They are royal stags and fallow bucks because this was a Royal Forest. They hold in their mouths seaxes, or Saxon swords, from the Essex County arms.

The motto PER CRUCEM PER CORONAM - Through the Cross Through the Crown - summarises succinctly the history of the region. The cross brought the abbey, the last to be dissolved under Henry VIII; the abbey was the centre of social life throughout the days of the Royal Forest; if there had been no Royal Forest the special rights of the Commoners would not have survived into the 19^th century, and it was on the unique nature of these rights that the issue turned by which Epping Forest was won for the People.