LONG before the days of the Central line the only speedy way to get around between Epping, Woodford, Wanstead and London was by horse and carriage. DANIEL BINNS finds out more.

While many associate the commute between leafy Essex and urban London with being squashed in an over-heating Tube train, for those in the 1800s it was an entirely different - and scarier - matter altogether.

With poor or non-existent railway links, for the first half of the century the only easy method of getting into the capital from the Epping Forest area was by horse drawn carriage.

Surprisingly, it wasn't until the 1840s that regular services began operating more than once a day in the district for those eager to go on business trips into London.

During the decade there were two services daily that ran between Epping and Leadenhall Street in central London, along with a separate horse-drawn coach running from Ongar to Algdate and back, stopping off at places including Chigwell and Abridge.

But it was Wanstead's George and the Dragon Inn – now the George Whetherspoons – that was a key stopping point on the route in and out of London, where thirsty passengers and horses alike would be fed and watered.

The trips between south Essex and London – which usually lasted several hours – were often hit by delays, usually due to bad weather or robberies by highwaymen. The bands of muggers had long been a problem although they began to reduce in number as the 19th century wore on.

The most notorious site for ambushes was the area around what is now the Green Man roundabout on the border between Leytonstone and Wanstead, where the 'High Stone' obelisk that gives Leytonstone its name now sits.

But, as Winifred Eastment noted in his 1946 book Wanstead Through the Ages, passengers who were wise to the threat of horse-backed muggings came up with ever ingenious ways of avoiding being relieved of their possessions.

While the regular services were not immune to robberies, as Mr Eastment noted: “The danger of assault by ruffians was all the greater to travellers using private coaches, so most of these vehicles had their [own] cute little secret cavity into which money and jewellery could be hastily stowed at the first hint of trouble”.

But in 1856 everything changed when the Old Great Eastern Railway Company extended its line from Stratford up to Loughton.

With it came a boom in commuting and rapid population growth along the route and, perhaps inevitably, it also led to the wheels coming off the horse and carriage business.