Copped Hall, near Epping, has a long history but when it was inherited by Ernest Wythes in 1887 he set about remodelling the Georgian house and estate. He employed the architect William Kemp to extend the house with two new wings and with a beautiful glass conservatory to the south. He embellished the gardens in an Italianate style with fountains, parterres and two summer houses. Ernest Wythes had inherited Copped Hall as a very young man and for 30 years it was his country home, enjoyed with his wife and three daughters.

However on May 6, 1917 disaster struck when the house caught fire. Initially it was in the top of the building and the family thought it was of little consequence but as it took hold it became obvious help was needed. The local fire engines were called but there was no adequate water supply.

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The burnt out shell of Copped Hall in November 1982

Nora Deery was a land-girl who worked for two and a half years as a gardener at Copped Hall, doing greenhouse work and tending the kitchen garden and the flower garden. Interviewed in 1983 she recalled:

"It was a terribly cold, blustery Sunday. I wasn’t on duty that day, but around 11am one of the local policemen came and told me they had had word through that Copped Hall was on fire, so I pedalled off away to help. The wind was blowing, which was fatal for the fire, of course. Everybody who was not on duty turned up to see what we could do. We had a pump which was man-handled with a bar on each side of a cylinder, and three people on each side pumped it up and down. It was connected to the small lake right by the house, and we emptied that.

"By and by some fire engines came, and the salvage engine from London that works for the insurance business, and they had water and that helped to put it out. Some of the helpers were sent to the library to try and save the valuable books and heirlooms, but they lost a lot of stuff in the lower rooms as the fire spread down from the top of the house where it had started."

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The Kitchen Garden at Copped Hall

Sadly much of the house was destroyed and the roof fell in but leaving the walls standing. The Wythes family moved to Wood House, a newer property on the estate but the gardens continued to be tended until 1939. Time passed and by the 1980s woodland had encroached and young trees were growing all around. It was possible to look up inside the shell and see fireplaces hanging on the walls of the upper floors. The M25 was built across the parkland and the fate of the ruin and its land was in the balance.

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Denys Favre and Alan Cox cutting a cake to celebrate the tenth anniversary of acquiring Copped Hall mansion in June 2005

It was the efforts of Denys Favre and Alan Cox which saved the burnt out shell and its gardens by forming the Copped Hall Trust in 1993. Work started to restore the house in 2001 and with grants, generous donations and amazing efforts by dedicated volunteers a roof has been put back, the floors replaced and the building is viable again, in safe and loving hands. Various functions are held, most are public events organised by the Trust to swell the income for further restoration.

The kitchen gardens were cleared of brambles and were laid out in accordance with Victorian plans. As money became available work started to restore the Victorian glasshouses. When you go through the kitchen garden gate at the top of the hill it is now an amazing sight, but perhaps not quite as stunning as the long garden which runs outside the walls on the south side.

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The gardens only are open to visitors on the first Sunday of each month

Why not go along to the next Open Day on May 22. Alternatively join a tour of the house and gardens on the third Sunday of each month, or visit just the gardens on the first Sunday of each month. See the website for details of these and many other activities.

Georgina Green has been involved with local history in Redbridge, Waltham Forest and the Epping Forest area for 40 years and served as the honorary secretary of the Woodford Historical Society from 1987 to 2000. She is the author of several local history books and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2021.