Copped Hall Trust by Philip McKinder, July's meeting

 

Our speaker at our July Meeting was Philip McKinder from Copped Hall Trust in Epping. Copped Hall is an old mansion house which is being rebuilt by the trust and has extensive gardens including a very beautiful walled garden. The restoration started in 1995. You can visit Copped Hall on various Sundays. See their website for details https://www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk/

Philip gave us a talk about the history of the site. Henry II had wanted a hunting lodge which was accessible to London. The abbots at Waltham Abbey had bought Copped Hall to allow them to entertain royalty. Henry VIII persuaded the abbots to gift him the property on his promise that he would protect Waltham Abbey. Having obtained the property, Henry went back on his promise and demolished most of the Abbey. Henry never lived at Copped Hall but visited and eventually gave it to his daughter Mary. Mary passed on the Hall to her lover who sold it to the Conyer family.

The Conyers son inherited the property from his father and built a new house on the site in the ‘palladian’ style (famous for its stately symmetry, classical elements, and grand appearance). He dismantled the Victorian house and used the bricks etc. to build the new house to save on costs. The Conyers lived there for 3 generations. The property was sold on and continuously improved and developed.

Then in 1917 tragedy struck. Many of the men had gone to war when an electrical fire broke out in the property. There was no fire engine that could get to the property and so the servants just tried to save whatever contents they could. The house was severely damaged and was never rebuilt. The gardens were maintained but the property was ransacked. The territorial army used the grounds for exercise and blew up most of what remained of the property for practice.

When the M25 was built Copped Hall was spotted as it sits on the ridge of a hill and many people wanted to purchase it to build on. But the community wanted it saved and this is how the Copped Hall Trust came to be. They raised the money with donations to purchase the site and so the restoration began.