Coat of Arms

The Epping Forest District Council Coat of Arms was researched and designed by Mr A Ellis Tomlinson in collaboration with Sir William Addison. The Arms were granted by the College of Heralds in 1974 which was at the same time as the Council itself was formed.

The Coat of Arms (pictured right) includes representative items from the four authorities that merged to form Epping Forest District Council.
1. Chigwell Urban Council
2. Epping Urban Council
3. Epping and Ongar Rural Council
4. Waltham Holy Cross Urban Council

Composition

The design comprises a complete Achievement of Arms: shield crest with helm and mantling, supporters, badge, and motto. The symbolism is related to the name of the District and its historical associations, with reference to the individual constituent areas. It is executed in a current College of Arms style.

A wooden carving of the armorial bearings was made in 1977 and is on display in the Council Chamber at the Civic offices in Epping.

Click here to view newspaper clip of the unveiling

Blazon

The arms may be blazoned, or technically described as:
• Arms: Argent a cross engrailed sable, over all a bugle horn ensigned with an ancient crown of fleurs-de-lys or on a chief vert four axe-heads bentwise argent.
• Crest: On a wreath argent and gules, upon a mount vert, in front of a castle of three towers, eash domed and ensigned with a crossley all gules, a stag coorant proper.
• Supporters: On either side a stag guardant proper, holding in the mouth a seax argent, the hilt and pommel inwards or.
• Badge: A stags head caboshed proper, holding in the mouth a seax argent, the hilt and pommel to the dexter or.

Interpretation

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 medieval 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 a solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society, gave valuable advice to the Corporation of London, in the action which brought 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.

Above the shield is the closed helm proper to civic arms with its twisted crest-wreath and decorative cloak or mantling. The 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, and its domes bear three crosslets, which also appear in the arms of Waltham Abbey. In front of the castle is the leaping stag of 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 County's arms. The simple badge is one of the stags heads with a seax in the mouth, again illustrating the Council's name.

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 19th Century, and it was on the unique nature of these rights that the issue turned by which Epping Forest was won for the people.