Copped Hall, also known as Copt Hall or Copthall, is a mid-18th-century

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

close to

Waltham Abbey, Essex Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west a ...

, which has been undergoing restoration since 1999. Copped Hall is visible from the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

between junctions 26 and 27. There was a separate

Copped Hall Copped Hall, also known as Copt Hall or Copthall, is a mid-18th-century English country house close to Waltham Abbey, Essex, which has been undergoing restoration since 1999. Copped Hall is visible from the M25 motorway between junctions 26 a ...

(or Coppeed Hall) in

Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...

, which was demolished in 1928.

History

Foundation

King

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

bestowed the lands on Richard Fitz Aucher to hold them in fee, and hereditarily of the Abbey. During the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

Copthall continued in the possession of the Fitz Aucher family till it came into the hands of the Abbot until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

Heyday

Sir Thomas Heneage Sir Thomas Heneage PC (1532 – 17 October 1595) was an English politician and courtier at the court of Elizabeth I. Early and personal life Thomas Heneage the Younger was born at Copt Hall, Epping, Essex, the son of Sir Robert Heneage and Lucy ...

received the estate of Copthall on 13 August 1564 from Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, where he subsequently built an elaborate mansion. The Queen was a frequent visitor to Essex and she is recorded as having visited Heneage at Copthall in 1575. His daughter, afterwards Countess of Winchelsea, sold it to the

Earl of Middlesex Earl of Middlesex was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1622 for Lionel Cranfield, 1st Baron Cranfield, the Lord High Treasurer. He had already been created Baron Cranfield, of Cranfield in the C ...

in the reign of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

. From him it passed to Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset, who sold it in 1701 to Sir Thomas Webster, Bt. Edward Conyers purchased the estate in 1739, but he only owned the house for three years before dying in 1742. Conyers' son John (1717-1775) inherited the property and considered repairing the original Hall as it had become dilapidated. However, in the end he decided to build a new house on a different site. This was built between 1751 and 1758 after demolishing the old one around 1748. The Georgian house, a large structure set in

landscaped parkland Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

, "has long been celebrated as one of the principal ornament of the country". The gardens of the main house have a

ha-ha A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...

(a disguised ditch), which allows animals to approach yet prevents them from entering. It was a good example of the '18th-century house in landscape'. The mansion was placed overlooking two valleys with a third valley to the north. The building was well proportioned, with the chimneys built in a tight geometric arrangement. The next member of the family to inherit Copped Hall was his son John Conyers (1748-1818), who extensively altered the house.

Decline

His son, Henry John Conyers (1782–1853), was said to be so obsessed with hunting that he neglected the house. He was survived by three daughters. The house was finally sold by the family in 1869. It was bought by George Wythes (1811-1883), who had made his fortune in civil engineering, building railways around the world. '' Country Life'' magazine ran two articles on Copped Hall in 1910, illustrated with many photographs. The main house was gutted in an accidental fire one Sunday morning in 1917 which was caused by an electrical fault. The Wythes family, who were the then occupiers, moved into Wood House on the estate. Ernest Wythes died in 1949 and his wife died in 1951. Around 1950 the estate was sold, after which followed a period of total neglect, see

Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain The destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain was the result of a change in social conditions: many country houses of varying architectural merit were demolished by their owners. Collectively termed by several authors "the lost hous ...

. The main 18th-century house was first stripped of its more desirable building materials then left to deteriorate. The orangery was blown up as an army training exercise in the 1960s. All the statues in the gardens were sold and removed to other large estate houses; some ended up in Anglesey Abbey in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. A gazebo from the garden was set up in the grounds of

St Paul's Walden Bury St. Paul's Walden Bury is an English country house and surrounding gardens in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. The house is a Grade II* listed, and the gardens Grade I. A home of the Bowes-Lyon family, it is possibly the site of ...

. In 1995, the derelict shell of the main house was used as a location for the music video for

I Can't Be with You "I Can't Be with You" is a song recorded by Irish band the Cranberries. It was the third single from their second studio album, ''No Need to Argue'' (1994), except in North America, where it was released as the fourth and final single of the alb ...

The Cranberries The Cranberries were an Irish rock band formed in Limerick, Ireland. Originally named the Cranberry Saw Us, the band were formed in 1989 by lead singer Niall Quinn, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Quinn was ...

Restoration

In 1995 the Copped Hall Trust acquired the freehold of the house, ancillary buildings and gardens, all of which they are slowly restoring. As of 2022 the house can be visited on certain days, with progress being made to replicate its Georgian decor. The surrounding parkland is now owned by the Conservators of

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

, the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. On 27 April 2004

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, accompanied by the

Lord Lieutenant of Essex This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Since 1688, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Essex. *John Petre, 1st Baron Petre *John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford 1558–? *Robert Dudley, 1st Earl ...

, Lord Petre, visited Copped Hall and inspected the restoration work. The Prince opened an exhibition of 18th-century botanical water-colours in the new temporary gallery. These water-colours were painted by Matilda Conyers, the daughter of John Conyers, who built Copped Hall. The West Essex Archaeology Group (WEAG) hold annual excavations at a site in the Copped Hall grounds. These largely focus on the earthwork remains of the Tudor house, which predates the standing Georgian house. The digs comprise archaeology weekends for those with little experience, and a five-day field school for the more experienced.

The Woodhouse

The Wood House is a 19th-century home on the Copped Hall estate. Built in 1895 Ernest James Wythes. He moved here from the main Copped Hall house when much of the Palladian mansion was destroyed by fire in 1917 and during its rebuilding though subsequently remaining at The Woodhouse. Singer

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

lived in the property for a number of year before selling it in March 2019 for just over £4 million.

Gallery

File:Copped Hall south.jpg, Copped Hall from the south (December 2006) File:Copped Hall west.jpg, View from the west (May 2004) File:Copped Hall chimneys.jpg, Closeup of the chimneys (December 2006) File:Copped Hall estate.jpg, A view of the estate (December 2006) File:Copped Hall west elevation.jpg, Closeup of west elevation (May 2004) File:Copped Hall east west corner.jpg, South-eastern corner (December 2006) File:Copped Hall conservatory.jpg, Remains of the orangery (April 2006)

References

English Heritage Archive The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway. It is a public archive of architectural and arch ...

''View of Copped Hall in Essex, from the Park'', 1746
by George Lambert and

Francis Hayman Francis Hayman (1708 – 2 February 1776) was an English painter and illustrator who became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and later its first librarian. Life and works Born in Exeter, Devon, Hayman begun his arti ...

''View of Copped Hall in Essex, from across the Lake'', 1746
by George Lambert and

{{coord, 51, 41, 37, N, 0, 04, 04, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Essex Ruins in Essex Grade II listed buildings in Essex Historic house museums in Essex Grade II listed houses Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Essex