Debden is a suburb in the civil parish of

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, in the

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 ...

district of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. It takes its name from the ancient manor of Debden, which lay at its northern end. The area is predominantly residential, but is also the location of

Epping Forest College New City College (NCC) is a large college of further education with campuses in East London and Essex. The college was formed in 2016 with the amalgamation of separate colleges, beginning with the merger between Tower Hamlets College and Hackney ...

East 15 Acting School East 15 Acting School (East 15) is a British drama school in Loughton, Essex.Its degrees are awarded by the University of Essex, with which it merged on 1 September 2000. As of 2020, Essex University, where East 15 is located, has been ranked No. ...

and the

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...

printing works. It is one of a limited number of places outside

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

to be served by the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

History

The name (''Deppendana'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086) is derived from the Old English ''dep'', 'deep' and ''den'', 'valley'. Debden originated as a manor of in the Ongar hundred of Essex. The manor became the property of

Waltham Abbey 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 and E ...

in 1086. By about 1254 the manor of Loughton had absorbed Debden. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 the manor passed to the king and later to private owners. In 1944 John Maitland sold of land to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

for the building of a housing estate. The Debden Estate was constructed between 1947 and 1952. Because of post-war restrictions on building, a supermarket could not be opened until 1952. Debden station on the London Underground is a renaming (1949) of the Chigwell Lane railway station, which was originally opened on the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

in 1865.

Economy

There is considerable light industry, including the

print works, which prints

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

banknotes. In 2005, Higgins Group PLC moved its headquarters to Debden, and, in 2008,

Amstrad Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...

announced its intention to move the group HQ to Debden from Brentwood. A new HQ was opened in 2013 nearer the centre of

. The Broadway is one of Loughton's two main shopping centres and forms an architecturally important parade consisting mainly of family-run shops together with a small weekly market.

Transport

The area is served by

Debden tube station Debden is a London Underground station on the Central line in the east of Loughton, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. The station is between Loughton and Theydon Bois. It is located in Station Approach off Chigwell Lane ( A1168) and is i ...

on the Central line of the

. Debden is located next to the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960s ...

, about from its junction with 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 ...

. The local motorway junction has restricted access: drivers cannot enter the M11 northbound or exit it southbound. These restrictions are designed to prevent congestion on the local road network. Motorway traffic must instead flow to and from the

North Circular The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

road. There are many bus routes in Debden, which are either

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes, commercial routes or Essex County Council contract routes.

routes 20 and 397 serve destinations south of Debden such as

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the ...

South Woodford South Woodford is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Woodford Green to the north, Walthamstow to the west, Snaresbrook and Wanstead to the south and Redbridge to the east, and is north-east of ...

and

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

. Routes operating to destinations north and east of Debden are commercial services Destinations include

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, Theydon Bois,

Abridge Abridge is a village in Essex, England. It is on the River Roding, southwest of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Epping Forest (district), Epping Forest and in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood and Onga ...

and

Waltham Cross Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the south ...

Sport, culture and politics

The local Debden Sports Club, founded in 1948, includes a football team that competes in local leagues. Until 2014, there was an annual Debden Day celebration. Debden is the location of the British Postal Museum Store. Debden Community Association was founded circa 1950 and formerly had premises at

Loughton Hall Loughton Hall is a large house in Rectory Lane, Loughton, Essex. The architect was William Eden Nesfield, and it is grade II listed with Historic England. It is now a 33-bedroom residential care home for elderly people. History The original Loug ...

and on land owned by Epping Forest College. Most council seats in Debden were held until 2004 by the Labour Party. Then a swing to the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

occurred, but the BNP lost its last seat to the Loughton Residents Association in 2012. See main article '' Politics of Loughton''.

References

{{reflist Housing estates in England Loughton

History

Economy

Transport

Sport, culture and politics

See also

References