Loughton Hall is a large house in Rectory Lane,

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 ...

, Essex. The architect was

William Eden Nesfield William Eden Nesfield (2 April 1835 – 25 March 1888) was an English architect. Like his some-time partner, Richard Norman Shaw, he designed several houses in Britain in the revived 'Old English' and 'Queen Anne' styles during the 1860s and 1 ...

, and it is

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. It is now a 33-bedroom residential care home for elderly people.

History

The original Loughton Hall was the property of the Abbots 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 ...

before passing to Mary Tudor shortly before she became Queen in 1553. It later passed to the Wroth family, including the novelist

Lady Mary Wroth Lady Mary Wroth (née Sidney; 18 October 1587 – 1651/3) was an English noblewoman and a poet of the English Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary family, Lady Wroth was among the first female English writers to have achieved an en ...

, and regular visitors included

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

and Sir

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...

. In 1745, it passed to the Whitaker family, and Miss Anne Whitaker left it to John Maitland, and then his son

William Whitaker Maitland William Whitaker Maitland (1794-1861) was a British landowner, and High Sheriff of Essex in 1836. He was the son of John Maitland, politician and landowner. He inherited Woodford Hall, a large house in Woodford, Essex, with 50 acres of land ad ...

, who spent heavily on the building. It burnt down on 11 December 1836. A new Hall was built in 1878, designed by

in a mock Jacobean style. The last family member to live there was the Conservative politician Sir John Maitland, but it was requisitioned by the British Army during the Second World War to billet officers. It was sold to

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 ...

, and most of the land was used to build the Debden housing estate, with the Hall transferred to

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

, and leased to Debden Community Association, and then given to

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 ...

, but fell into disrepair by 2007. It is now a 33-bedroom residential care home for elderly people.

References

{{coord, 51.6485, 0.0782, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Essex Grade II listed buildings in Essex Maitland family Epping Forest District