Mono Monday 120 Heritage

When I think of this week's subject, I think of Epping Forest which has been owned and managed by the City of London Corporation since 1878 when the Epping Forest Act protected it in perpetuity for the recreation and enjoyment of visitors, which it does to this day.   However,  its long and varied history stretches  back long before 1878, leaving  its mark on the environment, from the Iron Age earthworks to Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge to the 50,000 pollarded trees.

The usual time constraints limited my options for blipping so I chose the Hunting Lodge as it is only a 5 minute drive from where I live. Queen Elizabeths’s Hunting Lodge is a Grade 2 listed building which was built for King Henry VIII in 1542-3. Its was built as a viewing gallery so that the King could watch the hunting over Chingford Plain.

I don't think that it photographs particularly well as the beams that one might expect to be painted in a contrasting black are not. In the  Victorian era, builders they had been painted so, with paint that did not allow the wood to breathe and the timbers slowly started to rot. In the early 1990s the decision was made to restore the building with white limewash to all areas to protect the timbers. This is how we see the building today.

Many thanks to Nickimags888 for hosting this month!