Recently I’ve been doing my research for the Loughton local election results and as a result firstly found a detailed map of Loughton with all the houses and gardens - I intend to share it on this site later - but then found another map, which has totally fascinated me. It’s a map of Epping Forest and surrounded towns and villages from the beginning of the last century. This map has amazed me because I’ve never known what Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell and Epping used to be at that time.

I’ve cut a bit from it where Loughton is. Below is the old Loughton map from circa 1910.

As you see, there are plenty of self-explanatory road names like

• Alderton Hall Road - where Alderton Hall used to be; now Alderton Hill;
• Rectory Lane - where the Rectory used to be;
• Church Hill - where St John’s Church is;
• Borders Lane - from Border’s farm that used to be located nearby.

Pink coloured spaces on the map show where the houses stood at that time and - no surprise here - currently the oldest houses in Loughton are still there. Despite the fact that railway station has been opened in 1856, there hasn’t been much of a development around it. I assume that the majority of houses alongside High Road, Forest Road and York Hill have been built before the railway came to Loughton.

Loughton has even had its own hotel at the time and a couple of chapels in addition to St.John the Baptist’s, St.Mary’s and St.Nicholas’s churches. The last one is used to be where Epping Forest College is now.

The map is so peaceful and gratefully old that I can just imagine myself being in that beginning of century Loughton with fields all around the town, farms and churches with unobscured views. No newly built commuter belt houses yet, no Debden Estate, the old railway terminus is in place of current Sainsbury’s parking lot, roads are not congested and railway trains are fast and reliable.

The whole 1910 Epping Forest map can be found on the Hunt House website.

Well, technically Debden is a part of Loughton town because officially there’s no town called Debden and all Debden addresses are Loughton addresses too. So on paper Debden is a suburb of Loughton, an estate that was built after the World War II to house people who lost their homes during the war. Why then there’s still a divide between the old part of Loughton and new Debden - the former council estate where these days almost all houses are privately owned?

I think this comes from the different types of people who live in different parts of Loughton as well as costs of houses and access to amenities and local transport. It’s like the divide between Old Harlow and Harlow but much less distinct.

Whereas houses in old Loughton are in totality respectfully old, distinctive and expensive; houses in Debden are new-ish, were cheap to build and with minor variations look the same.

Old Loughton houses rich people, white collar workers from London City; Debden on the other hand have simplier popuation - mostly London service sector workers like builders and taxi drivers.

Old Loughton has a lot of shops, cafes, eateries, two big supernarkets, leisure centre and several chirches; Debden has its own town centre with shops and two small supermarkets but simple local cafes and no well-known restaurant chains.

I think you get the trend. Debden is like a little sister of Loughton - it’s more disrespectful and less politically correct, younger and therefore prone to errors. But it doesn’t make her less of a sister - she is still loved and hated in the same time, just like in a real family. Old Loughton like an older sister would always look after Debden no matter what. And in my observations people don’t tend to say “I live in Debden” or “I live in old part of Loughton”, they just say “I live in Loughton” and this is how it should be.

So do you consider Debden to be a part of Loughton?

Here are couple of for and against points to consider:

For:

• Two towns are united under one name - Loughton. Debden is just a name of the locality now, which came from Debden Green - a hamlet north of Loughton. Debden is not recognised on road maps.
• Debden has generally lost its “estate” feel because the majority of houses are privately owned.
• People who live in Debden go shopping to Old Loughton and often visit Loughton Leisure Centre, restaurants and a night club because these have not been opened in Debden yet.
• Some areas considered to be Debden are closer to Loughton town centre than to Broadway (i.e. Debden town centre)
• Old Loughton and Debden have the same bus routes - almost all buses that go to Loughton also go to Debden.

Against:

• There’s a visible class divide between the people in old Loughton and Debden as well as different types of houses.
• Old Loughton and Debden have their own town centres, the undergound stations and designated end-of-route bus stands.
• Old Loughton and Debden are geographically divided - Old Loughton occupies the north-west of geographical Loughton and Debden occupies the south-east.
• Old Loughton residents mainly vote for Conservatives; Debden residents mainly vote for Labour and LRA.

As a Loughton resident for many years, I find it very easy to answer the question “Why do you live in Loughton?“. In this article, I would like to share my thoughts about the town where I live and persuade those, who are thinking of moving to Loughton, to do so.

I find it very easy to travel everywhere from Louhgton because of Loughton’s strategical location. It has two underground stations - Loughton and Debden. It takes about 20 minutes to get from Loughton to Stratford and 40 minutes to get from Loughton to Oxford Street. Inner London buses 20 and 167 go from Loughton to Walthamstow (where there’s a big market on all days except Sunday) and Ilford where there’s a big shopping centre. Bus 397 goes to Chingford. Essex bus 250 goes to Waltham Cross.

It’s very easy to get on the motorways M25 and M11 from Loughton. If travelling to London, M11 is the obvious choice with Junction 5 located to the east of Debden underground station. One cannot travel northbound directly from Junction 5 of M11 because there are no southbound exits, which is a pain. In order to travel to Bishops Stortford, Stansted Airport and further north, one needs to drive through Epping Forest to M25 and then join M11 at Junction 27. On M25 it’s possible to get to Heathrow Airport from Loughton in under 50 minutes if there are no delays.

One of the main advantages of Loughton is that it is very close to Epping Forest. The forest is huge - people can hike, ride bicycles, walk their dog and play games there. There are a lot of nice views from the hills in the forest. There is even a place with the perfect view of London City but it’s difficult to find. There are couple of pubs in the middle of Epping Forest, which can become useful if a person plans to spend a good part of the day in the forest.

There are several small lakes in Epping Forest where fishing is forbidden but some people do it. There are also many open spaces where people play ball games and take sun baths. In short, everyone can find something useful for himself or herself there.

I’ve always wanted to live in an area with the clean air. Loughton has an excellent air quality. That is because there are no big roads crossing the town and there are no air polluting factories nearby. Don’t forget the Epping Forest on the west of Loughton and fields on the east. M25 and M11 are located nearby but in my view they don’t affect the Loughton air quality because they are quite far away and the prevailing winds come from the east.

Recently my mate has told me that Loughton schools are high-rated. I cannot confirm this information at the time of writing this article but I believe it to be true because my mate has two kids and wants to get them into the best school in the region.

Loughton doesn’t have a shopping centre but there are lots of quality shops in Loughton where a person can technically buy everything. There are three supermarkets in the centre of Loughton: Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer. In Debden, there are smaller Sainsbury’s and Iceland. There are many shops that sell clothes and their number has increased over the last couple of years. There are well-known Halfords and Holland & Barrett, the branches of the following banks: Barclays, Halifax, Natwest and Nationwide (Lloyds TSB and Abbey in Debden). There are garden shops, barber’s and hairdresser’s, video renal shop and many more. That’s not including restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets. By the way, there’s no McDonald’s and Burger King in Loughton (I should add: at the moment - February 2009).

Loughton is a sport’s heaven because of its location and available outdoor facilities. That’s why there are a lot of clubs, schools and societies in Loughton. I knew a couple of them but typing “Loughton club” into Google has found so many in so many areas I simply felt proud of Loughton. These are Loughton Cricket Club, Loughton Gymnastics Club, Loughton Football Club, Loughton Golf Club, Loughton Camera Club, Loughton Mountaineering Club, simply Loughton Club and many-many more. In addition council’s Loughton Health Centre, which is now privately run, has a swimming pool, gym and various classes to keep Loughton residents feet if they wish to be fit.

Loughton is a good place to live in - and that’s a fact, not an advertisement. So if you’re thinking about moving to Loughton, come and see the town for yourself.

The first proper this winter snow has today finally arrived to Loughton. As usual, it has brought London underground problems and crawling cars on the roads with it but it’s worse it because it also brings a lot of joy to all people, especially to the children.

It happens every winter. It happens once. It never happens twice. I am still talking about the snow in Loughton. It may snow several times a year during the winter but the “real” snow that does not melt during the day only occurs once a winter. At least it has been during the last ten or so years when I’ve heard about this weird fact from someone and began to take notice.

I don’t know what this phenomenon is caused by but it’s true. So I think that it would be possible to check the effects of the global warming just by checking the snowfall in Loughton i.e. how many times a year, what’s the intensity, what’s the the duration and so on.

But in the meantime I’m very glad we have the snow this year because it is something different. With the snow on, the town looks different too - it looks peaceful and clean, relaxed in a way, like on the old postcard. It’s a shame I have had to go work today and won’t be able to photograph this “rare adverse weather condition”, which turns out to be just fine, nice and unusual weather effect. Someone would not get to work today, some won’t get to school, some would feel colder than usual and someone’s car wouldn’t start, but all in all it’s fun, isn’t it? I mean to see the snow in your own Loughton, not Sweden when on the weekend getaway and not France when skiing there on the mountains.

So enjoy it if you can and while you can - go for a walk in the woods with kids, start a snowball fight, build a snowman. You can also clean your car and your driveway from the snow. All in all, be outside, breathe the clean snowy air and simply be happy because in Loughton it’s only snowing properly once a year.