Archaeology at Copped Hall 2009

In 2001 the West Essex Archaeological Group (WEAG) was invited to Copped Hall, an 18th century mansion which can be seen overlooking the M25 in Essex, high on a ridge between Upshire and Epping. This grand country house, dating from the 1750s, suffered a devastating fire in 1917; for the rest of the century it stood as a shell until, with the arrival of the motorway nearby, the site came under increasing pressure from developers. Local people fought to save it, however, and it was bought by the Copped Hall Trust (CHT) in 1995. Since then volunteers have worked to restore both the Hall and its gardens to bring them back into use as a community and educational resource.

Site history

The story of Copped Hall goes back much further than the 18th century, and our investigation is centred on the medieval and Elizabethan predecessors of the standing building, located a short distance away at the north end of the gardens. Documentary sources suggest that occupation of the site dates back at least to the 13th century. Copped Hall was held by the Abbots of Waltham from 1350 until 1534, when it passed to the Crown. In 1564 the manor was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Thomas Heneage and his wife Anne, and it seems likely that the already substantial residence was rebuilt in a style befitting a favoured courtier. Unfortunately, we have no clear record of what it looked like until 1735, when M. J. Farmer published a history of Waltham Abbey, which included a drawing of Copped Hall, as seen from the north. This shows a grand house arranged around a courtyard, the north side being a single storey loggia or covered colonnade. In 1742 the estate passed to John Conyers, who commissioned two paintings of the Hall and surrounding park. Detailed drawings were also made of the exterior elevations and some of the interior features, along with scale plans of the interior. By this time the Hall seems to have been in poor repair, and it may have been Conyers’s original intention to refurbish it, but in 1748 it was demolished, and construction of the 'new' Hall began.

Previous archaeology at Copped Hall

Little of 'old' Copped Hall now remains above ground. A brick and stone pillar and a short section of wall survive (the original west end of the loggia) along with brick walls likely to have been part of the cellars of the south range, now forming a retaining wall for the edge of a sunken rock garden. In 1984 these walls were recorded in detail by the Archaeology Section of Essex County Council, along with sections of masonry associated with the east wing, and in the area of the loggia pillar (Andrews 1986). In 1996-7 building works revealed a ditch-like feature apparently running east-west which it was thought could mark the line of a former moat (Andrews 1998).

WEAG starts work

As the CHT set about clearing and restoring the gardens, it was keen to find out more about the old Hall, and so WEAG was asked to investigate further. Our first step in 2001 was to test various areas in the gardens with geophysical equipment, which can detect walls, ditches or other features not visible on the surface. Then, in 2002, WEAG members dug their first three trenches at Copped Hall, near the loggia pillar. We uncovered drains, constructed from brick and tile, two narrow brick walls - possibly sleeper walls to support a timber floor - and a more substantial section of wall, the position of which appears to be consistent with that of a fireplace on an internal wall shown on John Conyers’s plan. Areas of brick rubble and mortar were also found, possibly demolition debris or the remnants of the robbed-out external walls of the Hall.

The 18th century plan (drawn with south at the top) has proved invaluable, as we have been able to scale-up its measurements to compare with what we find in the ground. In 2003 we started to uncover the cellars of the west end of the south range, which is thought to have incorporated parts of the late-medieval house. In subsequent seasons this has become our main area of work. At the south-western corner of the building the first feature to come to light was part of a polygonal stair-tower built of Tudor brick, and with a curved interior face bearing traces of render. This led from the cellar up to the great hall. In 2008 we were able to clear enough of the material around it to reveal it standing to almost a metre high, with five steps surviving. The foundations of much of the south range have been uncovered in this area, together with other wall fragments which tell a story of alterations and rebuilding over a relatively short period as owners, fashions and fortunes changed. Differences in brick fabric and construction point to at least three phases of building, and it is a fascinating exercise to compare the plan of what was above ground in 1748 with the below-ground remains. In addition to the excavation of the south range, the work carried out by WEAG each year has revealed more surviving walls in the west wing, a surprisingly substantial foundation for the loggia, and parts of outbuildings to the east of the old Hall.

The development of the gardens

The archaeology does not stop with the demolition of old Copped Hall in the mid 18th century. How were the gardens redesigned afterwards? The natural slope of the ground was terraced, but when? Our largest trench is in an open level area where the remains of the old Hall were covered in a levelling layer of clay, possibly the spoil from the foundation trenches of the new Hall. A rose garden was created here in the late-19th century; we have excavated and recorded the formal rose beds and the base of a central sundial. During the second half of the 19th century the garden labourers installed two systems of land drains, the second probably at the same time as the rose garden was laid out, and had to dig through the buried wall foundations in order to lay the drains. This is all part of the history of the site and of the people who lived and worked there. The archaeology can tell us much about the process of creating the garden, so needs to be fully recorded before we can investigate the masonry beneath.

A mystery structure

The use of geophysical equipment is an ongoing feature of our work at Copped Hall. The results have been variable due to the ground disturbance of many years of gardening and tree growth, but we had one very interesting find in 2007, aided by some generous help from the University of East London. Ground penetrating radar was used to survey an area known as the lower great lawn - just to the south of the footprint of the old Hall, and the results showed the presence of an intriguing round feature. Excavation revealed what appears to be a circular brick surface, c 7m in diameter, very carefully set out, with substantial foundations. The surface as we see it now is probably much later (18th century?) than the foundations (16th century?). The ‘foundations’ may even have originally been standing walls, buried when the gardens were landscaped. We don’t know what the structure was; cistern, icehouse, dovecote or hawking tower have all been suggested, and it could have had a number of functions over time. Interestingly, a pile of brick rubble, found overlying the surface, included moulded bricks from a window mullion. These are identical to mid-16th century examples seen at Hill Hall, our nearest Tudor ‘great house’ neighbour, where excavations were carried out some years ago (Paul Drury, pers comm). We will be returning to this trench, too, in 2009.

The finds

Some of the finds give us unexpected glimpses of the lives of past occupants. They include the bowl of a late-19th century clay tobacco pipe commemorating the 100th anniversary of the participation of the Enniskillen Regiment in the Egyptian campaign, perhaps once owned by one of the gardeners. A fragment of glass, dated to the late-15th to 17th century, came from a vessel known as a matula. Such vessels were often used for the inspection of urine in order to diagnose medical conditions. We have recovered a wide range of pottery sherds, most of which are inevitably associated with the 18th and 19th centuries, but many are contemporary with old Copped Hall. Local wares dating to the 13th to 17th centuries are well-represented, including the Mill Green industry based around Ingatestone in Essex, and the potteries at Harlow producing Metropolitan slipware. We have also found floor tiles dated to the 14th to 17th centuries. The dark water-lain layer to the south of the old Hall contained many medieval sherds but nothing from the post-medieval period, and now we may have Saxon material from beneath one of the walls in the rose garden. Intriguingly, material from the late 1st century BC or 1st century AD has also been found, potentially taking the story of our site back even further. 

The Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project

The fieldwork at Copped Hall is co-ordinated by the Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project (CHTAP), a joint venture between CHT and WEAG which aims to involve the local and wider community in the archaeology of Copped Hall. WEAG members work on site for nine days each spring. In September 2003 we held the first of what would become an annual training excavation and, in the years since, the CHTAP has given many people, of all ages and from all walks of life, their first taste of practical archaeology.  In 2008 we gave more advanced training at a field school. Those who come back each year have been able to see the Project develop and progress, as well as building up their skills and experience. In 2009 we will aim to consolidate the work so far with some answers to the questions of masonry dates and phasing; this should help to show how old Copped Hall changed through the 16th and 17th centuries.

Detailed reports on the work carried out from 2002 to 2005 have been produced, and more will follow.

References and further readings: