Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Chingford

London · Storbritannia · Historic building

Visitors hear footsteps on the empty top floor — where legend says Elizabeth I rode her horse straight up the oak stair in triumph at the Armada's defeat.

The timber-framed tower house on the edge of Epping Forest has a staircase legend has never let go of. Tradition holds that Elizabeth I, in triumph at the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, rode her horse straight up the broad oak stair to the top floor. The stair survives and is wide enough to make the story feel possible — and visitors regularly report footsteps on that top floor when it stands empty. The house was built in 1543 for Henry VIII as a great standing, an open grandstand where the court could watch the deer driven beneath them and shoot down into the throng with crossbows; Elizabeth I had it remodelled. It stands alone at the forest edge above Chingford, in the same woods that sheltered Dick Turpin, that carry Hangman's Hill and Suicide Pool, and that for centuries were the darkest ground nearest London.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Chingford?

Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Chingford ligger i London, Storbritannia.

Image: Ethan Doyle White / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons