24 Facts About Loughton

Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex.

Parish of Loughton covers part of Epping Forest, in 1996 some parts of the south of the old parish were transferred to Buckhurst Hill parish, and other small portions to Chigwell and Theydon Bois.

Loughton has three conservation areas and there are 56 listed buildings in the town, together with a further 50 that are locally listed.

The most significant of the great houses of this period, built as country retreats for wealthy City merchants and courtiers, was Loughton Hall, owned by Mary Tudor two months before she became Queen Mary of England in 1553, and later by the Wroth family from 1578 to 1738.

Some Loughton villagers defied landowners to practice their ancient right to lop wood—a series of court cases, including one brought by the Loughton labourer Thomas Willingale, was needed before the City of London Corporation took legal action against the landowners' enclosures, resulting in the Epping Forest Act of 1878 which preserved the forest for use by the public.

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Much of the housing in Loughton was built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, with significant expansion in the 1930s.

Loughton was a fashionable place for artistic and scientific residents in Victorian and Edwardian times, and a number of prominent residents were renowned socialists, nonconformists, and social reformers.

In 2002 Loughton featured in the ITV1 programme Essex Wives, a documentary series about the lives of some of the nouveau riche who have resided in the Essex satellite towns of London since the 1980s.

In 2016, Loughton was assessed as the third best ethnically integrated town in the country, as reported by the local newspaper.

Loughton is bounded by Epping Forest to the west and the Roding river valley to the east.

At district council level, Loughton is represented by two councillors from each of the 7 wards, elected for a four-year term.

Loughton has been part of the Epping Forest parliamentary constituency since its creation in 1974.

Loughton's son, Giles was born on 1953, and an actor, was born there.

Loughton is home to the National Jazz Archive, which hosts occasional jazz performances.

Loughton boasts a few rock and pop music connections; Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits was a lecturer at Loughton College, and the Genesis song "The Battle of Epping Forest" is based on an actual event when rival East End gangs fought a turf war in the forest.

The Wake Arms public house, which was about 50 yards north of the Loughton boundary in Waltham Abbey on a roundabout, was a notable rock music venue from 1968 to 1973, hosting bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Genesis, Pretty Things, Status Quo, Uriah Heep, and Van der Graaf Generator.

Loughton Cinema had a resident ladies' band during the 1930s.

Loughton has its own music academy the 'Loughton Music Academy' founded in 2001 to cope with the growing demand for music in the area.

Several films have been set in the Loughton area, including the 2001 TV movie Hot Money, based on real events at Loughton's Bank of England printing works.

Loughton FC, founded in 1965, dropped out of the Hertfordshire Senior County League in 2007 and now plays in the Bishops Stortford, Stansted and District League and has youth teams in the Echo Junior League and the Barking Youth League.

Loughton is served by both Loughton tube station and, further north-east, Debden tube station, both served by the Central line of the London Underground since 1949.

The current Loughton station was opened in 1940, but both the line and stations existed before that; the railway line dates back to 22 August 1856, when the branch from Stratford was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway.

Services operating to destinations north of Loughton are not London Buses routes, and are either commercial services or services under contract to Essex County Council.

In 2006, schools in Loughton had approximately 2330 places in post-16 education, approximately 1200 places in Key Stage 4, approx.