Loughton Escorts

Loughton (pronounced /ˈlaʊtən/) is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles (21 km) north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford,Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey, and Chigwell. Loughton includes 3 conservation areas and there are 56 listed buildings in the town, together with a further 50 locally listed.
Loughton has a population of 30,340 and covers about 3,724 acres (15 km2), of which over 1,300 acres (5 km2) are part of Epping Forest. The ancient parish contained over 3,900 acres (16 km2), but some parts in the south were transferred in 1996 to Buckhurst Hill parish, and small portions to Chigwell and Theydon Bois. It is the most populous civil parish in the Epping Forest district.[1] Within Essex it is the second most populous civil parish, after Canvey Island, and the second largest in area.
Direct omnibus services linked Loughton to London from 1915. The old No. 10 route from Victoria - Abridge via Loughton had ceased to serve Loughton by 1950 (a modern derivative, paid for by Essex County Council, again numbered 10, linked Loughton and Abridge until 2007), and the No. 20 service from Leyton - Epping survives, though it has terminated in Debden since 1976 and now only runs from Walthamstow to Debden. The No. 167 route runs from Debden to Ilford.
During the First World War, anti-aircraft positions were located in Epping Forest as part of the wider defences of London, but action was minor compared to the Second World War. There are however residents still alive who recall hearing the Silvertown explosion in 1917, when a TNT factory in the Royal Docks blew up killing 73 people. The sound of the blast could be heard from The Wash to Brighton.
On the very first day of the Blitz, 7 September 1940 ("Black Saturday"), a Hurricane from 303 Sqn crashed onto an air-raid shelter in Roding Road, killing three occupants. The Polish pilot bailed out, and was promptly arrested as he could speak virtually no English. Also killed by "friendly fire" was PC Albert Hinds, blown up outside Loughton Police Station by a shell from an anti-aircraft battery in Nursery Road. PC Jordan, father of the pianist Mrs Mills was injured in this incident. Two A.R.P. men nearby died later from their injuries. A memorial plaque placed on the police station in 2005 commemorates all Loughton's civilian war dead; it is one of very few UK civilian war memorials. Even before the Blitz had begun, there was sporadic German bombing; two people were killed in The Drive on 26 July 1940, the first fatalities of the war in the London Civil Defence Region. In a 1941 raid, farms were damaged in Loughton and Debden, while a gun battery at Loughton Hall was hit, killing a soldier. At Staples Road Schools, the white-painted air-raid shelter directions are still clearly visible: CASUALTY ENTRANCE - THROUGH AIRLOCK BY SANDBAGS (although the lettering has been repainted several times). Staples Road school had until2006 the unique distinction of having amongst its alumni both the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mike Gapes.
There has been much post-war rebuilding and infilling; the church of St. Edmund of Canterbury, in Traps Hill, is an example of modern church architecture, built in 1958 following a disastrous fire in an earlier building. Another notable modern church is Loughton Methodist Church, opened in 1987. The Victorian St Mary's Church has had (2008) a foyer and modern hall attached and all the pews removed. The police station was rebuilt in 1963/64. There has also been some post-war rebuilding of High Road shops, notably Centric Parade, which dates from 1983, but is effectively a new facade built on to the former London Cooperative Society supermarket, one of the largest in the UK when opened in 1962, with roof-top car park. The M11 motorway linking London to Cambridge passes very close to Loughton's eastern boundary; this part of the motorway was opened in 1977. Light industrial units proliferated along the Roding valley between 1975–2000, notably in Langston Road.