This cache is part of a series planted for
the cache bash on 5th April 2003.
Park at N51 37.371 E000 01.919
you are then faced with two possible routes to the cache either the
large track or the narrower path (marked No Cycling) the choice is
yours:
The Large Track was actually once a normal road
and right up until the 1960s it was a legal right of way for cars
and motors. Strangely it was also chosen to simulate Portugal:
The Graphic, January 18. 1873
A visitor to Buckhurst Hill in the winter of 1872/73 might have
been just lucky enough to witness one of the most bizarre events
ever to take place in the town — the trial run of a steam
tram through a sylvan glade in Lord's Bushes.
An experimental line some 600 yards long was laid down in December
of '72 by the newly-formed Lisbon Steam Tramways Company on a
roughly NW to SE alignment from a point near the keeper's lodge on
Knighton Lane down to the entrance of the old Monkhams Farm. The
Company considered that this area of Epping Forest came nearest to
simulating conditions in Portugal where they hoped to open the
tramway. The track consisted of a single rail, flanked on either
side at a distance of 20 inches with longitudinal timber sleepers.
Only the bogie wheels of the locomotive ran on the centre rail
— the flangeless driving wheels, which had a tread of Ift.
2ins, ran on the timber baulks which were 9 ins wide.
The Narrower Path leads you round what was once
the private estate.
The character of the former estate is still apparent —
its more open aspect and leafy walks, its rhododendron clumps and
its man-made additions to the lake. Knighton was for upwards of 60
years the home of the late Mr. Edward North Buxton, who was in the
forefront of all movements for the preservation and improvement of
Epping Forest. When Mr. Buxton bought the bulk of the Estate in
1863, it had quite unique residential advantages in its nearness to
London and its proximity to the Forest; these advantages are
present to an even greater degree today. London has been brought
nearer by its outward growth and by increased and accelerated
travelling facilities, and the Forest remains, as it will remain,
unchanged and uncurtailed, a fitting memorial to the men who won it
for the perpetual enjoyment of the people.
The Cache is hidden under some tree cover - it
is a black, large size Ammo Box.
Please check out the G.A.G.B and G:UK web sites. They offer support
for all Geocachers in the UK.
Why not visit Chris's Gallery of Epping Forest
photography