Queen Elizabeths’s Hunting Lodge is a Grade 2 listed building which was built for King Henry VIII in 1542-3. Its was built as a viewing gallery so that the King could watch the hunting over Chingford Plain. While there is no actual evidence that King Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth I ever actually visited the lodge there is a well known tale that Queen Elizabeth I rode a horse up the extremely wide staircase.

By the Victorian era, builders had painted the beams black, with paint that did not allow the wood to breathe and the timbers slowly started to rot. In the early 1990s the decision was made to restore the building with white limewash to all areas to protect the timbers.

Following a previous project for City of London in the area, Bagnalls were appointed to redecorate the external of the lodge using traditional limewash that had to be mixed by hand. Repairs were also carried out to the building using traditional lime putty.

Over the years the building has been used as a Forest Keeper’s House and a museum and it is now open to visitors and school parties. The works took place without any disruption to the visitors of the Lodge.

These pictures show the before and after condition of the lodge.