The Warren

The Warren is a rare surviving hunt standing of the 16th century, extended to form an inn in the 18th century and converted to a house in the early 19th century. It stands on Epping New Road in Loughton.

The building is timber framed, partly stuccoed and partly weatherboarded, with a slate roof. It comprises six bays aligned approximately east to west, with the main elevation facing north. Chimney stacks rise from the middle, the east end, and south of the west end. A rear wing extends to the west of centre (18th century) with a lean-to conservatory added in the southwest angle during the 19th century. Another rear wing extends from the east end (18th century) with an end chimney stack and a flat-roofed extension beyond (20th century). Single-storey lean-to extensions connect the rear wings.

The north and east elevations are of stucco. The ground floor displays six French windows, the middle two set in shallow recesses with round arches. The more westerly of these pair has a porch with an original tented lead roof. The first floor contains eight double-hung sash windows of 12 lights, added in the early 19th century. A stucco string course runs between the storeys. A pediment with wooden brackets and a shallow projection below crowns the composition, with a full-length cornice featuring paired brackets. The elevation forms a symmetrical composition apart from the off-centre porch. Two first-floor windows east of centre exhibit blank panels behind the upper sashes—the only external indication of the timber tower forming the earliest part of the structure.

The hunt standing itself is approximately four metres by three metres, of two storeys. Formerly known as the Little Standing, it allowed spectators to watch deer hunts in a large clearing of the Royal Forest of Waltham, now Epping Forest. The nearest equivalent is the three-storey timber tower 1.6 kilometres to the southwest, formerly the Great Standing and now known as Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge at Chingford. Another hunt standing has been identified at Galleywood, and another provisionally identified at Hyfield, Felsted. They constitute rare survivals of a building type common in the 16th century and earlier.

All the timber is of large square section and high quality. The horizontal members are plain-chamfered on the inside only, with step stops. Where accessible, the timber is weathered on the outside; much is concealed within plaster. There are no mortices for studs or fixings for wattle infill. The first floor is cambered to shed rain, a feature also observed at Chingford. One straight tiebeam is visible; the roof was rebuilt above that level.

The Reindeer Inn was built around this tower. A licence dated 1 May 1747 from the Court of Attachments authorises William Simmons of Warren House in Fair tread Bottom to operate as an Ale-House Keeper under the sign of the Rayne Deer. An engraving by H. S. Storer from around 1800 illustrates the Rein Deer Inn from the northeast, exactly as at present except without the porch. The inn was described by Humphry Repton as an establishment catering mainly for Sunday visitors from London. Repton advised on its conversion to a private house, a proposal largely implemented. The interior retains early 19th-century features including a full set of internal folding shutters, some doors, and some fireplaces, much as Repton proposed in his Fragments on Landscape Gardening (1816).