Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, it is 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Charing Cross.

[4] "Epinga", a small community of a few scattered farms and a chapel on the edge of the forest, is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

In 1253 King Henry III conveyed the right to hold a weekly market in Epping Street which helped to establish the town as a centre of trade and has continued to the present day (the sale of cattle in the High Street continued until 1961).

[6] Up to 25 stagecoaches and mailcoaches a day passed through the town from London en route to Norwich, Cambridge and Bury St. Edmunds.

[8] The original parish church, first mentioned in 1177, was All Saints' in Epping Upland, the nave and chancel of which date from the 13th Century.

[9] In 1833, the 14th-century chapel of St John the Baptist in the High Road was rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style.

[13] The town sits in the Epping and Theydon Bois division of Essex County Council.

Most of the population live in the built up area centred on and around the High Street (B1393) and Station Road.

About a thousand people live in the village of Coopersale which, while physically separated from Epping by forest land, is still part of the civil parish.

[citation needed] The centre of Epping on and around the High Street is a designated conservation area.

[19] The station is in London fare zone 6, and accepts Oyster and contactless payment methods.

[20] There is no Night Tube, as Central line services overnight on Fridays and Saturdays terminate at Loughton.

Services from these stations are operated by Greater Anglia and link the area directly with London Liverpool Street, Stratford, Hertford, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

To the north, the B1393 carries traffic to the Hastingwood Interchange, where it meets the M11 motorway for Cambridge, Stansted Airport and London (Junction 7), as well as the A414 for Harlow and Chelmsford.

Southbound traffic meets the Wake Arms roundabout for the A104 to Woodford and the North Circular Road, and the A121 for Loughton, Waltham Abbey and the M25 London Orbital.

The City of London Corporation, which looks after Epping Forest, has produced several waymarked walking routes for leisure.

[30] However, the town can also receive the Sandy Heath TV transmitter which broadcast BBC East and ITV Anglia.