Lambourne

Lambourne is a civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) South of Epping and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Romford. It covers an area of 2,590acre, and in 2001 its population was 1,828, increasing to 2,013 at the 2011 Census.HistoryLike much of the neighbouring area, Lambourne was thickly wooded in the Middle Ages with forest gradually being cleared for agriculture. A few remnants of the historic Hainault Forest are found in the southern fringe of the parish, and now form part of a country park.Its population was 505 in 1801 rising to 904 by 1841, remaining at about that level for the next century.Historically Lambourne was included in the hundred of Ongar. It formed part of the Ongar Rural District from 1894 to 1955, and then Epping and Ongar Rural District until it became part of Epping Forest District in 1974.GeographyThe parish is mostly rural and agricultural, and lies in the valley of the River Roding which forms the northern boundary of the parish. The parish is mostly hilly, rising to above 100 metres in its centre. There is no actual village called Lambourne, the principal settlement being the village of Abridge in the far northwest of the parish, with the other main concentration of houses at the hamlet of Lambourne End to the south. A scattering of farms and houses is found throughout the rest of the parish. To the south of the parish, and extending into Greater London, is Hainault Forest Country Park, managed by the Woodland Trust. Postal addresses in the parish come under the RM4 postcode district of the Romford post town.