While Theydon Bois is an ancient parish, the village centred around Theydon Bois Green has arisen largely since the 18th century.
The green is composed of close mown grass with a pond on the eastern edge. Loughton Lane splits the green into east and west sections.
Until the coming of the railway, Theydon Bois was dependent mainly upon coaches and other horse transport for communications with the outside world using the main roads via Epping and Loughton, to north and south, and via Abridge to the east.
There was a road through the forest from Theydon Bois as early as 1594, but the prevalence of highway robbery there, deterred travellers from using this route. The highwayman John Rann was known to frequent this area. His nickname was Sixteen String Jack – this came from the 16 colourful strings he wore around the knees of his breaches. He was arrested for highway robbery six times before finally being convicted and hanged in 1774 at the age of 24.
Further down Loughton Lane, the ’Avenue of Trees’ is a line of oak trees which were planted in the 1830s to celebrate the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne.
A survey commissioned by the City of London, the responsible authority for the Green, found in the early years of the new millennium that four of the trees were required to be felled and others should be monitored.
Although felling was accepted as necessary, there was local concern about the visual impact that this would have on the village. Therefore a new line of trees was planted in late 2010, set back from the current row. The replacements will eventually dominate the site.
On the south-eastern boundary of the Deer Sanctuary, next to Loughton Lane there is a cast iron City of London Coal Duty post.
