Epping Town Football Club is a football club based in Epping,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England, currently playing in the .

History

First incarnation

The original Epping Town were formed in 1888, winning the Woodford & District League in 1913 and 1920. The club joined Division Two East of the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establi ...

in 1936. They moved into the Premier Division of the London League in 1955, and were Premier Division champions in 1963–64, the league's last season. They then became founder members of the

Greater London League The Greater London League was a football league for clubs in and around London. It was formed in 1964 by a merger of the London League and the Aetolian League, after the two leagues had run a joint league cup the previous season due to both strug ...

, and were placed in the "A" section. A seventh-place finish in 1964–65 was enough to earn a place in the Premier Division the following season. In 1966–67 they won the league, before joining the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Metropolitan–London League The Metropolitan–London League was a short-lived football league for clubs in and around London. It was formed in 1971 by a merger of the Greater London League and the Metropolitan League (which had lost several clubs to the Southern League). I ...

, which Epping won at the first attempt. The following season they were runners-up, before winning a second title in 1973–74. They then joined Division Two of the

Athenian League The Athenian League was an England, English amateur association football, football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football ...

, which they won in 1975–76 to earn promotion to Division One. After finishing sixth in Division One the following season, they moved up to Division Two of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

. The club resigned from the league at the end of the 1984–85 season due to financial problems and their record was expunged.Epping FC (1) 1 v Letchworth Garden City Eagles (0) 2
Football Grounds in Focus Epping Town played their final game on 2 May 1985, losing 7–0 at home to Leyton-Wingate.

Second incarnation

Whilst the original Epping Town were in the Athenian League in the 1970s, Coopersale, formed in 1948, competed in the

Essex Olympian League The Essex Olympian Football League is a football competition based in England, founded in the 1966–67 season. It has a total of six senior divisions and one under 21 division. The Premier Division sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National ...

. In 1992, seven years after the demise of Epping Town, the club changed their name to Eppingsale. In 1999 the club again changed name, this time to Epping. In 2018 the club renamed themselves Epping Town. In 2021 they were promoted from Division Two to Division One of the Essex Olympian League. However, the finished second-from-bottom of Division One in 2023–24 and were relegated back to Division Two.

Ground

The original Epping Town club played at Stonards Hill in Epping, moving to the site in 1948 after playing at Bury Lane. In 1974, floodlights were installed at Stonards Hill. The second incarnation of Epping Town also used Stonards Hill as their ground until 2020, before Epping Town Council refused to renew the license for the club to play at the site, forcing Epping Town to groundshare with Epping Upper Clapton Rugby Football Club at Upland Road in Thornwood. In 2023, the club returned to Stonards Hill after a merger with Epping Youth.

Honours

*London League **Premier Division champions 1963–64 *Greater London League **Premier Division champions 1966–67 *Athenian League **Division Two champions 1975–76 *Metropolitan League **Champions 1970–71 *Metropolitan–London League **Division One champions 1971–72, 1973–74

Records

*Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 1973–74 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

performance: Fifth round replay, 1976–77

References

{{coord, 51.70277, N, 0.122278, E, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Essex Spartan League London League (football) Greater London League Metropolitan League Metropolitan–London League Athenian League Isthmian League clubs Essex Olympian Football League Epping, Essex Association football clubs established in 1888 Association football clubs established in 1948 Association football clubs established in 2018 1888 establishments in England 1948 establishments in England 2018 establishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 1985 1985 disestablishments in England