Bell Common is a hamlet in the

Epping Forest District Epping Forest District is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named after the ancient woodland of Epping Forest, a large part of which lies within the district. The district covers northeastern parts of the urban area of London ...

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It lies south of the town of Epping and north of the Ambresbury Banks archaeological site. Its former name, Beacon Common, is attributed to a story about an ancient beacon erected at Bell Common by locals to alert them in the event of invasion. Its green space is retained undeveloped due to the

Epping Forest Act 1878 During the middle of the nineteenth century, a number of initiatives were started to protect the rights of the public to use open spaces and for the areas to be conserved for their specific environmental features. Some notable people of the tim ...

The settlement has a number of listed buildings, including The Black Cottage and 115-7 Bell Common.

Tunnel

The Bell Common Tunnel is a covered section of the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

in Bell Common. The tunnel was constructed between 1982 and 1984 using the

cut and cover A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

method. The tunnel is 470 meters long. It lies between junctions 26 and 27 on the M25. The construction of the roadway was protested by campaigns against the M25, including by members of the West Essex Rambler's Association and the Upshire Village Preservation Society. The public inquiry which followed was, per the Epping Forest Guardian, "at that time, the longest public inquiry in road planning history". While the tunnel was under construction the local cricket club were forced to temporarily relocate. The grounds and club were later reinstated. The tunnel began a £90.4m Highways Agency refurbishment in 2008 to replace various equipment and the ventilation system. It was reopened in March 2010. A report for the

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

by the Western Transportation Institute describes the Bell Common Tunnel as "designed to enable animal movements above a major Highway". A report for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council also says the covered tunnel "assisted in mitigating the community, landscape and ecological severance caused by running the M25 through Epping Forest."

References

{{reflist Epping Forest District