A 90 year-old volunteer has helped to set the history books straight after a decade of volunteering at the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge.

Stanley Shepard, of Kimberley Road, Chingford, who has dedicated the last ten years to the historical building, says that he has had a life time love affair with it.

He said: “I do it because I am very much in love with the place. I first visited it in 1928, when I was five years old.

“One the first Saturday of each month I walk up to the lodge and spend the day there.

“It is like a puzzle and there is so much that we are yet to find out.”

Stanley’s role within the team at the lodge proved to be vital when he helped to uncover a historical error.

It has long been believed that the lodge was used as a dwelling, but thanks to the research of Stanley and the rest of the staff, it has been proven that this is not the case.

He said: “The guide books up until now have talked in terms of people living there, but six months ago we discovered proof that they were not.

"The census showed that the lodge was empty and that there was a cottage nearby for dwelling that was knocked down when a road was built.”

Stanley’s work was recently praised by the City of London Corporation, which is responsible for Epping Forest.