Small River Lee - Waltham Cross
Small River Lee
The Small River Lee continues to flow southwards and is met by Theobald’s Brook from the West.
Trinity Marsh Ditch flows north into Theobald’s Brook
Post to the south Freezy Water
Post to the west Waltham Cross
Post to the north Waltham Cross
Post to the east Waltham Abbey
Abbey Road
Became part of the bypass road in the 1970s.
Alexandra Way
Holdbrook Primary School – small local primary school
Britannia Road
Jones Scrapyard once covered munch of this area and was used as a location in the film “Goldfinger”
Britannia Business Park
Steelcase. A metal furniture company originating from the USA.
Reynolds National Distribution Centre. In 1945 William Reynolds had a fruit and veg stall in Ridley Road Market, Hackney, and by the 1980s was supplying to restaurants in London and beyond. They later moved to Spitalfields market and since 2000 have opened a chain of depots throughout the country. This site was opened in 2005 under William’s grandson, Tony
White and Co., Removal business opened in Portsmouth in 1871. The business is still family owned with 200 vehicles. The firm started with passengers’ baggage from Atlantic liners and now undertakes all types of domestic and international removals with offices round the world.
Bryanstone Road
Britannia Nurseries
Railway goods yard – gates still in place. Industrial and trading area.
Cornwall Close
Recreation Ground
Eleanor Cross Road
Previously called Waltham Lane
Bus Station
Post office. Royal Mail depot
Conservative Club. Imperial Hall was a reading room and library given by Lady Meux in 1896. Boxing matches were held herein the 1940’s and in the 1960s pop music performers. A bar and dance hall was opened by Derek Walker-Smith, M.P. in 1974
55 Kentucky Fried Chicken. This site had been the Queens Head pub which was once a 19th cottage and has long been closed.
Railway Bridge, replaced a level crossing
Britannia Court flats. On the site of the Britannia pub which had an 18th core and was an old farmhouse
107-109 1840s house, in commercial use.
Eleanor Way
St Cyprian church was built in 1893 for Waltham New Town in a road then called The Crescent by John Crawter. for a time it was served by the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross, and a curate in order to serve people from the estate which replaced the New Town. This failed to happen and the church was closed in 1973
The Friary Care home. This appears to cover some of the site of St.Cyprian’s Church
High Street
214-224 Durkan House. Durkan are a building construction company. The building was previously known as Britannica House built in the 1960s on the site of the Maclanco sweet factory. Pan Britannica Industries was a small agrochemicals company best known for Baby Bio liquid plant food.
White Hart Court. On the site of a pub which dated from 1669
Greenfield House. 1750. Demolished. This 18th house stood on the east side of the street, at the junction which is now Monarch's Way. Prior to demolition it was owned by the County Council and used as a nursery school.
262 Temple Court flats on the site of Temple Bar pub
Kwick Fit. The site was once a blacksmiths founded in 1806 by James Mold and then the Morris family.
207 The Vine. A 16th timber-framed inn on a main route out of London. It was given a brick casing in the 18th but is now roughcast. Waltham Cross is a common variety of grape grown worldwide and developed at the Royal Nurseries slightly to the east of here in the 1860s. The pub itself operates on a different site nearby in a building from the 1970s. The original building is now used as offices.
The Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph. Built 1931 and Replaced 1857 church which is now at the rear. Eleanor Hall was used as the church but is now being replaced.
Hall behind the church which was the original St.Joseph’s School, since replaced. It was founded in 1900 with help from Lady Meux.
41A Bar Ab – it was previously The Happy Pig
Pavilions Shopping Centre. Built in the late 1960s.
Gallows sign for the Four Swans pub which was demolished for the development of the Pavilions Centre. The sign originally went across the street. The Swans date from 1858 and were elm but replaced in fibreglass moulded from the originals. The pub itself dated to 1606- although it is said to be where Eleanor’s body rested in 1291.
Electricity Company. Showrooms which were originally built for the North Metropolitan Electric Supply Company 1920s.
Eastern Gas Office and showroom. Originally built for the Cheshunt and Waltham Abbey Gas Company
The Cross. This was an ‘Eleanor Cross’. It was erected here in 1291 by Edward I in memory of his wife Eleanor of Castile whose body is said to have rested in the Four Swans Inn on the way from Nottinghamshire, where she died, to Westminster for burial. A cross was erected at each nightly stopping place but only three remain. They were erected to a basic design but with some variations. The original sculptor was Alexander of Abingdon, with masons Nicholas Dyminge de Reyne and Roger Crundale. The second and third stages were rebuilt in 1832-3 by W B Clarke and in 1885, under a committee formed by Sir Henry Bruce Meux roadway was altered and the replica of the Cross was carved from Ketton stone. It was again renovated in 1950-3, Thus much of it, including the statues, are replicas. It is a hexagon with the lowest stage with shields, arches, and gables. The middle stage has three statues in niches and the Third has single arches. The three-step base is surrounded by 19th iron railings
Falcon Pub. The original inn was right against the Eleanor Cross and protected it. It dated from at least 1617 and was a mail house and coach stop with a gallows sign across the street... It was demolished for the new road when the cross was refurbished and opened by Lady Meux in 1892. The Falcon was pulled down in 1974 to make way for new developments
Fishpools Furniture shop. In 1899 Ernest Fishpool set up his first shop. He originally sold clothes as well as furniture and he later moved to 162/164 High Street adjacent to the present shop at 109-115. After World War I two old army ambulances, became furniture delivery vehicles. In 1957 his grandson opened a warehouse and in 1981, a Watford branch. In 2002 the firm opened a Budget & Outlet Shop and then a further showroom expansion.
123 Waltham Cross Library
123 Castle pub. In 1763 called the Bird in Hand, 1756 Bird Cage. Became the Castle in 1853. Closed and gone.
78 Harold House. Brick house with plaque saying ‘1757’, fire mark for Royal Union fire insurance company and wrought iron gates.
Embassy Cinema. Thus was opened in 1937 having been built for the Shipman and King circuit and designed by Howis and Belcham with interior decoration by Mollo & Egan. It had a Christie organ previously in the Court Cinema, Berkhamsted. It was tripled in 1972 and a fourth screen added in the restaurant. It is now used for bingo operated by Gala having also been known as the Cannon.
77 Electric Palace Cinema was built by Captain Cecil Clayton of Turners Hill in 1912. Captain V A Haskett-Smith took it over in the 1920s and sold it to Shipman and King in 1931. The name was changed to The Regent. Unable to expand the owners built the Embassy nearby. The Regent closed in 1973 for bingo. The premises are now a shops and a health club.
Metal post with ‘BH’ which stands for Bethlehem Hospital, a major local landowner
Moon and Cross. Wetherspoon’s pub on the Site of Waltham House, home of novelist Anthony Trollope, 1859 -1871, where he wrote twenty-six novels. It was demolished in 1936.
Spital alms-houses. These stood on the east side of the street, near the boundary and the M25. Founded in 1600 they became part of the Beaumont Charity. Mew buildings were erected in 1908, but toilets and bathrooms were added at the back in the 1960's.
Toll gate cottage built at the site of the tollgate 1725-1869. Demolished.
Boundary House, stood on the Enfield boundary. In the 1970s it was demolished and became a caravan sales site – now under the M25.
Holdbrook Road
Holdbrook estate with 22 storey tower was a redevelopment of Waltham New Town. The town was built in 1860s for powder mill workers.
King Edward Road
Waltham Cross Baptist church. Founded in 1729 the church first met in the old palace at Theobald’s under Col.Packer, one of Cromwell’s officers. After the Five Mile Act of 1665 they had to meet in Epping Forest but after the Toleration Aft of 1689 things were easier. A meeting house was built on the site of the present Chapel in what was then Paradise Row and it was paid for by local fundraising. Baptism was in the local stream. A manse was built in 1769 – demolished for flats in 1961. The present building was erected in 1836 following, again, local fund raising.
Four Swannes Primary School. Built on the playing fields of Kings Road School.
Kings Road
Kings Road Junior and Infant School was built in 1913 by the County Council. The main building was destroyed by fire in 1976, after it was closed in 1975, and Four Swannes School was built to replace it.
New Ford Road
Industrial and trading estates with some housing.
Railway Road
Gas works. The works was originally built by a John Brown and taken over in 1867 by the Waltham Abbey and Cheshunt Gas Company. In 1928 it was taken over by the Tottenham and District Gas Company. Nationalised in 1947 it became part of the Eastern Gas Board but remaining under Tottenham. A gas holder on the site was built in 1880
Foundry Gate - site of Enfield Foundry Company Limited. Founded in 1932 by DG Bisset, the Company built their recent reputation on producing specialist high-conductivity copper, non-ferrous and iron alloy castings. In 2001 they moved to Braintree.
28 plaque with 'Salvation is the Lord'.
Royal Avenue
Site of the Royal Avenue Nurseries. The Paul family had had nurseries in the area since 1806 with an emphasis on rose growing. In 1860 son George Paul open Royal Nurseries here south of Trinity Lane. Waltham Cross grapevine was certificated in 1871 to William Paul by the Royal Horticultural Society. The nursery was taken over by Chaplin Bros., before 1924.
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School. Built in the late 1960s and replace an earlier school in Eleanor Road
Stanhope Road
Cheshunt Boys Club
Waltham Cross Clinic. Built in the 1930s. An interesting art deco building
Station Road
Waltham Cross Station. Opened 1840 Northern and Eastern Railway opened as Waltham. It now lies Between Cheshunt and Enfield Lock stations. In 1885 the station was resited and the name changed to Waltham Cross (and Abbey) . It was modernised in the 1960s and original buildings demolished.
Dugout canoe was excavated from east of here
Swanfield Road
Named because of a common field with that name
2-40, 1-39 Villas with crests on the gables
York road
Built as part of development of Queen Eleanor estate built in the 1870s and 1880s
Old labour exchange
The Small River Lee continues to flow southwards and is met by Theobald’s Brook from the West.
Trinity Marsh Ditch flows north into Theobald’s Brook
Post to the south Freezy Water
Post to the west Waltham Cross
Post to the north Waltham Cross
Post to the east Waltham Abbey
Abbey Road
Became part of the bypass road in the 1970s.
Alexandra Way
Holdbrook Primary School – small local primary school
Britannia Road
Jones Scrapyard once covered munch of this area and was used as a location in the film “Goldfinger”
Britannia Business Park
Steelcase. A metal furniture company originating from the USA.
Reynolds National Distribution Centre. In 1945 William Reynolds had a fruit and veg stall in Ridley Road Market, Hackney, and by the 1980s was supplying to restaurants in London and beyond. They later moved to Spitalfields market and since 2000 have opened a chain of depots throughout the country. This site was opened in 2005 under William’s grandson, Tony
White and Co., Removal business opened in Portsmouth in 1871. The business is still family owned with 200 vehicles. The firm started with passengers’ baggage from Atlantic liners and now undertakes all types of domestic and international removals with offices round the world.
Bryanstone Road
Britannia Nurseries
Railway goods yard – gates still in place. Industrial and trading area.
Cornwall Close
Recreation Ground
Eleanor Cross Road
Previously called Waltham Lane
Bus Station
Post office. Royal Mail depot
Conservative Club. Imperial Hall was a reading room and library given by Lady Meux in 1896. Boxing matches were held herein the 1940’s and in the 1960s pop music performers. A bar and dance hall was opened by Derek Walker-Smith, M.P. in 1974
55 Kentucky Fried Chicken. This site had been the Queens Head pub which was once a 19th cottage and has long been closed.
Railway Bridge, replaced a level crossing
Britannia Court flats. On the site of the Britannia pub which had an 18th core and was an old farmhouse
107-109 1840s house, in commercial use.
Eleanor Way
St Cyprian church was built in 1893 for Waltham New Town in a road then called The Crescent by John Crawter. for a time it was served by the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross, and a curate in order to serve people from the estate which replaced the New Town. This failed to happen and the church was closed in 1973
The Friary Care home. This appears to cover some of the site of St.Cyprian’s Church
High Street
214-224 Durkan House. Durkan are a building construction company. The building was previously known as Britannica House built in the 1960s on the site of the Maclanco sweet factory. Pan Britannica Industries was a small agrochemicals company best known for Baby Bio liquid plant food.
White Hart Court. On the site of a pub which dated from 1669
Greenfield House. 1750. Demolished. This 18th house stood on the east side of the street, at the junction which is now Monarch's Way. Prior to demolition it was owned by the County Council and used as a nursery school.
262 Temple Court flats on the site of Temple Bar pub
Kwick Fit. The site was once a blacksmiths founded in 1806 by James Mold and then the Morris family.
207 The Vine. A 16th timber-framed inn on a main route out of London. It was given a brick casing in the 18th but is now roughcast. Waltham Cross is a common variety of grape grown worldwide and developed at the Royal Nurseries slightly to the east of here in the 1860s. The pub itself operates on a different site nearby in a building from the 1970s. The original building is now used as offices.
The Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph. Built 1931 and Replaced 1857 church which is now at the rear. Eleanor Hall was used as the church but is now being replaced.
Hall behind the church which was the original St.Joseph’s School, since replaced. It was founded in 1900 with help from Lady Meux.
41A Bar Ab – it was previously The Happy Pig
Pavilions Shopping Centre. Built in the late 1960s.
Gallows sign for the Four Swans pub which was demolished for the development of the Pavilions Centre. The sign originally went across the street. The Swans date from 1858 and were elm but replaced in fibreglass moulded from the originals. The pub itself dated to 1606- although it is said to be where Eleanor’s body rested in 1291.
Electricity Company. Showrooms which were originally built for the North Metropolitan Electric Supply Company 1920s.
Eastern Gas Office and showroom. Originally built for the Cheshunt and Waltham Abbey Gas Company
The Cross. This was an ‘Eleanor Cross’. It was erected here in 1291 by Edward I in memory of his wife Eleanor of Castile whose body is said to have rested in the Four Swans Inn on the way from Nottinghamshire, where she died, to Westminster for burial. A cross was erected at each nightly stopping place but only three remain. They were erected to a basic design but with some variations. The original sculptor was Alexander of Abingdon, with masons Nicholas Dyminge de Reyne and Roger Crundale. The second and third stages were rebuilt in 1832-3 by W B Clarke and in 1885, under a committee formed by Sir Henry Bruce Meux roadway was altered and the replica of the Cross was carved from Ketton stone. It was again renovated in 1950-3, Thus much of it, including the statues, are replicas. It is a hexagon with the lowest stage with shields, arches, and gables. The middle stage has three statues in niches and the Third has single arches. The three-step base is surrounded by 19th iron railings
Falcon Pub. The original inn was right against the Eleanor Cross and protected it. It dated from at least 1617 and was a mail house and coach stop with a gallows sign across the street... It was demolished for the new road when the cross was refurbished and opened by Lady Meux in 1892. The Falcon was pulled down in 1974 to make way for new developments
Fishpools Furniture shop. In 1899 Ernest Fishpool set up his first shop. He originally sold clothes as well as furniture and he later moved to 162/164 High Street adjacent to the present shop at 109-115. After World War I two old army ambulances, became furniture delivery vehicles. In 1957 his grandson opened a warehouse and in 1981, a Watford branch. In 2002 the firm opened a Budget & Outlet Shop and then a further showroom expansion.
123 Waltham Cross Library
123 Castle pub. In 1763 called the Bird in Hand, 1756 Bird Cage. Became the Castle in 1853. Closed and gone.
78 Harold House. Brick house with plaque saying ‘1757’, fire mark for Royal Union fire insurance company and wrought iron gates.
Embassy Cinema. Thus was opened in 1937 having been built for the Shipman and King circuit and designed by Howis and Belcham with interior decoration by Mollo & Egan. It had a Christie organ previously in the Court Cinema, Berkhamsted. It was tripled in 1972 and a fourth screen added in the restaurant. It is now used for bingo operated by Gala having also been known as the Cannon.
77 Electric Palace Cinema was built by Captain Cecil Clayton of Turners Hill in 1912. Captain V A Haskett-Smith took it over in the 1920s and sold it to Shipman and King in 1931. The name was changed to The Regent. Unable to expand the owners built the Embassy nearby. The Regent closed in 1973 for bingo. The premises are now a shops and a health club.
Metal post with ‘BH’ which stands for Bethlehem Hospital, a major local landowner
Moon and Cross. Wetherspoon’s pub on the Site of Waltham House, home of novelist Anthony Trollope, 1859 -1871, where he wrote twenty-six novels. It was demolished in 1936.
Spital alms-houses. These stood on the east side of the street, near the boundary and the M25. Founded in 1600 they became part of the Beaumont Charity. Mew buildings were erected in 1908, but toilets and bathrooms were added at the back in the 1960's.
Toll gate cottage built at the site of the tollgate 1725-1869. Demolished.
Boundary House, stood on the Enfield boundary. In the 1970s it was demolished and became a caravan sales site – now under the M25.
Holdbrook Road
Holdbrook estate with 22 storey tower was a redevelopment of Waltham New Town. The town was built in 1860s for powder mill workers.
King Edward Road
Waltham Cross Baptist church. Founded in 1729 the church first met in the old palace at Theobald’s under Col.Packer, one of Cromwell’s officers. After the Five Mile Act of 1665 they had to meet in Epping Forest but after the Toleration Aft of 1689 things were easier. A meeting house was built on the site of the present Chapel in what was then Paradise Row and it was paid for by local fundraising. Baptism was in the local stream. A manse was built in 1769 – demolished for flats in 1961. The present building was erected in 1836 following, again, local fund raising.
Four Swannes Primary School. Built on the playing fields of Kings Road School.
Kings Road
Kings Road Junior and Infant School was built in 1913 by the County Council. The main building was destroyed by fire in 1976, after it was closed in 1975, and Four Swannes School was built to replace it.
New Ford Road
Industrial and trading estates with some housing.
Railway Road
Gas works. The works was originally built by a John Brown and taken over in 1867 by the Waltham Abbey and Cheshunt Gas Company. In 1928 it was taken over by the Tottenham and District Gas Company. Nationalised in 1947 it became part of the Eastern Gas Board but remaining under Tottenham. A gas holder on the site was built in 1880
Foundry Gate - site of Enfield Foundry Company Limited. Founded in 1932 by DG Bisset, the Company built their recent reputation on producing specialist high-conductivity copper, non-ferrous and iron alloy castings. In 2001 they moved to Braintree.
28 plaque with 'Salvation is the Lord'.
Royal Avenue
Site of the Royal Avenue Nurseries. The Paul family had had nurseries in the area since 1806 with an emphasis on rose growing. In 1860 son George Paul open Royal Nurseries here south of Trinity Lane. Waltham Cross grapevine was certificated in 1871 to William Paul by the Royal Horticultural Society. The nursery was taken over by Chaplin Bros., before 1924.
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School. Built in the late 1960s and replace an earlier school in Eleanor Road
Stanhope Road
Cheshunt Boys Club
Waltham Cross Clinic. Built in the 1930s. An interesting art deco building
Station Road
Waltham Cross Station. Opened 1840 Northern and Eastern Railway opened as Waltham. It now lies Between Cheshunt and Enfield Lock stations. In 1885 the station was resited and the name changed to Waltham Cross (and Abbey) . It was modernised in the 1960s and original buildings demolished.
Dugout canoe was excavated from east of here
Swanfield Road
Named because of a common field with that name
2-40, 1-39 Villas with crests on the gables
York road
Built as part of development of Queen Eleanor estate built in the 1870s and 1880s
Old labour exchange
Comments