River Ching Woodford Green and Hale End

The River Ching
The River Ching flows south west

Post to the north Highams Park
Post to the west Hale End
Post to the east Woodford Green

Alders Avenue
In the 1930s this area was a cricket ground, but bought for housing by the local authority after the Second World War.
Oakhill Primary School
Brookfield House School. Special School. It is on the site of Brookfield House
Brookfield House. This was a local middle class house, and home of the Armstrong family. In 1956 it was renamed Spackman House, an Essex County Council hostel for the elderly. This closed in 1990. The building was sold and demolished and there is now housing on the site.
Brookfield Orthopaedic Hospital.  The Hale End Red Cross Hospital for convalescent servicemen opened in 1915 in the grounds of Brookfield House, Oak Hill.  Armstrong had donated the land and money in memory of his son who had been killed in the war.  It was known as the Brookfield Red Cross Hospital and was maintained by the Hale End District Association, a ratepayers' association. It closed in 1919 after the war, and the building was used by Walthamstow Urban District Council for patients before transfer to Walthamstow Isolation Hospital. In 1923 it became the Brookfield Orthopaedic Hospital and School for Crippled Children but in 1936 it was moved away and the building demolished in the late 1950s. Brookfield House School opened on the site.

Brookfield Path
Old path and route to the Manor House.

Bunce's Lane
St Aubyn's School. This is yet another private establishment in what was originally Pyrmont House, a 19th stucco villa. The school was founded in 1884 and moved here in 1918.  It was originally sited opposite Bancroft’s School and 1919 the school was moved here. The headship was hereditary until 1993.

Gascoigne Gardens
This was an enclosure in the forest for which a Grant of Waste was made in 1758. Oak Hill Lodge was built here then and demolished in the 1920s. The current housing dates from 1928

The Green
Obelisk of Portland stone with concrete cannon balls at its base.
The Sweep – name of the pen space where the obelisk stands
Churchill statue. Statue of a Tory Prime Minister by Ivor Roberts Jones and said to be based on Rodin’s statue of Balzac.
Hurst House. Central block was built 1711- 1735 with later additions and there was fire damage in 1935, leading to some rebuilding. The property was also as the Naked Beauty after a statue by Italian sculptor Monti in the garden, which had since gone.

High Road
Said to follow the line of an old track through the forest. It was partly known as the ‘upper’ road. In 1721 the Middlesex and Essex turnpike trust was established to improve it from Whitechapel.  Lined with horse chestnut trees, dramatic in the springtime.
Salway Hill – now part of the High Road. Said to be named for Richard Salway
327 Physicals Fitness Club in 19th Entrance Lodge to `Pyrmont' House
Stables to Pyrmont. Now Woodlands Day Nursery.
Salway Evangelical Church was opened in 1933 by members of the Christian Brethren from Latchett Evangelical Church in South Woodford. It was first known as Salway Hall
Salway Close
The Cricketers. Pub
Pump – roadside water pump. Restored by local volunteers
Woodford County High School for Girls. The core facing across Woodford Green is Highams House, a smart neoclassical villa, built by William Newton for Anthony Bacon M.P, after 1764. It was enlarged in the 18th probably for William Hornby, ex- governor of Bombay. In 1783 it was owned by John Harman, the banker who commissioned Repton to improve the grounds.  His son sold it to the Warners.  It was a hospital in the Great War and a school from 1919 when it was bought by Essex County Council.
Woodford Rugby Club, on the Highams Park site.
Red granite drinking fountain under a shelter in the middle of the road at the junction with New Road. Erected by The Metropolitan Drinking fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
Churchill Lodge flats on Chingford Lane corrner. These replaced  a nurses home of 1951 on he sie of he Wilfred Lawson Temperence Hotel of 1883.

Mallinson Park Woods
White House.   This was originally part of the grounds of Highams and was built in 1906 for Lady Henry Somerset, and based on a design by C.F.A. Voysey. There have been later alterations, since a fire in 1983. In 1925 the estate was bought by timber merchant, Stuart Mallinson, who used it for political entertaining, and who also improved the gardens. From 1953 to 1981 he had developed an arboretum in front of the house featuring 128 trees planted by famous people, 1953-81. Converted in 2003 to a children's hospice – Haven House.

Mapperley Drive
Houses in an enclosure made in the forest in 1860. This was the site of Mapperley House, demolished in 1933.  Houses built 1936.

Nesta Road
Developed by Warner in 1932. Nesta was his wife

Oak Hill Road
County Hotel. This is on the site of Forest Lodge, which was built in 1852 and demolished in 1933. It was replaced by the Kingfisher swimming pool which was fed by a spring on the site. In 1964 it was joined by the Kingfisher Club.  This was demolished in 1973 and replaced by the current hotel.
Pevensey and Redlands. These, and two more houses Ridgewood and Hillands from 1966, are on the site of Oak Hill Cottage which was built in 1875 and demolished in 1900.

The Bridle Path
In the 15th the area between Oak Hill and Chingford Hatch, was called ‘Higham Bushes’ and in the 19th attempts were made to enclose it.  Objections by the Forest Court of Attachments retained the narrow strip of woodland that links The Bridle Path to the forest west of the lake as common land.
St. Patrick's Court Flats on the site of Scotchman’s Hoppitt which was at the junction with Oak Hill.. In 1667 this was a cottage and a brick kiln, with, eventually, 36 acres of brick works belonging to a John Russell. It included Tile Kiln House which was demolished in 1820. There are pits in this area from the various brick works and pieces of tile can be found. In the early 1880s four houses were built on the site by Warners, but since demolished.
Lodge Cottage, Victorian gothic cottage ornee at the entrance to White House woods

The Charter Road
Developed by Warner on part of the Highams Estate. He was the Charter Mayor of Walthamstow. It has typical houses of the 1920s with bow-fronted bay windows, designed by William and Edward Hunt for Warner's Law Land Building Company.
Michael Mallinson Scout Centre. Michael was the son of Stuart Mallinson owner of the White House. Stuart wanted to ensure that estate would continue to be used for the benefit of the community. Michael had been killed at Orsogna in 1944

Highams Park and Lake.
Boat house. This is at the south end and was built by Kenneth Robert John Ford. It is now owned by Waltham Forest South Scouts

Woodford New Road,

Built in 1829 so George IV could get to Newmarket very quickly although the Official report says the new road would be easier on horses. It was a turnpike road.
Old road – the, line of the predecessor road follows the horse ride in the forest to the west of the New Road.
St Margaret’s. House built over a number of dates with many alterations.

Sources
London Journal article re. Warners
Victoria County History. Woodford
Smyth. City Wildspace
Brookfield House School website
Lost Hospitals of London website
St.Aubins School website
British Listed Buildings website
Woodford High School website
Blackwood London's Immortals
Haven House website
Waltham Forest Scouts web site



Comments

Andrew_S_Hatton said…
A fabulous piece of work with much scholarship - thank you.

I think I noticed a typo -


"The Bridle Path
In the 15th the area between Oak Hill" - I suspect should be in the 15th Century -

thank you - I will gladly make a financial contribution in an attempt that this be saved for all time.
Unknown said…
Really interesting. I lived in Forest Drive from1947 until 1969. I remember both Forest Drive and Sky Peals Road being unmade. I also remember the Kingfisher pool in Oak Hill opening on 1st. May. Also the tank traps some of which are still in existence under Wadham my Bridge. Would be pleasedto exchange info with anyone who is interested
howardtolman@aol.com

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