River Lee - Low Hall Chingford

River Lee
The Lea flows southwards

Post to the west Picketts Lock
Post to the north George V
Post to the east Chingford

College Gardens
The college after which this is named is thought to be St. Egbert’s which was in The Ridgway in the 1920s.
Nursery - this opened in 1978 but has relocated to Ridgeway Gardens

Drysdale Avenue
Developed by the Drysdale Trust
62a Acorn Films. Where local events have been filmed since the 1950s.

Kings Head Hill
Named for the Kings Head pub which is further on at the top of the hill
The Royal Oak Pub. With King Charles II on the pub sign.

Laurel Gardens
Built on the site of a Laurel House

Lea Valley Road
The road was built in 1937 to replace the previous Marsh Lane
Chingford South Pumping Station. Electrical pumping station for the Girling reservoir. Built in the 1950s and very very plain. It was upgraded and extended in 2003/4 with the addition of seven buildings to enable the site to be used for water treatment facility. This also included access roads and fences

Low Street
General name for the settlement at the bottom of Kings Head Hill

Low Hall Close
This is roughly on the site of Low Hall Farm.  The lane beside the farm was also a stone causeway called White House Lane or Man Marsh Lane

Mansfield Hill
This was the area of a local field – the Manefield, meaning a  'common' field
Poplar Cottage was at the top and was a 19th girls school
Poplar Tree - by the park gate and near the site of Poplar Cottage
A sewage pumping station was set up here before 1894 by the Epping Rural Sanitary Authority
Mansfield Park

Nevin Drive
Nevin McGladdery was the Chair of Chingford UDC when the school was developed here
Chingford Foundation School. This was opened as Chingford County High School - a co-educational, selective grammar school - in 1938 but, because of the Second Wrold war, did not begin move here until 1941. It expanded in 1957 and became Chingford Senior High School in 1968 with a mixed-ability intake. In 1986, the name changed to Chingford School and in 1993 it became grant. A new Sixth Form Centre was opened in 1997. In 2000 it became a Foundation school.

Sewardstone Road
Was Low Street and one of the most important through roads in the area
Fountain Inn. A pub here dates from the 1950s but this is now a burger bar.

Waltham Way
A new road opened in 1950
Lea Valley Playing Field
Chingford Rugby Club. This was founded in 1928 by members of Chingford congregational church and called “Chingford Guild Rugby Club”. The ground was lent by a local milkman and members built a two changing rooms, plunge bath and stove. A double decker bus was used as a grandstand and players washed in a local piggery. This building was destroyed on VE night. They then used an old army until 1947 when they began to use the Rendezvous CafĂ© which was extended in 1960
Mount Echo Farm. This was opposite Low Hall Farm, and was an old farm site with a homestead moat.

William Girling Reservoir
Built by the Metropolitan Water Board and opened in 1951.
Chingford Airfield – the north eastern part of the reservoir is possibly the site of a Great War airfield used for training by the Royal Naval Air Service. Closed in 1919.

Sources
Acorn films. Web site
Airfields of Britain , Web site
Chingford Foundation School. Web site
Chingford As It Was
Chingford Rugby Club. Web,site
Exploring East London.  Web site
Lea and Stort Navigation. Web site
London's Water Supply. Met. Water Board
Neale. Chingford Water
Osborne. Defending London
Pevsner & Cherry. London North
Smith & Carr. Industrial Archaeology of Hertfordshire and the Lea Valley
Ray. Chingford Past
Victoria County History

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