Channelsea River - Stratford
Channelsea River,
Waterworks River
Channelsea River, and the Waterworks River flow south east
The Great Eastern Railway to Ilford coming from Bethnal Green Station goes northwards into Stratford Station and leaves running north west.
This page contains a very substantial
part of the Olympic park and the Westfield Shopping Centre– it is proposed at
this stage to ignore this, so the page reflects the area before this work
started
Post to the west Hackney Wick
Channelsea River, and the Waterworks River flow south east
The Great Eastern Railway to Ilford coming from Bethnal Green Station goes northwards into Stratford Station and leaves running north west.
This page contains a very substantial
part of the Olympic park and the Westfield Shopping Centre– it is proposed at
this stage to ignore this, so the page reflects the area before this work
started
Post to the west Hackney Wick
Post to the east Stratford
Post to the north Hudson Town
Angel Lane
This was once a major shopping street. It once went down to the Broadway
and there were lots of side streets off it
131 The Railway Tavern designed by Henry Poston, 1897.
Angel Lane Bridge. 19th bridge now replaced. There is likely to have been am earlier bridge crossing the railway from 1839. The present bridge is deck and parapet walls are made of wrought-iron plate girders. The line under the bridge is not in a cutting.
Mechanics Institute. The Great Eastern Railway Mechanics Institution was opened in Angel Lane in 1851 as the Eastern Counties Railway Mechanics Institute, it moved to new buildings in 1877. This original building was on the south west corner of Angel Lane Bridge.
Angel Lane Market – market stalls in the Mall are a relic of this
Eastern Counties Goods Station
Eastern Counties Railway Station. A station at Angel Lane was on the first Eastern Counties Railway line between Devonshire Road and Romford in 1839.
Bridge Road
Stratford High Street Station entrance. The line runs alongside the road and was once the waiting area for Stratford Market Station.
7 Methodist Chapel - The Fathers Free Church was a split from the local Methodist Chapel in 1852 with a new building in 1860. It closed in 1907 and was subsequently used by the Elim Four Square Gospel Alliance. In 1912 it became The Cinematograph Hall converted by A. Smith. In 1913 it was re-named New Crown Cinema Theatre, but closed in 1914. It was re-opened in 1917 as the Ideal Cinema, but was finally closed in 1918. Since demolished
14 Railway Tavern. This was once a pub serving Stratford Market. It closed in the 1970s and become Reflections Nightclub which itself closed in 2005. The pub is standing alone and semi derelict.
Byrant Street
Housing on the north side covers the site of some of Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End based in West Ham Lane.
Carpenters Road
The Worshipful Company of Carpenters purchased "a farm in 1767 consisting of 63 acres of marsh land. The building of the railway through the area led to the Company leasing the land for industrial and residential use. Some factories and warehouses were built by the Company, as was some housing. Much of this was destroyed by Second World War bombing. In the 1960s the housing was purchased by the local authority,
17 Carpenters Arms. The name relates to land ownership by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. The pub dates from the late 19th but the building is more modern.
Goswell Works. Jenson & Nicholson. Makers of 'Robbialac', varnishes, lacquers, wood finishes. The firm was founded in 1821 by William Kingham in the City of London where they specialised in the manufacture of carriage varnish. The firm moved several times but came to Stratford in the 1870s after a fire in their works at Goswell Road. 'Robbialac' was invented for an Italian client who wanted a blue-white finish like that used by Della Robbia. In the 20th they made adhesives to fixing cork tips on cigarettes, sou’wester varnish compound, 'dope' for greaseproof paper, and much else. They worked on chemical warfare in the Second World War; making varnish used in burn treatment, surface treatment for barrage balloons, camouflage paints, etc. Some of the works was destroyed in bombing, and their machines worked in the open air. They later developed many new paints - a paint for adhesion to metal alloys, the wrinkled effect used on camera cases, industrial varnish compounded to withstand high voltages, lacquers for insides of tins and much else. In the 1960's they became part of the Berger, Jenson & Nicholson Group.
S.H.Johnson Engineering Works. This was a complex of buildings between Carpenters Road and the Waterworks River. Johnson, made plant for the chemical industry, including pumps and filter presses. It had been founded in 1876 and later became part of Johnson Progress Engineering Ltd. Their name was shown in very fine cast iron lettering on the front of the building.
Carpenters' Company boundary post. Dated 1849. Across the road from Berger, Jenson & Nicholson.
Yardley of London. William Yardley died in 1824 when his premises for supplying Lavender, Cosmetics and Soap were in Bloomsbury. The firm moved to Stratford in 1904. A box factory was also built-in the High Street in 1937. In the Second World War the works was bombed and output was severely restricted. In 1942 part of the building was given over to the manufacture of components for light aircraft, and the making of sea-water purification tablets. The box factory made anti-radar devices and aircraft flare tubes. The factories moved to Basildon Essex in 1966 and Yardley are now a subsidiary of the British. American Tobacco Company. Demolished. Before demolition this was the Acme Studios with Rachel Whitbread
London Spinning Mills. This mill stood from the mid 19th well into the 20th on the south side of the road south of the railway. It was owned by William Ritchie who also had a jute spinning mill. Clepington Works, in Dundee. Thus jute was also spun in Stratford to make sacks and bags
London Match Works. 1890s
Hudson Bay Works 1890s
Photogenic Gas Works. Thus was south east of the road fronting onto the Waterworks River. The company hoped to exploit a process for making brighter gas lights through a process developed by a M. Mongurel involving a special generator and an unspecified compound. Although the company was wound up as early as 1862 a’ hydrogen’ works remained on this site into the mid-20th.
Star Works 1890s
92 Kensington Works. Potted meat factory in 1916. This was the Exel sausage factory, taken over by Telfers Pies
Carpenter’s Road Goods Depot
John Wilton Candle Co. 1839-1896. The firm then became Vinolia, who were also Blondeau et Cie. Closed 1907 and taken over by Lever Bros. The name ‘VINOLIA’ was painted on the end wall of a building to mark the Vinolia Soap Works here from 1898-1907 when they moved to Port Sunlight. Somehow the name survived two wars!
W.J.Cearns. From 1913 made iron buildings of every kind (churches to cottages), later building contractors and steel fabricators.
Frederick Samuel Moll. Perfume maker. 1876 -93
C.W.Schmidt, (F. A. Glaeser) varnish and japan, 1886-1912. The Company was established in 1878 and in 1914 were manufacturers of varnish, japan, enamel and washable distemper. - Alhambra white japan, "Sanatomur" washable distemper and "Stratolor" washable distemper and "Separol" varnish and paint remover. Became London Varnish Enamel
Channelsea
River which is a tributary of the River Lea. It is thought to be an artificial channel and might have been dug c 895 for Alfred the Great as a defence structure against the Danes.
The Channelsea flows under Stratford Station. It was diverted in the 19th by the Great Eastern Railway, and again during construction of the Jubilee Line Station in the 1990s. It originally ran from north-west of the station, on a line under the current Jubilee Line station, to meet the existing course east of Jupp Road.
Chant Square.
St. John's National school was opened in 1835 but in 1872 new buildings, with accommodation for 831, were built here because of problems with noise in the previous building,. The school was reorganized in 1938 for mixed juniors and infants and finally closed in 1947.
Chapel Street
Now gone.
Site of A. T. Morse Sons & Co., paint, varnish, and distemper makers in Chapel Street from after 1890 until 1920
Gibbins Road
The curve in the road follows the railway line from Stratford Station to the line to Canning Town. Samuel Gibbins was Master of the Carpenters Company in the 1880s.
96 Carpenters and Docklands Centre. A youth, community and social centre providing services to local residents. It has a sports hall, judo training room, multi-gym and meeting rooms. It
developed from Carpenters’ Institute,
established in the 1920s as a club for residents around the Carpenters Company's
Stratford estate. The Company continues to provide financial support,
Great Eastern Road
Great Eastern Road ran originally from the Grove to Stratford Goods Station in Angel lane. In the late 1960s- early 1970s it was cut through to Stratford Broadway at its junction with the High Street in order to produce a bypass for northbound traffic on the then A11 – creating an island where the Stratford Centre was subsequently built.
Railway Tree. At the junction with the Broadway. This is steel girders are shaped like railway lines and aligned by the compass points Sculpted by Malcolm Robertson. The steel girders are shaped like railway lines. To remind us of the railway.
Stratford Station. Opened in 1839. It now lies between Mile End and Leyton on the Central Line; between Hackney Wick and West Ham on the North London Line; from Pudding Mill Lane on the Docklands Light Railway; on the Jubilee Line from West Ham and on Main Line services from Liverpool Street. In 1839 Stratford station was a junction on the Eastern Counties Railway line between Devonshire Road, Mile End and Romford on a site in Angel Lane east of present station. In 1840 it was joined by the Northern and Eastern Railway line to Broxbourne. The 19th station was in the north-west part of the present station and original buildings survived between platforms 10a and 11, including a subway at the east end of platform 3/5. A workmen’s subway lay further east. In 1846 a branch opened to Barking Road (Canning Town), extended to North Woolwich and in 1854 to Victoria Park using a low-level station called the North London Station. In 1856 Eastern Counties Railway opened a line to Woodford and Loughton. By 1863 the Eastern Counties was known as the Great Eastern Railway. In 1889 the line to Palace Gates was opened; it closed in 1963. In 1946 Central Line opened taking over much of the Great Eastern line to Leyton and Ongar. In 1963 the connection to Palace Gates closed. In 1987 the Docklands Light Railway Was added and in 1999 the Jubilee Line. In the 1990s reconstruction turned the station to face Stratford town centre and created a transport interchange for five railway lines and a bus station. The Jubilee Line extension used the old Low Level station and was designed by Troughton McAslan.
Forecourt Sculpture, ‘Time Twist by Malcolm Benson, 1996 as a contorted steel clock tower. Relocated to Maryland Station.
Robert, a 1933 industrial tank locomotive. But which was built in Bristol – so no local connections.
Bus station. This opened in 1994 and has five stands include long distance coach stands. It was designed by Soji Abass and when it rains, the water is taken away down the middle of the supporting pillars
The Shoal. A sculpture which is nearly half a kilometre long. Designed by Studio Egret West, it has a series of up-lit titanium leaves mounted on sixteen all poles. This is the largest kinetic sculpture in the world.
Stratford Centre. This shopping mall was built by Ravenseft Properties Ltd in 1974. A rebuilding of 1971-3 by T.R Bennett provided office towers, and a multi-storey car park. A public right of way through it – on the line of Angel Lane – means it is open access round the clock. It had 62 retail units plus a small market stall area
E.J. Davis general engineers. 1901-1955.
Grove Crescent Road.
Maryland Works. This had a pedimented front with a clock in the centre spelling out its name. It was built for Young and Marten, builders' merchants whose main domed premises were originally at the junction of The Grove, the Broadway and Romford Road. Now demolished replaced by the Stratford Eye.
The Sanctuary. Christ the Redeemer bible college. Tom Allen Centre. A ministry of the Redeemed Christian Church of God which was established in Lagos, Nigeria in 1952. The church bought the permanent site at Tom Allen Centre in 1996. This had been an arts centre which had been closed down. It was originally a settlement of Trinity College Oxford, built after the Great War. Tom Allen was a former head of Centre. After the Second World War it was rebuilt as St. Helens Women's Settlement.
High Street
Roman Road
302 The Builder's Arms. Building of 1937 with foliage decoration and hoppers marked 'BB'
306 West Ham Labour Party offices, a 1930s facade with faience-clad walls.
375 Essex House. On the roof are the 'Salamanca Eagles'. The 2nd Battalion 44th (East Essex) Regiment captured the Eagle, at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 and it was later carried on parade by the Essex Regiment. Built 1901 by J.H. Gladwell who had offices here.
379-81 was built as a furnishing warehouse, with large arched display windows on first floor.
383 Discovery Centre. By S.B. Russell, originally the Alexandra Temperance Hotel Designed by SB Russell and TE Cooper in 1901 a residence for London workers employed in Stratford's expanding industries. It had 42 bedrooms, 1st and 2nd Class dining rooms for 200 people, with the added bonus of 'Palms & Music'. It also had a billiard hall and became, in 1914, the Officer's Mess for the West Ham battalion. Ground floor with large moulded arches and an absence of sculptural detail must have been the victim of economy
389-397 Magistrates Court, built 1994 by Roughton & Partners; project architect Paul Manripp. In pinkish reconstituted stone.
401, 1913 by C.J. Dawson for the London and South Western Bank. Polished granite ground floor, stone dressings and pointed dormers.
403 is 'cut-price Ruskinian Gothic.'
411-13, the old Post Office by the Office of Works, with coronets in the windows.
415 Burrow’s House. Originally Parr's Bank built 1897-8, probably by Frederick Pinches. It is in brick with a Banking hall with panelled ceiling and a medallion portrait of Queen Victoria. It is now called Burrows House.
Turnpike. In 1724 a New Turnpike was built here by the Middlesex & Essex Turnpike Trust.
Turnpike Row. Walter Hancock’s steam carriage works 1824-40. His workshop was probably south of the Stratford High Street by his house in Turnpike Row. One of the three Hancock brothers, between 1824 and 1836, Hancock built here a number of steam road vehicles and in 1827 Hancock patented a steam boiler that would split rather than explode. In 1829 he built a ten-seater bus called Infant, which in 1831 began a regular service between Stratford and London and later to Brighton. In 1833 Hancock’s steam omnibus The Enterprise began a regular service between London Wall and Paddington the first such service. Gutta Percha. This was brought to England in the 1830s and attracted interest from Michael Faraday, as an electrical insulator, Thomas Hancock. In 1845 Henry Bewley set up the Gutta Percha Co here with banker Samuel Gurney. They made a wide range of resin based products and were later joined by Charles Hancock and Walter Hancock, later moving to Islington. By 1848 Charles Hancock had set up a rival West Ham Gutta Percha Co exploiting his invention of it as a cable insulator
Rex Cinema - Borough Theatre. This was opened in 1896 as the Borough Theatre and Opera House. It seated 3,000 and was designed by Frank Matcham, in a Jacobean style. In 1933 it closed and sold to Essell Cinemas and George Coles tuned it into a modern cinema by re-facing the corner entrance and creating a 1,889 seat Art Deco auditorium with A Wurlitzer organ from Cleveland, Ohio. It re-opened as the Rex Cinema in 1934. In 1935 it was taken over by Associated British Cinemas and they operated it until closure in 1969. It was converted into a bingo club until 1974 when it screened Asian films. It was then empty for 21 years. In 1996 the stage house and dressing room block were demolished and a new high-tech unit was built and the rest of the building was restored to its 1934 condition as a venue for concerts, and a nightclub. It closed in 2007 following a bankruptcy but reopened in 2009 as the Rex Music Arena. It was then closed again. There is a plaque with Beethoven’s head on the facade
Stratford Market Station. Opened in 1847. This was built by the Eastern Counties Railway. Originally it was Stratford Bridge station on the line from Stratford to North Woolwich. In 1880 became Stratford Market station. . In 1891-2 it was rebuilt for the Great Eastern Railway to serve the fruit and vegetable market to the rear... In 1957 it was closed. There is a bronze O/S benchmark inset on the side of the station building in Bridge Road. The rear of it is now the Stratford High Street station of the Docklands Light Railway.
Jupp Road
Footbridge between here and Station Street over the Jubilee and Overground lines. On it are pictures of trains and buses over the ages.
Telephone Exchange. This exchange was originally MARyland
The Carpenters' Company institute, founded in 1886, closed in 1905. It had provided educational and sports activities.
Baths. When the Carpenters institute closed the council took over the baths and used them until 1934.
Kennard Road
Building Crafts College. This is owned by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. The College was founded in 1893 and for 100 years operated from the Building Crafts Training School, in central London. In 2001 they moved to this brand new and larger building.
Pitchford Road
John Pitchford was a Roman Catholic, son of a Norwich surgeon. He was a close associate of the Quaker Frys who lived in Plaistow and had connections to the local chemical industry,
70 Bakers Arms. Closed 2007 and now housing
Rokeby School – the school has moved and the site is now used for filming. It was a boys’ secondary school.
Railway
Stratford Station in Great Eastern Street
Stratford International Station. The station opened in 2009 for the South Eastern main line services and the Docklands Light Railway. It station itself is located in the Olympic Park and is on the High Speed railway between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet.
Locomotive works. The Northern and Eastern Railway had set up a small repair facility in 1840 and this was leased by the Eastern Counties Railway which transferred their workshops and factory here from Squirrels Heath in 1847. In 1850, under Superintendent John Gooch, the first locomotive was manufactured and over the next 70 years 1682 more were produced as well as 5,500 passenger vehicles and 33,000 goods wagons. Under James Holden in 1891 a locomotive was made in a record 9 hours and 47 minutes. From 1923 the works was primarily a repair depot which eventually closed in 1991. The works included a hydraulic pumping station, a round house called The Polygon, an oil gas plant to provide lighting on trains
The Eastern Counties Railway was incorporated in 1836 intending to like London to Norwich. Construction began in 1837. The railway opened in 1839 with a train service between Mile End and Romford, with Stratford as an intermediate station, now part of the Great Eastern Main Line. In 1840 it was extended to Brentwood and to Bishopsgate at the London end. In 1843 the line reached Colchester. In 1862 it became part of the Great Eastern Railway.
The Northern & Eastern Railway was part of an 1833 scheme for a railway from Islington to York. In In 1836 Parliament approved the route as far as Cambridge but this was reduced to a line between Bishop Stortford and Stratford via Tottenham. In 1840 a service began between Stratford & Broxbourne. Extending to Stortford in 1842 plus a branch to Hertford in 1843. The line was leased to the Eastern Counties Railway and eventually became part of the Great Eastern Railway.
Thames Junction Line. This line had been proposed by George Parker Bidder in 1842 as a means of transferring coal from the Thames to East Anglia. The line opened between Barking Road (now Canning Town) and Stratford in 1846 and was then bought by Eastern Counties Railway. The line opened to North Woolwich in 1847 plus a cross river ferry. In 1854 the Low Level station was opened at Stratford with a northwards connection to Victoria Park. In the 1960s services on the line were drastically cut back but it was extended by the Greater London Council with a service with Stratford as an intermediate station between North Woolwich, Dalston Junction and on to Richmond. The line was again closed in 2006.
Eastern counties Line to Loughton. The first section was opened from Stratford to Loughton in 1856 diverging from the line to Tottenham Hale. The line to Epping and Ongar was opened in 1865 under the Great Eastern Railway. This is the section which was to become part of the Central Line
Palace Gates Line. A station to the south of Alexandra Palace was opened in 1878 initially served by a line from Liverpool Street. A line from Stratford was added in 1880 and in 1887 as a through service to North Woolwich, closing in 1963.
Central Line. The London Transport services opened in 1946, having been extended from Liverpool Street station in new tunnels following wartime delays, on a route proposed as part of the New Works programme in 1935. The line was electrified and extended onto the Great Eastern Line to Ongar in 1957 (although Epping to Ongar was later closed)
Docklands Light Railway. This was promoted by the London Docklands Development Corporation to stimulate regeneration. It is a light automated rail scheme initially running alongside the Great Eastern line to a northern terminus at Stratford, where a disused bay platform at the west of the station was used. This connected Stratford to the City at Tower Gateway, and to Canary Wharf and later Lewisham and Greenwich via an interchange at Poplar. It has since been extended with connections to Beckton and Woolwich.
Jubilee Line. This London Underground line was extended here from Green Park Station through the 1990s. The line reached Stratford from North Greenwich via Canning Town and West Ham in 1999 using platforms on part of the old Low Le el Station
Stratford Station Waste. Wasteland with mix of rough grass, weeds & scrub and small stream. Railway land triangle. Scrub and grassland
Power house. A large steel-framed and partly brick-walled shed. Originally a turbine room in a powerhouse, or private electricity generating station, this was constructed for the Great Eastern Railway on the south side of the Channelsea River, probably in 1906.
Salway Road
Before the roads were reconfigured in central Stratford the Theatre Royal was in Salway Street
Stratford Broadway
The Broadway splits into two roads and which then reunite enclosing what was once a central green – on which the church now stands
11 Gredley House. Serviced office block
13 Black Bull pub. Built in 1892 in brick and stone with ornamentation including a painted stucco bull set in a niche.
2 Central House. Jacksons' furnishings shop in white masonry with infill in pale green.
27 Swagga – nightclub in what was the Two Puddings pub. An early 20th pub.
30 The Angel. This was originally a timber framed building dating back to the 16th / 17th century, and rebuilt in 1910. It stood at the junction of The Broadway and Angel Lane. It became John Collier's tailors shop. Now demolished
31 The Swan. Closed as a pub but now a restored building which stands on an island between Tramway Avenue and Town Hall. This was the historic coaching halt for traffic to and from London. Established here by 1631, rebuilt in the 18th and again in 1925. Its gardens were built over with shops in the 19th.
47 Edward VII Pub, this was the King of Prussia which commemorated Frederick the Great but renamed in 1914. The bar has flagstone floors and pew-style seating. A side passage has 19th tiling and is separated from the bar by an ornate etched glass screen.
49 London and County Bank of 1867 by Frederic Chancellor.
55 site of Empire Music Hall which itself was built on the site of Rokeby House which was demolished in 1898. It had been built in the reign of James I and had sometimes been used as a Council Chamber. Its oak panels are in the V & A.
56-62 built 1900 for Thomas and Williams, drapers in red brick. Their emblem is in a pediment.
57 Empire House, a mid 20th building
63 is a tall tower-like Edwardian building, c. 1904, on a narrow site in striped brick and stone. Now an estate agent
64 Boardman’s department store site.
72-76 former houses.
78-102 1950’s former Co-op department store. An interesting building with style and materials of its period. The site was previously Roberts department store and is now partly the Goose, a Wetherspoons pub
Gurney Memorial. Erected in 1861, a plain tall obelisk of granite by J. Bell to Sir Samuel Gurney resident of Ham House and one of the many Quakers to contribute to West Ham's civic and charitable life in the 19th
K6 Telephone Kiosks, three of these outside the Town Hall. Designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
Coal hole covers. Outside what was the National Westminster Bank? Marks Nicholls and Clark, Shoreditch London.
Martyrs Memorial. This is on the site, in the churchyard, then on the Green, of the burning of the Stratford martyrs – 11 men and two women - which 20,000 people watched. This was under Mary and they were Protestants who refused to recant. The site used to be called Gallows Green but there is some discussion as to the actual site. The memorial was erected in 1879
St. Johns the Evangelist church. The area was originally part of the Parish of West Ham. In 1828 the Vicar of West Ham saw that there was a need for a church at the centre of Stratford and construction began in 1832 on land was given by Lord Wellesley Pole of Wanstead. The church was opened in 1834 and designed by Edward Blore with a tall, ornate south western spire. In 1847 £600 was raised for an organ, a reredos and windows. In 1868 St John's became a parish in its own right. There is a plaque is in memory of Sir Antonio Brady a geologist
West Ham Town Hall. Built by local surveyor Lewis Angell and John Files in 1869 for West Ham Local Board. The court and extension were added in 1885. It cost £21,000 to build including the site. It has a 100ft tall square tower at one corner of the building that originally contained Angell’s private office. On the parapets are statues of Justice, Liberty Fortitude, etc. Following a fire in 1982 the building was fully restored by Kenneth Lund. There is a bird and monkey statue in the courtyard.
The Old Court House in classical style built by the Local Board in 1863. It was self supporting by 1893 but soon became too small. The crest above the door is that of Stratford Langthorne Abbey adapted for the Borough.
Fire station. The 1878 West Ham No. 1 Fire Stations built as part of the Municipal Offices. In 1964 the London Fire Brigade Eastern Command and 'F' Division HQ were still there. .
Stratford New Town
Also called Hudson Town after the ‘railway king’. This was rows of small houses for the railway company workers but redeveloped in the early 1950s by T.E. North, the Borough Architect and replaced by low-rise flats and terraces in yellow brick.
Tenby Road
Gone. By 1916 this was called Oxford Street
Holy Trinity church and Mission hall 1890s. This was a ‘settlement; begun in 1887. This was a local mission in an iron church which was burnt down and was replaced by a brick building as St Phillips. In 1888 it was taken over by Trinity College, Oxford.
Theatre Square
This was previously Gerry Raffles Square, landscaped in 2002 by Art2Architecture and Newham Council as a cultural centre
Theatre Royal. Stratford East. Built 1884 its first Licence described it as a ‘danger to respectable local young women’. The theatre was built on the site of a wheelwright's shop at the junction of Salway Road and Angel Lane, designed by architect James George Buckle and commissioned by the actor-manager Charles Dillon. In 1902 Frank Matcham made changes to the entrance and foyer. In the 1950s it became the home of Theatre Workshop with artistic director Joan Littlewood and as such it became very famous, with many transfers to the West End and fostering such stars at Barbara Windsor. In the 1970s, but was saved by a public campaign and listed. Gerry Raffles was then the manager and the theatre was redeveloped with a lottery bid as part of the Stratford Cultural Quarter.
Flats in a redesigned office block from the 1970s office block
Stratford Picture House. Cinema with linear glass and steel, four screens and sound system by Burrell Foley Fischer Architects.1997.
Stratford Circus a performance venue designed by Levitt Bernstein. This was opened in 2001 and was bankrupt by 2003. Newham Sixth Form College took over the management and lease.
Tramway Avenue
The road was cut through from the Broadway in the early 20th by the West Ham Tramways Department to facilitate tram running,
1 Job Centre
Broadway Cinema. This was opened on the site of a sweet factory in 1927 by Phil and Sidney Hyams opened it as the first real super cinema in the UK. It was to Coles' design, had 2,700 seats, and opened with the Plaza Tiller Girls, Joseph Muscant and Broadway Symphony Orchestra, and Archie Parkhouse at an 8-rank Wurlitzer organ. It was renamed Gaumont Theatre in 1949. It was bombed in 1940 but reopened. The Rank Organisation closed it in 1960 and it became factory named Arco Rewind Ltd. In 1977, the foyer became a gym but the building was demolished in 1990. The site is now housing.
Aerated Candy Co. German owned sweet firm, wound up by order in the Great War
North Metropolitan Tramways horse tram depot 1890s said to be there.
Waddington Road
Part of Hudson Town – Waddington was the Stratford Traffic Manager
Windmill Inn
West Ham Lane
5-7 Queen's Head, single storey pub of 1925, this is double fronted going through to Tramway Avenue.
Windmill Lane
37 St Mark’s Methodist Church. This was originally an Anglican church. Now Alphabet house Nursery.
Angel Cottage. Double fronted listed house. Demolished illegally in 2007
Sources
Antisell. Photogenic Gas
CAMRA, City and East London Beer Guide
Cinema Treasures website
Clunn .The Face of London
Crossrail web site
Day, London Underground
Disused Stations web site
Exploring East London web site
GLIAS Newsletters
Graces Guide web site
Great Eastern Railway Journal
Headley and Meulenkamp. Follies,
History of Manebre
Kimber, Wilfred Nicholson. A record of his work.
James, History of Chemistry in Essex & East London
Jenson & Nicholson. Story of an English firm
Lewis, Battleships, Buses and Bombers
London Borough of Newham web site
London Encyclopedia
London Railway Record
Mills. Gas and chemicals in East London
Mills. People and Places in the early London Gas industry
Morris. Archives of the Chemical Industry
Museum of London web site
Nairn. Nairn’s London
Newham Wildlife,
Parks, Development of the Heavy Chemical Industry of West Ham and District
Pevsner Essex
Sainsbury. History of West Ham
Seagrave. Notes of Carpenters Road/Marshgate Lane
St.John’s church web site
Surrey History,
Village London
Watson. Jute and Flax Mills in Dundee
Wikipedia. Stratford Station web site
Post to the north Hudson Town
Angel Lane
This was once a major shopping street. It once went down to the Broadway
and there were lots of side streets off it131 The Railway Tavern designed by Henry Poston, 1897.
Angel Lane Bridge. 19th bridge now replaced. There is likely to have been am earlier bridge crossing the railway from 1839. The present bridge is deck and parapet walls are made of wrought-iron plate girders. The line under the bridge is not in a cutting.
Mechanics Institute. The Great Eastern Railway Mechanics Institution was opened in Angel Lane in 1851 as the Eastern Counties Railway Mechanics Institute, it moved to new buildings in 1877. This original building was on the south west corner of Angel Lane Bridge.
Angel Lane Market – market stalls in the Mall are a relic of this
Eastern Counties Goods Station
Eastern Counties Railway Station. A station at Angel Lane was on the first Eastern Counties Railway line between Devonshire Road and Romford in 1839.
Bridge Road
Stratford High Street Station entrance. The line runs alongside the road and was once the waiting area for Stratford Market Station.
7 Methodist Chapel - The Fathers Free Church was a split from the local Methodist Chapel in 1852 with a new building in 1860. It closed in 1907 and was subsequently used by the Elim Four Square Gospel Alliance. In 1912 it became The Cinematograph Hall converted by A. Smith. In 1913 it was re-named New Crown Cinema Theatre, but closed in 1914. It was re-opened in 1917 as the Ideal Cinema, but was finally closed in 1918. Since demolished
14 Railway Tavern. This was once a pub serving Stratford Market. It closed in the 1970s and become Reflections Nightclub which itself closed in 2005. The pub is standing alone and semi derelict.
Byrant Street
Housing on the north side covers the site of some of Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End based in West Ham Lane.
Carpenters Road
The Worshipful Company of Carpenters purchased "a farm in 1767 consisting of 63 acres of marsh land. The building of the railway through the area led to the Company leasing the land for industrial and residential use. Some factories and warehouses were built by the Company, as was some housing. Much of this was destroyed by Second World War bombing. In the 1960s the housing was purchased by the local authority,
17 Carpenters Arms. The name relates to land ownership by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. The pub dates from the late 19th but the building is more modern.
Goswell Works. Jenson & Nicholson. Makers of 'Robbialac', varnishes, lacquers, wood finishes. The firm was founded in 1821 by William Kingham in the City of London where they specialised in the manufacture of carriage varnish. The firm moved several times but came to Stratford in the 1870s after a fire in their works at Goswell Road. 'Robbialac' was invented for an Italian client who wanted a blue-white finish like that used by Della Robbia. In the 20th they made adhesives to fixing cork tips on cigarettes, sou’wester varnish compound, 'dope' for greaseproof paper, and much else. They worked on chemical warfare in the Second World War; making varnish used in burn treatment, surface treatment for barrage balloons, camouflage paints, etc. Some of the works was destroyed in bombing, and their machines worked in the open air. They later developed many new paints - a paint for adhesion to metal alloys, the wrinkled effect used on camera cases, industrial varnish compounded to withstand high voltages, lacquers for insides of tins and much else. In the 1960's they became part of the Berger, Jenson & Nicholson Group.
S.H.Johnson Engineering Works. This was a complex of buildings between Carpenters Road and the Waterworks River. Johnson, made plant for the chemical industry, including pumps and filter presses. It had been founded in 1876 and later became part of Johnson Progress Engineering Ltd. Their name was shown in very fine cast iron lettering on the front of the building.
Carpenters' Company boundary post. Dated 1849. Across the road from Berger, Jenson & Nicholson.
Yardley of London. William Yardley died in 1824 when his premises for supplying Lavender, Cosmetics and Soap were in Bloomsbury. The firm moved to Stratford in 1904. A box factory was also built-in the High Street in 1937. In the Second World War the works was bombed and output was severely restricted. In 1942 part of the building was given over to the manufacture of components for light aircraft, and the making of sea-water purification tablets. The box factory made anti-radar devices and aircraft flare tubes. The factories moved to Basildon Essex in 1966 and Yardley are now a subsidiary of the British. American Tobacco Company. Demolished. Before demolition this was the Acme Studios with Rachel Whitbread
London Spinning Mills. This mill stood from the mid 19th well into the 20th on the south side of the road south of the railway. It was owned by William Ritchie who also had a jute spinning mill. Clepington Works, in Dundee. Thus jute was also spun in Stratford to make sacks and bags
London Match Works. 1890s
Hudson Bay Works 1890s
Photogenic Gas Works. Thus was south east of the road fronting onto the Waterworks River. The company hoped to exploit a process for making brighter gas lights through a process developed by a M. Mongurel involving a special generator and an unspecified compound. Although the company was wound up as early as 1862 a’ hydrogen’ works remained on this site into the mid-20th.
Star Works 1890s
92 Kensington Works. Potted meat factory in 1916. This was the Exel sausage factory, taken over by Telfers Pies
Carpenter’s Road Goods Depot
John Wilton Candle Co. 1839-1896. The firm then became Vinolia, who were also Blondeau et Cie. Closed 1907 and taken over by Lever Bros. The name ‘VINOLIA’ was painted on the end wall of a building to mark the Vinolia Soap Works here from 1898-1907 when they moved to Port Sunlight. Somehow the name survived two wars!
W.J.Cearns. From 1913 made iron buildings of every kind (churches to cottages), later building contractors and steel fabricators.
Frederick Samuel Moll. Perfume maker. 1876 -93
C.W.Schmidt, (F. A. Glaeser) varnish and japan, 1886-1912. The Company was established in 1878 and in 1914 were manufacturers of varnish, japan, enamel and washable distemper. - Alhambra white japan, "Sanatomur" washable distemper and "Stratolor" washable distemper and "Separol" varnish and paint remover. Became London Varnish Enamel
Channelsea
River which is a tributary of the River Lea. It is thought to be an artificial channel and might have been dug c 895 for Alfred the Great as a defence structure against the Danes.
The Channelsea flows under Stratford Station. It was diverted in the 19th by the Great Eastern Railway, and again during construction of the Jubilee Line Station in the 1990s. It originally ran from north-west of the station, on a line under the current Jubilee Line station, to meet the existing course east of Jupp Road.
Chant Square.
St. John's National school was opened in 1835 but in 1872 new buildings, with accommodation for 831, were built here because of problems with noise in the previous building,. The school was reorganized in 1938 for mixed juniors and infants and finally closed in 1947.
Chapel Street
Now gone.
Site of A. T. Morse Sons & Co., paint, varnish, and distemper makers in Chapel Street from after 1890 until 1920
Gibbins Road
The curve in the road follows the railway line from Stratford Station to the line to Canning Town. Samuel Gibbins was Master of the Carpenters Company in the 1880s.
96 Carpenters and Docklands Centre. A youth, community and social centre providing services to local residents. It has a sports hall, judo training room, multi-gym and meeting rooms. It
Great Eastern Road
Great Eastern Road ran originally from the Grove to Stratford Goods Station in Angel lane. In the late 1960s- early 1970s it was cut through to Stratford Broadway at its junction with the High Street in order to produce a bypass for northbound traffic on the then A11 – creating an island where the Stratford Centre was subsequently built.
Railway Tree. At the junction with the Broadway. This is steel girders are shaped like railway lines and aligned by the compass points Sculpted by Malcolm Robertson. The steel girders are shaped like railway lines. To remind us of the railway.
Stratford Station. Opened in 1839. It now lies between Mile End and Leyton on the Central Line; between Hackney Wick and West Ham on the North London Line; from Pudding Mill Lane on the Docklands Light Railway; on the Jubilee Line from West Ham and on Main Line services from Liverpool Street. In 1839 Stratford station was a junction on the Eastern Counties Railway line between Devonshire Road, Mile End and Romford on a site in Angel Lane east of present station. In 1840 it was joined by the Northern and Eastern Railway line to Broxbourne. The 19th station was in the north-west part of the present station and original buildings survived between platforms 10a and 11, including a subway at the east end of platform 3/5. A workmen’s subway lay further east. In 1846 a branch opened to Barking Road (Canning Town), extended to North Woolwich and in 1854 to Victoria Park using a low-level station called the North London Station. In 1856 Eastern Counties Railway opened a line to Woodford and Loughton. By 1863 the Eastern Counties was known as the Great Eastern Railway. In 1889 the line to Palace Gates was opened; it closed in 1963. In 1946 Central Line opened taking over much of the Great Eastern line to Leyton and Ongar. In 1963 the connection to Palace Gates closed. In 1987 the Docklands Light Railway Was added and in 1999 the Jubilee Line. In the 1990s reconstruction turned the station to face Stratford town centre and created a transport interchange for five railway lines and a bus station. The Jubilee Line extension used the old Low Level station and was designed by Troughton McAslan.
Forecourt Sculpture, ‘Time Twist by Malcolm Benson, 1996 as a contorted steel clock tower. Relocated to Maryland Station.
Robert, a 1933 industrial tank locomotive. But which was built in Bristol – so no local connections.
Bus station. This opened in 1994 and has five stands include long distance coach stands. It was designed by Soji Abass and when it rains, the water is taken away down the middle of the supporting pillars
The Shoal. A sculpture which is nearly half a kilometre long. Designed by Studio Egret West, it has a series of up-lit titanium leaves mounted on sixteen all poles. This is the largest kinetic sculpture in the world.
Stratford Centre. This shopping mall was built by Ravenseft Properties Ltd in 1974. A rebuilding of 1971-3 by T.R Bennett provided office towers, and a multi-storey car park. A public right of way through it – on the line of Angel Lane – means it is open access round the clock. It had 62 retail units plus a small market stall area
E.J. Davis general engineers. 1901-1955.
Grove Crescent Road.
Maryland Works. This had a pedimented front with a clock in the centre spelling out its name. It was built for Young and Marten, builders' merchants whose main domed premises were originally at the junction of The Grove, the Broadway and Romford Road. Now demolished replaced by the Stratford Eye.
The Sanctuary. Christ the Redeemer bible college. Tom Allen Centre. A ministry of the Redeemed Christian Church of God which was established in Lagos, Nigeria in 1952. The church bought the permanent site at Tom Allen Centre in 1996. This had been an arts centre which had been closed down. It was originally a settlement of Trinity College Oxford, built after the Great War. Tom Allen was a former head of Centre. After the Second World War it was rebuilt as St. Helens Women's Settlement.
High Street
Roman Road
302 The Builder's Arms. Building of 1937 with foliage decoration and hoppers marked 'BB'
306 West Ham Labour Party offices, a 1930s facade with faience-clad walls.
375 Essex House. On the roof are the 'Salamanca Eagles'. The 2nd Battalion 44th (East Essex) Regiment captured the Eagle, at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 and it was later carried on parade by the Essex Regiment. Built 1901 by J.H. Gladwell who had offices here.
379-81 was built as a furnishing warehouse, with large arched display windows on first floor.
383 Discovery Centre. By S.B. Russell, originally the Alexandra Temperance Hotel Designed by SB Russell and TE Cooper in 1901 a residence for London workers employed in Stratford's expanding industries. It had 42 bedrooms, 1st and 2nd Class dining rooms for 200 people, with the added bonus of 'Palms & Music'. It also had a billiard hall and became, in 1914, the Officer's Mess for the West Ham battalion. Ground floor with large moulded arches and an absence of sculptural detail must have been the victim of economy
389-397 Magistrates Court, built 1994 by Roughton & Partners; project architect Paul Manripp. In pinkish reconstituted stone.
401, 1913 by C.J. Dawson for the London and South Western Bank. Polished granite ground floor, stone dressings and pointed dormers.
403 is 'cut-price Ruskinian Gothic.'
411-13, the old Post Office by the Office of Works, with coronets in the windows.
415 Burrow’s House. Originally Parr's Bank built 1897-8, probably by Frederick Pinches. It is in brick with a Banking hall with panelled ceiling and a medallion portrait of Queen Victoria. It is now called Burrows House.
Turnpike. In 1724 a New Turnpike was built here by the Middlesex & Essex Turnpike Trust.
Turnpike Row. Walter Hancock’s steam carriage works 1824-40. His workshop was probably south of the Stratford High Street by his house in Turnpike Row. One of the three Hancock brothers, between 1824 and 1836, Hancock built here a number of steam road vehicles and in 1827 Hancock patented a steam boiler that would split rather than explode. In 1829 he built a ten-seater bus called Infant, which in 1831 began a regular service between Stratford and London and later to Brighton. In 1833 Hancock’s steam omnibus The Enterprise began a regular service between London Wall and Paddington the first such service. Gutta Percha. This was brought to England in the 1830s and attracted interest from Michael Faraday, as an electrical insulator, Thomas Hancock. In 1845 Henry Bewley set up the Gutta Percha Co here with banker Samuel Gurney. They made a wide range of resin based products and were later joined by Charles Hancock and Walter Hancock, later moving to Islington. By 1848 Charles Hancock had set up a rival West Ham Gutta Percha Co exploiting his invention of it as a cable insulator
Rex Cinema - Borough Theatre. This was opened in 1896 as the Borough Theatre and Opera House. It seated 3,000 and was designed by Frank Matcham, in a Jacobean style. In 1933 it closed and sold to Essell Cinemas and George Coles tuned it into a modern cinema by re-facing the corner entrance and creating a 1,889 seat Art Deco auditorium with A Wurlitzer organ from Cleveland, Ohio. It re-opened as the Rex Cinema in 1934. In 1935 it was taken over by Associated British Cinemas and they operated it until closure in 1969. It was converted into a bingo club until 1974 when it screened Asian films. It was then empty for 21 years. In 1996 the stage house and dressing room block were demolished and a new high-tech unit was built and the rest of the building was restored to its 1934 condition as a venue for concerts, and a nightclub. It closed in 2007 following a bankruptcy but reopened in 2009 as the Rex Music Arena. It was then closed again. There is a plaque with Beethoven’s head on the facade
Stratford Market Station. Opened in 1847. This was built by the Eastern Counties Railway. Originally it was Stratford Bridge station on the line from Stratford to North Woolwich. In 1880 became Stratford Market station. . In 1891-2 it was rebuilt for the Great Eastern Railway to serve the fruit and vegetable market to the rear... In 1957 it was closed. There is a bronze O/S benchmark inset on the side of the station building in Bridge Road. The rear of it is now the Stratford High Street station of the Docklands Light Railway.
Jupp Road
Footbridge between here and Station Street over the Jubilee and Overground lines. On it are pictures of trains and buses over the ages.
Telephone Exchange. This exchange was originally MARyland
The Carpenters' Company institute, founded in 1886, closed in 1905. It had provided educational and sports activities.
Baths. When the Carpenters institute closed the council took over the baths and used them until 1934.
Kennard Road
Building Crafts College. This is owned by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. The College was founded in 1893 and for 100 years operated from the Building Crafts Training School, in central London. In 2001 they moved to this brand new and larger building.
Pitchford Road
John Pitchford was a Roman Catholic, son of a Norwich surgeon. He was a close associate of the Quaker Frys who lived in Plaistow and had connections to the local chemical industry,
70 Bakers Arms. Closed 2007 and now housing
Rokeby School – the school has moved and the site is now used for filming. It was a boys’ secondary school.
Railway
Stratford Station in Great Eastern Street
Stratford International Station. The station opened in 2009 for the South Eastern main line services and the Docklands Light Railway. It station itself is located in the Olympic Park and is on the High Speed railway between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet.
Locomotive works. The Northern and Eastern Railway had set up a small repair facility in 1840 and this was leased by the Eastern Counties Railway which transferred their workshops and factory here from Squirrels Heath in 1847. In 1850, under Superintendent John Gooch, the first locomotive was manufactured and over the next 70 years 1682 more were produced as well as 5,500 passenger vehicles and 33,000 goods wagons. Under James Holden in 1891 a locomotive was made in a record 9 hours and 47 minutes. From 1923 the works was primarily a repair depot which eventually closed in 1991. The works included a hydraulic pumping station, a round house called The Polygon, an oil gas plant to provide lighting on trains
The Eastern Counties Railway was incorporated in 1836 intending to like London to Norwich. Construction began in 1837. The railway opened in 1839 with a train service between Mile End and Romford, with Stratford as an intermediate station, now part of the Great Eastern Main Line. In 1840 it was extended to Brentwood and to Bishopsgate at the London end. In 1843 the line reached Colchester. In 1862 it became part of the Great Eastern Railway.
The Northern & Eastern Railway was part of an 1833 scheme for a railway from Islington to York. In In 1836 Parliament approved the route as far as Cambridge but this was reduced to a line between Bishop Stortford and Stratford via Tottenham. In 1840 a service began between Stratford & Broxbourne. Extending to Stortford in 1842 plus a branch to Hertford in 1843. The line was leased to the Eastern Counties Railway and eventually became part of the Great Eastern Railway.
Thames Junction Line. This line had been proposed by George Parker Bidder in 1842 as a means of transferring coal from the Thames to East Anglia. The line opened between Barking Road (now Canning Town) and Stratford in 1846 and was then bought by Eastern Counties Railway. The line opened to North Woolwich in 1847 plus a cross river ferry. In 1854 the Low Level station was opened at Stratford with a northwards connection to Victoria Park. In the 1960s services on the line were drastically cut back but it was extended by the Greater London Council with a service with Stratford as an intermediate station between North Woolwich, Dalston Junction and on to Richmond. The line was again closed in 2006.
Eastern counties Line to Loughton. The first section was opened from Stratford to Loughton in 1856 diverging from the line to Tottenham Hale. The line to Epping and Ongar was opened in 1865 under the Great Eastern Railway. This is the section which was to become part of the Central Line
Palace Gates Line. A station to the south of Alexandra Palace was opened in 1878 initially served by a line from Liverpool Street. A line from Stratford was added in 1880 and in 1887 as a through service to North Woolwich, closing in 1963.
Central Line. The London Transport services opened in 1946, having been extended from Liverpool Street station in new tunnels following wartime delays, on a route proposed as part of the New Works programme in 1935. The line was electrified and extended onto the Great Eastern Line to Ongar in 1957 (although Epping to Ongar was later closed)
Docklands Light Railway. This was promoted by the London Docklands Development Corporation to stimulate regeneration. It is a light automated rail scheme initially running alongside the Great Eastern line to a northern terminus at Stratford, where a disused bay platform at the west of the station was used. This connected Stratford to the City at Tower Gateway, and to Canary Wharf and later Lewisham and Greenwich via an interchange at Poplar. It has since been extended with connections to Beckton and Woolwich.
Jubilee Line. This London Underground line was extended here from Green Park Station through the 1990s. The line reached Stratford from North Greenwich via Canning Town and West Ham in 1999 using platforms on part of the old Low Le el Station
Stratford Station Waste. Wasteland with mix of rough grass, weeds & scrub and small stream. Railway land triangle. Scrub and grassland
Power house. A large steel-framed and partly brick-walled shed. Originally a turbine room in a powerhouse, or private electricity generating station, this was constructed for the Great Eastern Railway on the south side of the Channelsea River, probably in 1906.
Salway Road
Before the roads were reconfigured in central Stratford the Theatre Royal was in Salway Street
Stratford Broadway
The Broadway splits into two roads and which then reunite enclosing what was once a central green – on which the church now stands
11 Gredley House. Serviced office block
13 Black Bull pub. Built in 1892 in brick and stone with ornamentation including a painted stucco bull set in a niche.
2 Central House. Jacksons' furnishings shop in white masonry with infill in pale green.
27 Swagga – nightclub in what was the Two Puddings pub. An early 20th pub.
30 The Angel. This was originally a timber framed building dating back to the 16th / 17th century, and rebuilt in 1910. It stood at the junction of The Broadway and Angel Lane. It became John Collier's tailors shop. Now demolished
31 The Swan. Closed as a pub but now a restored building which stands on an island between Tramway Avenue and Town Hall. This was the historic coaching halt for traffic to and from London. Established here by 1631, rebuilt in the 18th and again in 1925. Its gardens were built over with shops in the 19th.
47 Edward VII Pub, this was the King of Prussia which commemorated Frederick the Great but renamed in 1914. The bar has flagstone floors and pew-style seating. A side passage has 19th tiling and is separated from the bar by an ornate etched glass screen.
49 London and County Bank of 1867 by Frederic Chancellor.
55 site of Empire Music Hall which itself was built on the site of Rokeby House which was demolished in 1898. It had been built in the reign of James I and had sometimes been used as a Council Chamber. Its oak panels are in the V & A.
56-62 built 1900 for Thomas and Williams, drapers in red brick. Their emblem is in a pediment.
57 Empire House, a mid 20th building
63 is a tall tower-like Edwardian building, c. 1904, on a narrow site in striped brick and stone. Now an estate agent
64 Boardman’s department store site.
72-76 former houses.
78-102 1950’s former Co-op department store. An interesting building with style and materials of its period. The site was previously Roberts department store and is now partly the Goose, a Wetherspoons pub
Gurney Memorial. Erected in 1861, a plain tall obelisk of granite by J. Bell to Sir Samuel Gurney resident of Ham House and one of the many Quakers to contribute to West Ham's civic and charitable life in the 19th
K6 Telephone Kiosks, three of these outside the Town Hall. Designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
Coal hole covers. Outside what was the National Westminster Bank? Marks Nicholls and Clark, Shoreditch London.
Martyrs Memorial. This is on the site, in the churchyard, then on the Green, of the burning of the Stratford martyrs – 11 men and two women - which 20,000 people watched. This was under Mary and they were Protestants who refused to recant. The site used to be called Gallows Green but there is some discussion as to the actual site. The memorial was erected in 1879
St. Johns the Evangelist church. The area was originally part of the Parish of West Ham. In 1828 the Vicar of West Ham saw that there was a need for a church at the centre of Stratford and construction began in 1832 on land was given by Lord Wellesley Pole of Wanstead. The church was opened in 1834 and designed by Edward Blore with a tall, ornate south western spire. In 1847 £600 was raised for an organ, a reredos and windows. In 1868 St John's became a parish in its own right. There is a plaque is in memory of Sir Antonio Brady a geologist
West Ham Town Hall. Built by local surveyor Lewis Angell and John Files in 1869 for West Ham Local Board. The court and extension were added in 1885. It cost £21,000 to build including the site. It has a 100ft tall square tower at one corner of the building that originally contained Angell’s private office. On the parapets are statues of Justice, Liberty Fortitude, etc. Following a fire in 1982 the building was fully restored by Kenneth Lund. There is a bird and monkey statue in the courtyard.
The Old Court House in classical style built by the Local Board in 1863. It was self supporting by 1893 but soon became too small. The crest above the door is that of Stratford Langthorne Abbey adapted for the Borough.
Fire station. The 1878 West Ham No. 1 Fire Stations built as part of the Municipal Offices. In 1964 the London Fire Brigade Eastern Command and 'F' Division HQ were still there. .
Stratford New Town
Also called Hudson Town after the ‘railway king’. This was rows of small houses for the railway company workers but redeveloped in the early 1950s by T.E. North, the Borough Architect and replaced by low-rise flats and terraces in yellow brick.
Tenby Road
Gone. By 1916 this was called Oxford StreetHoly Trinity church and Mission hall 1890s. This was a ‘settlement; begun in 1887. This was a local mission in an iron church which was burnt down and was replaced by a brick building as St Phillips. In 1888 it was taken over by Trinity College, Oxford.
Theatre Square
This was previously Gerry Raffles Square, landscaped in 2002 by Art2Architecture and Newham Council as a cultural centre
Theatre Royal. Stratford East. Built 1884 its first Licence described it as a ‘danger to respectable local young women’. The theatre was built on the site of a wheelwright's shop at the junction of Salway Road and Angel Lane, designed by architect James George Buckle and commissioned by the actor-manager Charles Dillon. In 1902 Frank Matcham made changes to the entrance and foyer. In the 1950s it became the home of Theatre Workshop with artistic director Joan Littlewood and as such it became very famous, with many transfers to the West End and fostering such stars at Barbara Windsor. In the 1970s, but was saved by a public campaign and listed. Gerry Raffles was then the manager and the theatre was redeveloped with a lottery bid as part of the Stratford Cultural Quarter.
Flats in a redesigned office block from the 1970s office block
Stratford Picture House. Cinema with linear glass and steel, four screens and sound system by Burrell Foley Fischer Architects.1997.
Stratford Circus a performance venue designed by Levitt Bernstein. This was opened in 2001 and was bankrupt by 2003. Newham Sixth Form College took over the management and lease.
Tramway Avenue
The road was cut through from the Broadway in the early 20th by the West Ham Tramways Department to facilitate tram running,
1 Job Centre
Broadway Cinema. This was opened on the site of a sweet factory in 1927 by Phil and Sidney Hyams opened it as the first real super cinema in the UK. It was to Coles' design, had 2,700 seats, and opened with the Plaza Tiller Girls, Joseph Muscant and Broadway Symphony Orchestra, and Archie Parkhouse at an 8-rank Wurlitzer organ. It was renamed Gaumont Theatre in 1949. It was bombed in 1940 but reopened. The Rank Organisation closed it in 1960 and it became factory named Arco Rewind Ltd. In 1977, the foyer became a gym but the building was demolished in 1990. The site is now housing.
Aerated Candy Co. German owned sweet firm, wound up by order in the Great War
North Metropolitan Tramways horse tram depot 1890s said to be there.
Waddington Road
Part of Hudson Town – Waddington was the Stratford Traffic Manager
Windmill Inn
West Ham Lane
5-7 Queen's Head, single storey pub of 1925, this is double fronted going through to Tramway Avenue.
Windmill Lane
37 St Mark’s Methodist Church. This was originally an Anglican church. Now Alphabet house Nursery.
Angel Cottage. Double fronted listed house. Demolished illegally in 2007
Sources
Antisell. Photogenic GasCAMRA, City and East London Beer Guide
Cinema Treasures website
Clunn .The Face of London
Crossrail web site
Day, London Underground
Disused Stations web site
Exploring East London web site
GLIAS Newsletters
Graces Guide web site
Great Eastern Railway Journal
Headley and Meulenkamp. Follies,
History of Manebre
Kimber, Wilfred Nicholson. A record of his work.
James, History of Chemistry in Essex & East London
Jenson & Nicholson. Story of an English firm
Lewis, Battleships, Buses and Bombers
London Borough of Newham web site
London Encyclopedia
London Railway Record
Mills. Gas and chemicals in East London
Mills. People and Places in the early London Gas industry
Morris. Archives of the Chemical Industry
Museum of London web site
Nairn. Nairn’s London
Newham Wildlife,
Parks, Development of the Heavy Chemical Industry of West Ham and District
Pevsner Essex
Sainsbury. History of West Ham
Seagrave. Notes of Carpenters Road/Marshgate Lane
St.John’s church web site
Surrey History,
Village London
Watson. Jute and Flax Mills in Dundee
Wikipedia. Stratford Station web site
Comments
There was a building we knew as 'the factory' (nos. 17 and 18 on the 1963 OS map). In the late 5os early 60s it was used to store cardboard. It can be seen on the 1869 OS map.
Any ideas what it was originally used for ?