Great Eastern Railway to Shenfield. Ilford

Great Eastern Railway – from Ilford to Shenfield
The railway from Ilford station continues north westwards

Post to the west Great Ilford
Post to the north Seven Kings
Post to the east Seven Kings
Post to the south Loxford


Buckingham Road
Karamsar Centre. Sikh Centre in what was Ilford County Court. The court building were sold to the Sikh community in 2013
Romford and Ilford County Court. History: In the late 19th legal services provided by Romford County Court, for the Becontree Division of Essex.  In 1910 it was renamed ‘Romford and Ilford County Court’ and some sittings were held in Ilford Town Hall.  In 1937 this purpose built court was opened and designed by J.H. Markham of the Office of Works.  It is a single storey building with the Royal standard over the main door.  There is a small garden area fronting the High Road enclosed by railings with red brick piers.
Cemetery.  The Ilford Burial Board, established in 1880, laid out a cemetery adjoining St.Mary's church. It was originally called Great Ilford Cemetery. The 19th Chapel has been demolished because of vandalism. Howards & Sons War Memorial has been moved to Barkingside cemetery. Facing the gate is a memorial to Sir Peter Griggs, first MP for Ilford. There is also a war memorial which says ‘Their name liveth for evermore. On these panels are commemorated those members of His Majesty's Forces who gave their lives for their country in the Great War 1914 - 1918. Whose graves in this cemetery but are not marked by separate headstones.”


Clarks Road
Until around 1900 this area was a brickfield owned by Henry Clark and a row of Brickfield Cottages lay in the area which became Clark’s Road
Pit – this area was the site of a pit opposite the Cauliflower Public House and confusingly it has sometimes also been called the Cauliflower Pit.
Corporation Yard. 
Amity Community Centre
Liberty House and the Redeemed Church of God.
Bruton House Axis School. This was at one time a clothing factory but, like the other buildings in the complex, were part of the Ilford Council buildings behind the Electricity Department offices in the High Road.
The Ilford Training Centre. An outreach centre of Havering College.
Ilford Ambulance Station – this opened post Second World War and was out of use by the late 1950s
Electricity substation – a main substation for the area.

Connaught Road 
Eden Christian Centre. At the junction with Stanley Road. This African Evangelical church was originally a Primitive Methodist Chapel. It opened as an iron building in 1897 and closed in 1936 and re-opened as the apostolic church. In the Second World War. It was bombed and in 1960 a new building was put up on the site including a house called ‘The Manse’.
Clementswood and Mayfield Community Centre. One of a number of businesses in a mews area.

Golfe Road
Homes of Rest for the Church of England Temperance Society dated 1910, with designs by Arthur C. Russell for the Sons of Temperance Friendly Society, Pension Almshouse Fund. Red brick houses with fire-resistant, reinforced concrete to upper-floors. There is a brick plaque with mosaic decoration and inscriptions and a stone memorial plaque.  Flanking bungalows each with porch that in the centre with characterful round arch as a curved wall and a little tower at the back.
Gordon Infants School. Opened in 1930.


Gordon Road
Territorial Army. 217 Field Squadron - Royal Engineers. The Regiment forms an active part of 2 (National Communications) Signal Brigade, providing military communications for national operations. The TA base in Ilford has strong links to the Worshipful Company of Poulters of London. It is a modern building set in spacious grounds. The Army Reserve Centre is also here. The centre is set in Gordon Fields, used for military and other displays but also as a sports ground. Previously the site was the Gordon Club - complete with a crenulated tower and was the home of HQ Company of the 4th, The Essex Regiment until 1969. The original Drill Hall was built in 1872 at the rear of the Thompson Rooms where 'Centreway' is today. These original buildings at Gordon Fields were demolished in the late 1980's
St Peter and St.Paul Roman Catholic Primary School. The school originated in 1900. In 1961 it was re-organized for juniors and infants


Green Lane,
Old main road. The western end was diverted in the 19th having been closed by the brick field owner in 1826 and diverted.
Barracks. This building is noted on pre-20th maps south of the road on the cusp of the southwards curve east of South Park Road.  It is however east of the site of the later TA Centre and Barracks.
63 Prince of Wales pub



Griggs Approach
Elevated road which crosses the Great Eastern Railway and the old A118 High Road which is pedestrianised beneath it.
Eastern Roundabout. It is hoped to put a mammoth on this


Hainault Road
1-7 Harrison Gibson’s depository. Advertised on a still decipherable wall sign to the rear of the building. Now Stratford School of Management.
Spectrum Tower. Housing which was part of a plan to bring more people to live in the town centre this is a 12 storey block by ATP Group Partners built in 2002-3 with bright blue tiles.


High Road
In the 18th the road from London to Colchester, ran through Ilford. It was of Roman origin and from 1721 was controlled by the Middlesex and Essex Turnpike Trust. It remained as the main road until 1925, when Eastern Avenue was opened.
204-212 Site of The Vine Congregational church. This was called Ilford High Road church and was founded in 1892 by the Metropolitan District Committee of the London Congregational Union. In 1894 an iron church was opened in the High Road and in 1895 a large hall was also opened. Charles H. Vine became minister and remained until his death in 1930. The hall was enlarged, and in 1901 a new church was opened. In 1910 additional buildings were put up. Vine started the Men's Meeting, and other groups. After his death the High Road church was called the Vine Memorial church. In 1960 part of the site was sold and a new, smaller church built Richmond Road
229 The General. The original name is The General Havelock. It was built in 1900 Arts and Crafts style with a corner tower
246-250 The Premier Electric Theatre was opened in 1911with a tall tower topped by a dome. In 1921, it was operated by Prince’s Electric Theatres Ltd. and from 1922 by Premier Super Cinemas Ltd. It closed 1925. The building was taken over Mecca Dancing Ltd. and opened as the Palais De Dance in 1925. In 1959 a new plain facade was built, and it became the Palais Dancehall. Bill Haley and His Comets appeared there as did The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces. It was called in the 1970’s, and taken over by the Rank Organisation it became a nightclub named Fifth Avenue, and then Jumpin' Jacks. It was demolished in 2008, and a housing development named Vision20 was built there.
231-251 Shops.  Some of this site was the Thompson Rooms. In 1846 Nancy and Eleanor Thompson of Clements built an infant department for the Barking Church School Committee. It bore a tablet 'To God and the Church, 1846' with a gabled front in yellow brick and was later used as public rooms. The gabled facade was in yellow brick, in a 'Tudor' style. It was demolished for the current shops in 1966
Reading Room. In 1858 Eleanor Thompson built a reading room behind the infants’ school.  This was for run by the master of the National school, who educational and entertainments events there. In 1863 it housed a mechanics' institute. In 1954 it was sold and became the Little Theatre. The Little Theatre, Ilford, was run as a weekly 'rep', for eleven months a year, by eight amateur companies. It was replaced by the Kenneth More Theatre.
Drill Hall. This was built in 1872 at the rear of the Thompson Rooms also the gift of Eleanor Thompson. It became the headquarters of the first Volunteer Battalion, Essex Regiment. In the 1960s it became a youth club and roller-skating rink.
Lucana Temperance Billiard Hall, one of a chain built and managed by a specialist company
255-259 Lynton House council offices of the 1960s. Concrete faced in rough, dark aggregate.
261-275 Ilford Retail Park. This included Fitness First and Lidl. On the site of a United Dairies Depot. In the 1920s there was a private bus garage here for the Gretna Bus Company which was also called Paterson Omnibus Co.
270-294 Ilford police station. Built in 1995. 
290-296 Bal-Ami Jukeboxes were made here in the 1950s. It was also the headquarters of the Balfour (Marine) Engineering Company
300-310 Passage to India. This was a cinema, bingo hall and then a music venue and now a banqueting complex serving the Asian community since 2001. The foyer was used as a pub called the Overdraft but was later closed. It was built for the Associated British Cinemas circuit designed by their house architect William R. Glen as the Regal opening in July 1937. There was a Compton 3Manual/6Rank theatre organ. In 1962 it was re-named ABC and in 1973 converted into a triple screen. It closed in 1984 and was converted into a bingo club, later taken over by Granada Theatres. It closed as a bingo club in 1989 but in 1992 when it became ‘The Island’, holding live pop concerts. By 2001 it was a banqueting hall which remains called the Prabas Banqueting Suite. For a whole the balcony area was the Ilford Cinema screening Bollywood films.
316 City Gates Christian Centre.  Characterful, former Billiard Hall and club with glazed terracotta and a Greek acroterion crest.  This building has been in use by the City Gates Evangelical Church, previously Elim Church, for many years. They have moved out but their new building collapsed before it was finished and they are using temporary accommodation nearby. The future of their old building is unclear
322 Ilford Baptist Church Built 1907 by George Baines & Son.  With a big window to the street. The church can trace its roots back to preachers here in the 1830s.
323 London Tigers Community Centre.  Charity offering opportunities to disadvantaged young people, largely through sports.
St Peter and St Paul. Roman Catholic Church built 1898-9 by R.L. Cunis. In1895 a Roman Catholic mission was set up by the ex-chaplain of Ilford Hospital. A temporary iron church was built in Ilford Lane, and a permanent church followed
324 Ilford Catholic club. Also called the Guildhall as a venue for music events. After the Great War a group began to get together a football team and were allocated two rooms in the adjacent school as a clubhouse and Ilford Catholic Men’s Social Club was set up. At the same time the Ilford Catholic War Memorial Committee were fund raising for an institute. From1922 ladies were admitted. In 1924 the current premises were purchased at auction, having been a car showroom.  The club house was opened in 1924 by the Lord Mayor of London and named Ilford Guildhall.  The club then continued to expand and to add buildings and facilities. In the Second World War the club was requisitioned for government use.
St. Peter and St. Paul's Roman Catholic junior and infant schools originated in 1900 through the work of Canon Patrick Palmer as the first Catholic school in Ilford . In 1961 it was re-organized for juniors and infants. The School is now in Gordon Road in new buildings. The High Street buildings are now the Cardinal Heenan Centre.
326 Cardinal Heenan Centre. Catholic community centre next to the church mainly in the buildings of the school. Facing the wall is a stone plaque depicting young people.
370-372 Ilford Spiritualist Church. This was the Ilford Unitarian church. This originated in 1906. And a church opened in here in 1909.The Building suffered bomb damage in 1943, and re-opened in 1949. It closed in 1979.
374-376 factory building and house. Also says it is Aladdin’s Shisha Bar.
400 Gurdwara Karamsar. Sikh temple of sandstone from Rajistan carved by Rajistani stone masons with domes and god insignia.  Built by Narinder Singh Assi 2005. This replaces a previous building converted from a Labour Party Hall.
426 St.Mary the Virgin. The parish church was built in 1829-31, on land given by John Scrafton Thompson of Clements. It stands in a large graveyard, and is a brick building designed by James Savage, with a wide galleried nave. The tower was built in 1866 as a memorial to John and Elizabeth Davis of Cranbrook and partly demolished 1950.  There was an uncompleted scheme to rebuild in the 20th leaving a large chancel, grafted on to an existing building.
450 Charter House. Office block built on the site of St Mary’s Parish Hall. This had originally been a school built in 1830 by the Barking Church School Committee on a site called Cricklewood. It was first called the Cricklewood School and was a National Society School. The school was closed in 1922 and the buildings demolished in 1964 to be replaced by Charter House.
452 Dreams Bed Store with a snooker hall upstairs. This was built as the Ilford Borough Electricity Offices. Opened in 1931 by the Ilford UDC and designed by L.E.J. Reynolds, Borough Surveyor.  Steel frame building, in Portland stone. With deep window bays to the ground-floor showrooms. 
460 Fire station
531-535 Hotshots Bowling


Holstock Road
Vine Church Hall.



Ley Street
Railway Cottages. Between Academy Roofing Supplies depot and the staff railway yard entrance, and backing on to the railway is a terrace of houses of mixed age and style. Of these 23 of the oldest were built in the 1897 and 1902 by the Great Eastern Railway Company on their land for staff at the Ilford Goods Yard.
293-297 Panjabi Centre. This is the Redbridge Panjabi Sabhiacharik (Cultural) Sabha formed in 1983.  At that time a petition was got together with the help of London East Gurdwara Singh Sabha (Sikh Temple). Following that a great deal of fund raising ensued. In 1984 a grant from the Greater London Council allowed them to buy an old print factory to become the Panjabi Centre which was formally inaugurated in 1985.
284-294 Costello Bespoke Tailors. Making uniforms and theatrical clothing.
308 The Bell. Pub which dates from at least the 1850s. Seems to be a bit rough.

Park Road
Tulse Arms. Built in 1905 by Foulham & Riches in red terracotta. Now closed and in use as a shop.

Railway
The line had been built from 1839. It went through flat fields in a continuous low cutting. From 1899 the line was quadrupled for the whole of this stretch following an agreement with developer, Cameron Corbett. The two extra lines fitted in where possible, and bridges upgraded as a consequence.
Brickfield Siding. This probably dated from the 1840s and lay east of Ilford on the down side. It was removed by 1882
Ilford Goods Yard. This was on the up side east of Ilford and was built from 1881. It had two sidings parallel to the main line and a signal box called Ilford Brickfield Sidings, later Ilford Goods Yard. In 1893 the public goods yard at Ilford Station closed and therefore this yard was expanded – and a goods shed, three sidings and cattle pens were added. A footbridge ran right across the site. The goods yard closed in 1968 although a siding to the United Dairies depot remained open.
Carriage sidings. Eight sidings were built in 1898 and survived in their original form until the 1930s. Water supply to them was installed in 1900 with an artesian well, tank, pump and engine house.
Ilford Carriage Sidings signal box built in 1882 to replace Ilford Goods Yard box.
Coal Depot. This opened in 1900 as part of the Goods Yard
Loco shed. This dated from 1900
Electric Car Sheds. These are on the site of the carriage sidings and loco sheds closed in and removed in the 1940s.
Signal boxes to control the 1890s goods developments were removed in 1947 and replaced by boxes at Ilford Car Sheds. These have now gone to be replaced with the Liverpool Street resignalling scheme in the 1990s.
Cauliflower Pit or High Road Pit. This lay north of the railway line. John Gibson tried to excavate a complete skeleton of an elephant in 1824 but was unsuccessful. In the 1830s the pit provided the clay for the railway’s bricks. Bones were successfully removed by Gibson with the cooperation of Thomas Curtis, the brickworks owner. The Cauliflower pit was still in operation in 1898.

Riches Road
The Vine Church. This is a church build in 1961 on part of the site of the earlier Vine Church in the High Road sold for redevelopment. The church is now part of the Vine United Reformed Church.

Stanley Road
127-129 Firmco. Firmin House. Refurbishment and construction specialist company.

Sunnyside Road
101 currently a clothing factory this has been an engineering works and a laundry

Sylvan Road
Redbridge Foyer ATP Group Partnership for East Thames Housing designed to provide small flats and an integrated centre for disadvantaged young people.  Similarly lively ranges in yellow brick with metal-clad upper storeys.  Turreted stair tower.
Bus stand. This appears to be on the site of Tyne Hall, a gentleman’s house dating from at least the early 19th and demolished after 1940.  Residents included, in the 1860s, and enthusiast for silk worm culture. It appears to also have been used as a school.


Thompson Close
Redbridge Enterprise Centre.


Winston Way
Relief road built in 1985.


Sources
Brennand. Ilford to Shenfield.
British History On line Web site.
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
English Heritage. Web site.
Field. London Place Names
Gordon Infants School. Web site
Ilford Catholic Club. Web site
London Borough of Redbridge. Web site
London Railway Record.
London Tigers. Web site
Nature Conservation in Barking and Dagenham
St.Mary’s Ilford. Web site
Unitarian History. Web site
Victoria County History. Essex
Walford. Village London.