Great Eastern Railway to Shenfield. Gidea Park
Great Eastern Railway from Liverpool Street to Shenfield
The railway continues from Romford Station running north eastwards to Gidea Park.
Post to the north Gidea Park
The railway continues from Romford Station running north eastwards to Gidea Park.
Post to the north Gidea Park
Post to the west Romford
Post to the east Squirrels Heath
Balgores Crescent
1-3 with Crittal Windows type curved bay
7 Quaker Meeting House. In the 1950s the Havering Friends group were looking for new premises. A site off Balgores Crescent was bought which had been used for allotments during the war and was full of broken glass from greenhouses and cloches. It was opened in 1961.
Balgores Lane
Several houses in the road were built as entries in the 1911 exhibition – for example 17, 32, 33, 35, 39, 47, 49 51
Balgores House. A grey and yellow brick house of the 1850s. Served as refreshment rooms for the exhibition and was the home of Mr. William Bose, secretary of Gidea Park Golf Club. In the Great War it provided additional accommodation for the Artists Rifles, having been offered rent free by Sir Herbert Raphael. Now a private fee paying ‘preparatory’ school called Gidea Park College. The school was founded in 1926 by the grandfather of the present owners, Mrs.N. Molyneux and Mrs. A. Parkinson-Curd.
Lloyds Bank. The bank is on the site of The Cottage – which was Humphrey Repton’s home. It was standing in 1911 and a plaque on Lloyds Bank building describes his work here.
Library
Balgores Square
This is a fragment of an uncompleted shopping centre designed to have a continuous arcaded ground floor around three sides of the square. But instead houses were built on the undeveloped plots and the square is now a car park
Elm Walk
3 -7 designed by Curtis Green but they were not exhibition houses
Gidea Close
Site of Gidea Hall. This is now a covenanted space used by the tennis club. Surrounded by tall hedges. From 1452-1629 it was owned by the Cooke family, with a 15th/16th house built on the site of a 13th manor. It was a moated house within parkland with deer, a rabbit warren and fishpond. It had several subsequent owners and in 1710 it was owned by Sir John Eyles, Sub-Governor of the South Sea Company and Post-master General who rebuilt it as a three storey mansion. It was then sold to Richard Benyon, Governor of Fort St George, Madras and his grandson sold it to Alexander Black. In 1893 it was sold to the Land Allotment Company for development but then sold on to Herbert H. Raphael, barrister and a Liberal MP. In the Great War it was an Officers School for the Artists Rifles and was demolished in 1930
Gidea Park Lawn Tennis Club. Established in the 1930s
Gidea Park,
The Romford Garden Suburb begun in 1910 and the designers of the houses include most of the influential figures of the late Arts and Crafts movement. Herbert Raphael M.P. had acquired Gidea Hall in 1897 and 1909 set up Gidea Hall Development Co. with Charles McCurdy and John Tudor Walters, in order to develop a garden suburb. Plans for the layout were published in 1909 and may have been by Parker and Unwin. work began in 1910 and The 'Exhibition of Houses and Cottages' was opened in 1911 with 140 houses and cottages by over 100 separate architects - Baillie Scott, Crickmer, Geoffrey Lucas, Parker & Unwin, W.Curtis Green, Herbert A. Welch and T.M, Wilson. C.R. Ashbee and Clough Williams Ellis. The exhibition houses were the core of the suburb the shopping centre was never completed and some other plots were filled with standard interwar speculative housing.
Hare Hall Lane
Hare Court. Boring flats 1937.
Main Road
It was the reference is to the Roman road from London to Colchester and called Hare Street. ‘Here’ is Old English for ‘army’ which means it was the ‘army road' - a 'main road suitable for the army'.
St Michael and All Angels. Built in 1938 by J.J. Crowe, Crowe and Careless. The first Anglican place of worship in Gidea Park was St Michael’s Mission Church built in 1928 and then Gidea Park was in the Chapelry of All Saints Squirrels Heath now known as Ardleigh Green. In 1933 the new Parish of St Michael Gidea Park was set up and a Church Hall built, which remains. The Church itself was consecrated in 1938. It is in red brick under a continuous roof with a square tower with louvred shingled roof,
Bishop Chadwick Hall. This was the 1928 mission building
75 timber-framed building with pargetting in the upper floor, was allegedly built for the British Exhibition at White City and brought here as the estate office. Now offices.
93 The Ship Pub, This is an old building behind a 20th half-timbered front, it is probably 17th with later additions.
194-204 The Archers pub. Of this building 198-200 were some of the first of the suburb buildings, completed for the exhibition in 1912. They were built as Shops with flats above
Royal Jubilee Court. Local authority sheltered housing complex
67 Churchill House. Romford Conservative Club.
91 Harvester – chain restaurant in what was The Unicorn pub and has also been called The Cavalier. A pub called the Unicorn was here in the 18th.
Squirrel’s Heath Avenue,
The designers, Ashbee and Gripper & Stevenson, made a formal layout arranged around an elliptical green. Only one side was completed and the other side was built in conventional speculative fashion of the 1920s.
Station Road
Gidea Park Station. This lies between Harold Wood and Romford stations on the Great Eastern Railway. It was opened in 1910 and originally called Squirrels Heath and Gidea Park Station and within three years it changed to Gidea Park and Squirrels Heath. The Gidea Park Company persuaded the railway company to build the station and forced them to buy the Hare Hall Estate.
Signal Box. This was built above the platform sited on the overbridge
Sources
Brennand. Ilford to Shenfield
Diamond Geezer. Web site
Essex Journal
Field. London Place Names
Gidea Park College Web site
Gidea Park Lawn Tennis Club
Gidea Park Quakers. Web site
Harvester. Web site
London Borough of Havering. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
Lost Heritage. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. Essex
St.Michael and All Angels. Web site
The Ship. Web site
Balgores Crescent
1-3 with Crittal Windows type curved bay
7 Quaker Meeting House. In the 1950s the Havering Friends group were looking for new premises. A site off Balgores Crescent was bought which had been used for allotments during the war and was full of broken glass from greenhouses and cloches. It was opened in 1961.
Balgores Lane
Several houses in the road were built as entries in the 1911 exhibition – for example 17, 32, 33, 35, 39, 47, 49 51
Balgores House. A grey and yellow brick house of the 1850s. Served as refreshment rooms for the exhibition and was the home of Mr. William Bose, secretary of Gidea Park Golf Club. In the Great War it provided additional accommodation for the Artists Rifles, having been offered rent free by Sir Herbert Raphael. Now a private fee paying ‘preparatory’ school called Gidea Park College. The school was founded in 1926 by the grandfather of the present owners, Mrs.N. Molyneux and Mrs. A. Parkinson-Curd.
Lloyds Bank. The bank is on the site of The Cottage – which was Humphrey Repton’s home. It was standing in 1911 and a plaque on Lloyds Bank building describes his work here.
Library
Balgores Square
This is a fragment of an uncompleted shopping centre designed to have a continuous arcaded ground floor around three sides of the square. But instead houses were built on the undeveloped plots and the square is now a car park
Elm Walk
3 -7 designed by Curtis Green but they were not exhibition houses
Gidea Close
Site of Gidea Hall. This is now a covenanted space used by the tennis club. Surrounded by tall hedges. From 1452-1629 it was owned by the Cooke family, with a 15th/16th house built on the site of a 13th manor. It was a moated house within parkland with deer, a rabbit warren and fishpond. It had several subsequent owners and in 1710 it was owned by Sir John Eyles, Sub-Governor of the South Sea Company and Post-master General who rebuilt it as a three storey mansion. It was then sold to Richard Benyon, Governor of Fort St George, Madras and his grandson sold it to Alexander Black. In 1893 it was sold to the Land Allotment Company for development but then sold on to Herbert H. Raphael, barrister and a Liberal MP. In the Great War it was an Officers School for the Artists Rifles and was demolished in 1930
Gidea Park Lawn Tennis Club. Established in the 1930s
Gidea Park,
The Romford Garden Suburb begun in 1910 and the designers of the houses include most of the influential figures of the late Arts and Crafts movement. Herbert Raphael M.P. had acquired Gidea Hall in 1897 and 1909 set up Gidea Hall Development Co. with Charles McCurdy and John Tudor Walters, in order to develop a garden suburb. Plans for the layout were published in 1909 and may have been by Parker and Unwin. work began in 1910 and The 'Exhibition of Houses and Cottages' was opened in 1911 with 140 houses and cottages by over 100 separate architects - Baillie Scott, Crickmer, Geoffrey Lucas, Parker & Unwin, W.Curtis Green, Herbert A. Welch and T.M, Wilson. C.R. Ashbee and Clough Williams Ellis. The exhibition houses were the core of the suburb the shopping centre was never completed and some other plots were filled with standard interwar speculative housing.
Hare Hall Lane
Hare Court. Boring flats 1937.
Main Road
It was the reference is to the Roman road from London to Colchester and called Hare Street. ‘Here’ is Old English for ‘army’ which means it was the ‘army road' - a 'main road suitable for the army'.
St Michael and All Angels. Built in 1938 by J.J. Crowe, Crowe and Careless. The first Anglican place of worship in Gidea Park was St Michael’s Mission Church built in 1928 and then Gidea Park was in the Chapelry of All Saints Squirrels Heath now known as Ardleigh Green. In 1933 the new Parish of St Michael Gidea Park was set up and a Church Hall built, which remains. The Church itself was consecrated in 1938. It is in red brick under a continuous roof with a square tower with louvred shingled roof,
Bishop Chadwick Hall. This was the 1928 mission building
75 timber-framed building with pargetting in the upper floor, was allegedly built for the British Exhibition at White City and brought here as the estate office. Now offices.
93 The Ship Pub, This is an old building behind a 20th half-timbered front, it is probably 17th with later additions.
194-204 The Archers pub. Of this building 198-200 were some of the first of the suburb buildings, completed for the exhibition in 1912. They were built as Shops with flats above
Royal Jubilee Court. Local authority sheltered housing complex
67 Churchill House. Romford Conservative Club.
91 Harvester – chain restaurant in what was The Unicorn pub and has also been called The Cavalier. A pub called the Unicorn was here in the 18th.
Squirrel’s Heath Avenue,
The designers, Ashbee and Gripper & Stevenson, made a formal layout arranged around an elliptical green. Only one side was completed and the other side was built in conventional speculative fashion of the 1920s.
Station Road
Gidea Park Station. This lies between Harold Wood and Romford stations on the Great Eastern Railway. It was opened in 1910 and originally called Squirrels Heath and Gidea Park Station and within three years it changed to Gidea Park and Squirrels Heath. The Gidea Park Company persuaded the railway company to build the station and forced them to buy the Hare Hall Estate.
Signal Box. This was built above the platform sited on the overbridge
Sources
Brennand. Ilford to Shenfield
Diamond Geezer. Web site
Essex Journal
Field. London Place Names
Gidea Park College Web site
Gidea Park Lawn Tennis Club
Gidea Park Quakers. Web site
Harvester. Web site
London Borough of Havering. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
Lost Heritage. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. Essex
St.Michael and All Angels. Web site
The Ship. Web site
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