Great Eastern Railway Line from Liverpool Street to Chingford. Pimps Hall.
Great Eastern Railway Line from Liverpool Street to Chingford
The railway line continues northwards, veering north east
Post to the south Chingford Hatch
Post to the east Friday Hill
Post to the north Chingford
Four Wents
This was a green at the point where four roads met – a state which changed when the railway was built in 1873. Two of these were – as now – Whitehall Road and Friday Hill. They were joined by Pimp Hall Lane, now a track going to the recycling centre but then the road from Hale End, and Kings Road, although on earlier maps this passes to the north of the green, whereas now it is to the south.
Goldsborough Crescent
A house called Goldsborough stood here in the 17th associated with a John Goldsborough
Gunners Grove
The road is built on a wood with this name
Kings Road
This was known as Bull Lane until 1901 when the name was changed probably for the coronation of Edward VII
Kings Road Recycling Centre
TS Acorn Sea Cadets
Larkshall Road
The road has had a variety of names – Larkshall seems to be derived from Larks Hill Wood and Larks Farm named from 14th Thomas Laverk. But there have been other named – notably Hale End Road, Chingford Lane and Rolls Lane among them. The northern stretch of road from Simmons Lane dates from the mid-19th and the building of the railway. Originally the road from Hale End veered north east to reach the crossroads at Four Wents – and some of this road survives as Pimp Hall Lane. This was called St Martin’s Lane, or The Avenue. The replacement road ran west of the railway and is now known as Larkshall Road although it was originally Station Road and then Old Station Road.
Chingford Old Station. This opened in 1878 as an extension of the line from Shern Hall Street Station, and may at first have been called Chingford Green. It closed in 1878 when the line was extended northwards. The station building was a long low structure which ran south from what was then Bull Lane and is said to have remained in place until 1953. There was a single earth platform with wooden buildings and the first service was over a single track from November 1873. They used a nearby farm pond as a water source for the engines. The buildings were subsequently used as a wagon store in the goods yard.
Goods Yard. This extended south from the station between the railway line and what is now Larkshall Road. At the southern end were coal siding and a coal yard. This closed in 1965. The site is now housing but to the south the area between the current rail line and the road, part of which would have been coal yard, has some light industry, builders yards and related sites.
66 Scout Hut. 40th Chingford Scouts
86 Kingdom Hall
Chingford Horticultural Society. Two halls where shows are held and there is a produce shop.
Walthamstow Isolation Hospital/ Chingford Hospital. In the late 19th the population of Walthamstow greatly increased the need for a municipal isolation hospital became urgent so. Larkswood Lodge, was bought by the Walthamstow Urban District Council. It opened as the Walthamstow Sanatorium in 1901. There were all the usual facilities including a small gas works. There was also an engine-house with two 28 BHP Westinghouse gas engines to generate electricity . Patients arrived by horse-drawn ambulances. The Hospital was enlarged in 1905 and a pavilion for TB added in 1914. In 1938 Leyton Council bought a half-share in the Hospital. In the Second World War a First Aid post and Gas Cleansing Section was set up and the hospital was bombed in 1940 and 1941. In 1946 it was renamed the Walthamstow Infectious Diseases Hospital and Sanatorium and in 1948 joined the NHS. By 1953 it had become a general hospital although no surgery was performed here and it was renamed Chingford Hospital. By 1970 Chingford Hospital had was a busy acute general hospital. Throughout the 1980s there was debate about the future of the Hospital. The in-patients closed in 1991 but the Out-Patients Department continued until 1996, when the Hospital finally closed. One of the buildings survives as the Silverthorn Medical Centre and most of the rest was demolished. The site also houses the Ainslie Rehabilitation Unit and Highams Court, continuing care of the elderly. A garden was created on the remainder of the site in 2001. The remainder of the site has been built up with housing by Housing Associations. The 1899 cornerstone and plaque for the isolation hospital are mounted on the front of the Ainslie Rehabilitation Unit.
Longshaw Road
Longshaw Primary School. Opened in 1949 this is an example of the new type of primary developed by Essex County Council for the New London County Council estates. It was originally made up of a series of standard units; intended to be steel-framed, but shortage of materials led to the use of pre-cast reinforced concrete
Organ Lane
Also called Blind Lane, or just The Lane
Pimps Hall Lane
This roadway, leading to Pimp Hall from Kings Road through the recycling centre is the remaining part of the road coming from Hale End before the railway was built. Named from Pimps Hall marked and in the16th called ‘Pympis’ or ‘Pympes manor’. Reynold Pympe was lord of the manor in 1500.
Pimps Hall. It was once known as the manor of Gowers and Buckerells, as well after the manor of Pimps, after different tenants. Where n 1538 it was owned by Sir George Monoux. The timber-framed Hall was probably built at the end of the 16th and used as a working farm until 1934 when it was bought by Chingford Council and became allotments, a council-run nursery, and a park,
Pimps Hall Park. This was laid out in 1934 as a recreation ground.
Pimps Hall Nature Reserve. This was the area of the nursery where the old Hall and outbuildings were.The house was demolished in 1939, although the dovecote survives. The sites of the Hall and Barn have been marked out on the ground in gravel. A few mature trees survive including yew, oak and willow. It was winner of the Wild Flower and Environment Trophy in 1997
Pimp Hall Dovecote, now within a small nature park. This is all that remains from a cluster of timber-framed buildings, bought by the District Council in 1934. It is a square building, of the 16th timber-framed on a brick base with 5 tiers of nesting holes catering for some 250 nests.
Barn. This was 17th, timber framed with weatherboarding but it was destroyed in a gale of 1990
Simons Lane
This was once an access road to Friday Hill House
Sources
Chingford As It Was,
Chingford Horticultural Society. Web site
Connor. Liverpool Street to Chingford
Field. Place names of London,
Hayward. The Streets of Waltham Forest
Law and Barry. The Forest in Walthamstow and Chingford
London Encyclopaedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site.
Neale. Chingford in History
Pevsner and Cherry. Essex
Pond. The Chingford Line
Ray Chingford Past
Victoria County History. Essex,
The railway line continues northwards, veering north east
Post to the south Chingford Hatch
Post to the east Friday Hill
Post to the north Chingford
Four Wents
This was a green at the point where four roads met – a state which changed when the railway was built in 1873. Two of these were – as now – Whitehall Road and Friday Hill. They were joined by Pimp Hall Lane, now a track going to the recycling centre but then the road from Hale End, and Kings Road, although on earlier maps this passes to the north of the green, whereas now it is to the south.
Goldsborough Crescent
A house called Goldsborough stood here in the 17th associated with a John Goldsborough
Gunners Grove
The road is built on a wood with this name
Kings Road
This was known as Bull Lane until 1901 when the name was changed probably for the coronation of Edward VII
Kings Road Recycling Centre
TS Acorn Sea Cadets
Larkshall Road
The road has had a variety of names – Larkshall seems to be derived from Larks Hill Wood and Larks Farm named from 14th Thomas Laverk. But there have been other named – notably Hale End Road, Chingford Lane and Rolls Lane among them. The northern stretch of road from Simmons Lane dates from the mid-19th and the building of the railway. Originally the road from Hale End veered north east to reach the crossroads at Four Wents – and some of this road survives as Pimp Hall Lane. This was called St Martin’s Lane, or The Avenue. The replacement road ran west of the railway and is now known as Larkshall Road although it was originally Station Road and then Old Station Road.
Chingford Old Station. This opened in 1878 as an extension of the line from Shern Hall Street Station, and may at first have been called Chingford Green. It closed in 1878 when the line was extended northwards. The station building was a long low structure which ran south from what was then Bull Lane and is said to have remained in place until 1953. There was a single earth platform with wooden buildings and the first service was over a single track from November 1873. They used a nearby farm pond as a water source for the engines. The buildings were subsequently used as a wagon store in the goods yard.
Goods Yard. This extended south from the station between the railway line and what is now Larkshall Road. At the southern end were coal siding and a coal yard. This closed in 1965. The site is now housing but to the south the area between the current rail line and the road, part of which would have been coal yard, has some light industry, builders yards and related sites.
66 Scout Hut. 40th Chingford Scouts
86 Kingdom Hall
Chingford Horticultural Society. Two halls where shows are held and there is a produce shop.
Walthamstow Isolation Hospital/ Chingford Hospital. In the late 19th the population of Walthamstow greatly increased the need for a municipal isolation hospital became urgent so. Larkswood Lodge, was bought by the Walthamstow Urban District Council. It opened as the Walthamstow Sanatorium in 1901. There were all the usual facilities including a small gas works. There was also an engine-house with two 28 BHP Westinghouse gas engines to generate electricity . Patients arrived by horse-drawn ambulances. The Hospital was enlarged in 1905 and a pavilion for TB added in 1914. In 1938 Leyton Council bought a half-share in the Hospital. In the Second World War a First Aid post and Gas Cleansing Section was set up and the hospital was bombed in 1940 and 1941. In 1946 it was renamed the Walthamstow Infectious Diseases Hospital and Sanatorium and in 1948 joined the NHS. By 1953 it had become a general hospital although no surgery was performed here and it was renamed Chingford Hospital. By 1970 Chingford Hospital had was a busy acute general hospital. Throughout the 1980s there was debate about the future of the Hospital. The in-patients closed in 1991 but the Out-Patients Department continued until 1996, when the Hospital finally closed. One of the buildings survives as the Silverthorn Medical Centre and most of the rest was demolished. The site also houses the Ainslie Rehabilitation Unit and Highams Court, continuing care of the elderly. A garden was created on the remainder of the site in 2001. The remainder of the site has been built up with housing by Housing Associations. The 1899 cornerstone and plaque for the isolation hospital are mounted on the front of the Ainslie Rehabilitation Unit.
Longshaw Road
Longshaw Primary School. Opened in 1949 this is an example of the new type of primary developed by Essex County Council for the New London County Council estates. It was originally made up of a series of standard units; intended to be steel-framed, but shortage of materials led to the use of pre-cast reinforced concrete
Organ Lane
Also called Blind Lane, or just The Lane
Pimps Hall Lane
This roadway, leading to Pimp Hall from Kings Road through the recycling centre is the remaining part of the road coming from Hale End before the railway was built. Named from Pimps Hall marked and in the16th called ‘Pympis’ or ‘Pympes manor’. Reynold Pympe was lord of the manor in 1500.
Pimps Hall. It was once known as the manor of Gowers and Buckerells, as well after the manor of Pimps, after different tenants. Where n 1538 it was owned by Sir George Monoux. The timber-framed Hall was probably built at the end of the 16th and used as a working farm until 1934 when it was bought by Chingford Council and became allotments, a council-run nursery, and a park,
Pimps Hall Park. This was laid out in 1934 as a recreation ground.
Pimps Hall Nature Reserve. This was the area of the nursery where the old Hall and outbuildings were.The house was demolished in 1939, although the dovecote survives. The sites of the Hall and Barn have been marked out on the ground in gravel. A few mature trees survive including yew, oak and willow. It was winner of the Wild Flower and Environment Trophy in 1997
Pimp Hall Dovecote, now within a small nature park. This is all that remains from a cluster of timber-framed buildings, bought by the District Council in 1934. It is a square building, of the 16th timber-framed on a brick base with 5 tiers of nesting holes catering for some 250 nests.
Barn. This was 17th, timber framed with weatherboarding but it was destroyed in a gale of 1990
Simons Lane
This was once an access road to Friday Hill House
Sources
Chingford As It Was,
Chingford Horticultural Society. Web site
Connor. Liverpool Street to Chingford
Field. Place names of London,
Hayward. The Streets of Waltham Forest
Law and Barry. The Forest in Walthamstow and Chingford
London Encyclopaedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site.
Neale. Chingford in History
Pevsner and Cherry. Essex
Pond. The Chingford Line
Ray Chingford Past
Victoria County History. Essex,
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