Die Stamping, GPO, Ancient House, Churchyard, Leaves & Market: I can’t now recall why I had only time for a relatively short walk in Walthamstow on Saturday 16th September 1989 but it was an interesting one. I think possibly I was unhappy with a picture I had take earlier and had returned to have another attempt.
From Walthamstow Central Station I crossed Hoe St and walked down St Mary Road, which leads to Church Path, and the Essex Die Stamping Co Ltd who were also steel engravers was on this path. The company had moved out to Harlow when I made this picture and the property had already been sold. It is now residential.
At the end of Church Path is Vestry Road and the Vestry House Museum in a Grade II listed building built as the parish workhouse in 1730. Before opening as a local history museum in 1931 it had served as a police station, an armoury, a building merchant’s store, and a private home. Among its exhibits is “the Bremer Car, the first British motor car with an internal combustion engine, which was built by Frederick Bremer (1872–1941) in a workshop at the back of his family home in Connaught Road, Walthamstow.” The museum is currently being renovated and should reopen in 2026.
The short fluted column and capital outside the museum was one of the many which adorned the frontage of Sir Robert Smirke’s fine neo-classical General Post Office HQ in St Martin-le-Grand, built in 19826-9 and demolished in 1912. It was then bought by stone mason Frank Mortimer who presented it to Walthamstow Council. They put it in Lloyd Park, but moved it outside the museum in 1954.
The Ancient House at 2,4,6 and 8, Church Lane was Grade II listed in 1951, early on in the pioneer survey which followed the Town and Country Planning Acts of 1944 and 1947. The listing text indicates it began as a single fifteenth century hall house but has since been converted into separate dwellings with the hall also divided into normal height floors. It was extensively “restored in 1934 by Mr Robert Fuller under the supervision ofMr CJ Brewin, architect, as a memorial to W G Fuller, head of the Fuller’s firm of builders. “
An atmospheric view of the corner of St Mary’s Churchyard. Beyond the path (although not showing their best side) are the almshouses “ERECTED and ENDOWED FOR EVER By Mrs MARY SQUIRES Widow for the Use of Six Decayed Tradesmens Widow of this Parish and no other” in 1795. You can read more about them in an article by Karen Averby Story of Squires Almshouses built in 1795 in Walthamstow, East London.
Although St Mary’s Church is well worth a visit I didn’t photograph it (or take a proper picture of the almshouses.) When I visited the National Building Record in Saville Row I often had to wait in the library where I could pull files for various areas off the shelves and look through the pictures they contained. Most were stuffed full of pictures of old churches, many taken by clergymen who apparently had time on their hands and were often keen amateur photographers. So I felt little need to photograph old churches.
Instead I took the footpath through the churchyard to Church Hill whre I found this porch across the entrance to two houses with delightful leaf ironwork.
Before catching the Underground from Walthamstow Central I had time for a short wander along Walthamstow Market which claims to be a mile long but isn’t, though at around a kilometre it is still the second longest outdoor market in Europe.
The market began in 1885 and operates five days a week with around 500 market stalls as well as shops on both sides of the street. It is still worth a visit but I think has gone down considerably since 1989, though the four pictures I took on this occasion (three on-line) do not show it at its best.
You can browse a few more pictures I took on this walk on Flickr from any of those here, as well as many more of my pictures – over 30,000 from London.
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