Posts Tagged ‘High Rd’

Sheds, Turnpike Lane, Saris & Shops – 1989

Monday, November 25th, 2024

Sheds, Turnpike Lane, Saris & Shops: You can read the previous post on my walk which began on Sunday 12th November 1989 at Salvation, Statuettes, a Sexy Model, Spendel & More where it starts halfway down the page. It had begun in Walthamstow where I made about a dozen images before catching the tube and returning to Turnpike Lane where I had ended my walk the week before.

Carr Portable Buildings, 66-68, Hoe St, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-44
Carr Portable Buildings, 66-68, Hoe St, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-44

On my way to Walthamstow Central I took this picture on Hoe Street on the corner of Gaywood Road where sheds like these were still being sold by Carr Portable Buildings Ltd until around 2008 and a couple of years later by Garden Design Services, though the site gradually became empty and was looking derelict by 2014. Two floors of flats above a ground floor shop built in 2018 now occupy the site.

I liked the horizontal divide with its upper level of sheds and plant containers which seemed to be a new ground level above the lower sheds.

Turnpike Lane Station, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-36
Turnpike Lane Station, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-36

On reaching Turnpike Lane I spent some time wandering around the station and bus station area. admiring the 1930s architecture designed by Charles Holden.

The station opened in 1932 and was the first Underground station in Tottenham. Previously the line had ended at Finsbury Park with further extension north having been vetoed by what had become the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). But the LNER lacked the funds to introduce better services on their lines and a campaign by residents of North London together with the Underground in the 1920s eventually led to the extension to Cockfosters being approved by parliament in 1930.

At Turnpike Lane Station the development also included a tram terminus – later used as a bus station and a number of shops. I think it is probably the largest of Holden’s many fine station projects on the line.

Saris, Shop Window, Westbury Ave, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-33
Saris, Shop Window, Westbury Ave, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-33

One of the many shops in the area around Turnpike Lane station which caught my attention particularly for the stylized ‘hair’ and eyes of the three mannequins iin the shop window. I covered the window glass with my hands and arms to prevent reflections but the chimneys of the street opposite intrude slightly at top centre and there is a strip of light at far right. I quite like the effect.

Shop window, High Rd, Wood Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-34
Shop window, High Rd, Wood Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-34

This was a strange shop display and one which I still cannot quite understand, with at least one ghostly pillar as well as those more obvious ones, with the foreground brightly lit one having a dim but otherwise identical repeat to its left. It’s hard to tell from my image what the goods on display are, some looking like buttons and others like earrings and jewellery. wit at extreme right perhaps some clothing.

Scales SuperMarket, West Green Rd, West Green, Haringey 1989 89-11c-22
Scales SuperMarket, West Green Rd, West Green, Haringey 1989 89-11c-22

A rather more down-market shop on West Green Lane a little to the south in Duckett’s Green – one of the other names considered when Turnpike Lane station was in planning.

I particularly liked the hand=drawn partly 3D lettering of the shop sign. Clearly this shop has been visited by supporters of Newcastle United – probably lost on their way to or from White Hart Lane.

There are still many small shops along West Green Road, but I think this particular one has gone. I didn’t walk far down West Green Road before returning to Turnpike Lane where this short walk ended as I had a meeting to attend.


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A Short Walk in Tottenham

Wednesday, October 30th, 2024

A Short Walk in Tottenham: My next London walk came on Friday October 27th 1989 when I rushed to jump on a train after finishing a morning of teaching and then took the Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale, arriving around 2pm. I’d managed to arrange my teaching timetable by including an evening class so that I finished on Fridays at noon but this was the last time it would be worth travelling to London to take photographs before the clocks went back to GMT at the weekend.

The Hale, Tottenham Hale, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-42
The Hale, Tottenham Hale, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-42

The first two pictures I made were both of this scene, a strangely blank building with signs on it which informed it it was the home of ‘Garbi Ltd‘ and ‘Short Stories of London‘, both manufacturers of men’s wear. Perhaps ‘Short Stories of London’ might be a good title for a book of my pictures one day.

Despite considerably redevelopment in the area I think this building is still there at No 33, thought with a rebuilt frontage and still in the clothing trade though now wholesale and retail sales, open to the public. It became Soniez House and more recently since around 2011 Morelli with two large ground floor windows and a wide glass door, but retaining the first floor windows in my picture.

I think the traffic flow in this area has altered and there are no longer the traffic signs I made use of – although the tree which it amused me to use with them as a framing device is I think still in place.

Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-43
Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-43

I walked west from The Hale to Tottenham Green East, just off the High Road, opposite the Council Offices. Mountford House, a late 18th or early 19th century Grade II listed pair of houses, was then in use as offices for Haringey Health Authority, but is now private flats on the road at the edge of the small open space.

Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-45
Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-45

This is a later extension to Mountford House and it doesn’t appear to be included in the rather strange listing text which calls this “Pair of houses in north east part of Prince of Wales’s General Hospital grounds.” Whatever its date I think it was nicely done an complements the simpler porch to the northern of the two houses.

Main Entrance, Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-44
Main Entrance, Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-44

And this is that Prince of Wales Hospital, then surrounded by a solid fence over which I could see some broken windows and its Fleur-de-Lys symbol with the motto ‘Ich Dien’ around the crown, the Prince of Wales’s badge and coat of arms. The motto, ‘I serve’, was perhaps more suitable for a hospital than for many of the Princes, who got up to some very odd things.

According to the Lost Hospitals of London, the hospital had started in 1867 as the Evangelical Protestant Deaconesses’ Institution and Training Hospital in a converted cottage and moved into a house on this site in 1861. It got a new building in 1881 and was extended in 1887, becoming Tottenham Hospital in 1899 and after another extension the Prince of Wales General Hospital in 1907. It closed in 1983 and was converted to flats in 1993 as Deaconess Court.

Tottenham High Cross, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-31
Tottenham High Cross, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-31

This brick cross erected around 1600 replaced a wooden cross first recorded in 1409. In 1809 the plain brick cross was covered in stucco and the Gothic style ornamentation in my picture. The Grade II listed cross is still present but has been moved a little to fit in with new road layout since I photographed it.

Behind it is the fine Estate Office of George Ellis on the corner of Rawlinson Terrace, sadly rather defaced around ten years ago. The terrace itself with its crenellated parapet replaced ‘Turner’s House’ lived in by a vet called Turner with his brother, a farrier in the yard next door. When a horse ridden by a ‘gentleman from Stamford Hill‘ slipped and broke its leg outside the vet set it and the horse’s owner was so impressed he gave the horse to the vet on condition that he did not part with it. And he didn’t, even after its death, when he “fixed the skeleton by means of iron supports, and placed it over the farrier’s shop, where it served the purpose of an advertisement for the veterinary surgeon as well as for the farrier.”

The house was demolished and replaced by Rawlinson Terrace in 1881, named after Emma Rawlinson, the wife of the builder James Stringfellow. The horse’s skeleton was then for some years displayed on top of an undertakers on the opposite side of the road.

Ritzy, Venue, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey  1989 89-10i-22
Ritzy, Venue, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-22

Built as a roller skating rink designed by architect Ewen S. Barr in 1910, it included an electric theatre, but the roller skating craze slumped quickly and the whole building opened as the Canadian Rink Cinema in 1911. It was converted into a dance hall, the Tottenham Palais, and later when owned by Mecca Dancing Ltd, The Tottenham Royal.

When I took this picture it was the Ritzy, ‘A Perfect Place for a Great Night Out’, but it had a whole string of names including the Mayfair Suite, the Aztec Temple, Club U N, and the Zone before being demolished around 2004.

The Old Well, Philip Lane, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey  1989 89-10i-24
The Old Well, Philip Lane, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-24

The Lord of the Manor who lived in Bruce Castle had this well dug in 1791 and it was used by locals until 1883 when it was found to be polluted, which was rather a shame as they had added the current structure over it only seven years earlier. It was restored in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Behind the well the High Cross Infants School, later called Holy Trinity School, dates from 1847, one of the schools linked to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education established to provide a Church of England elementary education for poor children who paid two pence a week (later raised to three) ‘School Pence’ to attend. Condemned in 1924 it survived to be Grade II listed in 1974 and so remains there to this day.

Time was getting on and I walked the short distance down the High Road to Seven Sisters Underground Station to start my journey and get home in time for dinner.


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South Tottenham & Stamford Hill

Friday, August 23rd, 2024

South Tottenham & Stamford Hill: Continuing my walk on Sunday 8th October which had begun at Seven Sisters Station from where I had walked south down the High Road – the pictures start some way down my post Abney Park & South Tottenham.

South Tottenham & Stamford Hill
Shop window, High Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-13

On the High Road in South Tottenham I found another of the 20 images which were a part of my web site and book ‘1989’, ISBN: 978-1-909363-01-4, and above is the page from that.

The Emerald Bar, St Ann's Rd, 1989 South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10d-63
The Emerald Bar, St Ann’s Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10d-63

I turned from the High Road into St Ann’s Road and a short way down came to this sign for the Emerald Bar. Now disappeared this was obviously an Irish bar (the Shamrock as well as the name was a clue!) and only a short walk from St Ignatius Catholic Church on the High Road. It appeared to be in a part of the yard of St Ignatius Primary School.

The brickwork at the entrance and the rather curious design of the sign both had a curiously amateur feel. On the large noticeboard below the bar’s name I could just make out the words STRIPPER and HERE; there were a few other letters but nothing I could make sense of.

Stamford Hill, 1989 89-10d-52
High Rd, Stamford Hill, 1989 89-10d-52

I took another picture on St Ann’s Road (not online) but soon returned to the High Road and continued south, where this road becomes Stamford Hill, past Phililp Kosher Butcher at 292 (picture not online) crossing the busy road to photograph some rather grander houses which I think are actually at 11-15 High Road on the border of Haringey and Hackney.

The House of Value, Ravensdale Rd, Stamford Hill, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-53
The House of Value, Ravensdale Rd, Stamford Hill, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-53

Back on the other side of the street was the turning into Ravensdale Rd where above Beeny’s Fresh Fish is still one of London’s best-known ‘ghost signs’. When I made this picture most of the signs for Yager’s Costumes were covered by two large billboards and only the YAGER’S, BUY YOUR WINTER COATS HERE AND SAVE MONEY and THE HOUSE OF VALUE could be read.

The House of Value, Ravensdale Rd, Stamford Hill, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-54
The House of Value, Ravensdale Rd, Stamford Hill, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-54

I think the Yagers who owned Yager’s Costumes were probably a part of the Yager family, Jews with Austrian/Romanian parents who came to England at some time before the 1901 census. By 1911 they were living not far away in Downs Park Road Hackney. Harry Yager started a number of businesses including a timber merchants and Park Royal Coachworks. He had a hall named after him at Stamford Hill Synagogue. But the family history has no mention of a clothing company.

A company, Yager’s (Stamford Hill) Ltd, Company number 23013, was apparently registered in 1928 but dissolved by 1932 but Companies House records available online do not go back far enough to find information.

Benny’s Fresh Fish is now a shop offering shoe repairs and key cutting and the rest of the shop is a café.

Rookwood Court, Rookwood Rd, Castlewood Rd, Clapton, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-43
Rookwood Court, Rookwood Rd, Castlewood Rd, Clapton, Hackney, 1989 89-10d-43

I continued down Stamford Hill and then turned east along Clapton Common. On reaching the grass and trees I went to there left along Castlewood Road where after some rather dreary postwar blocks I came to this fine 1930s block of flats, Rookwood Court, on the corner of Rookwood Rd. These private flats with a view (for some) across the common were built in around 1936. New windows installed around 2011-12 doubtless make the flats more comfortable but have lost some of the appeal of the building.

Next door to them you can see the tower and spire of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rookwood Road, now the Georgian Orthodox Church. More about that in the next post.


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Abney Park & South Tottenham

Thursday, August 22nd, 2024

Abney Park & South Tottenham: I ended my walk on Sunday 1st October 1989 (which had begun at Finsbury Park) in Abney Park Cemetery, one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ garden cemeteries laid out after an 1832 Act of Parliament encouraged the establishment of private cemeteries in the outer suburbs of London as graveyards in the inner city were dangerously overflowing.

Abney Park Cemetery was laid out on the grounds of Abney House and its neighbours and named after Sir Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor of London in 1700–1701, who had Abney House built for him in 1676 – it was demolished for the cemetery which opened in 1840.

Those involved with setting up the cemetery were members of the Congregational Church but it was set up on a wholly non-denominational basis. For the next 40 years was the burial place of choice for many leading non-conformists. Among those who had played a part in the landscaping of the area around Abney House long before it became a cemetery was the prolific Congregational hymn writer Isaac Watts, many of whose hymns are still well-known and loved, and there is a statue of him in the cemetery.

Unusually, as well as a cemetery it was also established as an arboretum and retains a magnificent collection of trees and a significant example of landscape design. From 1880 it was run strictly on commercial lines, but when the company went into administration in the 1970s the cemetery became hugely overgrown. In the 1980s it was taken over by Hackney council, but at first they did little to improve its condition other than establishing it as a nature reserve. More recently it has been considerably improved with the help of lottery funding.

Rev Henry Richard, (1812–1888), the Apostle of Peace, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, Hackney, 1989 89-10c-42
Rev Henry Richard, (1812–1888), the Apostle of Peace, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, Hackney, 1989

According to WikipediaHenry Richard (3 April 1812 – 20 August 1888) was a Congregational minister and Welsh Member of Parliament between 1868–1888. Richard was an advocate of peace and international arbitration, as secretary of the Peace Society for forty years (1848–1884). His other interests included anti-slavery work. “

The memorial over his grave was erected by public subscription in 1891, and his statue in the Square in Tregaron where he was born was unveiled in 1893.

Young Angel, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, Hackney, 1989 89-10c-31
Young Angel, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, Hackney, 1989 89-10c-31

I can tell you nothing about George Clayton other than is recorded here, but I was attracted both by the young angel and surrounding flowers in this relatively recent example of a memorial, shortly before the cemetery fell out of use.

I didn’t spend long in the cemetery on this occasion, walking through it to get to Stoke Newington Station as by the I was in a hurry to get home. I took around a dozen pictures in my walk through the park but have so far only put two of these online. But I did return to it on my next walk a week later – and have been back quite a few times since.

My next walk began from Seven Sisters Station a week later, and I walked from the Victoria Line exit south down the High Road.

Motor Auctions, High Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-22
Motor Auctions, High Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-22

Sometimes I came across what seemed to me, at least in a photograph, a kind of visual conundrum and this was one of them. Probably standing where I was to take the picture I could have sorted out why what appears to be a view through a rather smeared tranparent sheet in some places shows what is behind it but elsewhere replaces it with a different view. Kind of seeing through a glass darkly. And what is this strange structure which holds this sheet. I can’t now tell you. But the empty can of Ginger Beer spiked on the fence is quite clear.

Posters, High Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-23
Posters, High Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-23

Turkey and Africa meet on the posters here. The Türkiye Devrimci Komünist Partisi – Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey – is, according to Wikipedia, “a clandestine communist party in Turkey” and “Not to be confused with Revolutionary Communist Party (Turkey).Kahrolsun Fasist Diktatorluk! I think translates as ‘Down With Fascist Dictatorship’ and presumably means that of Turkey rather than Haringey Council.

Underneath is a poster for and event at Dougie’s Nightclub in the Lower Clapton Road, which would appear to feature sounds from Africa and Zimbabwe in particular. Dougie’s was in a function room for the White Hart pub, which later became the Clapton Cinematograph before becoming a night club, Dougie’s in 1983. Later it was the Palace Pavilion nightclub where stabbings and shootings made this road known as ‘Murder Mile’

And underneath these, other posters which little or almost nothing can be seen. It was a well-used post, just south of the railway bridge and then just to the side of a small shop or cafe, the former station ticket office, since demolished to provide a path to South Tottenham Station.

The Dutch House, High Rd, Crowland Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-24
The Dutch House, High Rd, Crowland Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-24

The Dutch House public house at 148-156 High Road, Tottenham has recently been renamed The Station House and is now an Irish pub. This area was developed around 1880-1900 and this building dates from shortly after 1894. Locally listed it was not built as a pub, but possibly as a music hal. It it has some incredible Venetian and Moorish detailing as this picture shows. It is by far the most interesting architecture in the area and I think should be given proper listing.

The Dutch House, High Rd, Crowland Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10c-26
The Dutch House, High Rd, Crowland Rd, South Tottenham, Haringey, 1989

Originally this building was completed with a spire above that incredible corner tower which perhaps seems oddly truncated now. But of course I would have had to stand much further back to take the picture were it still there. As well as a pub, the building also housed clothing factories and fashion shops.

More from this walk in later posts.


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Michelin, Dove, Co-op, Clothing, Jesus, Eves & Eels – 1989

Sunday, July 7th, 2024

This is the final section of my walk on Sunday September 3rd 1989 which had begun in Stratford, from which some images appeared in my web site and self-published book ‘1989’, ISBN: 978-1-909363-01-4, still available. The pictures here are in the order I took them, and almost all of these final images are in the book so you can read my deliberately disjointed thoughts that made up the text on the book pages here. Although this was the end of this walk I returned to the area for another walk a few days later.


Michelin, Dove, Co-op, Clothing, Jesus, Eves & Eels
Railway Bridge, Coopers Lane, High Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-52

Michelin, Dove, Co-op, Clothing, Jesus, Eves & Eels
Dove Cafe, 390, High Road, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-54

Michelin, Dove, Co-op, Clothing, Jesus, Eves & Eels
Andy & Co, Catering Equipment, 376-80, High Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-55

Michelin, Dove, Co-op, Clothing, Jesus, Eves & Eels
Good As New Clothes, High Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-41

Jesus is Alive, Leyton Rd, Stratford, Newham, 1989 89-9b-43

178-80 High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-44
178-80 High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-44

Here you can see the buildling where I took a photograph in a earlier post of Eves, a ‘STRICTLY LADIES ONLY HEALTH CLINIC’. The road on the corner at the left of the picture is Eve Rd. As you can read the building was also BeCKS Driving Lessons, BRITAINS LARGEST PRIVATELY OWNED DRIVING SCHOOL FOR CAR & H,,G,V.’.

There are some clues as to the origin of this building, including the intertwined initials J and S but I have been unable to find out more. Currently it is a bookmakers.

Noted Eel & Pie House, West St, 481, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-45
Noted Eel & Pie House, West St, 481, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9b-45

Finally I photographed the Noted Eel & Pie House, still present at the start of West Street although the Potato Dealers and Farm Produce shop at left is now an off-licence.
The shop sign for the Eel & Pie House has changed and now spreads across three bays and all those white tiles have been replaced by green and the shopfront also now has a large eel at right.

You can read the history of the shop, with some pictures on their web site. It began with the great grandfather of the current owners who was the skipper of an eel barge sailing out of Heeg, a fishing village in the Netherlands. Eels were exported to London from there until 1938. Around 1894 his youngest son came London at the age of nine to live with a family who owned a pie shop and learn the trade, opening a pie shop in Hoxton with a cousin just before the outbreak of The Great War. He married the daughter of another pie shop owner and in 1926 with a loan from his father-in-law set up his own shop under his father-in-law’s name, E Newton, on Bow Road.

The shop name was changed soon after the outbreak of the Second World War when the Home Office insisted his name as a “friendly alien” had to be on the shop front. It became the “Noted Eel & Pie House” with his name, “H HAK” in the smallest font permitted in the bottom right corner as he worried customers might think it German.

In 1976 when two of his sons were then running the business the shop was compulsory purchased by the council and the business opened in Leytonstone in 1978. I suspect the sign in my picture may have come with them as it doesn’t quite fit and there is a name painted over at bottom right.

This was the final frame exposed on this walk. But I was soon to return to take more pictures in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.


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Posters, Pub, Mission, Gym, House & Flats, Leytonstone 1989

Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

More from my walk on Sunday September 3rd 1989 which had begun in Stratford, from which some images appeared in my web site and self-published book ‘1989’, ISBN: 978-1-909363-01-4, still available. For those images which were in the book I’ll show the book pages here.

Posters, Pub, Mission, Gym, House & Flats
Posters, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-44

Posters, Pub, Mission, Gym, House & Flats
Plough & Harrow, pub, 419, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-45

London City Mission, Ferndale Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-46
London City Mission, Ferndale Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-46

The Victoria County History records an incredible number of missions in Leytonstone mostly formed in the late nineteenth century when this area must have seemed particularly Godless. This mission in Ferndale Road began about 1895 “when the five children of Henry Borton, a builders’ merchant at Wanstead, began holding evangelistic services in the Assembly Rooms. In 1901 their father built for them the present hall in Ferndale Road, designed in brick and stone with baroque features by T. & W. Stone. “

In 1948 the last of these children working there invited the London City Mission to take charge of the building and it became their central Hall. Google Street view shows it in 2008 as Christ Apostolic Church but by 2018 it had become Gospel Generation, “A Church Like No Other“.

Hyams Gymnasium, 857 High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-32
Hyams Gymnasium, 857 High Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-32

I can find little or nothing on-line about Hyams Gynasioum other than my pictures, but the building is still there this side on Gainsborough Road with its entrance on High Rd, but in very different use.

This is now The Walnut Tree, a Wetherspoon pub, and as often it has some history of the area it its web page, but this does not mention Hyams Gym. The figures on the building’s side have gone and its groundfloor windows have been bricked up but the rows of 8 or 9 upper floor gym windows remain.

Leytonstone House, Hanbury Drive, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-33
Leytonstone House, Hanbury Drive, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-33

Leytonstone House has lost its Virginia creeper but otherwise looks much the same, though I think its surroundsings are now different.

Wikipedia statesLeytonstone House, built 1800 and Grade II-listed, was the home of Sir Edward Buxton, MP and conservationist, who with his brother played a big part in preserving Epping, Hainault and Hatfield forests. It housed Bethnal Green School for the juvenile poor from 1868 to 1936.”

Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-21
Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-21

Leyton Flats in Snaresbrook is not a tower block but a green space that is part of Epping Forest, largely open grass land but some woodland and two large ponds, Hollow Pond and Eagle Pond which is one of the oldest in the forest and swarms with swans, probably because many injured swans nursed to health by swan resuce organisations on the Thames have been released here. But people are more likely to be imprisoned as the Flats is also home to Snaresbrook Crown Court.

The house in the distance here is at 85, 85a and 87 Whipps Cross Rd, on the corner of Chadwick Road. Locally listed, The Gables was built in 1895 and was part of the Wallwood Park estate which was once the home of the Governor of the Bank of England William Cotton who died in 1845.

Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-23
Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-23

Another sculptural group of fallen trunks in the south-east corner of Leyton Flats.

Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-26
Leyton Flats, Snaresbrook, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-26

Men are fishing in the Hollow Pond on Leyton Flats, close to the Whipps Cross roundabout and Whipps Cross Hospital. The pond, the result of gravel workings, is also a boating lake. Water from the ponds may eventually find its way into the River Roding, but they have never as has been claimed fed the ornamental lakes of Wanstead Park.


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Church Hall, Station, Shops, Hospital – Leytonstone 1989

Monday, June 10th, 2024

Church Hall, Station, Shops, Hospital – Leytonstone 1989 – more from my walk on Sunday September 3rd 1989.

Dossetter Printcrafts, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Stratford, Newham, 1989  89-8p-13
Dossetter Printcrafts, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Stratford, Newham, 1989 89-8p-13

I think this was built as the church hall for Trinity Presbyterian Church. The church was founded in 1863 and the hall was built the following year, the church coming later in 1870. The church closed in 1941 and both church and hall were used as factories. The church burnt down in 1953. This building was certainly still in use by Dossetter in the 1970s but since I photographed it has been replaced by flats. The block at left is still there.

Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-61
Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-61

Another view of the former church hall. The road layout was altered at least twice sinc I made this pictre and there is now a pedestrianised area with a 10m spiral tower by Malcolm Robertson carrying a clock.

Maryland Station, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-65
Maryland Station, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-65

Maryland Station was opened as Maryland Point Station in 1873 by the Great Eastern Railway, 34 years after the line was built. It was renamed as simply Maryland in 1940 and the new buildings were built during the war years in LNER Art Deco style, designed by Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett, then Director of Bricks at the Ministry of Works. Later he was to be the main architect for Crawley New Town and Stevenage. Network SuuthEast, created in 1982, later added their sign which I think fits reasonably well with the rest.

Shops, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-66
Shops, Leytonstone Rd, Maryland, Newham, 1989 89-9a-66

I could not walk by Scorchers, a 24hr Ironing Service without photographing their signage. I think their 24hrs was the turnaround time rather than suggesting people might have an urgent need for some ironing at say, 3am which they would rush to deal with, though I did have a vision of a van with flashing blue lights and an ironing board rushing through the streets. I cannot now find the exact location and think these buildings may have been on a side street and have probably since been demolished.

Church Hall, Station, Shops, Hospital - Leytonstone 1989

I wouldn’t normally post this in these posts as it is only a very slight variation on an image from my previous post. I’d turned around and taken the pictures above and then came back to this place to make a further six frames – a very unusual thing for me, but I was determined to get this exactly as I wanted it. And here it is with the text that came with it on the web site for my ‘1989’ project.

Again from ‘1989’

Church Hall, Station, Shops, Hospital - Leytonstone 1989
Langthorne Hospital, Thorne Close, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-56
Langthorne Hospital, Thorne Close, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-56

This splendid building is still there just a little off Leytonstone Road in Thorne Close and was built as the Board Room block for the West Ham Union Workhouse around 1870. In 1930 West Ham Borough Council renamed it the Central Home Public Assistance Institution and it was again renamed when it became art of the NHS as Langthorne Hospital. It continued to specialise in geriatric care and had the motto ‘fiat jucunda senectus’ – let there be the delights of old age. It was finally closed in 1999. The older buildings on the site are all Grade II listed.

Langthorne Health Centre, Langthorne Rd,  Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-41
Langthorne Health Centre, Langthorne Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-9a-41

The Langthorne Health Centre is still at 13 Langthorne Road, though it appears now to be run by L L Medical Care though still giving NHS treatment.

Church Hall, Station, Shops, Hospital - Leytonstone 1989

Another from the web site – though these images without the text are on Flickr. Here I’m presenting the images in the order they were taken, but in the book and web site they were thoughtfully sequenced – and perhaps make a little more sense. The book preview shows around half of the book’s 20 pictures.

More from this walk to come.


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Christmas Greetings From My Flickr Albums

Monday, December 25th, 2023

Christmas Greetings From My Flickr Albums – There are only 17 pictures out of the roughly 30,000 on my Flickr account which have the tag ‘Christmas‘, and some of those are only because I’ve mentioned the festival in my description rather than for anything in the picture. Although I’ve taken many pictures of Santas on the streets of London, almost all of these have been in the last 25 years, and so far I’ve mainly put pictures from earlier times onto Flickr – mostly from 1970-1994 and mainly of London. Wishing you all a happy Christmas. But if you get too fed up with the nonsense on TV or even with family and friends there are plenty of pictures on-line to look at!


Former Cobblers, Hackney Road, Cambridge Heath, Tower Hamlets. 1983 36u-62
Former Cobblers, Hackney Road, Cambridge Heath, Tower Hamlets, 1983 36u-62

I took this in 1983, looking through the window of a cobblers shop which had recently closed but still had posters with the message ‘It wouldn’t be Christmas without Pirelli’. Santa Claus wasn’t entirely the invention of Coca-Cola though his popularity and appearance owes much to their Christmas advertising from the 1930s. The article on the link to Wikipedia above has more about Santa than you will ever want to know. This year I produced a short run of poorly printed versions of this picture as Christmas cards for selected personal friends, mainly photographers. This picture is in my album London 1983 and also appears in Tower Hamlets – Black and White.

Auto-Sparks Ltd, Electric Harness Manufacturers, Wincolmlee, Hull, 1982 33g21
Auto-Sparks Ltd, Electric Harness Manufacturers, Wincolmlee, Hull, 1982 33g21

In my Hull Black and White album you can find this picture and the long description below:

An unprepossessing 20th century industrial building on or close to Wincolmlee where electrical harnesses – bundles of cables and connectors – for various makes of cars and other vehicles were made. Apparently Auto-Sparks Ltd Hull dates back to an electrical business founded by Mr Henry Colomb on Beverley Rd in the 1920s. Auto-Sparks Ltd was incorporated in April 1942 and a history page on the web site of its successor company, Autosparks reproduces the original company logo from 1954 when it was registered as a trade mark.

After the original owner and manager retired in the 1980s Auto-Sparks got into difficulties and collapsed in 1991. It was bought and moved to Sandiacre Nottingham by R D Components who were specialists in classic motorbike and car harnesses and they took over the name as Autosparks, and in 2005 became Autosparks Ltd.

This picture was taken in December, and my attention was drawn to the building by the Christmas decorations drawn on its first-floor windows. And by wondering whatever an electric harness was.

Hull Black and White

The SI unit of electric charge is of course the Coulomb, named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, so this electical business founded by Mr Henry Colomb would appear to be a remarkable example of nominative determinism.

Father Christmas, High Rd, Willesden, Brent, 1990, 90-12c-55
Father Christmas, High Rd, Willesden, Brent, 1990, 90-12c-55

In 1990 in Brent I took two Christmas pictures in 1990, one in black and white in the album 1990 London Photos of a Santa holding a number of figures and with a Harrods tag ‘£22’ standing on a box containing a caravan TV aerial kit.

Café, Christmas, Harlesden, Brent, 1990, 90c12-01b-41
Café, Christmas, Harlesden, Brent, 1990, 90c12-01b-41

The second picture from 1990 Brent was a café window in colour with Christmas decorations and an advert posted in it for flats to let in Station Road. Also in the window is a poster for Sickle Cell Awareness Day, 15th December 1990, to the left of which you can see part of me reflected as I made the image, along with reflections of a parked van and the shops and flats on the opposite side of the road. This is one of many pictures in my album 1990 London Colour.

Christmas, Car Sales, High St, Norwood, Croydon, 1991, 91-1b-22
Christmas, Car Sales, High St, Norwood, Croydon, 1991, 91-1b-22

From a South London used car showroom in the album 1991 London Photos is a 1987 car with its features and price described in notices on the windscreen complete with Christmas decorations. Usually when photographing interiors through windows I tried to work close to the glass and eliminate reflections so far as possible, but here I deliberately moved the black glove I was wearing to include the church across the road.

Christmas Lights, West End, Westminster, London, 1986, 86c123-32
Christmas Lights, West End, Westminster, London, 1986, 86c123-32

In 1986 I took a few colour photographs at night around Piccadilly Circus just before Christmas which are in both 1986 Colour – London & the Thames and in Westminster – Colour 1985-92.

Pictures at night are so much easier now with digital cameras as you can work with much shorter exposures – this was probably taken on ISO400 film, while now at night I often work and get better results at 4 stops faster – the ISO6400 setting on my camera. Also being able to see what you have taken immediately makes it much easier than having to wait until the film was processed and printed.

Eros, Christmas, Piccadilly Circus, Westminster, 1986, 86c123-43
Eros, Christmas, Piccadilly Circus, Westminster, 1986, 86c123-43

In the same albums and taken within a minute or two of the previous picture was this picture of Eros and the advertising display. The clock tells us that I made this at 16.06, around 15 minutes after sunset. Of course Eros isn’t really Eros, but Anteros, designed by Sir Alfred Gilbert to commemorate the philanthropic work of Lord Shaftesbury and called by him ‘The God of Selfless Love‘ – “as opposed to Eros or Cupid, the frivolous tyrant.”

But Piccadilly is a place at Christmas where some like to come and celebrate drunkenly and Anteros needs boarding up for protection and instead of seeing the fountain we see the hoardings with vintage Christmas images and greetings from The London Standard which featured Eros on its masthead.

Christmas, Shop window, Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1988, 88c1-01-61
Christmas, Shop window, Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1988, 88c1-01-61

Finally in 1988 in Shepherds Bush and now the first image in my album 1988 London Colour. This shop was a pet shop and the window is full of Christmas Stockings for cats and dogs and boxes of ‘Good Boy’ treats. Even the scratching post has some green ribbon attached. Along with some rather horrible artificial tree-like objects complete with blue and silver hanging balls. It seemed a particularly bleak image of the capitalist commercialisation of a religious festival.


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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.