Great Eastern Rail Line to Chingford. Walthamstow Wood Street

Great Eastern Railway from Liverpool Street to Chingford
The railway running from Walthamstow Central turns north westwards and through Wood Street Station to run north.

Post to the west Walthamstow
Post to the north Walthamstow

Barrett Road
Joseph Barratt was a member of Walthamstow School Board and the road was named after him in 1906
Joseph Barrett Junior and Infants School. This opened on what was then apparently called Warwick Road in 1905. In 1946 it was reorganized as a secondary modern school, later renamed Warwick and was enlarged in the 1950s. Warwick School appears to have closed in 2003 and the buildings remodeled as part of Woodside Primary School. It is a school board type building by H. Pross.
Manual Instruction Centre building, one of four built at elementary schools in the borough before 1906.

Bisterne Avenue
Bisterne Avenue Park. Park around which the avenue itself appears to have been laid out. It has had tennis courts and a bowling green since opening and there are now other sports facilities.  It is also seen as an area of nature interest.  It has recently been refurbished using artificial grass.
98 Forest Lodge Care Home and/or Independent Hospital.
20b flats by Wickham Associates. A small block of six welfare flats.  The scheme provides decent accommodation with walk-up stairs with two offset blocks of flats, one on each floor.
Brandon Road
Allen Pamphllion House. This is named for the founder of the business now based in Old Station Yard, Wood Street, Pamphilon & Sons founded in 1875.

Brooke Road
St Mary’s Church of England Primary School. The school began in 1824 when the vicar, William Wilson, set up a church school in a barn. In 1828 a new school building was erected built in the church yard. Wilson’s, brother Joseph Wilson's ran a school at Spitalfields on the principles of Robert Owen and William Wilson worked in the same way. He became an advocate of infant education and the school won a good reputation.  He stressed the value of 'instruction by amusement' and having an affectionate regard for the children. Poor children went from there to St. Mary's National school. The building of 1828 still stands and is in use by the church. In 1928 it was restored and later extended.  The school became Voluntary Aided in 1951.  In 2011 the school moved to Brooke Road, to a site which had been Warwick Girls School, and has since federated with St Saviour’s School,
Forest Road Warwick Secondary School for Girls. This had been the Joseph Barratt School based in Barratt Road. It was extended to include a girls' school on this site in the 1950s.

Browning Close
New housing on the site of the railway coal yard

Corbett Road
8 Faizan e Islam Sufi – Bareilvi mosque

Forest Rise
Peterhouse Centre. This site was originally the Vicarage of St. Peter’s Church. It was built on an enclosure from Epping Forest through a grant of waste from the Manor Court in 1857. Money for the Vicarage was given by Edward Warner – who also acquired rights over the church. The new vicarage was replaced a century later.
Salters Buildings. Sir John Salter's built houses in 1726 following a grant of waste from Epping Forest.  They included a house called Forest Hall which was demolished in 1935, plus two others.

Forest Road
Thorpe Combe House.  This is now a mental health unit but was previously a Maternity hospital was opened here by the council who bought the house in 1919 but Even though it was at the forefront of many developments in midwifery, it lacked other specialists on site.  It closed in 1973. The house was   Formerly called North Bank it is at the corner with Forest Road and was one of three houses built here on what was Catchers Field by a speculator. It has three full storeys, and was apparently built as a speculation in 1762, with two other adjacent houses adjacent plots, and let to Richard Manby, a City bookseller.  It was later the home of Octavius Wigram – one of the older children of the family of Robert Wigram.  Inside is an 18th staircase with twisted and turned balusters within an apsed end. Later 18th additions and outbuildings were removed when the house was used as a maternity hospital and the original house is dwarfed by extensions built during the 1930s.  When the maternity hospital closed The NHS sought to demolish the building, but it was spared by funding from various historical organisations and it is now used by the North East London Mental Health Trust.
Millennium Clock Tower at the junction with Wood Street.

Greenway Avenue
48a Walthamstow Cricket, Tennis and Squash Club. Walthamstow Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1862.

Havant Road
St.Gabriel. Built 1884-5 by J.T. Bressey as a Sunday school and mission room. It had begun as a mission of St. Mary's and in 1884 the mission room was built on land given by Sir F. W. J. FitzWygram but a permanent church was never built for lack of funds. A long brick shed, a little cupola at the end, and some terracotta decoration.
Church hall. This was built in 1980 and operates as a family centre for the area.

Marlowe Road
Marlowe Road Estate. System built estate constructed in the 1960s
Marlowe Road Recreation Ground and Playground with multi-sport area and garden areas
Northwood Tower Block. 21 storey block built in 1969 designed by HTA Architects Ltd. This was refurbished by Hunt Thompson in 1990-2 as St Patrick’s Court in a postmodern manner. – Its concrete panel walls were covered by patterned brickwork and some roof features changed.

Prospect Hill
At the corner with Shernhall Street is a grass patch, legally part of Epping Forest. There are no trees but there is a flagpole and some flowers.
Shernhall Street,
Shernhall means ‘filth stream’ or ‘muddy stream’. The stream itself was at the south end of the road.
Shern Hall. King John is said to have visited Shern Hall in 1213. This lay on the east side of the road near the bend and was known as Toni Hall in the 18th  The Toni Manor House had previously been on the site of the Ancient House in Walthamstow Village, and this house replaced it. It dated from the 17th and by 19th was brick and stuccoed. Dr. Wiseman was the tenant from 1849. After a fire in 1879 it was restored, but demolished in 1896. A stone capital said to come from the house remains in Lloyd Park.
Ravenswood Industrial Estate. Wild Card Brewery. This began in Nottingham where Andrew and William met and the desire to take their beers to market took hold. They began work in 2013. 
Unigate Milk Depot  alongside the railway.  Demolished.
90 Premier Plating. Based in London Premier Plating Works began in 1934 founded by Reg Smith, the father of the current director, Reg Smith.
Shern Lodge. The estate extended the whole length of what is now Vallentin Road. This was a boarding school from 1770 until 1795. A later private school was there in 1830.  The house was later owned by James Vallentin who got a clause in the 1867 Great Eastern Railway Act requiring the company to purchase the house and grounds.
47 Lord Brooke, a lavish pub built in 1900, Old English style with half-timbered gables. Now closed.
34 The Holy Family Catholic School and Sixth Form. The College is based on two sites - Walthamstow House site at 1 Shernhall Street and Wiseman House here, gaunt institutional premises built in 1875 for St John's Industrial Schools.
28 Shales and Co.  Ice cream factory. This closed in 1959 having been bombed in the Second World War. The company came from Southend.
St. Nicholas' Roman Catholic industrial school. This was founded in 1855 by Cardinal Wiseman, in a house on the corner with of Church Lane. It moved in 1868.
St. John's home industrial school. By 1870 this had taken over the buildings of St. Nicholas Industrial School and it was rebuilt in 1873. It closed in 1928, and in 1930 became a hostel for boys called Wiseman House. The building was sold in 1937. In 1938 the site was used for St. George's Roman Catholic senior school
St. George's Roman Catholic Secondary Modern School which began in 1921. In 1938 Wiseman House was opened as St. George's senior school for boys and girls.  After the Second World War the managers acquired the premises next door of the old Shernhall Street special school. It was enlarged in 1963
Margaret Brearley School for the educationally subnormal was originally in Marsh Street schools. A special centre opened here for girls in 1906 and for boys in 1909. The school moved in 1940
Shernhall Street British School. This was connected with Wood Street Congregational chapel but by 1868 it was getting an annual government grant. In 1872 a new building was erected in Shernhall Street. In 1880 it was transferred to the school board which enlarged it but it had closed by 1906 and the building used as a special school.
Walthamstow House. This is now part of Holy Family Technology College. The original house was built in 1762 as one of three big houses. It has had many enlargements and extensions. A major extension dates from when it was St Mary's Convent and orphanage. Early enlargements, including a rear wing, were to accommodate the very large family of twenty three children of Sir Robert Wigram, shipowner, director of the East India Company and M.P in the late 18th. His son Sir Robert Fitzwigram lived here and nearby, until 1843 while other sons lived in other grand houses at Thorpe Combe and Brookscroft. Inside, the original entrance hall is a cupboard, and the front door leads into a square room with reliefs of musical instruments around a sunburst in the ceiling. There is a staircase with fluted balusters and a room runs the depth of the house, with a curved end. The house has been used by a succession of Roman Catholic schools. By the entrance gates are bollards in the shape of cannons a reminder of Wigram’s East Indiamen. In 1843 the house was leased to a Dr Greig for a school with close links to the East India Company. It later became a private house, then St.Mary's Convent, and since then a succession of schools. 22
St Mary’s Roman Catholic Convent & Orphanage.  This was founded by Cardinal Manning in 1867 when he took on the lease of a house which had been used as a private school. From 1865-67 it was run by Dominican Nuns, then by Sisters of Mercy. The Roman Catholic Church bought the site in 1885 and the home continued until the 1980.   Today, the site of Our Lady & St George School
St. Mary's Roman Catholic junior and infants school, opened in 1931 in the grounds of the orphanage. It has now become part of Our Lady and St. George.
Upper School of Our Lady and St George's Catholic Primary School. This is a new school which has been formed from the amalgamation of: St Helen’s Catholic Nursery and Infants School and St Mary’s Catholic Junior School.  The school is on two sites, The Upper Site is based at the northern end of Shernhall Street

Stocksfield Road
Stocksfield Estate on the site of ‘Stocks Field”
Meridian. At the eastern end Set into the pavement is a marker to show the position of the Greenwich Meridian.
Higher Life Christian Centre. Double Edge Church. Brandon Road Railway mission. Founded about 1883 in an iron hall built beside the railway in 1886. The hall was bombed in the Second World War, but rebuilt, and prefabricated hall erected in 1949.  This is now a brick building and appears to have moved from its original site

Summit Road
Shern Hall Street Station. This opened in and 1870 as the first terminus for this branch line. It was built by the Great Eastern Railway with an earth platform on the Westside of Shernhall Street as stock emerged from Nags Head Tunnel to the west. The entrance was on the north side of Summit Road. In 1873 it was close and replaced by Wood Street and the line was extended to Chingford

Upper Walthamstow Road
Meridian. Near 6 in front of some lock-up garages Set into the pavement is a marker to show the position of the Greenwich meridian.
.
Vallentin Road
Named for James Vallentin whose Shern Lodge was on the site of this road and which was purchased by Great Eastern Railway Company for the Railway.
96 Gods Own Junkyard. Neon signage art gallery
Alpha Steps Nursery and ‘Preparatory School’. This is in a Church Building  of what began in 1807 as Wood Street Church registered in Wood Street for Independent worship and was probably 'Methodist' in 1810. A series of other buildings followed on various sites in the area. In 1854 a church, known as Wood Street Union, was built in Vallentin Road. In 1860 a gallery was added and the building extended. In 1880 it affiliated to both the Congregational Union and the Baptist Association and in 1930 it became Wood Street Congregational church. In 1940 the church was wrecked by bombing and it was demolished in 1952 and the current building opened in 1956.

Waverly Avenue
70 Set into the pavement is a marker to show the position of the Greenwich meridian.

Wood Street
This was once a hamlet to the east of Walthamstow, shown as Wood Street on the Ordnance Survey map of 1805.
280 Beuleigh Court flats. These are on the site of Aneroid Works. Short & Mason Ltd. had moved to Walthamstow from Hatton Garden in 1910. They supplied scientific instruments for the Scott and for the Shackleton polar expeditions and for Everest climbers. They moved to Wood Street in 1958, and left Walthamstow in 1969 following a merger. The site had previously been used by Precision Film Studios owned by the Gobbett Brothers.
Clock House. The house replaced Wat Webbe’s cottage and probably older buildings.  In the late 17th Arthur Bayley converted this into a garden with stables which has a large clock on it. From then on the house has had a series of wealthy inhaibtants.  It was refronted in the 18th when a central pediment was added. The grounds, were, laid out after 1713 by Sir Jacob Jacobsen including a drive on Dog Kennel Field. But the grounds are now all built on for housing.   The Salvation Army used the house as a rescue centre and in the Second World War it was used by the Civil Defence Heavy Rescue Unit. It has been owned by the council since 1938 and is now converted into flats. Some chimney pieces are now in the Vestry House Museum.   On one side of the house is set an old keystone thought to come from an earlier building.
245 The Cunard Film Co. Ltd. built a studio here in 1913-14. They ceased work in 1915. The studio was taken over by The Broadwest Film Co. who went bankrupt in 1924 and the studio was taken over by British Filmcraft Ltd. in 1926. The studio was still in use in 1931 by Metropolitan Films Ltd., and in 1932 by Audible Filmcraft Ltd., but after 1933 it was a factory. It burned down in 1959.
A. E. Bangham and Co. They began with works in grove Road and later in Borwick Avenue. They paper hats and novelties but the premises were damaged by bombing in the Second World War but were rebuilt in 1945.  Later they moved to the old motion picture studio in Wood Street. A new factory was built on the site when the studio burned down in 1959
245 TSP Youth Project. Tumble in the Jungle for the younger ones. Soul Project for the older ones. Family activities.
247 Pure Muscles Gym. Highly decorated building
Wood Street church originated in 1894 when two groups meeting in Hoe Street under J. Hamilton and T. A. Tucker united. The combined congregation moved to the old Independent church in Wood Street in 1895. This was occupied until 1907, when the present brick church, with steep roof and broad entrance porch flanked by round windows, was built farther down Wood Street.
220 Arla Foods Depot. As Parker Dairies. This was previously a co-op milk depot.
216-218 Cavalry Church of God in Christ Tabernacle. This seems to be the Wood Street Baptist Church which originated in 1894 when two congregations combined and moved to the old Independent church in 1895. In 1907, a new church was built in Wood Street
209 Christ Chapel International Voice of Faith Ministries. Church building in what was Stevens’s furniture factory.
205a 14th Walthamstow Scout Group headquarters
199-201 The Arcadia Electric Theatre opened in 1912. The screen was set mid-way across the auditorium so some Patrons who paid less could watch the film back-to-front which was difficult with the title pages. It was always a silent cinema and closed in 1924. It later became a factory making clothes until 2000.It has since been demolished and the site is now housing and shops.
185-187 Pig and Whistle. Pub in a shop front conversion. Originally a Greenalls house.
173 Wood Street Supermarket. This was the Plough Inn which was built in 1875 to replace the Harrow which had been the Plough & Harrow in 1785 but was demolished in 1873 for the station. It was originally a Huggins Brewery house and later a Watneys' pub and still later a free house. It was also briefly called Hectors. . It closed in 2010. 
176 Mural about local trade on the side wall of Vallentin Street, this was a commissioned work called ‘The Quest for Bronze Tanning’ by Verity-Jane Keefe
171 Travis Perkins, builders merchants. This appears to be on the site of the Wood Street Locomotive Depot.
Locomotive depot and carriage sidings north of the station on the down side. This had an engine shed from the 1890s. It was a sub shed for Stratford depot and its locomotives carried that logo. It was however big enough to have a staff of over 50. A coal stage was taken out of use and replaced by sidings in 1934.  The shed was renewed at least twice in its lifetime but closed as steam was phased out in 1960.  The land was sold for redevelopment in 1986
Wood Street Station. This was opened in 1873 and lies between Highams Park and Walthamstow Central.  It was built by the Great Eastern Railway and opened when the line from Lea Bridge was extended to Chingford and it replaced the short lived Shernhall Street Station.  People had to run across the fields go catch the trains. It was originally a yellow brick building with stairs to a street level-booking hall. In 1974 it was rebuilt with a simple glazed booking hall with space-frame roof.
Goods Yard. A coal and goods depot was built in 1893 on the up side to the south. It closed in 1968
128 Flower Pot. This was originally built by the Walthamstow based Essex Brewery in 1863. Later Wenlock Brewery and Bass. Several brewery mirrors are displayed, including one from the Wenlock Brewery.
111-113 Set into the pavement is a marker to show the position of the Greenwich meridian 112 Dukes Head Inn. The first reference to it is in 1765 but has been rebuilt. They brewed their own beer in the 18th.   Buses used to turn round here and the cobbled turning circle remains. The Walthamstow Philanthropic Society was founded there, and the pub ran a soup kitchen for a while, and at other times allowed the use of their hot water for laundry work.
102a The Wood Street Picture Palace opened in 1912 entered via a long narrow passage from Wood Street, with the auditorium lying parallel to the street behind shops. It was operated by the Penny Picture Theatre Co. By. Before 1914 it had been named the Crown Picture Theatre. It had several other independent operators over the years and got proper cinema seats rather than wooden benches. In 1947 it was the Crown Cinema and then the New Crown Cinema before closing in 1950. It re-opened in 1953 as the Rio Cinema, but closed in 1955. It is now the Wood Street Market
84-86 White Swan pub. This began as a beer shop in the 1830s and was then a weather boarded building. Opened with terracotta decoration, since over painted. Closed 2004 and converted into a bookmakers.  It was a Watney’s house but had previously been with other breweries, including the City of London Brewery.
76- 78 Second Nature.  Wholefoods shop. This is in what was an 18th butcher’s shop, timber-framed and weather boarded. There is also a slaughter house from the 1790s. Shop front had an overhanging canopy with timber post supports where there are iron hooks for hanging meat. On the roof is "C Jones Family Butchers Estd 1750".
Woodside Academy. Woodside junior mixed and infants’ school was opened as Wood Street Board School in 1899 and a junior department opened in 1901. The Walthamstow School Board, established in 1880, had built thirteen schools by 1903 when elementary schools came under the Urban District Council. This is a good example of the one-storey earlier type built by WA. Longmore, surveyor to the Board . It has three buildings with steep roofs, one retaining a cupola.  The school was reorganized for juniors and infants in 1945. It has now given itself academy status.
Library. Built in 1939 but opened only in 1950, by E G. Southgate, Borough Architect.  It is a stone building, in a Moderne style, with a curved corner.
Mural. Alongside the library. Wood Street Talk by Vic Lee
Woodside Park Avenue
A gated road which follows the line of the formal avenue which originally was a feature of Clock House. a pond at the end remains from more elaborate water features.

Wyatts Lane
Grass patch. At the corner with Shernhall Street is a grass patch, legally part of Epping Forest. There are no trees but there is a lamppost

Sources
Bowyer, Curtis & Ellingham. Some old Walthamstow Houses
Cinema Theatres Association. Newsletter
Connor & Halford.  Forgotten Stations of Greater London
Connor. Liverpool Street to Chingford
Law and Barry. The Forest in Walthamstow and Chingford
London Borough of Waltham Forest. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Lost Pubs Project. Web site.
NoMow. Web site
Pevsner & Cherry. Essex

Pond. The Chingford Line
St. Mary’s Primary School. Web site
Victoria County History. Essex
Walford. Village London.
Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop. Web site
Walthamstow Memories. Web site

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