The Friday Hill House Mystery

Having lived in Waltham Forest most of my life (Highams Park whilst growing up, Walthamstow for a couple of years and North Chingford for the past 15 odd years) I thought I knew this area pretty well. However researching for my local walks for the Appetite Festival in June I realise there are some things I've taken for granted for too long.

As a child in the 1970s I attended Heathcote School just off Friday Hill, North Chingford. In those days Friday Hill wasn't on a regular bus route, the 235 bus terminating at Chingford Hatch apart from a couple of trips a day where the route was extended to Chingford Station to coincide with the start and finish of the school day. So if I missed the "special" bus it was either a walk up the hill to Chingford Hatch or in the other direction to Chingford Station to get the train home to Hale End Road.

On those days when I walked up the hill I remember looking across at the old house on the hill (in Simmons Lane) which to my childish mind looked like something out of a Hammer horror film. Even as an adult coming down the hill on the 212 I still think it has a sinister look about it - probably the feeling I had as a child just hasn't gone away.

I always knew it was called Friday Hill House but only recently, whilst researching for my Chingford walk (and looking at North Chingford as a whole) have I found out more about its history.

The house was commissioned by Robert Boothby Heathcote in 1839 on the site of a 16th Century manor house which he had inherited from his grandmother. Heathcote commissioned Lewis Vulliamy to build the house and later (in 1844) also using him to build SS Peter & Paul on Chingford Green. Vulliamy is also responsible (amongst other buildings) for adding the Corinthian columns to the front of the Royal Institution in Mayfair in 1838. 

Friday Hill House was built to cater not just as a family home but as an estate office, a rectory and a farmhouse. The wooden belfry (its remains can be seen in my photo) contained a farm bell which tolled out the working day for the men in the fields.
 
The last Boothby-Heathcote (the hyphen was added in the late 19th Century) to live in the house was Louisa Gertrude Boothby-Heathcote who lived here until her death in 1940. The house was then taken over by the Council and has had various uses including most recently as an adult education centre which is what I thought it still was.

I have never had any reason to actually walk along Simmons Lane and actually see the house up close.  However returning home from Walthamstow on the 212 bus yesterday I decided to get off a couple of stops early and have a proper look, Chingford's history being on my mind at the monent in preparation for my walk on 9th June.

I was dismayed to find that the house was all boarded up. It seems that the Council are no longer using it and it has been sold. I've found the sale particulars on line (the closing date for sealed offers was January 2013) but was unable to find any information as to whether it has been sold or not. It's Grade II listed. I hope it's put to good use; I hate seeing properties empty like this.

If anyone knows what the plans are for this building please let me know in the comments below.

I know it's taken me x number of years to actually have a proper look at this place and I regret that. However as a result of planning this walk I now have many more places to explore which I look forward to doing soon.

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End 
(and soon in Chingford & Walthamstow too!)

Details of all her walks are listed here.

To sign up to Joanna's mailing list click here

Follow on Twitter @wwalks

or like on Facebook

Lunchtime in the City Then (1990s) and Now

Temping in my other job (legal secretary) in various parts of London I love exploring in my lunchtime. Over the past couple of years I've done a couple of posts about things to do in your lunchtime namely Fleet Street, Chancery Lane and Marylebone and I'm currently working on one for Westminster which will follow soon - I just need to try out a few more places!

Starting my assignment last week in the City - EC3 to be precise - I realised that the last time I had worked in EC3 was when I was at Ince & Co (they were then based in Byward Street). I left them in 1996 when I went travelling.

Walking the streets surrounding Fenchurch Street I was struck by how much that part of the City had changed in the intervening 17 years. This wasn't the first time I've visited the area since then but it was the first time I've worked there which made me see the area in a different light ie comparing it from then to now.

On a sunny lunchtime last week I thought I would head to Seething Lane Gardens.  This is what I found.

It's closed until 2014 apparently. The sign on the hoarding says it is closed because of the redevelopment behind it at 10 Trinity Square. The garden will be re-designed for its opening next year. However I can't help feeling that the historical nature of the gardens will be lost in the re-development. More details about the gardens can be found here.

Feeling a bit shocked by this demolition I was pleased to see something nearby that hadn't changed. Free regular lunchtime recitals take place at St Olave, Hart Street which I prefer to call by Dickens' name for the church ie St Ghastly Grim. The recital had started ten minutes previously so I didn't venture in.

I then decided to go onwards to one of my favourite gardens St Dunstan in the East which thankfully was exactly as I remembered it.

The following day on my way to Petticoat Lane Market (which was a regular haunt back in the nineties) I stumbled across the fairly new Artizan Street Library which has replaced the now demolished Camomile Street library nearby. I had previously seen this library advertised but had no inkling of where it was. I had never heard of Artizan Street, E1. It turns out it's right next to the Post Office and Travelodge in Harrow Place just around the corner from Petticoat Lane.

After a diversion into the library where I was pleased to find Pevsner's London: East which I hadn't found in either E17 or E4, I went on to visit Petticoat Lane.  However I was shocked to discover how different the atmosphere was from back in the 1990s. Although there were lots and lots of stalls I was practically the only customer. I spoke to one of the stallholders who told me it never really got busy; I did wonder why these stallholders kept returning. I returned on the Friday which was sunny and in the past would have meant crowds of shoppers. This was what I encountered.

A lot of things have changed since my last visit to this market namely the use of the Internet for shopping. I don't think anything can be done to stop the closure of markets like this. Some of London's lunchtime markets have changed their produce to fit in with what people want ie Leather Lane near Holborn Circus has many more food outlets than previously and Whitecross Street Market near the Barbican is now (as far as I know) solely food. Reading the reviews on this website it seems people have no idea about its previous history. It is sad to see.

However I am guilty of contributing to the markets' demise as I bought nothing off the clothes stalls but did venture down a side street to where the food outlets were and bought myself a falafel wrap for lunch. £3 for the best falafel wrap I have had in years. It was so good I had it twice in the course of the 4 days!

4 days in EC3 wasn't enough time to get to all the places I wanted to. I had also planned to go to the Tower of London with my HRP pass and finally get to All Hallows by the Tower but even at the rate I pack things in I wasn't able to do all this.  I'm looking forward to returning soon to explore some more!

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End 
(and soon in Chingford & Walthamstow too!)

Details of all her walks are listed here.

To sign up to Joanna's mailing list click here

Follow on Twitter @wwalks

or like on Facebook

Wood Street Tall Tales

Traipsing the streets of E17 yesterday in preparation for my Walthamstow walk for the Appetite Festival on 1st June I stumbled across an amazing piece of street art. The title is Wood Street Tall Tales and is by Vic Lee. A picture of the whole art work can be found here - scroll down - and the real thing can be found in Wood Street near its junction with Forest Road. I now wonder how long it has been there as the artwork is showing on Google Streetview. From this blogpost it looks like it's been there for a year!

The first section that jumped out at me was the one about Vikings (probably because there is in fact a shop selling clothes and accessories for Vikings in Wood Street.)  My photo unfortunately cuts off one of the words. The biggest what in Europe? Biggest stag? It is a tall tale remember!  

With the Marathon coming up on Sunday here's another tale although most of this is true. John Inceri was proprietor of a cafe in Wood Street and in 1920 initiated what was for many years the annual "Wood Street Walk". It was an 8 mile run and open to anyone living within a half mile radius of Wood Street. The main prize was a complete Christmas dinner!

I am sure I will visit again in my preparation for my Walthamstow walk so will add some more photos when I do and also find out what the cut-off word is!  Like many similar projects around London it probably doesn't get enough viewings. 

My Walthamstow walk for Appetite takes place on Saturday 1st June (2pm-4pm) to coincide with the Appetite Food Trail so obviously will include a couple of tastings along the way. More details soon. My Chingford walk takes place on Sunday 9th June at the same time.

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End (and soon Chingford & Walthamstow too!)

Details of all her walks are listed here.

To sign up to Joanna's mailing list click here

Follow on Twitter @wwalks

or like on Facebook

Hidden Chingford (to me anyway!)

I've just started working on two local walks that I will be doing as part of the Appetite Festival in June. The theme will of course be food & drink but not having done walks in either Chingford or Walthamstow before I've been reading a lot to get myself up to speed on the history of each area.

I have lived in Waltham Forest most of my life - firstly in Highams Park, then Walthamstow and now Chingford for the past 15 years. So I thought I knew Chingford pretty well.

However whilst going through all the historic plaques in Waltham Forest here I was amazed to discover one in a road less than half a mile from where I live. I have walked along the north end of Woodberry Way many times as it's the quickest route from my flat up to Pole Hill and into the Forest. However I have never had the need to walk to the south end of the street that links to the main road, King's Head Hill (named after the pub - the King's Head). So I was very surprised to discover a house which was formerly the gatekeeper's lodge to a detached property that stood where Woodberry Way is today.

Gatekeeper's Lodge in Woodberry Way - all that is left from Sunnyside House

I discovered this on Sunday night so went out for a wander yesterday and took this photo. So far all I have gleaned about "Sunnyside" is that it was used as a Red Cross depot during the First World War but demolished shortly afterwards. The house had previously been lived in by Josiah Gunton who was a partner in a firm of architects, Gordon and Gunton later Gunton and Gunton. In 1958 (and when Josiah Gunton was long dead) the firm of Gunton and Gunton built the 3rd Mercers' Hall, in Ironmonger Lane in the City.

I have now gone way off track from my walk as is always the case when you start researching. It's fascinating but not what I need for this particular walk. I would still like to find out more about Sunnyside House though so back to the drawing board.

Continuing with my wander yesterday I was then amazed to discover a road I never knew existed. Only yards from Chingford Green and the main St Peter & St Paul's Church there is a road parallel with the path which I knew about but had never walked down - The Green Walk. However today on my walk exploration where I normally walk up and down roads several times to see what would work I discovered a tiny road off this road - Queen's Walk.

Queen's Walk, Chingford E4

It is practically a path not a road - it doesn't lead anywhere - and at the end is a property with a large farm gate across it. It is almost rural. I am guessing that it is named after Queen Victoria who visited Chingford on 6th May 1882 when she gave Epping Forest to the people of London. Incidentally there is currently a temporary exhibition (until 30th June) about Queen Victoria's visit at the fantastic new visitor centre, The View, next to Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge. I may go tomorrow.

In the course of my research I did also (thankfully) manage to find some information on the right subject - namely a couple of cafes that had once existed in the days when hundreds of daytrippers descended on the Forest every weekend.

If anyone has any information about either "Sunnyside" or Queen's Walk I would be grateful to hear from you - food related or not!

My Chingford walk for Appetite takes place on Sunday 9th June (2pm-4pm) to coincide with the monthly farmer's market and the Appetite Food Trail so obviously will include a couple of tastings along the way. More details soon. My Walthamstow walk takes place on Saturday 1st June at the same time.

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End. 

Details of all her walks are listed here.

To sign up to Joanna's mailing list click here

Follow on Twitter @wwalks

or like on Facebook

Do you know where this is? Walk places to win!

Yesterday I took a different route through an area I thought I knew intricately and stumbled across this sculpture group. In the 3 years that I have been guiding in this particular area I had somehow never ventured down this road.

It's amazing what can be found tucked away in the back streets.

So ... do you know where they are?  Two places on my Soho Sunday Pub Themed Stroll on Sunday 28th April 12.30pm to 2.30pm are up for grabs if you can identify (a) the street they are in and (b) who the scene is commemorating - both the second and third statues represent real people.

The only clues I'll give at this stage is they are in the City of Westminster and have been there for less than a year. First person to email me with the correct answers wins two places on the walk. Closing date is midnight (UK time) on Wednesday 10th April 2013.

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End. 

Details of all her walks are listed here.

To sign up to Joanna's mailing list click here

Follow on Twitter @wwalks

or like on Facebook