Whipps Cross | |
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![]() Whipps Cross junction looking east towards Whipps Cross Road and the hospital | |
Location within Greater London | |
OS grid reference | TQ387888 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | London |
Postcode district | E10, E11, E17 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Whipps Cross is an area of the districts of Leytonstone and Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England. It is most famous for Whipps Cross University Hospital.
The name Whipps Cross specifically applies to the junction of Lea Bridge Road (A104) with Whipps Cross Road (A114) and Wood Street (B160). It lay on the boundary of the former civil parishes and Municipal Boroughs of Walthamstow and Leyton, which were both incorporated into Waltham Forest in 1965. It is the highest point in Leyton at 63 metres (207 ft) above sea level. [1]
The area to the south and west of Whipps Cross is residential, mainly terraced housing built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the south side of the Whipps Cross junction is a large Victorian house which is used as a Territorial Army Centre by 68 Signal Squadron of the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry. Adjacent to this building is a war memorial in the form of a Celtic cross, to the 7th Battalion, the Essex Regiment (Territorial) and other local Territorial Army units of both World Wars. It bears the inscription "We are the dead. To you with failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high." [2] This memorial was moved from Church Hill, Walthamstow when the TA drill hall there closed in the 1950s. [3]
The area to the south and east of the junction, on the southern side of Whipps Cross Road, was once the site of Forest House but has for the last century been occupied by Whipps Cross Hospital. To the north and east of Whipps Cross is an area of Epping Forest called Leyton Flats, which features a lake created from old gravel pits officially called Hollow Pond (often referenced as 'Hollow Ponds' locally). [4] [5]
Between 2017 and the spring of 2019, a major reconstruction converted the junction from a roundabout to a junction controlled by traffic lights. The work included dedicated cycle lanes from every direction and was part of a £15 million improvement plan for Lea Bridge Road. [6]
The name is first mentioned in local records of the late fourteenth century as Phip's cross, referring to a wayside cross set up by a member of the family of one John Phyppe. Further versions on maps and deeds are Phyppys Crosse in 1517, Fypps Chrosse 1537, Phippes Cross 1572, and finally Whipps Cross by 1636. [7] The change in the initial consonant is thought to have been a product of the local Essex dialect at that time, in which "F" sounds were pronounced as "W". [8] These early examples disprove a local legend, which supposes that the name derives from it being the place where those found guilty of breaking the forest laws were whipped. [9]
The Forest House estate lay to the south of Whipps Cross Road and west of James Lane. It has its origins in a lease of land granted by the Abbot of Stratford Langthorne Abbey in 1492. [10] Forrest House had been built by 1568 and was rebuilt before 1625. [11] In 1658, George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich acquired the estate by marriage. His second son, Charles, Lord Goring, enlarged the estate and is buried in Leyton Parish Church. [12] Ownership of Forest House passed to Sir Henry Capell who sold it to James Houblon in 1682, who immediately started to build a new house on the site in the English Baroque style with a Doric porch. [13] Houblon was a wealthy City merchant of Huguenot descent, whose sons John and Abraham were born at Forest House. In 1703, the estate was sold to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, the last Lord Mayor of London to ride on horseback at the Lord Mayor's Show. [14] The estate was sold to the Bosanquet family in 1743, [15] and it remained in their hands until 1889, when it was sold to the West Ham Board of Guardians who established a work house there. During World War I, the work house infirmary was used to treat wounded soldiers and this became Whipps Cross Hospital in 1917. In that year, it was visited by King George V and Queen Mary. The mansion itself became a ward for male mental patients. It was finally demolished in 1964 and only part of the garden wall (thought to date from 1641) remains. [16]
In 1905, a swimming pond was excavated by manual labour as part of an unemployment relief scheme. It was located to the north of the Hollow Pond, close to the junction of Lea Bridge Road and Snaresbrook Road. It was locally known as "the Batho", but it became notorious for being muddy and unhygienic. In 1923, the borough councils of Leyton and Walthamstow jointly agreed to fund its improvement, and in May 1932, a new lido or open-air swimming pool was opened by the Lord Mayor of London. At a cost of £6,000, it was an irregular oval shape with a 100-yard (91 m) straight section for racing; a paved surround and changing rooms were built and the pool was fed by an underground spring. However, the new lido was closed in the following September, after a water sample had shown it to be "unfit for bathing purposes". After another rebuilding, including the sealing of the floor of the pool with concrete and the installation of a chlorination plant, Whipps Cross Lido reopened in 1937. [17] It was a very large pool, 300 feet (91 m) long by 130 feet (40 m) wide, with a connected circular diving pool 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. [18] By 1981, attendances had fallen to 20,000 per annum and the decision was taken to close the lido on 4 September 1982. By December 1983, the site had been levelled and returned to forest land; only part of the access road remains. The location can be seen at the georeferenced map link. [19]
Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is 9.2 miles (14.8 km) north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the south, and Edmonton and Enfield to the west. The town contains the areas of Chingford Green, Chingford Hatch, Chingford Mount, Friday Hill, Hale End, Highams Park, and South Chingford, and had a population of 70,583 at the 2021 census.
Leyton is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River Lea, to the west. The area includes New Spitalfields Market, Leyton Orient Football Club, as well as part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The town consists largely of terraced houses built between 1870 and 1910, interspersed with some modern housing estates. It is 6.2 miles (10 km) north-east of Charing Cross.
Walthamstow is a large town in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, around 7+1⁄2 miles (12 km) northeast of Central London. Historically part of Essex and now within Greater London, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of approximately 109,424.
The London Borough of Waltham Forest is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to the south-west, Newham to the south-east and Redbridge to the east, as well as the non-metropolitan county of Essex to the north.
Leytonstone is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the north-west, and is 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Charing Cross.
Leyton is a London Underground station in Leyton, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, East London. Located on Leyton High Road, adjacent to the A12, the station is on the Central line between two stations assigned to two fare zones – Stratford and Leytonstone. It is in zone 3.
Leytonstone is a London Underground station in Leytonstone in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, east London. It is on the Central line, on the boundary of Zones 3 and 4. Towards Central London, the next station is Leyton, while going east from Leytonstone, the line divides into two branches. On the direct route to Woodford and Epping the next stop is Snaresbrook, and on the Hainault loop it is Wanstead. The station is close to Whipps Cross University Hospital. It is a terminus for some services and returns westbound.
Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the opening of a railway line in 1856, originally part of the Eastern Counties Railway and now on the Central line of the London Underground.
Highams Park is a suburban district in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England, near Epping Forest and 8.1 miles (13 km) north-east of Charing Cross.
Leyton was a local government district in southwest Essex, England, from 1873 to 1965. It included the neighbourhoods of Leyton, Leytonstone and Cann Hall. It was suburban to London, forming part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. It now forms the southernmost part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London.
Whipps Cross University Hospital is a large university hospital in the locality of Whipps Cross in Leytonstone and is within Epping Forest in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, London, England. It is managed by Barts Health NHS Trust.
Wanstead Flats is the southernmost portion of Epping Forest, in Leytonstone and Wanstead, London. The flats and by extension the forest ends at Forest Gate directly to the south. It now falls wholly within the boundaries of the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest, though until 1994 two parts of it were in the London Borough of Newham: one of these was the section between Aldersbrook Road and Capel Road east of the junction between Aldersbrook Road and St Margaret's Road, whilst the other was the strip running along Capel Road between its junctions with Centre Road and Ridley Road. As part of Epping Forest, the Flats is managed by the City of London Corporation.
Bakers Arms is an intersection and arguably a district on the boundary of Leyton and Walthamstow, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is named after a former public house which stood at the junction of High Road Leyton, Hoe Street and Lea Bridge Road (A104). The pub's name was derived from the nearby almshouses for members of London's baking trade, which were completed in 1866. The first record of a publican at the Baker's Arms was in 1868. The pub closed in 2010, and the premises now operate as a betting shop. There are several food stores, pubs and cafes, and a variety of other retail outlets.
Lea Bridge Road is a major through route in east London, across the Lea Valley from Clapton to Whipps Cross in Leyton. It forms part of the A104 road.
The A104 is an A road which runs from Islington Green in London to Epping in Essex, England.
Leytonstone School is a coeducational community secondary school located on Colworth Road in Leytonstone, London, England.
Holloway Down was a village, historically in Essex and now part of Leytonstone in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The village was sited at the junction of Union Lane and Leytonstone Road It is most notable as the location of the West Ham Union Workhouse, While the village has been replaced by Victorian terraces and shops, buildings from the workhouse remain; which have been converted into housing and part of North East London NHS Foundation Trust.
Hawkwood is a 25-acre estate in North Chingford, London Borough of Waltham Forest, North East London, England. It is about nine miles from central London, in the fertile Lea Valley on the western edge of Epping Forest. In the 19th century it formed the grounds of a large Elizabethan-style Victorian mansion, seat of Richard Hodgson, lord of Chingford St. Pauls. The mansion became derelict after bomb damage in 1944 and was demolished in 1951. Part of the site is now a nature reserve, a special school has been built on another part, and a large part of the site is being used by OrganicLea, a workers' cooperative growing and selling food and providing horticultural training.
The Green Man is a pub and road junction on High Road, Leytonstone, London. The pub has been rebranded as part of the O'Neill's chain. The current 1920s building replaced an earlier public house, close to the original site; which was built around 1668 and mentioned by Daniel Defoe.
The Old Town Hall is a former municipal building in Orford Road, Walthamstow, London. The building served in a municipal capacity from 1866 to 1942 and then served as the main entrance block to the Connaught Hospital from 1959 to 1977. It is a Grade II listed building.