Source: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp174-184
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:37:04+00:00

Document:
Manors and Other Estates, p. 184. Economic History, p. 197. Marshes, p. 203. Forest, p. 204. Local Government and Poor-Relief to 1836, p. 205. Local Government after 1836, p. 208. Public Services, p. 211. Parliamentary Representation, p. 214. Churches, p. 214. Roman Catholicism, p. 223. Protestant Nonconformity, p. 223. Judaism, p. 233. Education, p. 233. Charities for the Poor, p. 239.
Leyton, the 'tun' on the river Lea, lies about 5 miles north-east of London between the river and Epping Forest. It is part of the London borough of Waltham Forest. (fn. 1) It is mainly a dormitory suburb of small houses built between 1870 and 1910, interspersed with modern block and tower housing. Industry is dispersed, apart from the Temple Mills railway complex in the southwest and a concentration of factories in the north-west. The ancient parish was known as Low Leyton, because part of it lay low by the Lea. In 1868, at the request of the vestry, the directors of the Great Eastern Railway agreed to rename Low Leyton station 'Leyton'. (fn. 2) The civil parish remained Low Leyton until 1921, when the prefix was dropped. (fn. 3) The parish was about 2 miles long from north to south. Its northern boundary, shared with Walthamstow, ran straight for 3 miles from forest to river, by Forest Rise to Whipps Cross, along Chestnut Walk (now part of Lea Bridge Road), then on the line of the modern Boundary Road to Mark House, and on to the river near Mount Wharf. (fn. 4) A suggestion that this long straight boundary may coincide with the line of a former Roman road (fn. 5) has not been confirmed by archaeological evidence. The east boundary marched southward with Wanstead, skirting the Eagle Pond and Bushwood in Wanstead, to Tinkers Lane (Harrow Road). The Wanstead ditch formed the southern boundary with Wanstead and West Ham. The west boundary followed the old course of the river Lea as it existed before the Lea Navigation bypassed it in 1767, (fn. 6) from Mount Wharf southward to the fork in the river, where the boundary continued to Temple Mills along the Temple Mills or Lead Mill stream. This was known in 1602 as the Shire stream, (fn. 7) and after 1835 as the Waterworks river; it ran alongside Quartermile Lane, but was filled in in 1952. A small piece of Hackney lies on the east side of the river just above Lea Bridge.
Leyton Municipal Borough. Or, three chevronels gules, on a chief gules a lion passant, or.
The ancient parish comprised 2,271 a. Its northernmost part, of 588 a., was separated from the rest by the Walthamstow Slip. This 3-mile corridor belonging to Walthamstow parish varied in width from about 50 to 100 yards (fn. 8) and contained 98a. Its origin is uncertain, though various traditions exist. (fn. 9) It ran from the Eagle Pond, behind Forest House, across King's End (Leyton Green), south of Capworth Street, through the grounds of Leyton House, to the river just below the Horse and Groom. On maps of 1699 and later (fn. 10) it is shown cutting across fields straight from mark to mark, usually regardless of natural boundaries. It is not known whether the Slip became detached from Leyton or the northern portion of Leyton from Walthamstow, leaving this narrow remnant on the south. But as the Slip was part of Walthamstow Tony manor, (fn. 11) the attachment of its tithes to Walthamstow parish probably dates from the early 12th century, when Walthamstow manor, church, and tithes were held by Ralph de Tony and his wife Alice. (fn. 12) The Slip's boundary marks were often disputed or, as in 1723, deliberately altered. (fn. 13) In 1858 Leyton challenged Walthamstow's attempt to establish its course through the most valuable part of the waterworks company's filter beds. (fn. 14) In 1873 the newlyconstituted Leyton urban sanitary district included the Slip, which was also amalgamated with Leyton civil parish in 1878. (fn. 15) The Wanstead Slip (about 207 a.) was added to the district in 1875, but constituted a separate civil parish (Cann Hall) in 1894. (fn. 16) Minor boundary adjustments with Wanstead followed in 1887 and 1900. Leyton became a municipal borough in 1926. In 1961 its area was 2,595 a. (fn. 17) It became part of Waltham Forest in 1965, the year taken for most purposes as the terminal point of this article.
In 1086 the recorded population was 43. (fn. 33) The medieval population remained small. In 1523–4 only 49 persons, including 18 labourers and 10 servants, were assessed to the subsidy. (fn. 34) In 1670 there were 83 houses in the parish, 23 of them in Leytonstone. (fn. 35) By 1778 there were said to be over 300. (fn. 36) In 1801 the population numbered 2,519. (fn. 37) Apart from an increase between 1841 and 1851 caused by the erection of the Union workhouse, there was no unusual growth until the 1860s, when the population doubled, from 4,794 in 1861 to 10,394 in 1871. By 1881 it had risen to 23,016 in the civil parish, and to 27,068 in the new sanitary urban district, which included the Walthamstow and Wanstead Slips. Between 1881 and 1891 the population of the district rose by 133.3 per cent, to 63,056, a larger proportionate increase than that of any other English town with over 50,000 inhabitants. (fn. 38) Rapid growth continued to 1911, when the figure was 124,735, reaching its peak in the next few years. In 1921 128,430 was recorded. Since 1931 (128,313) the population has declined, to 105,978 in 1951 and 93,959 in 1961.
By the 18th century, when the parish is first shown on detailed maps, (fn. 43) Wallwood and Whitings Grove were cleared, and the pattern of the parish, much as it remained until the mid 19th century, was complete. On the west lay undeveloped marshland, and on the extreme north-east Leyton heath and the forest, the haunt of highwaymen. (fn. 44) Two principal roads, now Leyton High Road and Leytonstone High Road, ran approximately north and south through the parish. Along these lay the two main settlements, Low Leyton to the west and Leytonstone to the east. In Low Leyton, about a quarter of a mile west of the high road, stood the parish church with the manor house of Leyton Grange beside it. The high road, with local roads branching off it, was a continuation southward of Hoe Street (Walthamstow), by Knotts Green and Ruckholts to Angel Lane, Stratford. By the 18th century most of Knotts Green was inclosed, forming the triangle bounded today by the High Road, Lea Bridge Road, and Leyton Green Road. But its north-east corner was still waste, and Knights Green (now Leyton Green) at its southern apex was probably also a remnant of the original green. Low Leyton village lay mainly along Leyton Street, as the high road was usually known from Lea Bridge Road to Moyers Lane; the most crowded stretch, between Lea Bridge Road and Knights Green, was sometimes called Gossups Green. (fn. 45) Frog Row, an island of cottages, narrowed the high road at its junction with Forest (later James) Lane. Farther south a group of houses, later called Blue Row, clustered opposite the vicarage and a large triangle of waste where the road branched west to the church (Church Road). The neighbourhood south of Blue Row, where the road forded the Phillebrook, was usually known as Phillebrook. Several lanes led eastwards off the high road. Wide Street, mentioned in 1537, (fn. 46) later also called Wild Street, ran along the north side of Knotts Green, then continued as the Broad Lane (later Chestnut Walk) to Whipps Cross: both are now part of Lea Bridge Road. The Broad Lane existed in 1454 and is named in 1649. (fn. 47) It was described as 'the walk with trees' in 1726, and the chestnuts, planted before 1814 and cut down in the 1930s, are commemorated by the Chestnut Tree public house. (fn. 48) A lane (Leyton Green Road) linked Knights Green with Chestnut Walk. Forest (or James) Lane led from Frog Row to Buryfield (mentioned about 1484) (fn. 49) and Forest House. About 1968 it was partly renamed Fletcher Lane, commemorating Mary Fletcher. Moyers or Wallwood Lane, previously known as Masters Lane (fn. 50) (now Hainault Road), led to Wallwood and the nearby locality called Geylewere, first mentioned in 1449 and repeated in various forms up to 1867. (fn. 51) The name may have originated as a gallows site. Westward from Knotts Green Butterfield Lane (Welstret in 1537 and 1645, but sometimes also called Wide or Wild Street, and now part of Lea Bridge Road) (fn. 52) led to Markhouse Lane, which was the way from Higham Hill, Walthamstow, to Leyton church and high road. From this junction Hemstall Lane, mentioned in 1601 and described in 1630 as a chase lane, continued westward to Hemstall or Hemstead Green, where a bridge crossed the Dagenham brook. (fn. 53) Vestiges of the green remained in 1777 on either side of the new Lea Bridge Road, which crossed it, and inclosures from it can be traced on the tithe map. (fn. 54) Hughes farm, sometimes called Hemstall Green farm, (fn. 55) lay south of the lane. From Markhouse Lane Church Lane (now Road) led south and east to the high road. Capworth (earlier Capport) Street linked Church Lane and Knights Green; another form, Copper Street, may suggest some association with Copping Down which lay south of it. South of Phillebrook two roads led off the high road to Temple Mills, one through Ruckholts, the other, Temple Mills Lane, on the parish boundary.
Leytonstone High Road, on the east side of the parish, was part of the main highway from Epping to London. It left the forest at the Green Man inn (mentioned in 1668) and ran southward to Sauls (later Harrow) Green, Holloway Down, and Stratford. From the Green Man Phipps Cross Lane (Whipps Cross Road), mentioned in 1492, (fn. 56) linked Leytonstone with Whipps Cross. Behind the Green Man was an unsavoury group of hovels called The Crib (fn. 57) and south of it Back Lane (Browning Road) led east from the high road to the forest. The houses of Leytonstone hamlet straggled southward from the Green Man. On the west side of the high road a chapel of ease to the parish church was in existence from the middle of the 18th century. More houses fringed Sauls Green farther south and clustered at the junction with Hollewell Lane. From upper Leytonstone a road (Church Lane and Grove Green Road) twisted south-west across the parish to Grove Green, then on to Ruckholt and Temple Mills. (fn. 58) Knaves Lane (Cathall Road) linked Sauls Green and Grove Green. 'Sales' Green is mentioned in 1577 (fn. 59) and Grove Green in 1571. (fn. 60) Hollewell or Blind Lane (later Union, now Langthorne Road) linked Holloway Down and Leyton High Road. Tinkers Lane (or Withies, from the osiers bordering the Wanstead ditch) (fn. 61) led east from Sauls Green to Woodhouse and the lower forest (now Wanstead Flats); it is now known as Harrow Road. Further north a short road (Davies Lane) also led from the high road to the lower forest.
Road development after 1850 took place within the framework of the ancient road system. The only important new thoroughfare was Francis Road, leading from Leyton High Road to Grove Green Road. (fn. 92) By the 1960s the existing main roads in Leyton were carrying heavy through traffic north-eastwards from London. Improved road junctions had been constructed at Whipps Cross, the Green Man, and Ruckholt Road, but congestion was often severe in the built-up shopping streets, particularly in Leytonstone High Road.
Most of the large residences were situated on the higher ground in the centre and north of the parish with a particular concentration in Low Leyton village. They stood, often in extensive grounds, at Knotts Green and in High Road, Church Lane, and Capworth Street. At least eight houses in this area were connected at one time with substantial estates, including the manor of Leyton, and are therefore described in another section; (fn. 111) of these buildings only Essex Hall and Grove House were still standing in 1970. The only other surviving house of any size is Etloe House in Church Road, which was built c. 1760. At the rear of its three-storeyed central block are sash windows and two full-height bays of the original date. The house was evidently enlarged by the addition of two flanking wings in the early or mid 19th century, perhaps as late as 1856 when Cardinal Wiseman moved there; at the same time the front was remodelled in a Tudor style with mullioned windows, embattled parapets, and a porch with Gothic arches. Two turrets with crocketed finials may have been part of the original house which, in 1796, was known as Etloe Place and described as 'whimsical'. (fn. 112) Also in Church Road was Leyton House, which disappeared c. 1910. It was built about 1706 by David Gansel and the elaborate layout of its grounds is shown on Rocque's map. It was a three-storeyed red-brick building with a front of seven bays and a scrolled pediment to the central doorway. The front faced a walled forecourt with entrance gates on the east and two flanking stable blocks. The site is now occupied by the London Electric Wire Works. (fn. 113) Other demolished houses in the area which were largely of 18th-century date were Suffolk House in Capworth Street, and Chingford Hall, Salway House, and Leyton Park (formerly Phillebrook House), all in High Road. In Leyton Green Road were the White House, demolished before the Second World War, and Cedar Lawn, which survived into the 1960s. (fn. 114) No. 669 High Road, a smaller village house, was still standing in 1970; built in the later 18th century it has three ogee-headed 'Gothick' windows to the first floor and a pedimented doorcase between Victorian bay-windows.
Forest House and Wallwood House stood at the edge of the forest on or near the sites of more ancient buildings. Both belonged to large estates and are described elsewhere. (fn. 115) In the 18th century the scenic attractions of the forest led to the building of new residences in this part of the parish. In the extreme north-east corner was the house, later known as Forest Edge or Buxton House, in which Isaac Buxton died in 1782; it had probably been built by his father-in-law, Thomas Fowell. Sir Edward North Buxton lived there in 1840–7. It was demolished shortly before 1939 and blocks of flats have been built on the former garden. (fn. 116) Near by, in a road now called The Forest, two smaller houses of 18th century origin, Marryats Lodge and Gwydir Lodge, are still standing, together with two early 19th-century terrace houses. On the south side of Whipps Cross Road, also overlooking forest land, a row of about twelve middle-class dwellings was built in 1767. (fn. 117) It was known as Assembly Row from the Assembly House at one end of it, and later as Forest Place. Six of the houses (nos. 133, 135, 139, 143, 153, and 155 Whipps Cross Road) survived in an altered form in 1968. They were originally twoand three-storeyed structures of brown brick, some terraced and some detached. They had mansard roofs, dormers, sash windows, pedimented doorways and, in a few cases, two-storeyed projecting bays.
Leytonstone contained fewer large residences than Leyton. One of the earliest was The Pastures in Davies Lane, the larger of Mary Bosanquet's two houses. It was built by Daniel van Mildert about 1686–7 but was remodelled and refaced in the 18th century. It contained staircases of both dates. After bombing in the Second World War it stood derelict until its demolition in the 1960s. The Pastures youth centre now occupies the site. (fn. 118) Park House, in Leytonstone High Road, was used as a branch library from 1908 until it was pulled down in 1934. It was a square three-storeyed building of the early 18th century with rusticated quoins, a modillion eaves-cornice, and a hipped roof. The central doorway had an open segmental pediment with the arms of Parry-Segar in the tympanum. (fn. 119) The elevation to Granleigh Road, which had been given a veranda and a balcony in the earlier 19th century, became the principal entrance front after the railway was constructed near by. Among other 18th-century houses which have now vanished were Dyers Hall, built on a small estate devised to the Dyers Company in 1739 for charitable purposes, (fn. 120) and Leyspring House, burnt down about 1870. (fn. 121) Norlington House was in High Road and Bushwood House stood by the pond near the Green Man. At the north end of High Road, however, a few buildings have survived from the former hamlet. Leytonstone House, now part of a mental hospital, was built c. 1800 and was the home of Thomas Fowell Buxton in 1857. The three-storeyed central block of five bays, which has a modillion cornice and a Doric portico, is flanked by two-storeyed wings; like so many Georgian houses in the area, it has fullheight bay-windows at the rear. (fn. 122) To the south a smaller and much altered house of c. 1700 stands at right angles to the road. Farther south again were the grounds of Sycamore House, an 18th-century building with later extensions; it was demolished in 1958 (fn. 123) when the Presbyterian Church of Wales was built on the site. On the opposite side of High Road, behind the Green Man, several irregular groups of early-19th-century cottages have survived in Browning Road. Facing High Road was a terrace of three red-brick 18th-century houses with shops built over their front gardens. One, in which Sir Morell Mackenzie was born in 1837, is still standing. Farther south a later and more imposing threestoreyed terrace also has its frontage concealed by modern shops. It consists of three houses, each of five bays, with ground floors of rusticated stucco and central Doric porches.
A few surviving buildings in the parish date from the period immediately before its rapid mid-19th-century development, including St. John's church, Leytonstone (1833). A typical smaller residence, standing in its own garden, is Gainsborough Lodge in Leytonstone High Road. There are also small houses and cottages in Church Road, Leyton, and near the north-east end of Lea Bridge Road (formerly Chestnut Walk). The main front of the massive West Ham Union workhouse (now Langthorne hospital), built in 1840, (fn. 124) has stone dressings and is surmounted by a balustraded parapet with twin classical urns. In Lea Bridge Road the London Master Bakers' benevolent institution stands round three sides of a court, the fourth side open to the street and bounded by railings with wrought iron gates. It was designed in an elaborate Italianate style by T. E. Knightley and built in stages between 1857 and 1866. (fn. 125) The two-storeyed ranges are of grey brick with stone dressings and contain 52 alms-houses, known as 'villas'. Architectural features include two square turrets at the angles between the ranges, small low-pitched gables, and rows of projecting porches.
Leyton and Leytonstone remained rural until the mid 19th century. (fn. 126) Then came the opening of railways to London with stations at Lea Bridge (1840), Low Leyton and Leytonstone (1856), followed by the provision of other forms of cheap and speedy transport. This coincided with the expansion of opportunities for employment in offices, in industry, and in public undertakings, particularly railways, in London and in neighbouring districts, such as West Ham. The effect was to transform two villages by the end of the 19th century into a suburban dormitory for clerks and workmen mostly employed outside the area. (fn. 127) In contrast, however, to the spread of building over most of the parish, the forest land in the extreme north-east remained largely untouched. Its survival was ensured by the Epping Forest Act of 1878 by which over 200 acres in Leyton were preserved for public use. (fn. 128) This area, with its established trees, ponds, glades, and open spaces, provided ample opportunities for outdoor recreation.
Beyond the fringe of all this speculative development a bungalow town of 69 shacks, with wells and earth closets, and a wooden mission church, sprang up in the 1880s at Lea Bridge Gardens, west of Lea Bridge station. (fn. 137) The occupants reared ducks and grew vegetables. These buildings were demolished in the 1930s and the site is now mainly industrial.
Once speculative development had begun, Leyton ceased to attract wealthy residents in search of rural seclusion. As a result there are no Victorian or Edwardian mansions in the area. The new houses were mainly yellow-brick two-storey terraces and villas, ranged in rows, their bow-windows and doorways freely ornamented with mass-produced cement foliage and tracery. The elaboration of the Red Lion inn and shops, designed by W. D. Church in 1890, (fn. 140) exemplifies on a larger scale the ornate features popular with the terrace builders. Retail shops, which became increasingly necessary for the growing population, were almost entirely confined to the main thoroughfares, long stretches of which were built up as shopping streets in the later 19th century. The new frontages were of two or three storeys with shops on the ground floor and living accommodation for their owners above. Later, as demand grew, residential terraces were brought into use, shops being built over their small front gardens. Public buildings dating from this period include the first town hall (1882), of yellow brick, with a corner clock-tower, now a library, and the present town hall (1896), designed by J. Johnson. This vivid red-brick building, with Portland stone bands and dressings, was said to be in the 'English Renaissance' style. (fn. 141) Whipps Cross hospital, then the Union infirmary, was completed in 1903. The Carnegie Library in Lea Bridge Road (1906), and girls high school in Colworth Road (1911) were designed by W. Jacques. The most striking churches built at this time were All Saints, Capworth Street (1864), the Mary Fletcher Memorial Methodist church (1877), St. Andrew's, Forest Glade (1887), Gainsborough Bridge Primitive Methodist church (1902), and St. George's Presbyterian church (1893), Hainault Road.
During the First World War about 1,300 houses were damaged by bombing during airship raids in 1915–16. (fn. 142) Though there was little building between the two wars, notable new buildings included Leyton high school for boys in Essex Road (1929), Connaught Road school (1932), the High Road baths (1934), Emmanuel church (1934–5), and the Christian Science church (1937). During the Second World War hardly a house in Leyton escaped damage. (fn. 143) After 1945 municipal redevelopment began on vacant and cleared sites. (fn. 144) First schemes provided houses and bungalows of conventional design, such as those in the Borthwick Road and Ellingham Road area, or three- and four-storey blocks of flats such as Beaumont House (1947), Mills Court (1950), and Thornhill Gardens (1955). Villiers Close (1957) represented a new approach, grouping varied blocks in one development. The eleven-storey Slade Tower, completed in 1961 as part of the Leyton Grange development, was the first outcome of the council's new decision to build upward at higher population densities. The Slade Tower was followed by others, which now dominate the surrounding streets to a height of up to 17 storeys. The Beaumont Road development, under construction in 1965, comprised 444 dwellings in mixed blocks, including bungalows, grouped around the multi-storey All Saints Tower.
Public buildings completed after 1945 include the Harrow Green branch library, George Tomlinson primary school, and Ruckholt Manor school. The only modern church of note is the Welsh Presbyterian church in Leytonstone High Road.
In 1692 letters were collected and delivered at Low Leyton once daily by the London Penny Post's footpost. (fn. 165) By 1794 there was a receiving house with three daily deliveries, also a sorting office. (fn. 166) The Munn family, grocers in Leyton Street, were receivers continuously from before 1832 until about 1878. (fn. 167) In 1856 Leyton became a sub-office in the north eastern district, later merged with the eastern district. (fn. 168) The sub-office at Leyton Green in 1863 was known as the 'higher office'. (fn. 169) The sorting office at no. 713 High Road was established c. 1893; (fn. 170) in 1917 Leyton became the E.10 London delivery district. (fn. 171) As the number of sub-offices increased, to 11 by 1926, the Leyton Green office continued to be termed the 'higher office', (fn. 172) but there was no branch office until 1934 when the present one was built in Lea Bridge Road. (fn. 173) A telegraph service was available by 1870. (fn. 174) The National Telephone Co. extended their system to Leyton in 1892 (fn. 175) and had opened an exchange by 1906. (fn. 176) The district is now served by the Leytonstone exchange.
Leyton has been the birthplace or home of many notable persons. Some are mentioned in the sections which follow; others are listed in another volume. (fn. 190) Lady Margaret Bryan, governess to the children of Henry VIII, died at Leyton. (fn. 191) Thomas Lodge, (d. 1625) a leading physician, lived there (fn. 192) and Sir Morrell Mackenzie (d. 1892), the throat specialist, was born at Leytonstone, where his father, Stephen, practised as a surgeon. (fn. 193) The poet and dramatist John Drinkwater (d. 1937) was born in Leytonstone. (fn. 194) Among the more unusual of Leyton's worthies was John Henry Pepper (d. 1900), the illusionist, exhibitor of 'Pepper's Ghost'. Thomas Bowdler (d. 1856), Shakespeare's expurgator, was curate at Leyton in 1803. William Cotton Oswell (grandson of Joseph Cotton), accompanied Livingstone in his search for the Great Lake, and was with him in 1851 when the Zambesi was sighted.
1. O.S. Map 2½", sheet TQ 38; 6" (1952 edn.) sheet TQ 38 N.E.; P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 102. See map below, p. 180.
2. L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 28 Nov. 1867, 16 Jan. 1868.
4. E.R.O., D/CT 221; O.S. Map 6", Essex, LXXIII (1873–82 edn.), LXV (1868–76 edn.).
5. E.A.T. N.S. xvii. 234.
6. V.C.H. Essex, v. 22–3; Act for improving navigation of River Lea, 7 Geo. III, c. 51.
8. Hist. Essex by Gent. iv. 240; L.R.L., L47 MS. Ves. Mins. 1811–34 (1831 perambulation). For the Slip see map below, p. 242.
9. G. Roebuck, Story of Walthamstow, 21–2; E.R.O., T/P 75; E. Clarke, Walthamstow, past, present and future, 13.
10. E.R.O., T/M 252 (1699), D/DQs 31 (c. 1760), T/M 53 (1820), D/P 160/28 (1822), Q/RUm 1/65 (1838), D/CT 221 (1843), D/CT 382 (1843).
11. E.R.O., T/M 252, 53; John Coe's map of Walthamstow, 1822 (Walthamstow Ant. Soc., N.S. v, va); cf. L.R.L., L66. 2 Prints, Photographs of the manor boundary stones at the Eagle Pond.
12. See pp. 253, 285.
13. J. Kennedy, Hist. Leyton, 148, 383; E.R.O., T/P 75; L.R.L., L47 MS. Ves. Mins. 1781–1811 (1781); S. J. Barns, Walthamstow Vestry Mins… . 1710–1740 (Walthamstow Ant. Soc. xiii), 20–1; Walthamstow Matters, iv, 4–9.
14. L.R.L., L47 MS. Ves. Mins. 1834–74 (1858).
15. Census, 1891 (table 14). Amalgamation with the ecclesiastical parish did not take place until 1885: Kennedy, Leyton, 412; E.R.O., D/CPc 64.
16. Census, 1881; V.C.H. Essex, v. 5, n. 11. See also below, p. 326.
18. Chapman and André, Map of Essex, 1777, sheets xvi, xxi.
19. V.C.H. Essex, i. 16, 261; F. W. Wilkinson, Hist. Leyton, 4.
20. E.R.O., D/DCw P47, D/DCy P3 ff. 101, 115, 154, D/DCy P3A, D/CT 221, 384, T/M 128; F. Temple, 'Ancient lanes of the Borough', Leyton Express and Independent, 29 Dec. 1950. See also below, p. 318.
21. L.R.L., L47 MS. Local Bd. Mins. 1877–81. See also below, p. 211.
22. S.C. 6/962. 'Phillebrook' is the more usual form until the late 19th century. The form 'Fillebrook' was adopted by the Wallwood Farm estate development of that name in the 1870s and perpetuated in 'Fillebrook Road'.
24. Leyton and District Times, 28 Oct. 1904.
25. A 6" relief map of the Walthamstow district drawn at 5-ft. intervals shows this valley clearly (L.R.L., L69 Plan, Jones and Montgomerie).
26. E.R.O., D/SH 2 (1748), D/SH 29; Chapman and André, Map of Essex, 1777, sheets xvi, xxi. See also below, p. 203.
27. E.R.O., D/SH 3A f. 336.
28. S.P. 12/15 No. 16.
29. E.Nat. xiii. 84; W. H. Weston, Story of Leyton and Leytonstone, 3, 5, 10; Trans. E.F.C. iii. 111.
30. V.C.H. Essex, iii. 23, 155.
31. Ibid. 25, 28, 155; Weston, Leyton, 16; Leyton Off. Guide (c. 1952), 22 (illus.). The 'obelisk' is shown on a turnpike map of 1728 (E.R.O., T/M 128).
32. P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 102.
33. V.C.H. Essex, i. 444, 497, 515, 536, 546.
36. Guildhall MS. 9558, f. 218.
37. These and the following figures are from the Census Reports.
38. V.C.H. Essex, v. 6.
39. Ibid. i. 444. 497, 515, 536, 546.
40. Cal. Inq. Misc. iii, p. 307.
41. S.C. 6/962. See also below, pp. 187, 192.
42. Cal. Close, 1452–61, 353.
43. John Rocque, Survey of London, 1746 (1748 edn.), sheet iv; Chapman and André, Map of Essex, 1777, sheets xvi, xxi. Maps of 1721 (Kennedy, Leyton, f.p. 18, original in L.R.L.), and 1728 (E.R.O., D/DCy P3A) show the south and east of the parish; the centre is shown on maps of c. 1739 and 1777 (E.R.O., T/M 403, 173). Roads are shown on maps of 1728 and c. 1760 (E.R.O., T/M 128, D/DQs 31) and features near the Walthamstow boundary on maps of 1739, 1742–3 (E.R.O., T/M 167, 168).
44. e.g. 1757, when the postboy was robbed of the Norwich mail by a highwayman at the High Stone (E.R.O., T/P 110/45).
45. The site of the present King William IV, which can be traced through the Leyton manor court books, was described in 1709 as 'on Gossups Green alias Low Leighton Street': E.R.O., D/DU 101/1A (1709).
47. Cal. Close, 1454–61, p. 353; E.R.O., Q/SR 341/27.
48. E.R.O., D/DU 417/8, T/M 53; F. Temple, 'Busy Lea Bridge was once a lonely road', Leytonstone Expr. and Independent, 19 Apr. 1957.
51. Cal. Close, 1447–54, p. 165; S.C. 6/962; E.R.O., D/DLc T28 (1562), D/DU 101/1 (1719), 101/4 (1867).
52. S.C. 6/962; E.R.O., T/A 12/2/8 (1645), D/DAc 153, D/DU 101/1A (1708).
53. L.R.L., Deeds (Barns 16); E.R.O., D/DW E25, pp. 1966–7, 2009; D/SH 1 f. 503, 2 f. 209.
54. E.R.O., D/DU 101/1 (1759, 1767); D/CT 221 (nos. 415, 484, 490); L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1752–81 (1768).
55. L.R.L., L55.6 MS. Rate Bks. 1651–1704 (at end reversed, survey of charities), and 1783–1807 (1799).
57. Cf. Kennedy, Leyton, 397.
58. Rocque in error names this Wallwood Lane.
59. L.R.L., Deeds (B.R.A. 685).
61. F. Temple, 'Ancient lanes of the borough', Leytonstone Expr. and Ind., 29 Dec. 1950.
62. John Norden, Map of Essex, 1594.
63. e.g. 1604, 1614, 1663, 1666 (E.R.O., Q/SR 166/142, Q/SBa 1/16, Q/SR 206/54–5, 395/14, 408/21).
64. Middlesex and Essex Highways Act, 8 Geo. I, c. 30; E.R.O., T/M 128; V.C.H. Essex, v. 32; L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1834–74 (1865, 1869).
65. E.R.O., Q/SR 408/21; Act for amending road from Whitechapel …, 43 Geo. III, c. 66 (local act); L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1834–74 (1865), L53.4 MS. Local Bd. Highways and Lighting Cttee. Mins., 1874.
66. Act for repairing the road … to Woodford, 10 Geo. II, c. 36.
68. G. S. Fry, Walthamstow Wills, 1335–1559 (Walthamstow Ant. Soc. ix), 9, 10.
69. Corpn. of Lond. R. O., River Lea: Proceedings in Star Chamber, etc. f. 169.
70. J. Norden, Essex, xiv.
71. E.R.O., Q/SR 198/138; W. R. Fisher, Forest of Essex, 85, 403; F. Temple, 'Busy Lea Bridge was once a lonely road', Leytonstone Expr. and Independent, 19 Apr. 1957; Kennedy, Leyton, 128, 265.
72. L.R.L., L72. 2 Pamphlet, F. Temple's extracts from Westminster Abbey Muniments (W.A.M. 3323).
73. E.R.O., Q/SR 74/33, 196/116–18, 197/145, 198/138, T/P 75; G. F. Bosworth, George Monoux (W.A.S. iii), 5.
74. Assizes 35/54/T/29; E.R.O., T/P 75; Bosworth, George Monoux, 5; W. Houghton, Walthamstow: its highways and byways, 4.
75. Rocque, Survey of Lond., 1748 edn.; L.R.L., L69 Plan, Leyton level sewers map, 1747.
76. Lea Bridge turnpike Act, 30 Geo. II, c. 59; Tables on Sewers map, 1747 (L.R.L., L69 Plan).
77. E.R.O., D/SH 29, T/M 53, D/CT 382; O.S. Map 6", Essex, LXXIII (1873–82 edn.); John Warburton, Map of Essex, 1726; Emmanuel Bowen, Map of Essex, 1749. Cf. E.R.O., Q/SR 204/39.
78. Fisher, Forest, 85; J. C. Jeaffreson, Mdx. County Records, i. 155; E.R.O., Q/SR 197/145, 198/138; Kennedy, Leyton, 128, 133; W. Robinson, Hist. Hackney, 60; Bosworth, George Monoux, 6.
79. Lea Bridge Turnpike Act, 30 Geo. II, c. 59; Houghton, Walthamstow: its highways and byways, 4.
80. L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1781–1811 (1802).
81. Walthamstow Vestry House Mus., P22/2/1 (Mins. Lea Bridge turnpike trustees, 1807–21).
82. Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Act, 1871, 34 & 35 Vict., c. 115; E.R.O., Q/SO 47, f. 193, 48, f. 32, Q/ABz 3.
83. Assizes 35/138/2/11; E.R.O., D/SH 1, f. 45.
84. E.R.O., D/SH 3, f. 237.
85. L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet, Address by U.D.C. Chairman, 1909.
86. Leyton U.D.C. Eng. and Survs. Rep. 1908; L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet, Address by U.D.C. Chairman, 1912.
87. V.C.H. Essex, v. 29; Lee Conservancy Catchment Bd. Act, 1938, 1 & 2 Geo. VI, c. 41.
88. See p. 203. A photograph taken in 1952 shows the bridge still standing where the river had been: L.R.L., L53.5 Print.
89. County of Essex Development Plan, 1952: Rep. of Survey, Pt. II, Met. Essex, pp. 79, 81; Leyton Housing Cttee. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, 1964/5.
90. Cal. Close, 1454–61, 353; L.R.L., Deeds (Lee 5); E.R.O., Q/SR 341/27, D/DB T792/1.
91. L.R.L., L69 Plan Leyton level (1747).
92. O.S. Map 6" (1959 edn.) TQ 38 N.E.
93. See pp. 188, 192.
94. Kennedy, Leyton, 340; Shaw, Knights of England, ii, 59; E.R.O., D/DK T50.
95. Kennedy, Leyton, 271, 340, 356–7; D.N.B.; V.C.H. Essex, ii. 471. See also below.
98. Kennedy, Leyton, 332; E.A.T., 3rd ser. i. 164; E.R.O., D/DWv T80.
100. R.C.H.M. Essex, ii. 168; F. Temple, 'Story of modern street names', Leytonstone Express and Independent, 8 June 1951.
101. Kennedy, Leyton, 131; Lea Bridge Turnpike Act, 30 Geo. II, c. 59; F. Temple, 'Busy Lea Bridge was once a lonely road', Leytonstone Express and Independent, 19 Apr. 1957.
102. Kennedy, Leyton, 132, 264, 283; E.A.T. N.S. xiv. 6.
103. E.R.O., D/DU 101/1 (1729, 1737, 1753); Kennedy, Leyton, 283.
104. M. L. Savell, 'Echoes of old Leyton', Nos. 16, 17, 'Royal Lodge', Walthamstow Guardian, 2 and 9 July, 1965.
105. Temple, 'More about the old roads and lanes', Leytonstone Express and Independent, 19 Jan. 1951. The Assembly House is named on Rocque's Survey of London (1746). For the school at the Assembly House, see below, p. 238.
106. Morant, Essex, i. 25; E.R.O. T/P 168; Kennedy, Leyton, passim.
107. Kennedy, Leyton, 116–19, 135, 314.
109. Guildhall MS. 9558, f. 218.
110. D.N.B.; Kennedy, Leyton, 341–3.
111. See pp. 184 sqq.
112. Lysons, London, iv. 226; Kennedy, Leyton, 335, 357; Pevsner, Essex, 2nd edn., 268. For Cardinal Wiseman at Etloe House, and St. Pelagia's Home, see below, p. 223.
113. Kennedy, Leyton, 39, 271, 331–2; L.R.L., L55.6 MS. Rate Bk. 1704–33; Hist. Essex by Gent. iv. 240 (pl.); E.R. liii. 69. For its occupation as St. Agnes's Orphanage, see below, p. 236.
114. In Leyton Reference Library there is a comprehensive collection of illustrations of houses which no longer exist, with notes on them, and including dated photographs, sometimes taken shortly before demolition.
115. See pp. 189, 196.
116. Kennedy, Leyton, 300–1; E.R. liv. 113, lviii, 109; E.R.O., T/G 88 (TS), Letters of Catherine, Lady Buxton, 1814–1911, 1, 49, 80.
117. Temple, 'More about old roads and lanes', Leytonstone Expr. and Ind. 19 Jan. 1951.
118. E.R.O., D/DU 322/1–10; L.R.L., L55.6 MS. Rate Colln. Bk. 1651–1704; Pevsner, Essex, 2nd edn., 269; Essex Churchman, Aug. 1966. For the Good Shepherd Home at the Pastures, see below, p. 238.
119. R.C.H.M. Essex, ii. 168; V.C.H. Essex, Bibliog. 330.
120. The charity was to support almshouses built in Bethnal Green for the widows of liverymen: Temple, 'Story of modern street names', Leytonstone Expr. and Ind. 7 July 1951; Lysons, London, ii. 36; Guildhall MS. 8185.
121. Temple, 'Story of modern street names', Leytonstone Expr. and Ind. 7 July 1951.
122. Gent. Mag. cxli. 237; Pevsner, Essex, 2nd edn., 269; E.R. lviii. 109, 121. See also below, p. 238.
123. Pevsner, Essex, 2nd edn., 269.
124. W. H. Weston, Leyton and Leytonstone, 181; White's Dir. Essex (1848). The date is inscribed on the chapel. See also plate f.p. 203.
125. Pevsner, Essex, 2nd edn., 269; White's Dir. Essex (1863); Baker and Confectioner, 20 May 1955; Lond. Master Bakers' Ben. Instn. Ann. Rep. 1961 (illus.); tablets on buildings.
126. G. A. Cooke, Top. and statistical desc. of Essex (c. 1810), 123; White's Dir. Essex (1848).
127. Wilkinson, Leyton, 36, 72; E. Gunn, Great House, 9–11; R. Mudie-Smith, Relig. Life Lond. 339–41; W. Ashworth, 'Types of social and econ. devt. in suburban Essex', London aspects of change, ch. III, 65, 75–6; V.C.H. Essex, v. 12, 19, 25; New Survey of London …, iii, Social conditions (1) Eastern Area, 398.
129. O.S. Map 6", Essex, LXXIII (1873–82 edn.); E.R.O., D/DB T836; L.R.L., L47 MS. Ves. Mins. 1834–74 (esp. 1868–9); D/SH 29; L.R.L., L55.3 MS. Highway Board Mins., 1856–61.
130. Unless otherwise stated details of the progress of development are based on the following: Manors and other estates section on pp. 184 sqq.; L.R.L., L47 MS. Leyton Vestry Mins. 1834–74 and Local Board Mins. 1877–94, and L53.4 MS. Local Bd. Highways and Lighting Cttee. Mins. 1873–83; Leyton Local Bd. and U.D.C. Highways Cttee. Reps.; Leyton Eng. and Survs. Reps. 1895–1914.
131. E.R.O., T/M 402, D/DCy T19; E.Nat. xxvii. 48; L.R.L., Deeds (BRA 219.1C, 1870).
132. V.C.H. Essex, v. 48; New survey of Lond. life and labour, iii, Survey of social conditions (1) Eastern area, 397.
133. E.R.O., D/DCy T19, 23, 28; D/DCy E45 f. 362, E46 f. 347.
135. E.R.O., Sale Cat. A641.
137. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1886); Ann. Rep. of M.O. 1893; L.R.L., L66. 1 Prints, Newspaper description, with illus. c. 1908, and photographs. See also below, p. 225, and plate f.p. 251.
138. Gunn, Great House, 11; L.R.L., L47 Pamphlets, Leyton U.D.C. Chairmen's addresses, 1909–11.
139. Wilkinson, Leyton, 72; Ann. Rep. of M.O. 1894; Leyton Off. Guide (1929), 35; (1934), 35.
140. Building News, 30 Oct. 1891. For the Red Lion see below, plate f.p. 325.
142. Weston, Leyton, 215; Leyton U.D.C. Mins. 1915–16, p. 177, 1918–19, p. 311.
143. Essex C.C. Rep. of A.R.P. Cttee. 1939–45, 27.
144. Leyton B.C. Housing Cttee. 1964–5, Yesterday, today and tomorrow: housing in Leyton.
145. L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1686–1723.
147. E.R.O., T/P 110/45; L.R.L., L35 Pamphlet, Leytonstone Academy advt. 1785.
148. Pigot's Dir. Essex (1839); Wilkinson, Leyton, 20. Cf. L.R.L., L36 Print, Drawing by T. Moxon of Leyton daily coach, c. 1848.
149. E.R.O., D/DCy T26; E. Carter, Hist. Geog. of Railways, 64; V.C.H. Essex, v. 23.
150. Wilkinson, Leyton, 36; V.C.H. Essex, v. 24; White's Dir. Essex (1863), 641, 644.
151. Wilkinson, Leyton, 71; V.C.H. Essex, v. 24; A. P. Wire, Leyton, 7–8.
152. V.C.H. Essex, v. 72.
153. V. E. Burrows, 'Leyton Council Tramways', Tramway Review, historical supplement to Modern Tramcar, ii (1953), Nos. 10 and 11. Unless otherwise stated the account of tramways is based on this article.
154. Cf. L.R.L., L47 MS. Local Bd. Mins. 3 Oct., 5 Dec. 1881.
155. V.C.H. Essex, v. 27; Lea Bridge, Leyton and Walthamstow Tramways Act 1881: 44 & 45 Vict. c. 170 (local act); L. A. Thomson, By bus, tram and coach (W.A.S., N.S. xi), 5.
156. V.C.H. Essex, v. 27; Wilkinson, Leyton, 64; L.R.L., L47 MS. Local Bd. Mins. 1886, 1888; Lea Bridge, Leyton and Walthamstow Tramways Act, 1889: 52 & 53 Vict. c. 158 (local act); Thomson, By bus, tram and coach, 6–7.
157. Leyton U.D.C. Acts, 1898, 61 & 62 Vict. c. 175 (local act) and 1904, 4 Edw. VII, c. 240 (local act).
158. V.C.H. Essex, v. 28; Leyton U.D.C. Year Bk. 1919–20; Kelly's Dir. Essex (1906); Leyton U.D.C. Eng. and Survs. Rep. 1907.
159. L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet, U.D.C. Chairman's address, 1910, 1911; V.C.H. Essex, v. 28; Campfield, Leyton, 10; Leyton B.C. Charter Day, 1926: souvenir programme, 33; L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet. Year Bk. 1932–3.
161. V.C.H. Essex, v. 28–9; L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet, U.D.C. Chairman's address, 1909, 1912; Thomson, By bus, tram and coach, 22–4, 36–7.
162. London Passenger Transport Act, 1933, 23 & 24 Geo. V, c. 14.
163. Burrows, Tramway Review, ii, no. 11, p. 44; V.C.H Essex, v. 73.
164. Leyton Off. Guide (c. 1952), 51.
165. T. de Laune, Present State of London (1692).
166. G. Brumell, Local Posts of London, 1640–1840, 81.
167. Pigot's Dir. Essex (1832); White's Dir. Essex, (1848, 1863); Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870–82).
168. British Postal Guide (1856).
169. White's Dir. Essex (1863); Kelly's Dir. Essex (1866).
170. Kelly's Dir. Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone (1893).
171. Post Office Guide (1917).
172. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1866–1926).
173. Wilkinson, Leyton, 71; Leyton Off. Guide (1922), 18, (1934), 33.
174. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870).
175. L.R.L., L47 MS. Local Bd. Mins. 1892; Kelly's Dir. Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone (1893).
176. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1906).
177. T. de Laune, Present State of London (1692).
179. Brit. Postal Guide (1856).
180. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870, 1874).
181. Wilkinson, Leyton, 71; Kelly's Dir. Essex (1878, 1910, 1912); Leyton Off. Guide (1922), 18.
182. G.P.O. London Post Offices and Streets, 1964; G.P.O. Tel. Dir. London Postal Area (1967).
183. Leyton Off. Guide (c. 1952); inf. from Miss M. E. Savell.
184. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1890); L.R.L., L28 Prints, Photograph, c. 1905, showing dated tablet. Other photographs (L66.2 Prints) show the building, opposite Station Parade, at later dates; it was demolished by 1950.
185. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1910, 1912).
186. Post Office Guide (1917).
187. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870).
188. Nat. Telephone Jnl. 1908, p. 229.
189. G.P.O. List of Telephone Exchanges, 1913.
190. V.C.H. Essex, Bibliography, 246.
192. D.N.B.; E.R. xxxiv. 36. There are biographies in D.N.B. of all the persons mentioned below.
193. E.R. i. 144, 1. 231.
194. E.R. xliii. 123, xlvi. 121, xlvii. 42.
195. V.C.H. Essex, ii. 590, v. 62.
197. V.C.H. Essex, ii. 612–13; 'Leyton Orient', Football Association News, July 1965; Leytonstone F.C. Diamond Jubilee Handbook, 1886–7 to 1946–7, p. 6; Leyton F.C. Handbook, 1951–2, pp. 11–16; 'Centenary of Leyton F.C. F.A. News, Sept. 1968, 50–2; Leyton Off. Guide (1937), 14, (c. 1962), 8, 16.
198. E.R. i. 31, xlii. 201; V.C.H. Essex, ii. 600, 605–8, v. 63, 88; Leyton Off. Guide (1934), 33.
199. Leyton U.D.C. Eng. and Survs. Rep., 1906–7; Rotary Club of Leyton: Community Service Guide, 1931.
200. A. P. Wire, Leyton, 27–8; Rep. R. Com. Poor Laws and Relief, 1909 [Cd. 4795], pp. 321–2, H.C. (1909), xliv. For skating on the Hollow pond see plate f.p. 52.
201. L.R.L., L47 MS. Vestry Mins. 1781–1811.
203. R. Overton, Hist. Leyton Literary Club (1917); Leyton, Leytonstone and District Scottish Association: Jubilee booklet 1903–52.
204. S. K. Ruck, Municipal entertainment and the arts in Greater London (1965), p. 166.
205. Leyton Pub. Libraries: List of Societies 1955.
206. A. P. Wire, Leyton, 28; L.R.L., L47 Pamphlet, Leyton U.D.C. Chairman's address, 1910–11.
207. Kelly's Dir. Essex (1917).
208. V.C.H. Essex, v. 88; Leyton Off. Guide (1949), 12, (c. 1962), 8.
209. Leyton B.C. Charter Day: souvenir programme, 1926, p. 34; Leyton and Leytonstone Eisteddfod Cttee.: Syllabus, 1924–39; Leyton Community Service Guide, 79.
210. Leyton Off. Guide (c. 1962), 21; S. K. Ruck, Municipal entertainment … in Greater London, 24; Local Govt. Act, 1948, 11 & 12 Geo. VI, c. 26, s. 132.

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