Waltham Abbey
Waltham Abbey photos (38 available)
Waltham Abbey maps (2 available)
Map of Essex
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Waltham Abbey books (15 available)
Waltham Abbey memories
Read and share memories of Waltham Abbey and Essex inspired by Frith photos
My Town
I call it my town because it is, it is everybody’s town that lives here.
My wife Patsy and I moved here very recently, in October 1999, this was after visiting the town in previous months, we found the people warm and welcoming, where please and thank you are the norm, this was unheard of back in north London, where we lived in a 2 bed semi off Hornsey Rd N19. Waltham Abbey is like old England, separated from the rest of England by a thin strip of green belt on all sides.
I can remember coming home every day after working in London, coming over the brow of the hill on Stewardstone Rd seeing the town spread out in front ...read more here
Contributed by John Collier
The Waltham Abbey Choir and other memories
My family lived in Waltham Abbey from 1955 to 1961 and living there left a lasting impression on me.
I attended Waltham Holy Cross County Primary School during this time and at the ripe old age of 8 auditioned there to become a chorister. The teacher was one Mr. Goodger whom I remember as a kindly old man. (I guess all adults seemed old in those days).
Anyway I passed the audition and went to the Abbey and met Canon AVG Cleall, who taught me to understand Roman numerals and the choirmaster whose name escapes me, but was known by all the boys (it was an all male choir then) as Moppie on account of his long(ish) silver hair.
Well Moppie ...read more here
Contributed by Bill Waring
Waltham Abbey the place I call home
I was born in Waltham Abbey and lived there until I was twenty eight. It is the place I call home, where my roots are. Many times I remember going into the Abbey Church; there is such a feeling of serenity and the presence of God there. As a young person I went there for quietness, to meet with God and on so many times I left feeling refreshed and restored. nowdays when I go back and open the big oak door I am drawn in by the awesomeness and wonder of such a wonderful building. I love the stain glass windows both in the main church and the Lady Chapel, the wax painting (discovered ...read more here
Contributed by Christine Brooker
Essex memories
My Town
I call it my town because it is, it is everybody’s town that lives here.
My wife Patsy and I moved here very recently, in October 1999, this was after visiting the town in previous months, we found the people warm and welcoming, where please and thank you are the norm, this was unheard of back in north London, where we lived in a 2 bed semi off Hornsey Rd N19. Waltham Abbey is like old England, separated from the rest of England by a thin strip of green belt on all sides.
I can remember coming home every day after working in London, coming over the brow of the hill on Stewardstone Rd seeing the town spread out in front ...read more here
A memory of Waltham Abbey contributed by John Collier
Extracts From Waltham Abbey & Essex books
Epping Forest’s pleasant vistas and the opportunities it offers for a quiet escape from the
busy troubles of London are the attractions that brought people here – and no doubt the
romantic name of the Robin Hood Tavern (built in Victorian times) helped.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".
The shop on the left
is Morgan’s, selling
confectionery, and the
shop is still an old-
fashioned confectioner’s
just as Morgan would
have remembered it.
These buildings were
built on the wastes in
front of the original
Chigwell Row in c1880.
F Harman & Co, whose
sign we can just make
out on the gate next to
Morgan’s, were builders,
and this was their yard.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".
This house was built by W Pemberton Barnes to replace an earlier house built in the 18th
century. In 1924 the estate had 1,552 acres, 400 of which were parkland. The Havering manor
was a crown manor from the time of Harold, of Hastings fame, until 1828.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".
By 1713 the Chester Room of the Kings Head was being used by the Court of Attachments of Waltham Forest, which met to
decide on minor disputes. Stephen Pewsy, in ‘Chigwell and Loughton: A Pictorial History’, says that the gateway to the pub,
demolished in modern times to make way for the motorcars, even had a small cell to confine miscreants.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".
Here we have an
almost identical view
some ten years later.
One of the great
advantages of the
Frith Collection is that
the photographers
often went back to
the same locations,
which provides us
with subtle degrees
of change. Here the
Bakery has clearly
been refurbished.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".