Woodford Bridge

Much of this scene had not changed since before the war. The post office (near right) was run by F S Mowlam in the 1950s. Further on we see the gabled end of the White Hart Hotel. It has certainly been around since 1729, when the vestry recorded that it had held a dinner there. The house was also used as a petty sessions court at the end of the 19th century.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".

The first bridge was built in 1771 and a settlement soon grew up around it. These flats beyond the ponds at Woodford Bridge were built in about 1959, and changed this remoter part of the parish from being what was generally described as a village into the general conurbation of east London.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".

St Paul’s was established as an ecclesiastical parish, with its original church, in 1854. That building was destroyed by fire and replaced by the one we see here in 1886. It was designed to seat 400 people.
An extract from from"Chigwell Photographic Memories".

The Earl of Cornwall built stew (fish) ponds on the western boundary of his estate, and fish was an important part of the medieval diet. Fish weirs were used to trap fish in rivers, and were an important and often hotly disputed resource up to the 18th century. They were supposed to be licensed, but illegal weirs flourished and were a hazard to river traffic. There was at least one weir in the river by Isleworth with stakes at its upper end, and this gave its name to the modern Railshead Road where the Crane joins the Thames. In the Middle Ages the settlement at Twickenham was a cluster of houses in streets around St Mary’s Church and in narrow alleys nearby leading down to the river. Church Street was the principal way through Twickenham for travellers until the end of the 19th century when the present York Street was built. The name of Burgate was used for the area near the church in 1486. Although the nave of the present St Mary’s dates from 1713, when it was rebuilt after it collapsed, the ragstone church tower is medieval and may have formed part of an earlier fortification on the site.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".

The local population in the Middle Ages made a living from agriculture, fishing, boat-building, and ferrying traffic up and down the river. There was even a local vineyard, which produced ‘two tuns and one pipe’ in 1297. This seems to have been planted with cherry-trees later. There is little detailed evidence on the number of people living at Twickenham during the Middle Ages but the manor of Isleworth, including Twickenham, seems to have expanded slowly during this period. In the 14th century there are accounts of crops of oats, wheat, and barley being grown locally, and local livestock included cows and sheep. The rolls also list a ploughman, a shepherd, a cowman, and a dairymaid in this period. By 1547 the people of Isleworth were said to number 400, and the figure relating to Twickenham apart from the rest of Isleworth Manor is estimated at 210. The River Thames has been an important means of transport since before the Romans arrived in England. As there was no bridge across the Thames from Twickenham on the Middlesex bank over to the Surrey bank until the 18th century, residents who wanted to cross to the opposite bank of the river did so by ferry. The first evidence of a ferry at Twickenham occurs in 1443.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".