South Chingford
South Chingford photos (12 available)
South Chingford maps (2 available)
Map of London
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
South Chingford books (18 available)
South Chingford memories
Read and share memories of South Chingford and London inspired by Frith photos
Life as a child and teenager in S. Chingford (1939-1960)
I lived in Chingford from 1939, when I was born, to 1960 when I left to get married, and moved to Rayleigh, Essex. I remember the war years, and going down the shelter at Chingford Mt. when the siren went off. I used to go to Normanhurst School in N. Chingford, and we had to get under the desks when the siren went. I loved Saturday morning pictures at the Odeon, and going to Woolworths with my mother. She is buried in Chingford Cemetary and also my father. Later I went to Walthamstow High School for Girls, and used to go on the trolley buses. I have lived in Canada since 1967, and miss the ...read more here
Contributed by Gloria Gorman
war days in chingford 1939-46
up to the age of seven from 1939- 46 i lived in middleton close i to remeber the war years , walking across sopers farm to feed the pigs on acorns , catching newts in the little pond , which is now unfortunatly rugby field and golf range, one of my aunts use to be a conductress on the trolly buses during the war, we use to have some wonderful christmas's when all the uncles came home from there different services train sets would come out and sing songs on the piano, do you remeber the three penny rush on a saturday morning rush to see hoppalong cassidy at the odeon, ...read more here
Contributed by roger walker
Blue Lamp, Buses and a broken arm
Used to wait for a trolley bus here which took the family to see Granny and Grandpa at Winchmore Hill. Always great excitement. Remember waiting here for my father to return from a builders' trip to Rotterdam - wonderful to see his face
in the bus window - probably from Liverpool Street station on the 38 bus.
Remember standing in the queue at the cinema. It was my treat for having taken the scholarship. I so wanted to see the Blue Lamp, but the queue was too long and we couldn't get in. And, in case you're interested (not a lot, I hear you say!) I fell down outside the Albert pub and ...read more here
Contributed by Stephanie Bilton
South Chingford parks and Lakes.
I was born in March 1939 and lived in South Chingford 1939-66. Frances Road 1940-47 and Underwood Road (Ropers Farm Estate) 1947-66.
I loved Chingford and still do. I regularly visit Chingford and was there only yesterday 15.07.08. I still have a cousin in Chingford and I am sadly selling my late cousin Peggy's house in Grove Road.
I firstly went to New Road School (briefly) then onto Selwyn Avenue - and then onto Wellington Avenue (Wellington Boot) (Maths master was a nightmare).
I loved the parks and lakes - not much homework got done as a result.
I remember the war years - hearing the sirens and having to (a few times) dive into the Mount shelter on the way ...read more here
Contributed by Robert Randall
Chingford
As I attended school at St. Egberts College on Ridgeway in North Chingford, we did on occasion get to go swimming at Larkswood Pool. Swimming in any pool was a treat for most of us as the only 'swimming' we usually did was at the sea-side on summer holidays. It wasn't till later in 1947 after we moved to Elm Park Essex, that I had the opportunity to go to Kennylands School, a summer school at Sonning Common near Reading. Here I met and fell for a young lady named Thelma.
We dated and finally got engaged. However after promising she would follow me to Canada, she changed her mind and returned the ring to my parents. Then she decided to ...read more here
Contributed by Denman Lalonde
Extracts From South Chingford & London books
High Street North is a
relatively undistinguished
and typical London
suburban shopping street:
the exuberance of the Town
Hall complex is forgotten.
The Midland Bank on the
corner of Caulfield Road
(right) is one of their 1920s
Classical-style single-storey
buildings that add quality to
many High Streets. On the
left the taller Victorian brick
buildings were demolished
in the 1970s and replaced
by bland flat roofed ones.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
We pass under the River Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel - the northbound side dates from the 1890s, an early
project of the LCC, which was established in 1888. East Ham was in Essex until 1965, but since the mid 19th
century very much a part of greater London. Here we approach East Ham’s town centre along the busy North
Circular Road, which seems in places merely a casual linkage of suburban roads. These terraces of neat
Edwardian bay-windowed houses survive, and lead towards the Town Hall with its tower.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
Our tour now heads north-east to Greenwich to a much grander building. The Royal Naval Hospital, a
counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, began as a rebuild of Greenwich Palace by Charles II in the
1660s, but it changed direction in the 1690s. The second pediment from the right is Webb’s 1660s work. In
1873 it became the Royal Naval College; when that closed, in the 1990s it became part of Greenwich University.
In the distance are the chimneys of Greenwich Power Station of 1902-10.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
St John’s Church, by Benjamin Ferrey, was completed in 1853 as the centrepiece of Angell Town. It has a fine
Perpendicular-style tower with chequer-work battlements and elegant corner pinnacles. The 1850s houses
between it and the photographer were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a large council housing estate,
Peckford Place. The lime trees in front of the church survive, and have matured well.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
Angell Town was an estate of 1850s Italianate villas, mostly semi-detached, built on curving roads centred on St
John’s church, whose 1853 tower is crowned by four pinnacles. This view is from an upper balcony of Eldon
House, one of the eleven-storey blocks of council flats built c1960 on the Loughborough Estate. Nearly all the
villas have since been demolished and replaced by four-storey council flats in yellow stock brick. In the distance
we can see the Houses of Parliament, the Victoria Tower and Big Ben.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".