Walk to the Source of a buried River in Ilford East London - The Cran Brook (4K)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2020
- This walk follows the course of the Cran Brook through the streets of Ilford in East London to its source near Barkingside.
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We start on Wanstead Flats and pass through Aldersrbook, a model Edwardian suburb that is seen as a great example of the vernacular revival. Passing down Empress Avenue we look for the site of the Redbridge Nuclear Shelter near Empress Avenue Allotments. These allotments were used as a location in the Mike Leigh film Another Year.
The path takes us around the outer perimeter of the Wanstead Park, through the Epping Forest Exchange Lands and near the site of an isolation hospital. We pass beneath the pylons and cross the River Roding into the streets of Cranbrook. The Cran Brook makes its confluence with the Roding on Ilford Golf Course which I was unable to access, but the course through the streets here is marked on the map in the video. The name, Cranbrook has its earliest use in 1233 as Cranebroc. We follow the Brook along Empress Avenue, Ilford, through an area called The Wash and into Valentines Park.
Valentines Park was featured in an episode of the radio show I produced and co-presented with Nick Papadimitriou on Resonance FM, Ventures and Adventures in Topography. It's one of my favourite London parks. Author Thomas Burke described it as The Eastern Queen in his 1920's book, The Outer Circle - rambles in remote London. The Valentines Estate had existed before Valentines Mansion was built in the 1690's for the widow of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Park once had a Lido which was demolished in 1994 and it is said to be the inspiration for the Small Faces song Itchycoo Park. Roman era burials were excavated in the grounds of the house in 1724. The Cran Brook can be seen flowing through the Park into the boating lake.
From Valentines Park we walk along Quebec Road, the go along the A12 Eastern Avenue and turn into Horns Road. We can see the shape of the river valley from Netley Road, Birkbeck Road and Perkins Road where the river runs beneath the Sainsburys Car Park.
We follow the alleyway that takes us over the Central Line behind Newbury Park Station and into Oaks Lane. From Oaks Lane we go into a field that leads us to where the springs gurgle to the surface giving birth to the brook not far from Barkingside Station.
Many thanks to Vincent Goodman for sending me a map showing the course of the Cran Brook and for suggesting this walk.
Links
Wanstead to Barking along the River Roding featuring the River Roding • Wanstead to Barking al...
Ilford Local History ilfordhistoricalsociety.weebl... / ilfordhistory
Redbridge Nuclear Bunker Wanstead Wildlife blog wansteadwildlife.org.uk/LOCAT...
Wanstead Park video thelostbyway.com/2019/02/wanst...
This Other London audio book (Amazon affiliate link) amzn.to/3gn57X7
Radio Show Iflord Episode bit.ly/3hWqtLl
Music - from the TH-cam Audio Library
Lost & Found by Dan Lebowitz
Fresh Fallen Snow by Chris Haugen
The Two Seasons by Dan Bodan
Song of Sadhana by Jesse Gallagher
Monumental Journey by Jesse Gallagher
Map credit: “© OpenStreetMap contributors” www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
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Thank you to John Rogers for making this film. I’m delighted our conversation inspired you to take this walk. Great job! from Vincent Goodman
it was such a pleasure Vincent, thanks so much for the idea and your guidance.
I find watching your videos is a great way to forget about all my troubles and irritating people in this funny world
I used to live in Yoxley Drive - the next road to Cantley Gardens. When we moved there in 1953, the Cranbrook flowed open between the back gardens there. We had a large cat fish at one point and released it into the brook because it got too big for its tank. A couple of years after, the council culverted the brook in, but a number of the trees which lined the brook banks remained for quite a number of years. Thank you for such a lovely programme. I came across it purely by chance. I now live in the Outer Hebrides, and am enjoying the memories of London that you are stirring up.
After visiting the UK a couple of times, this is the stuff I’m looking for. The real UK off the beaten track that the locals will see, very nicely done.
Wow! this bought back so many memories, especially the part around Valentine's Park. My nan and cousins lived in Perth Road and I seemed to spend a large part of my childhood in the park there. In fact, I like to claim I carry a part of Valentine's Park around with me even now - in the form of a splinter in my left thumb. We kids were jumping over a little stream near Valentine's House when I crash landed on a tree stump. At the time I got most of the splinter out but a bit remained - and is still visible over 60 years later. Amazing it never festered! Just as well as I am a pianist by profession. I also remember that bit of the culvert near the cafe - just after it had been landscaped that way. It became an unofficial paddling pool and on hot days was packed with families and kids - it all looks a bit overgrown now! And on the subject of rivers - I'd still like to see you do a walk along the Ingrebourne, John!
thanks for sharing those great memories Douglas. Yes, the Ingrebourne is on the list - thanks for the reminder
Hi
River Ingrebourne to the river Beam (Rom) and see how much is left on the Romford canal.
Sorry I’m late to this but the walk through Valentine’s Park had me reminiscing too. Back in 1958 I was four, my parents and grandma lived in Goodmayes (which also has an interesting brook through Westbrook Park) and I have a vivid memory of a day when Mum and Grandma walked from home in Wellwood Road to Valentine’s Park, entering through the east end gate on Quebec Road. The vivid parts are the terraced open culvert, which I loved to walk along, and the red squirrels leaping from tree to tree above. I also remember being curious about how the water disappeared under Cranbrook Road. Sometimes we would come at it the other way, after tea and ice cream at the Lyons on Cranbrook. I had to resort to Google maps to realise that the walk from the park exit to home was less than two miles (though it seemed a lot longer to little me). Everything was so clean and neat in those days. The park had keepers and all the grass was regularly mown. Thanks for triggering such a rich memory of childhood.
Your enthusiasm is infectious. Like Geoff Marshall. Great stuff!
Thanks Rick - I really enjoy Geoff's videos
I live in Ilford, and yes, to go to Ilford is a fool's act. Valentines park is quite nice though.
FRR
I live a couple of miles away from Ilford. I avoid it like the plague.
@@aethellstan 😂😂
@@aethellstan If I could, I would. lol
@@markohenry5891 There are lots of big houses, especially on the side of the park near the telephone exchange going towards Gants Hill and the A12, but even then the area is getting really horrible, its kind of oozing away from the town centre and spreading further and further out...! Still, musn't grumble.
Thanks John, good memories
thank you John for these great videos. they have helped me calm my mind through some recent troubles.
sorry to hear you've had some troubles Jon, hope all is well now, glad the videos could help in some way
Thank you so much. I loved this suburban river hunt.
IM FROM ILFORDDD N IVE LEARNT SOO MUCH NEW STUFF
THANKS
great to hear Aklima - I've just done another walk through Ilford that will be online next Sunday
I used to live near the source but never knew the name but looking at the topography of the land and slope, I had imagined the stream flowing towards the tube tracks which were old train tracks and then water flowing into the sainsbury's car park and beyond. Across, Perkins road and Chase lane has a distinctive dip suggesting the flow. You read the land exactly I had thought. I've learnt so much today from you. Thank you.
Very interesting John. You may have noticed a number of houses that don't quite match their neighbours on your walk - the result of bomb damage in WW2. The old Plessey HQ (where these were aimed at) used to proudly display an unexploded bomb outside their entrance. Ironically, this was removed when Siemens took over and the old buildings were raised to the ground.
We lived in Mayfair Ave (next road up from Empress Ave). Our friends house down the road still had an air raid shelter in the garden in the 1960's.
I also remember watching the visiting Australians play Essex at Valentines Park in the 1970's and being able to walk up the players after the game to collect autographs.
I must thank my old friend Ade (who lived in Kensington Gardens, further up The Drive) for sending me to this page
Tom W my pleasure Tom. 👍🏼
"Ironically, this was removed when Siemens took over and the old buildings were raised to the ground" I always joke that the Germans got it in the end ! :-)
I was born and brought up in east London. I never cared for or paid any attention to history lessons in school, especially history about my area. However, as an adult I sit and enjoy your videos, learning about places I walk past everyday. Fascinating.
Quebec, Perth, Adelaide Road etc, are known as The Commonwealth Estate. Great video as always!
Very beautiful day in the beautiful area.
Nice walk John and thanks for making them so enjoyable.
Two bits brought back happy childhood memories. Firstly playing in the concrete sculptured course of the Cran Brook through Valentines Park, building dams and racing small boats. The other memory is my sister keeping her horse Rajah in the fields between Newbury Park and Barkingside during the 1960's. I remember it being muddy then.
Till next time.
thanks for sharing those wonderful memories Richard
Another great video and another great walk, cheers up my Sunday evening😊
wonderful to hear!
As someone who has spent the last twelve years walking around Cambridge over and over again trying to find every route, I must say that I really love these videos. Even the most mundane looking bit of geography can be a treasure trove.
Greetings from Dallas, John. You tour my old haunts from growing up, which is a great insight into the changes that have taken place since I emigrated, 30 years ago. Best wishes and stay safe!
Wonderful to be able to take you back to the streets of East London all the way over in Dallas Paul
You are an inspiration I live in northampton since watching you I have been out walking and discovering so much more keep the videos coming fabulous blessings
Essex County Cricket club used to play one or two games each season in Valentines Park in the late 1990s. They used to play at Ilford Cricket Club, which is on Cranbrook Road, just to the north of "The Wash", rather than at the cricket ground pointed out in this video. Temporary stands used to be erected to accommodate a few thousand fans,
I surprisingly got recommended thus video. And surprisingly, I was delightfully impressed with it. I'm subscribing!
Im absolutely blown away by your knowledge of the area in which I was born and still frequently travel to meeting friends and having dinners out
A very interesting insight into my local area .. top job John !
Lovely link to childhood memories. I grew up in Manor Park near the Roding. As kids we would either walk to Wanstead Park around the City of London Cemetery, known as the bridle path, to Empress Avenue. Then into the park and around the Ornamental lake, and back via Wanstead Flats. It was also my school's cross country run route. We would also walk along Northbrook Road to Valentine's Park. I remember fishing in the Cran Brook for stickle backs. I also remember bunking into the Ilford Cricket ground to watch Essex v West Indies in the 1950s. I have enjoyed many of your other videos of the area and the memories of my childhood and teen years.
great to see you in high spirits and good health.
thanks Syed
Wonderful presentation: My student summer job was gardening at Valentines park.
I spent several days raking moss and pondweed out of the lower Cranbrook channels just before it exits the park (Wet feet).
Back then the Wash (Opposite park entrance) was not fully enclosed, there was a noisy waterfall as the course passed the Telecomms building.
I grew up in Barkingside.
A trip past Barkingside station led to the football ground.
I don't know of access now, but back then a hop over the back fence would grant access to the boggy fields where the brook rises.
There was also talk of another culverted river slightly further North running between the backs of Craven Gardens and Heybridge drive.
Homeowners with sheds would regularly trap rats (and voles).
They blamed the "river" for their presence.
I believe that Cranbrook Park and Valentines Park are one. From the Wash it is Cranbrook Park and as you go further over it is known as Valentines Park where there is an entrance from Perth Road. As a child during the war and growing up in the 50's and 60's that's how we referred to it. By the way the Australian Cricket Team played Essex where the Ilford cricket club is in the park, that was in the 60's.
thanks for those notes - great to think of the Aussies playing out there in the 1960's
Thank you John, I thought that was a really fascinating video. I'm glad I came across it. I used to live in the area of Cranbrook and went to both Highlands Primary and Wanstead High School in the seventies/eighties so it was great to watch. It was very interesting to watch how you tried to follow the course of the Cran Brook. Fascinating! As kids, we used to visit Wanstead Park and Valentines park regularly.
All the best, Dawn
I’m a local thanks for highlighting the interesting history and pleasantness of Ilford and the surrounding area. It has a bad rep with people and I want everyone to know it’s a nice area on the whole.
I just finished "This Other London" this morning, so it was great to see this! A highly recommended read, and another wonderfully calming walk, thank you, John.
Great to hear Steve - glad you enjoyed the book
I enjoyed this one as I lived in Redcliffe Gdns which runs from Cranbrook Rd to The Drive so this is very nostalgic as I emigrated to Adelaide Australia over 30 years ago I look forward to watching more videos 👍👍👍👍
From ilford.. this is beautiful
thanks Sandra - there's another Ilford video coming up on Sunday
John Rogers 👌 will keep an eye on this space thanks 😊
First video I've seen of the area!
Grew up around the Cran Brook, playing along the tank tracks near where it springs, had many school friends who lived near where it is covered (Emmott Ave Perkins Rd etc etc) and where it springs up in Valentines Pk it has those wonderful concrete steps either side which we hopped our BMX’s over all the time (right near the old Valentine’s Lido) fantastic times...
I envy your explorations! Looks like anywhere near Epping forest is fabulous!
Very interesting... Amazing video.. Really appreciated
Thank you
Another delightful walk! Thanks John, looking forward to the next one
I now have your book on my Audible wish list so it will be my next purchase. I really enjoy your TH-cam walks so am looking forward to listening to your book.
It is great fun to walk with you.
Fascinating as always, thanks John. I think Burke crystallised Ilford perfectly "only fools go to Ilford" 😂.
Another great watch John! Thank you
cheers Sean
Thanks John as ever for your interesting and beautifully shot film. I appreciate all your hard efforts. Look forward to the next one. Stay safe
cheers Humble
John thanks so much for this beautiful content once again! Love how the arquitecture of the park adaptes to the flow of the water stream, it looks so peaceful and hopeful
Great to see you out and about and river hunting John!
Thanks Ross - this was a great adventure
thanks for this video brought me back my childhood memories of back in 1995 when i used to go wanstead. and oh yes i do remember the bunker you was looking for lol
I really enjoyed this film - recommended by my skin and blister. We grew up in Wanstead Lane and spent a lot of time in Valentines Park. We had some pieces of stone in the garden there that looked as though they had been part of columns. It was said that they came from Cranbrook Castle. Thanks again.
Another great walk John, already looking forward to next week 👍🏼🍺
wonderful to hear James
A loverly walk john, so interesting when you found the source, so much water in such a dry season incredible. Thank you. 😀👍
your videos are a real treat ; in these difficult times
that's wonderful to hear Tony
I spent the first 30 years of my life, from 1949 to 1979 in Empress Avenue, the part between Belgrave Road & The Drive, incidently the lowest part of that section of the road. The council, in their infinite wisdom, piped in the stream in the early 1960s where it ran between the back gardens of Empress & Northbrook. Ever after that the cellar of our house flooded each winter. Nothing my dad could say would convince them that they were responsible. For many years I watched ducks faithfully following its path.
Thank you so much for this video, John Roger's. Having grown up in Ilford and moved to the Bronx NY, it's very nice to have this video to go back to, especially for the history.
I can see the influence of Edith Thompson's case in the sense of impending doom built around the character Margot in Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder. I did not know of the significance of this case. Thanks again for your wonderful insight.
Thank you John Keep Safe, Dave
thanks Dave
From the top shelf again John. Wonderful.
John, I keep meaning to add a comment and tell you how much I've been enjoying your walks. It's only recently that I chanced upon your content and I'm certainly glad I did.
I live in Amsterdam and, like you, enjoy taking long largely unplanned walks around the city and surrounding countryside. In more recent times I've begun to refer to this as walking in the spirit of John Rogers!
I shall be visiting family in the UK next week and I'm already excited at the prospect of an extended stroll in the Hertfordshire countryside. Thanks for the continued inspiration!
that's really wonderful to hear Simon. Hertfordshire is such a great county for walking - hope you have a great time
Thank you John.
Nice one Mr.Rogers. From the mid 1970`s to the mid 1980`s I lived In Auckland Rd Ilford on the corner by the Melbourne Rd entrance to Valentines Park.
The clock at the end of the boating lake was donated by the Griggs family 1898 if I recall.They were the local social leaders,and put their name to several projects in the area.
The benches inside the Cranbrook Rd entrance had to be removed as they were populated by dosser`s who wandered down from the doss housed in East London.There was an off-licence,and a take-away,and pub there.All they needed,before they wandered back.
Anyone who lived in Ilford around that time might remember the little open air theatre in the park that put on shows for pensioners,also a couple of characters like the bloke who wandered around in bare feet and naked from the waist up in all weather with just an old blanket over his shoulders,and the chap with the top hat with feathers,and white paint on his face. perhaps he was the inspiration for Adam & The Ant`s?
The mansion has a vine said to be the oldest in England? The best thing in Valentines park was the open air swimming pool. I used to walk two min`s with just a towel and my entrance money. Sadly closed in the early 80`s and not a trace left now:(
I remember the vagrant chap. He slept in a little brick cubby hole close to the rose gardens. I believe he was in his thirties at the time, so quite young to be in such a poor state.
Thanks John. These vids are so interesting and calming. Perfect after a night shift 😊
wonderful to hear William
Aldersbrook Riding School? There was a riding school there in the early 60s. And had forgotten about Valentine's Park. Last went in the mid 70s. So many of your walks trigger memories.
Another great episode John of walks and informational facts from around our area wonderful mate keep up the good work most enjoyable
cheers Brian
Great vid, such a knowledgeable guy you are for sure!
Thanks mate :)
thanks cazmaj
Wonderful.
Love it John...fascinating walk...river hunting could become a new hobby!
Great stuff - River Hunting is so interesting, I get genuinely really excited when tracking a river
Another wonderful video.
I used to work in that Sainsbury's! And as a kid I would wander around in that field where the Cran Brook rises. I also remember it being very boggy and water logged. There was a hollow tree near that field too which was always enchanting.
Did you notice the large concrete blocks in that area? Used to block the passage of tanks during wartime.
Wonderful walk John, chilled and very informative.
thanks Street Rambler
Good grief i stumbled across this at 5.30am. I grew up on Exeter Gardens and went to Highlands junior school that you walk right past. My earliest memory is sitting in a pushchair outside the greengrocers on Belgrave road. It never occurred to me that the Cranbrook would have been a river. Such a trip down memory lane. I recall growing up that there used to be a river running under our garden on Exeter Gardens which was why our lawn would flood slightly and stay green no matter how hot the summer was. A tributary of the cran brook maybe. I remember the wash at the bottom of The Drive but so much of it I've forgotten. Such a great video thank you!
fascinating information on my neck of the woods! Love it!!
Hi John another great video I found it very interesting looking forward to your next one
thanks Tim
Another great vlog John, I so wish you could bottle your enthusiasm! looking forwards to your next adventure. All the best to you and your family.
thanks so much Shaun
Strange but I thoroughly enjoyed the watch 👍
Popped up on You tube . An attractively filmed & presented fascinating walk in an area I'm very familiar with. I loved the history & sent the link to people In the local area & some teachers I know. Thank you so much.Ive subscribed.
I’ve lived in Barkingside all my life and never known about all the history, very interesting and great to learn
New subscriber! Wonderful walks and so interesting, I've got a lot of catching up do. Thankyou very much !
Many thanks Gareth - you enjoy the other videos
Hi John
I love the river walks hidden or otherwise. I seem to be drawn to rivers, spent most of the day in Beckton by the Thames. I never knew all that marshy land was by Newbury Park station. I alight at Newbury Park to go to work. I shall now find the time to expore it. The glorious summer days of watching Essex CCC at Ilford, Graham Gooch, Derek Pringle and John Lever, packed lunch, pints in the beer tent and the sound of the heavy roller. Great video. Gary
What a fantastic Essex team to watch at Valentines Park, incredible to think of those legends there. I've been told that Graham Gooch went to school in Leyton at Norlington, just round the corner from me, so he may have played at Valentines as a kid
Route 66 has another nickname that is fitting when talking about Eastern Avenue- The Mother Road. Also appropriate when you realise Ilford Maternity Hospital was located in Newbury Park- on the A12. A wonderful trip into the great plains of Aldborough in search of the Cranbrook’s origins - the whole of the Hatch is an incubus of story and lore. When you have a chance, tracing the Seven Kings Water is very rewarding indeed and knits together several of your walks...
As a person that can't get out much lately and grew up in Hackney/Leyton I really look forward to your walks and the historical detail you add on route...I am almost walking with you on these videos and really enjoy them Thanks
Sorry you can't get out so much Billy but glad I can take you along on these walks
A great walk taking advantage of the good weather
Take care keep healthy SMILES 👍🇬🇧👌
Thanks C Gj
It's beautiful
Really enjoyed this one. I grew up just off Cranbrook road.
I'm looking forward to your London trip, it's so beautiful, I'm leaving a gift to my new friend👍🚶♂️👏♥️
This is so interesting because I literally live in Newbury Park and I’ve never known about this
I absolutely love this sort of thing. Here in the Pacific Northwest of the US we have so many creeks and rivers that have been forced underground and being able to read not only primary sources but the current city- or townscape like you do in this video. In Portland often the houses are much newer than the creeks over which they’re built, but flooded basements and bioswales sometimes provide clues. Other times the city outright filled gulches and culverted high-volume streams in a Gilded Age push for progress. It’s a bit hard to fully grasp that thinking; nowadays it would be handled much differently. I envy you the longer history of structures to use for reference and I’ve subscribed to see what other water hunts you go on.
Greetings from Oregon!
All the best to you in Oregon - would love to visit one day. In the video I just uploaded I 'accidently' stumble across one of the more notable 'lost' buried rivers of London - the Westbourne or Kilburn which crosses beneath an old Roman road th-cam.com/video/07sM9KDiyJc/w-d-xo.html
We've entered a period of hard lockdown here in Melbourne, so this is (once again) a near-perfect antidote to stasis and everyday banality. Thanks John, and please keep-up your (tele)peripatetic ways! P.S. There is no temperance here!
I liked how John went through the Commonwealth Estate and crossed Melbourne Road on the way out of the Park! Solidarity, Ashley. I’m in Phase 4 with you. Mining my 5km circle!
John, I used to live in a house where my back garden overlooked the Sainsbury's car park. So close!!!
A great video of my child hood area, I lived in Cantley gardens & the road would flood during heavy rain, the Cran brook actually runs in the back gardens of Cantley gdns & Yoxley drive. They put a large pipe in the ground circa 1930.s when these houses were built to take the flow of water, but its still floods to this day, keep up the good work!
Love your films, especially in the borough of redbridge. just a note that i remember watching essex play cricket in valentines park in the 80's, I think they did 1 week a year there
I'm afraid that stopped a few years ago, with Essex no longer playing in Ilford as one of their "touring grounds" I believe Ilford CC still play there though and it is still well maintained.
Lovely little ground. I remember Keith Boyce, and later Graham Gooch bombarding the 169 bus that trundles down Cranbrook road just outside.
Dad played for Ilford, and there was plenty for a young son to do at the ground.
Run up and down the terraced steps by the road, or behind the Bowling green.
Help operate the pull-over scoreboard, or wander down to the boating lake.
England Captains Graham Gooch, Nasser Hussian, plus bowler John Lever (also Nasser's father) all played at Ilford.
yes john i remember valance park very well having been raised in barkingside the state cinema
Another great video of a place I know well. At 19:20 you pan out across Ilford Cricket Club’s third eleven pitch which isn’t where Essex used to play. The Ilford CC first team ground and clubhouse, which used to be one of the Essex CCC out-grounds, is back on the park’s Cranbrook Road border.
Love watching these videos. I live in the area myself and am always walking, especially during the summer. I'm half expecting to spot you filming one day.
Thanks Laura- we’re bound to bump into each other one day
I wasn't planning on watxhing this video but then got hooked. Really enjoyed watching this and so interesting to know the history of the things we just take for granted. Thank you for sharing a great educational walk through history 😊👍.
John. I am a member at Ilford Golf Club. I'm sure we would let you in to have a look. On the map I can see where the confluence appears to be. Never noticed it but will look next week and take some photos if I see any likely suspect 😉
Hi Andrew, I did manage to find and photograph the point of confluence. A bit overgrown but it’s definitely visible. Thanks, Vincent Goodman
Hi John
Thank you for this, yet another great video. As I have said some time ago, I spent my young to teenage years growing up and roaming the streets of Ilford and the East End and many a day playing truant in Valentines Park. I used to visit the park with my parents when I was very young and with friends growing up, playing football and cricket, getting chased on our bikes by the Park Keepers ! I remember a small stream that ran South into the Cranbrook about halfway along the main pathway from where the Lido used to be to the point that you showed where it entered the boating lake near the Cafeteria. I had many an ice cream in there during those long hot Summer holidays. I am talking about fifty plus years ago up until about 1978. Your video brings back lots of fond memories. I was watching with my 14 year old daughter and telling her where I used to fish in the Roding, Wanstead Park and Wanstead Flats, where I had all my fishing gear stolen one night when I was about 13yrs old.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks again.
great film enjoyed following it on google map
thanks Angelo
Great video, I lived there and delivered milk as a lad so know the streets very well. Where John goes into Valentine’s park , opposite is a building on the corner where you can see the brook, or you could 40 years ago! The street names you refer to are the ‘commonwealth estate ‘. Essex played at the lovely ground in the park that runs along the cranbrook road, at the top where you left the park was a Lido and a model boating lake and behind Newbury Park was ‘the Barley Mow’ sports ground where my school played football, probably built on now. Enjoyed your walk.
I've lived in Ilford for 30 years now and I was sure there was an open air pool up near the Perth Road entrance when we first came here in 1991. I presume that was the lido. Today there seems to be no trace of it and I wondered if I'd imagined it. They seem to have demolished it when I wasn't looking and grassed over so well that you'd never know it had been there.
So interesting, thank you for making this video. Seeing Valentines Park in particular brought back many childhood memories, jumping across the river, between the concrete banks. The roads around it were indeed named after Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cities - that area was known as the Commonwealth Estate and was where I was born.
Another great video John, cheers, hope your back is better, bye !!!
thanks Leslie
Love these walks along the underground rivers. Our major rivers here, the Potomac and Shenandoah are above ground as are the various tributaries. There may be underground streams in Washington but that's about it. Unlike the Roding and Lea we cannot walk the rivers and streams as they are on private or government land and so would have to kayak them.
Love valentines park. Went there Saturday for a walk
Hi John, I have spent many a happy hour in Valentines Park in my younger days, played a lot of cricket there & played on the pitch & putt back in the day. Valentines Park is/was actually two parks, Valentines & Cranbrook. Valentines being the front section nearest Ilford Town Centre joining around the mid point with Cranbrook. Essex had a cricket week there every year up until the mid to late 90's from memory. Thank you once again for the fantastic content, always gives me a lift on a Sunday :)
thanks for those memories and notes John - never realised Valentines was actually two parks