Blackhorse Road

Blackhorse Road station is a London Overground and London Underground station located at the junction of Blackhorse Road/Blackhorse Lane with Forest Road in the Walthamstow neighbourhood of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The station is the penultimate stop on the Victoria line in the east. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3 and is the least used station on the Victoria line with 6.44 million passengers per year.

The name Blackhorse is a corruption of Black House, a mansion house that once stood nearby.

Walthamstow has a wide variety of housing stock, but the vast majority of residential property was built in the early 20th century. In the area around Blackhore Road, there are scores of terraced streets dating to the Edwardian era and the 1920s. The area along Markhouse Road and St James Street has many examples of Warner properties. These were developed as affordable housing for the working classes in the early part of the 20th century. Bombing raids in World War II and urban redevelopment projects in the 1960s and 1970s have left areas with more modern housing, mostly in the shape of low-rise concrete blocks.

The northern continuation of Markhouse Road is St James's Street to which Blackhorse Road follows, which in turn becomes Blackhorse Lane. This is bound on its western side by industrial units and warehouses. The London Borough of Waltham Forest has proposed developing the area around Blackhorse Road station to become a gateway to the town.

The northern continuation of Markhouse Road is St James's Street to which Blackhorse Road follows, served by underground and railway stations, which in turn becomes Blackhorse Lane. This is bound on its western side by industrial units and warehouses. The London Borough of Waltham Forest has proposed developing the area around Blackhorse Road station to become a gateway to the town.

The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933, made the X-type and B-type common sights on London's roads and were built at Blackhorse Lane from October 1908 onwards. The B-type is considered one of the first mass-production buses. The manufacturing operation later became AEC, famous as the manufacturer of many of London's buses.

On 13 June 1909, pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer Alliott Verdon (A. V.) Roe's aircraft took to the air from Walthamstow Marshes. His aircraft, Avroplane, a triplane, is preserved in London's Science Museum. It was the first all-British aircraft and was given the ominous nickname of the "Yellow Terror". Roe later founded the Avro aircraft company, which later built the acclaimed Avro Lancaster bomber.

Hainault

Hainault is a suburban area in the London Borough of Redbridge, with most of the housing built between 1947 and 1953. It is adjacent to the Metropolitan Green Belt, bordered on the east by Hainault Forest Country Park and to the north by open land and the boundary with the Epping Forest District of Essex.

The name Hainault was recorded as 'Henehout' in 1221 and 'Hyneholt' in 1239. It is Old English and means 'wood belonging to a religious community', referring to the ownership of Hainault Forest, part of the larger Epping Forest, by Barking Abbey. The spelling was altered from the 17th century because of a false connection to Philippa of Hainault, the wife of Edward III.

The area had been mainly forested, was owned by Barking Abbey and formed part of the Royal Forest of Essex. The large density of forest meant the area was predominately used for the provision of timber for building ships and houses. A decline in demand for timber, and a greater demand for food, led in 1851 to an Act of Parliament authorising the deforestation of much of Hainault Forest. Within six weeks 3000 acres of woodland was cleared.

Urban development began after August 1856, when the Great Eastern Railway built a line between Stratford and Loughton. In 1903 a loop line to Ilford was opened and Hainault was one of the new stations.

Although it had been hoped that housing development would ensue from the building of the railway, it was a long time coming. Building projects commenced after the Second World War from 1947 to 1953. The development of 2,779 houses was in the style known as a 'cottage estate' with the names of the roads relating to the history of Hainault Forest.

Marylebone

Marylebone (via Wikipedia):

Marylebone gets its name from a church dedicated to St Mary, represented now by St Marylebone Parish Church (1817); the original church was built on the bank of a small stream or "bourne", called the Tybourne or Tyburn. This stream rose further north in what is now Swiss Cottage, eventually running along what is now Marylebone Lane, which preserves its curve within the grid pattern. The church and the surrounding area later became known as St Mary at the Bourne which, over time, became shortened to its present form, Marylebone. It is a common misunderstanding that the name is a corruption of Marie la Bonne (French for "Marie/Mary the good"). […]

In the 18th century the area was known for the raffish entertainments of Marylebone Gardens, scene of bear-baiting and prizefights by members of both sexes, and for the duelling grounds in Marylebone Fields. The Crown repurchased the northern part of the estate in 1813. […]

Wimpole Street runs from Henrietta Place north to Devonshire Street, becoming Upper Wimpole en route – the latter where Arthur Conan Doyle opened his ophthalmic practice at number 2 in 1891. A six-floor Grade II 18th-century house at 57 Wimpole Street is where Paul McCartney resided from 1964–66, staying on the top floor of girlfriend Jane Asher's family home in a room overlooking Browning Mews in the back, and with John Lennon writing I Want to Hold Your Hand on a piano in the basement. […]

Bentinck Street leaves Welbeck Street and touches the middle of winding Marylebone Lane. Charles Dickens lived at number 18 with his indebted father (on whom the character Wilkins Micawber was based) while working as a court reporter in the 1830s, and Edward Gibbon wrote much of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire while living at number 7 from the early 1770s. James Smithson wrote the will that led to the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution while living at number 9 in 1826, while number 10 was briefly graced by Chopin in 1848, who found his apartment too expensive and moved to Mayfair.

Westbourne Park

Westbourne, London (via Wikipedia):

The hamlet of Westbourne, was a High Middle Ages (mid-mediaeval) settlement, centred on Westbourne Green. It included a mansion house and a farmhouse. It is recorded as Westeburn in 1222 and as Westborn in 1294. The green is recorded as Westborne Grene in 1548, Washborne Green in 1680 and Wesborn Green in 1754.

Modern name

The name Westbourne Park was given to the area when it was developed for housing. A London Underground station was opened in 1866. The first station operated until 1871, when it was replaced by another further east. […]

Thomas Hardy lived in this area, mainly at 16 Westbourne Park Villas, his home 1863-67.

Boston Manor

Boston Manor (via Wikipedia):

The earliest reference to Boston (or Bordwadestone as it was then spelled) was around the 1170s. It may mean Bord's tun or farm by the stone. It was situated towards the northern end of the Manor Boston. […]

The northern extent of the manor was marked by a boundary stone. Later a tree to the west of it came to be the local Gospel Oak. Here the old pagan custom of blessing the field and crops took place whilst beating the bounds. […]

History of the manor house

The manor house was built in 1622-3 for the newly widowed, and shortly to be remarried Dame Mary Reade. whose late husband was granted a patent of possession for Boston Manor from James I. To the north of the house the Clitherrow family added extensions that contained the kitchen services and quarters for the domestic staff.

John Bourchier Stracey-Clitherow was the last private owner of Boston Manor which he sold in 1923. The house and the surrounding 20 acres (8.1 ha) was purchased by the Brentford Urban District Council which was opened as a public park in 1924.

The house was badly damaged during World War II by a V1 dropping across the road.

Eastcote

Eastcote (via Wikipedia):

Eastcote also housed an outstation of the Bletchley Park codebreaking activities during the Second World War, with several codebreaking computers in use. This operation became the precursor to GCHQ, which remained in Eastcote after the war until the department moved to purpose-built buildings in Cheltenham in 1952.

Eastcote was originally recorded as Ascot, one of the three medieval tithings of the parish of Ruislip, along with Westcot and Norwood. Norwood, in the north of the parish, became Northwood; Westcot, in the west became Westcote (the main Ruislip village), and Ascot, in the east, became what is now Eastcote.

North Greenwich

"A Slice of Reality" (2000), by Richard Wilson.

The Greenwich Peninsula (via Wikipedia):

The peninsula was drained by Dutch engineers in the 16th century, allowing it to be used as pasture land. In the 17th century, Blackwall Point (the northern tip of the peninsula, opposite Blackwall) gained notoriety as a location where pirates' corpses were hung in cages as a deterrent to other would-be pirates.

The peninsula was steadily industrialised from the early 19th century onwards […] Later came oil mills, shipbuilding (for example the 1870 clippers Blackadder and Hallowe'en built by Maudslay), boiler making, manufacture of Portland cement and linoleum (Bessemer's works became the Victoria linoleum works) and the South Metropolitan Gas company's huge East Greenwich Gas Works […]

For over 100 years the peninsula was dominated by the gasworks which primarily produced town gas, also known as coal gas. The gasworks grew to 240 acres (0.97 km2), the largest in Europe, also producing coke, tar and chemicals as important secondary products. The site had its own extensive railway system connected to the main railway line near Charlton, and a large jetty used to unload coal and load coke […]

The peninsula remained relatively remote from central London until the opening of the Blackwall Tunnel in 1897, and had no passenger railway or London Underground service until the opening of North Greenwich tube station on the Jubilee line in 1999.

Closure of the gasworks, power station and other industries in the late 20th century left much of the Greenwich Peninsula a barren wasteland, much of it heavily contaminated […]

Redevelopment since early 1990s

In addition to the construction of the Millennium Dome, new roads were built on the eastern side of the Peninsula in anticipation of new developments […] Two phases of Greenwich Millennium Village, a mixed-tenure residential development, with a primary school, a medical centre, a nature reserve with associated education centre have been completed […]

Central Park runs through the central spine of the Peninsula, with the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park further south providing a haven for many different species of bird, plants and insects.

Acton Town

Acton is a large area within the London Borough of Ealing in west London, comprised of North Acton, West Acton, East Acton, South Acton, Acton Green, Acton Town, Acton Vale and Acton Central. 

Acton means "oak farm" or "farm by oak trees", and is derived from the Old English āc (oak) and tūn (farm). Originally an ancient village, as London expanded, Acton became absorbed into the city. A reminder of its history is in its inns (such as The Tabard and The Cock, c.1380), which date back in some cases to the late Tudor period as stopping places for travellers. 

By the 17th century Acton's proximity to London had made it a summer retreat for courtiers and lawyers; Lord Mayor of London, Sir Henry Garraway (probably) had Acton House rebuilt in 1638. 

Acton was lauded as "blessed with very sweet air" in 1706 by a rector urging a friend in verse to move there. The fashion for medicinal waters brought a brief period of fame, with the exploitation of the wells at Old Oak common, when East Acton and Friars Place were said to be thronged with summer visitors, who had brought about improvement in the houses there. 

More widespread building was planned and took place in the 1850s. As a result of its soft water sources, Acton became famous for its laundries and at the end of the 19th century there were around 170 establishments in South Acton. These laundries would serve hotels and the rich in London's West End, leading to the nickname "Soapsuds Island" or "Soap Sud City". At least 600 different laundries operated within South Acton; the last laundry closed in the late 1970s and is now a low redbrick block of flats. 

Acton's library, swimming baths (built in 1904) and Town Hall are examples of tall Victorian municipal buildings that can be found along the High Street. After a three-year development project Acton Swimming Baths reopened in 2014, the original pools replaced with a 25m 8-lane pool and a smaller teaching pool. 
 

• Acton was the birthplace of The Who, of which all members except Keith Moon went to Acton High School (then named Acton County Grammar School).

• Pete Townshend's 1982 solo album, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, contained the track "Stardom in Acton" in reference to his home town, while the accompanying video was filmed on and around Acton High Street.

• Musician M.I.A in interviews has hinted one of the meanings of her stage name is "Missing in Acton", with Acton being the place she grew up.

• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros played a gig in support of striking firefighters on 15 November 2002 at Acton Old Town Hall, and Mick Jones joined Strummer on stage, marking the first time they performed together since Jones's departure from The Clash.

• An episode of Chris Morris's spoof news program The Day Today featured a segment called 'The Pool', a documentary about "St. Lamb's Pool in Acton". The scene was shot in the Acton Swimming Baths.

• The Monty Python sketch 'Bicycle Repair Man' was shot on Churchfield Road; part of the sketch 'Hell's Grannies' was shot on Acton High Street.

• Playwright/Composer Lionel Bart lived the latter part of his life in an apartment on Churchfield Road, citing the area as the closest thing he could find to the community feel of the East London "of old".