The London Borough of Waltham Forest In Five Minutes

Your Five Minute Guide to The London Borough of Waltham Forest

Walthamstow Town Hall. The art deco front exterior is in keeping with much of the local architecture.
Image: AC Manley/Shutterstock

Overview

Waltham Forest was formed on April Fool’s day 1965 by the amalgamation of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow, and Chingford. This London Borough is located in the northeast of the city and is probably best known for encompassing the southern part of the world-famous Epping Forest, which even has its own 1878 Act of Parliament (although football fans may beg to differ – more on that later).

It was also a host borough of the London Olympics in 2012, and the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre remains as part of the event as an ongoing legacy. It’s also is a classic tale of two sides of the track with the North Circular Road (A406) setting a markedly different demographic and socio-economic boundary with urban districts to the south of the Borough having more inner-city characteristics, while the area north of the road is generally affluent & suburban.

Image:sevenMaps7/Shutterstock

It covers nearly 15 square miles with the main centres of population being Chingford in the north, Walthamstow in the centre (the main council administrative hub) and Leyton and Leytonstone to the South, and is quite a multi-cultural area with only 38% of the population identified as being White British, well below the London average of 47%.

London Borough of Waltham Forest
Image: ii-graphics/Shutterstock

Brief History of Waltham Forest

The area now identified as Waltham Forest was probably inhabited since ancient times with many Stone Age remains having been found in the area. It is probable that it was also a Roman Settlement given its close proximity to water and of course the forest. The earliest records of the population come from the 1801 census (the first to be carried out in the UK) which identified the population as being 6,500.

Fast forward 100 years towards the end of Queen Victorias Reign and this had ballooned to 154,146! Quite a jump. The region’s population reached its peak in 1931 when 280,094 called it home but began to shrink thereafter reaching a recent nadir in the recession of 1981 when it had shrunk to 214,595. The regeneration of the area combined possibly with the arrival of the 2012 Olympics has seen the population begin to recover and in the last census of 2011, it was back up to 258,249.

Prior to the growth spurt in the late Victorian era the population mainly comprised agricultural workers, however, the industrial revolution led the rapid urbanization of initially the Leyton area and later Walthamstow. Walthamstow will always be remembered by car enthusiasts as the home of the first-ever British built Motor Car constructed by Frederick Bremer in his garage in 1892, which is still on display to this day at the Vestry House Museum.   Being part of England’s capital city the area suffered bombing raids in both world wars particularly during the Blitz of October 1940 to June 1941, and central Walthamstow was hit by a V-1 flying bomb in 1944.

Not A Lot Of People Know That…

Sir Alliot Verdon Roe had his first successful all-British powered flight at the Walthamstow Marshes in July 1909 taking to the skies in the Avro 1 triplane (which is now displayed in the London Science Museum). There is a plaque at the spot of the flight which will ever remind the world of the Boroughs part in forming the British Aviation industry as he went on to form the A.V. Roe Aircraft Co in 1910.

Leyton Orient Hit The Big Time

Probably the Biggest result in Leyton Orients History

In the 1962-3 season, the area briefly found its self on the football map when Leyton Orient F.C. the local professional football team made it into Football League First Division (the Premiership as it is now known) after finishing runner up in division 2 the previous year. They went on to finish bottom but had historic wins over Liverpool (2-1) Manchester United (1-0) and capped even these with a 3-0 win over eventual champions Everton.  They fell out of the Football league in 2017 but came back as National League Champions in the 2018-19 season.

Olympics

The area helped host the 2012 Olympics and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park remains along with the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre as part of that event. The latter has been used to host a number of Hockey fixtures including games from the 2017 Men’s FIH Hockey World League.

Quintuplets?

The London Borough has joined in the recent trend of twinning with other regions and is currently conjoined with two cities Saint-Mandé, France, Wandsbek, Germany, and two countries Antigua and Barbuda, & Dominica (forming a Quintuplet). This could become a Sextuplet as they have established links with Mirpur in Pakistan.

Getting Around.

One of Eight Over Ground Stations In The Borough
Editorial credit: chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com

Given that Waltham Forest covers 15 square miles or thereabouts, it’s a good job that there is plenty of public transport. There are eight train stations in the Borough and plenty of stops on the London Underground. The Train stations are as follows:

Train stationsWaltham Forest

• Chingford Rail Station
• Highams Park Rail Station
• Wood Street Rail Station
• Walthamstow Queens Road Rail Station
• St James Street Rail Station
• Lea Bridge Rail Station
• Leyton Midland Road Rail Station
• Leytonstone High Road Rail Station

None of these are mainline stations so if planning a visit from outside of the capital it would probably be easier travelling to Euston first and then arranging travel from there. However, if you want to explore the borough they combined with the underground should be your first choice.

Underground Stations in the London Borough

There are four main underground station hubs:

• Leyton Rail Station
• Leytonstone Underground Station
• Blackhorse Road Underground Station and London Overground
• Walthamstow Central Underground Station and London Overground

These come in handy for accessing the underground network, and in the case of Leyton Station provides easy access to Leyton Orient Football Club’s home ground. Speaking of the tube the main lines you would need are the Central line which serves the south of the borough, and connects the Leyton & Leytonstone hubs, while the Blackhorse &  Walthamstow Central stations are served by the Victoria Line, which pretty much runs through the middle of the borough.

Anything else to know?

Well, a few famous people originate from the Borough the most famous of whom will depend largely on your interests and generation, however, there is someone of interest to virtually everyone. Probably the historically most important (if you exclude the aforementioned car maker Frederick Bremer) will be William Morris, artist, poet and politician who remains one of if not the most revered cultural Ifiguresof the British Victorian era. He has a society devoted to him and his art hangs in many museums and galleries. Some of his patterns are still in production today.

If you are more of a sportsperson then you will be interested to know that football icon David Beckham was born in Leytonstone and former Essex and England cricket Captain Graham Gooch also hails from the borough. More recently Lutalo Muhammad from Walthamstow took a Bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics.

One of The Borough’s most famous footballing sons David Beckham in action for Manchester United.
Fabio Diena / Shutterstock.com

If you are a movie buff then you can look to film director and producer Alfred Hitchcock of “The Birds” fame (well it’s my favourite movie by him) and if music floats your boat you are spoiled for choice with famed Heavy Metal band “Iron Maiden” having been formed here and more recently the area has produced rap/grime artist Lethal Bizzle. Soap Opera fans have not been forgotten either with longtime Eastenders Actor Adam Woodyatt who plays Ian Beale and actress Rita Simons who played the now killed off Roxy Mitchell both hailing from the area.

Waltham Forests most famous musicians Iron Maiden – they even have their own plane!
Sergey Kohl / Shutterstock.com

Places to Visit In The Waltham Forest Borough

The Waltham Forest area has plenty of attractions however any visit to the area wouldn’t be complete without seeing the William Morris Gallery a public gallery devoted entirely to him. The Gallery is housed in the Grade II listed building that was Morris’s family home from 1848 to 1856.

© Copyright Stephen Craven and licensed under the Creative Commons Licence.

The William Morris Gallery underwent a major redevelopment in 2012 and subsequently won the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2013. At the time of writing The William Morris Gallery is open Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm.

Another Icon worth a visit is the old Walthamstow Stadium which although now a block of flats has retained its wonderful Art Deco facade. Once world-famous for its Greyhound Racing as well as Speedway & Stock Cars, it sadly closed in 2007 but still makes a great location for a selfie.

© Copyright Marathon and licensed under this Creative Commons Licence.

If you are near Chingford then the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge is another must-visit dating back to 1543 this timber-framed hunting lodge was built for Henry VIII. Now a listed building it now houses a Tudor museum complete with Tudor kitchen. Well worth a look and free of charge at the time of writing. Not huge but will fill an hour or so.

Things to do

Well if you are the outdoors type you will love Waltham Forest as it has a wide expanse of forests, parks and marshes to explore. Many of them follow the banks of the River Lea and are fairly walker-friendly. The main ones are:

• Parts of Epping Forest
• Lee Valley Reservoir Chain
• Walthamstow Marshes
• The Walthamstow Wetlands Reserve
• Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
• Leyton Jubilee Park
• Lloyd Park
• Ridgeway Park
• Chingford Mount Cemetery
• Mansfield Park
• Highams Park Field

Shopping

If shopping is more your thing then you must visit Walthamstow Market which is large and has a really diverse offering. Saturdays are the main market day but there is always something interesting around it. There are plenty of local stores running along the side of the market street – and of course, the Indoor Mall which although not huge is well worth a look.

Football fans can usually find a game each week as although Leyton Orient are the main club there is also Waltham Forest FC who play at the Wadham Lodge, and even an Ice Hockey team – The Lee Valley Lions who play at the Lee Valley Ice Centre.  If you fancy a go at Ice Skating then this is the place to go, its open 7 days a week and even has disco sessions at the weekend (which sounds like fun).

Where to stay?

Waltham Forest not surprisingly has a wealth of short term accommodation options from 5* hotels to Travel Lodges & bed & Breakfast establishments. One interesting option is short let studio apartments or even rooms in shared accommodation. These offer the flexibility of a hotel but with self-catering. There are a number of agents offering the service.

Fancy Moving To Waltham Forest

If you are looking to buy a property in the area well you may have missed the boat as this once comparatively affordable borough has seen house prices rise substantially in the last decade thanks both to the Olympics effect and the naming of the Borough as the capitals Borough of Culture in 2018. In the most sought after wards such as Hoe Street and William Morris which has some amazing red brick Victorian housing, average prices are over £500,000 (in 2018).  There seems to be plenty of rental properties available and expect to pay from £1000 upwards  in the current market.