It's high time we had another walk with John Rogers. He describes it on YouTube like this:
A walk through the lost Hamlet of Snaresbrook on the edge of Epping Forest, now a part of the parish of Wanstead in the London Borough of Redbridge. We cross Leyton Flats to the Eagle Pond and look at the Eagle Pub. Here we see a section of the Sayers Brook or Sayes Brook that gives Snaresbrook its name. We also see Snaresbrook Crown Court which was built in 1841 as the Infant Orphan Asylum.
From here we walk along Woodford Road to look at the modernist wonder of Hermitage Court before walking down Eagle Lane to Falcon Close. I ponder upon the idea of Hauntology, a term first used by Jacques Derrida but popularised by Mark Fisher particularly in relation to music culture. Fisher spoke of "the failure of the 21st Century to really arrive" and how in the 21st Century "culture floating free from time" . I wonder whether the modernist architecture of Hermitage Court is another example of a "lost future".
From Falcon Way we look at the Merchant Seaman's Orphan Asylum on Hermon Hill built in 1861, then walk down Cranbourne Avenue to Elmcroft Avenue where we enter the Roding Valley Park. We explore the wonderful parkland beside the North Circular Road and River Roding as far as Charlie Brown's Roundabout and then turn up Chigwell Road to Hermon Hill. Our walk ends at Holy Trinity Church, South Woodford.
Psychogeography keeps you fit.
Similar delights can be found in South East London as well, around villages like Pratt's Bottom and Hazlewood. Stig of the Dump is set here and it is the area William Willet enjoyed riding around in the early mornings so much he had the idea of putting the country onto British Summar Time so other people could enjoy it too. It's also home of the UK's largest nudist colony.
ReplyDeleteMost people who live in London seem to have absolutely no idea just how rural parts of their metropolis really are!