Stroll down Walthamstow Market to Springfield Park

A walk through Walthamstow from Bakers Arms Leyton along Hoe Street and down Walthamstow Market to Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow Marshes and Springfield Park

This walk starts by the old Ritz Cinema on Leyton High Road near Bakers Arms (the Ritz was later known as the ABC and The Crown Cinema). This area was previously known as Leyton Corner when the area was dominated by a number of large houses and their grounds.

We take a look at the Master Bakers Alms Houses on Lea Bridge Road, an oasis of calm beside the thrumming Lea Bridge Road. Heading down Hoe Street, Walthamstow, we pause for a look at Chestnuts House (1745) and the Hoe Street Telephone Exchange.

Crossing Walthamstow Town Square we walk down Walthamstow Market, “the longest outdoor street market in Europe” at 1km long. We take a look at The Chequers pub and L. Manze Pie & Mash & Eel Shop before walking down Coppermill Lane. We pass by the Coppermill Water Treatment Works and the Walthamstow Wetlands. I take a brief rest on Walthamstow Marshes.

The walk ends by crossing the River Lea Navigation to Springfield Park, Clapton and enoying the fantastic views from the top of the park near Springfield House.

Filmed on Friday 17th July 2020.

 

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Hoe Street Telephone Exchange

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I’ve fallen under the spell of the old Telephone Exchange on Hoe Street, Walthamstow. Out for a wander the other day it drew me across the road, compelling me to sit on the front step for a while, momentarily slipping outside of the ‘other’ world into its strange orbit.

Built in 1956 it belongs to the world of The Quatermass Experiment and The Goon Show. A post-war world of technological progress, decaying Empires, buzz cuts. It would make the perfect Headquarters for the National Institute of Applied Psychogeography.

For now though it appears to still function as telephone exchange pushing high-speed broadband into Walthamstow homes delivering online multi-player games and on-demand TV.