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Ilford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ilford is a district in the London Borough of Redbridge in East London, England. Until 1965, it was in Essex. It is a suburban development situated 9.1 miles (14.6 km) east north-east of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.
The area is predominantly residential and bounded in the west by the North Circular Road and the River Roding. It is contiguous with Barking to the south, Gants Hill to the north and Seven Kings to the east. Like-named Little Ilford is nearby to the west in the London Borough of Newham.
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Ilford in 1653 was a village which comprised of about 50 houses, scattered north and east of the central road junction, along the part of the High Road now known as Ilford Broadway. South and west of the junction was Spurle Grove, which was an 'island' site belonging to Ilford Hospital, on which there were only 2 or 3 buildings apart from those of the hospital itself. There were also a few houses on the south side of Back Street (later renamed Roden Street), and in Green Lane. It was once noted in 1650 that the 'town' of Ilford contained 'above 60 families'. Ilford grew considerably during the next 200 years and this seems to have been largely due to the development of the hospital estate, in and near the centre of the village. In the late 18th century the Gascoynes, then masters of the hospital, began to grant plots of land with building leases. Mark Gibbard, who took up one of these leases in 1765–6, was in 1771 granted a lease of the whole hospital estate, on terms authorising him to develop Spittel Field, in Ilford Lane, as a brickfield. The village was also expanding north and east and by 1796 contained about 149 houses. In the north of the parish, along the edges of Hainault Forest, were hamlets and farms, which in 1650 were said to contain about 100 families. The main settlements there were Barkingside and Little Heath.
The name means "Ford over the Hyle" (an old name for the River Roding that means "trickling stream"). Stories that various eminent persons fell in and condemned it as an "ill ford" are folk myths. The former area of the Municipal Borough of Ilford became part of the present-day London Borough of Redbridge in 1965.
The highly criticised but infamous 1920s murder case and subsequent trial and conviction of Frederick Bywaters and Edith Thompson for the murder of Percy, Edith's husband. The scene of the crime was in Belgrave Road near the home of Edith and Percy at Kensington Gardens, Ilford. Bywaters stabbed Percy Thompson to death.
The only complete skull of a Mammoth discovered in the United Kingdom was unearthed in 1860 at the site where Boots the Chemist now stands in the High Road. The skull can now be seen in the Natural History Museum in London.
A number of major businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymous photographic film and chemicals manufacturer Ilford. Their headquarters were based in Roden Street which was demolished during the early 1980s to make way for a new one way traffic system to help with the town's traffic problem. A Sainsbury's supermarket now stands on the former site.
Also a major employer here was the radio, electronics and telecommunications company Plessey. Founded in 1917 in Marylebone, it moved to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in 1919 then to Vicarage Lane where it remained, becoming one of the largest manufacturers in this field. Plessey were partners in the development of the Atlas Computer in 1962. The site closed in 1998 when the company was taken over.
There are a number of schools in the area. Children living in Ilford are likely to be in the catchment area of one of the following schools:
Primary Schools
- Gearies Primary School
- Uphall Primary School
- South Park Primary School
- Cleveland Junior School
- Ilford Jewish Primary School
- Woodlands Junior/Infants School
- Highlands junior/infants School
- Newbury Park primary School
- St. Aidens primary School (catholic)
- Downshall Primary School
- Fairlop Primary School
Secondary Schools
- Beal High School (formerly Beal Grammar School for Boys)
- Caterham High School
- Ilford Ursuline High School
- Canon Palmer Catholic School
- Ilford County High School (for boys)
- Woodford County High School (for girls)
- Mayfield High School
- Loxford Technology College
- Seven Kings High School
- King Solomon's High School
- Valentine's High School
- Oaks Park High School
- Barking Abbey High School
Ilford is represented in the House of Commons by MPs Lee Scott (Conservative, Ilford North) and Mike Gapes (Labour, Ilford South).
- Gants Hill tube station
- Ilford railway station
- Redbridge tube station
- Seven Kings railway station
- Barking railway station
- Newbury Park tube station
See also: Category:People from Ilford
- Raymond Baxter, TV presenter
- Nigel Benn, former boxer
- Ken Campbell, comedian and actor
- Alan Davies, comedian and actor
- The Dooleys (1970s pop act) were born and lived in the Seven Kings area of Ilford
- Noel Edmonds, TV entertainer and presenter
- Bill Fraser, TV actor, (especially the Army Game) who ran a sweet shop in Ilford Lane between bookings
- Jon Hare, computer game designer and co-founder of Sensible Software
- Paul Ince, footballer, currently manages for Macclesfield Town
- Kathy Kirby, 1960s singer
- Jane Leeves, actress most known for her role as Daphne Moon in Frasier
- Denise Levertov, poet
- Sir Raymond Lygo, admiral
- Victor Maddern, actor
- Sean Maguire, singer and actor
- Harry John Blagdon Mansfield, owner of Mansfield's Dairies, established in 1868.
- Kevin Maher, footballer, currently plays for Southend United
- Helen Mirren, actress
- Jenny Powell, TV presenter
- Kathleen Raine, poet and critic
- Ian Ridpath, astronomy writer and broadcaster.
- Dame Maggie Smith, actress
- Louise Wener, musician and novelist (attended Beal High School near Gants Hill)
- Chris Willsher, writer, performer and singer with cabaret punk band Bus Station Loonies
- Redbridge London Borough Council - Ilford
- Welcome to Ilford
- Ilford (imaging) homepage
- History of Plessey
- Ilford Films Chronology