Upminster Bridge

 This is the 2nd station on the District Line when travelling westwards. It is one of the least used stations on that line with less than 1.5 million entries and exits compared with 5.5 million at Upminster.

This shows all the other stations on the District Line. I wonder how long it will take me to complete it. I am hoping to have finished this line by the Summer of 2021!

 Upminster Bridge station  was constructed in 1934 by the London Midland& Scottish Railway. The Underground took over the station in 1969. Many of the station's original features still exist including these oval seats.

and the cream and red tiled interior and tiled floor in the entrance.

The reversed swastika pattern on the floor of the ticket hall was a popular decorative design at the time the station was constructed.

Upminster Bridge is the only underground station with a red telephone box. However, it no longer has a telephone inside.




Just outside the station was a sign for one of the sections of the London Loop walking route. The London Outer Orbital Path (Loop) is 150 miles long. It circles the Greater London area and takes you through ancient woods, parkland, farmland as well as alongside rivers and canals. I have walked along parts of the Loop when I have visited the outer reaches of the tube line.

The station is named after a crossing over the River Ingrebourne.  The River formed the boundary between the ancient parishes of Hornchurch and Upminster with the station on the Hornchurch side. As there has been a bridge there since 1299 I was very keen to see it..

Turning left onto Upminster Road from the station I walked past The Windmill pub which used to be called the Bridge pub because of its close proximity to Upminster Bridge. If I continued walking along Upminster Road it becomes St Mary's Lane where the windmill is located  which I wrote about in the previous post.  The pub wasn't open when I visited but it looked pleasant enough from the outside.

Then I came to the bridge - not quite what I was expecting!  In 1782 it was suggested that a stone bridge was needed over the river instead of a wooden one but the plan was rejected. As a consequence it had to be repaired many times. It was another 100 years before a stronger crossing was built following flooding. The new bridge was twice as wide as the previous one and had a time capsule of local documents and publications sealed into the foundation below the road surface. However, I must admit I was expecting a slightly more impressive bridge than this tarmacadam road.

 I did wonder if this was the right place but on one side of the bridge is this pedestrian walkway where you can clearly see the River Ingrebourne beneath.

The river passes through the Borough of Havering travelling from the north east to the south west and then flows into the River Thames at Rainham Creek.

I walked round the corner off  Upminster Road onto Bridge Avenue.  At the end of the Lane is the ground of the non league football side AFC Hornchurch.  It is also home to Havering Athletics club stadium.

A path from the football club's car park takes you to Gaynes Parkway, an open green space running alongside the river. 

Tempted though I was by the rope and tyre swing, sense prevailed and I left well alone.

I walked as far as the next footbridge  and then crossed to the other side of the river and followed the road back onto Upminster Road.

The area is very residential with street after street of 1930s housing.

The local shops are more business premises than traditional retail food shops.

I walked down the main road as far as St Andrew's church. There has been a church on this site for over 800 years.

One very unusual feature of the church is the horned bull's head mounted on the east end of the wall. In 1158 King Henry II granted the church and land to the monks of St Bernard in Montjoux who built Hornchurch Priory which survived until 1390. The monk's seal was a bull's head and it is possible  that might be why a horned bull was put on the church. One can also assume that is where the name of Hornchurch originates. In 1610 it was thought the horns were made of lead but when they were repaired in 1824 it was discovered that they were in fact copper. In 1999 the copper horns were stolen and never recovered. They were replaced in 2001.

The lychgate and the war memorial were erected after WW1.

A lychgate is a covered gate at the entrance to a churchyard. Lych means corpse and the gate was traditionally the place where the corpse bearers laid the body of the deceased. The priest would then carry out the first part of the burial service under the shelter of the lychgate. They are usually made from wood and are prone to decay. Consequently many lychgates are modern reproductions.

 St Andrew's churchyard was the only place authorised for burial in this area and it is thought the monks from the Priory in the 13th and 14th century were buried here.

The cemetery at the back of the church looked overgrown and quite a few of the gravestones had been moved by tree roots.

I was surprised to see this gravestone in the churchyard as I would have expected it to be in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery which is nearby in Hornchurch Cemetery. Eric Arthur Dunlop served with the Canadian infantry and died, aged 23,  on 20th April 1918.

The immaculately manicured Commonwealth Graves section in Hornchurch Cemetery which is next door to St Andrew's churchyard.

I spent less than a couple of hours wandering around Upminster Bridge. Although it was pleasant enough, sandwiched between two larger towns of Upminster and Hornchurch, it is mainly a suburban housing area.

Upminster

Here I am at Upminster, starting my exploration of the District Line. At 16.5 miles from Charing Cross it is the furthest East of the underground stations.There are 60 stations, on this the Green line on the tube map.I have already visited 19, which are the ones mainly shared with the Circle Line. This diagram (from Wikipedia) shows all the stations on the line and the letters below the station refer to the other lines that station serves.

The line is 40 miles long and serves more stations than any other line on the Underground network. The line is used by an average of 210,000,000 passengers every year.

The trains do not have separate carriages. This was taken early on a Saturday morning. It would look very different if it was a Monday morning.

When I arrived at the station I was surprised that it didn't have the usual roundel sign on display with the name of the station. The only one I could find was this one outside the station  which had the word underground rather than Upminster.

The station was larger than I expected with 6 platforms. It is managed by National Rail with trains  going to London's Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street and in the other direction to the seaside town of  Southend and Shoeburyness; overground trains go to Romford; whilst District line underground trains go to Richmond, Wimbledon or Ealing Broadway.

It didn't look particularly attractive from the outside.

 I crossed the bridge over the railway lines and walked north along Hall Lane expecting to see a fairly rural area.

I walked past a miniature golf course and was surprised to see that no-one was playing on it, despite it being a Saturday.

The Upminster Golf club has the club House on one side of the road and the course on the other side of the road.

It looked a beautiful course.

Next to the Upminster Golf Club is a tithe barn. This 500 year old barn is now a museum housing a collection of domestic and agricultural artifacts ranging from Romans to the present day. It is only open a couple of times a month and unfortunately today wasn't one of them.

The barn was originally part of Hall farm of the nearby Upminster Hall. The manor of Upminster hall was given to the Abbey of Waltham around 1060. The barn was built by the Abbey in 1450. The date was confirmed by 'Dendrochronology' on the main timbers. The barn is listed as an ancient monument.

I then returned back along Hall Lane to have a look at the main high street. With a Marks and Spencers and a Waitrose, I realised this was a  bigger more up market town than I expected, but it was still the kind of place where cars stopped to let you cross the road.

I noticed this sign outside the Trinity United Reformed Church. I took the opportunity of some refreshments and a chance to chat to the locals about their town. I was introduced to some members of the church who were keen to tell me about the most interesting places to visit. One gentleman opened the church so that I could have a look at the stained window which was dedicated to




Sir Peter Griggs (1849-1920) by his widow. He was a Member of Parliament but was also responsible for the lay out of Upminster. He bought land and proposed the building of a town based on 'an American plan'.

  

After leaving the church and my new found friends I was off looking for the places they had mentioned. Next to the church is Roome department store, one of two owned by the same family since 1888. Five generations of the Roome family have been involved in the running of Roomes. The first general store was opened in 1888 in Upton Park by James Roome, a master draper, selling everything from haberdashery to homewares.

A busy junction in the middle of the High Street.

On the corner of Hall Lane and St Mary's Lane is St Laurence's church. In 653 AD, St Cedd, a monk from Lindisfarne, was sent to Essex as a missionary. Over the next ten years Cedd established a number of minsters, one of which was Upminster. The church tower is the oldest part of the present church building, the lower parts dating from about 1200, when the original timber church was rebuilt in stone.

The baptismal font dates from the 15th century.

This stained glass window dates from at least 1630. Looking closely at the window you can see butterflies and birds. Because of the lack of any religious themes it is thought the window may have come from a different building such as a manor house.

Beautifully  carved pews

A new community hall.

The Old Chapel was built in 1800 as an alternative place of worship for Protestant Dissenters. This group were known as 'Dissenters' because they moved away from the established church. In Upminster this was due to a dispute over tithe payments ( payments made by parishioners to the parish church to fund its upkeep). The group worshipped here until 1911. They moved to new premises at Trinity church ( the one I visited earlier for tea and cakes). Another Christian group - The Brethren worshipped at the Old Chapel from 1911-1989. The chapel is now used monthly for tea  and talks.

Upminster windmill was built by James Noakes, a local farmer, in 1803. It is a Grade II listed building and is considered to be the amongst the best remaining English smock mills. The windmill is currently being restored to working order. The cap and sails were removed in 2016 and and transported to Holland for refurbishment. It is due to be fully restored by the end of this year.and open to the public by the spring of 2020

Clockhouse gardens is a small park on the site of the former gardens and stables of New Place which was built in 1775. In 1909 New Place was bought by Sir Peter Griggs who played a major role in the development of the town. In 1924 New Place manor was demolished apart from the clockhouse, the old stable block from 1936-63. The Clockhouse was used as council offices from 1924-34 and then as a branch of Hornchurch library. The clockhouse now provides sheltered accommodation.

The park was created after the war.

A bowling green was constructed in 1953/54 and is still in use today.

Families of goslings enjoy the surroundings.

Wooden figures, animals and seats provide an area of play for children.

I returned to Hall Lane and more shops. this book shop was bombed in the war and although it changed premises it didn't close and has remained in business since 1937

Across the road is Upminster Park. When the population of Upminster increased considerably at the end of the first World War and it was decided by the Parish Council that a recreation ground was needed. It took until 1929 before the Parish Council could negotiate the buying of the land from the church commissioners.

In the Summer the park is home to Upminster Cricket Cub.

I had been told to visit the Parkway before I left. It was further out than I would normally go but as there is no other station nearby, I thought I would have a look.

It was very picturesque. The bridge has recently been restored causing much controversy within the town due to the cost.

The reason for the controversy is that the bridge goes nowhere and serves no purpose other than being able to stand on it and look at the water beneath!

I enjoyed my day exploring the first station on the District Line, just another 40 to go!