Plaistow

For the first time this January I left the house with frost on the ground. But with bright blue skies and the promise of a sunny day it was perfect to explore the next station on the District Line.

Plaistow opened the same year as the previous two stations in 1858. Consequently the station building, platforms and furniture were very similar. The station serves the Hammersmith and City Line as well as the District Line. National Rail trains also pass through the station but on the other side of this fence as they no longer stop here.

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On some of the benches you can see the original ironwork with the initials of the London Tilbury and Southend Railway on them. This railway ran steam trains on the line until 1912 when it became the London Midland Railway.

This is the 12th station I have visited on the District Line.

There are another 48 stations on this line but as I have already visited 19 of them on other lines, it just leaves me 29 to go!

The District and Hammersmith and City lines were built using a 'cut and cover' technique. A large trench was dug under the streets and then roofed over to provide space for the tracks and trains. Because these lines were so close to street level they were called 'sub-surface' to distinguish them from the Underground's deeper tunnelled lines.

The station building is on a slight hill but unlike the others it is not surrounded by shops.

















Next to the station was a Ford car showroom which is now empty.  It is a large area so I assume it will be redeveloped soon with more housing.

On the corner of the High Street and Richmond Street is the Black Lion  pub that dates back to the early 1700s. Much of it has been altered over the centuries but the square doorway built to allow horse drawn carriages to enter the courtyard still exists.

On the other side of  the High Street  on the corner with Balaam Street is this huge house. Surprisingly I couldn't find any information on this building other than it has been converted into flats.

Further down Balaam Street is Plaistow park. I thought at first it was a small recreational ground but it was large enough for football pitches, outdoor gym, fountain and landscaped areas.

I walked through the park to have a look at a building I could see above the trees. I'm glad I did, as I discovered that this façade is what remains of the YMCA Red Triangle Club building.

 It was built in 1919-1921. Inside there was a concert hall and theatre. There was also a swimming pool in the basement.   Today the building has been rebuilt as 64 flats behind the original facade.and the pool has been converted into a car park

The elaborately ornate frontage is Grade II listed.

On the other side of the road is the old Tramways building with a WW1 memorial outside. Electric powered trams began running from Plaistow in 1904  and these offices were built in 1906.

 
The North Metropolitan Tramways Company began as a horse tramway from Aldgate to Leytonstone Road , via Stratford in 1870.

I returned to Balaam Street via the park.

Since 1894 this house has been used as a Franciscan friary. For the first 50 years it was the home of the Society of the Divine Compassion. Then from about 1950 brothers and sometimes sisters of the Society of St Francis worked amongst the people of Plaistow.

'Helping Hands' is an organisation that uses the premises for volunteers to do odd jobs from cooking, cleaning, gardening etc for the elderly and needy within the community.

This is the entrance to the Balaam Leisure centre. I was surprised how dirty it looked round the entrance until I found out that it has been closed since late 2018 due to structural problems.


I thought the brickwork looked really interesting but how sad that it has had to close. The local community are trying to save the facility as it was a well used leisure centre with a swimming pool. The council are looking at various options but none include restoring the centre. It appears Newham council are in favour of converting it into housing. A huge loss of a community resource.

I followed the road round to Barking Road passing the Abbey Arms on the corner. The pub was rebuilt in 1882 and has a few features from that time from the ironwork signs to the  etched and cut glass windows.                     

There is a sign over the entrance saying 'Private Bar and Jugs'.This referred to customers who brought their own jugs to be filled with beer to be taken home to drink. It  was much cheaper to buy it by the jug. This service was used mainly by women who didn't want to be seen drinking in the bar.

 From the pub you can see the many shops that are centred around this road junction.

This is the Swift Centre, home to the 59 motorcycle club. In the 1960s the 59 club was the biggest and most famous motorcycle club in the world. Wearing black leathers and riding a motor bike in the 60s meant you wouldn't be welcome in many places. The reputation of being trouble makers meant that bikers were banned from most cafes, pubs, clubs and cinemas. The only place they could meet was the Ace cafe  in North London. The 59 club started as a church based youth club founded by Father Shergold in Hackney Wick. Club nights took place each Saturday evening at the Eton Mission where there was  parking and a large hall with table tennis, billiards, a jukebox and a coffee bar. The club was known amongst the bikers as the 'Vic's caff'. Father Bill Shergold remained chairman of the club until his death in 2009. The club still exists but is located here in Plaistow. It is still supported by a member of the cloth - Father Scott Anderson.

Next door is the large Memorial church, busy serving midday meals to the homeless so I didn't enter. The church was formed  in Jan 2006 when the congregation of Memorial Baptist Church, Plaistow welcomed the congregation from neighbouring  St Andrew's church who had to move out of rented premises.

On the other side of the road is Plaistow  police station. which closed in 2017. .Many of these large police stations are closing and the buildings sold for redevelopment. There used to be lots of local stations with counter service but that seems to be a thing of the past now.

I decided to make my way back towards the station. On the way I came across the East London Cemetery. What first struck me was  the amount of bright red silk flowers adorning the graves.

Many of the cremation memorials had a rose tree planted next to them so this must look amazing in the summer.

Many of the gravestones were huge, elaborate and fancy. Not just the usual cherubs and angels here. I think it was the size of them that surprised me.

This monument with the anchor marks the grave of 28 of the 38 victims who died in June 1898, when HMS Albion was launched from the Thames Iron Works at Bow Creek. Many hundreds came to watch the launch and a large number of people crowded onto a wooden walkway for a better view. As the ship was launched a wave of water washed away the supports of the walkway and 200 people were thrown into the water. 160 were saved but the rest drowned

This rather plain memorial stone has 11 names on it. All of the men were found guilty of spying for Germany in WW1. They were imprisoned in the Tower of London and shot. In November 1914 Carl Lody was the first person for more than 150 years to be executed in the Tower. Most spies were arrested after letters, newspapers or telegrams they had sent were intercepted by British intelligence.

In one area of the cemetery there is a large number of gravestones with Chinese inscriptions, evidence of the large Chinese community that lives in this area.

From the cemetery I walked back along Upper Street to the station passing these ornate gates of Lister Park on the way. The park is named after Lord Lister who introduced antiseptic procedures into hospitals. Lister lived locally and these gates were specially designed by the artist Daksha Amin,.as a memorial to Lister's contribution to modern surgery.

Round the corner and I was back at the station.