DOI Heft:
Nr. 146 (May 1905)
DOI Artikel:Way, T. R.: A hunt after reliques of old London
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0335
Reliques of Old London
by J. Britton, 1826, to be bought for a few
shillings. At about that period the solid mass of
houses shown covered but a small part of the
present area of London, and in that part com-
prising the City, Westminster, and Southwark, if
you want to find really ancient and picturesque
buildings which have not already been noted and
drawn, you must be very diligent indeed. Vet
right in the heart of the City, Mr. Philip Norman
delights to show two such. Farther afield the
search is not so hopeless. The map shows roads
leading from the City across fields to the distant
villages, Hampstead, Highgate, Hackney, Bow,
to name but a few on the northern side. Towards
any of these villages one starts along the old main
road, carefully watching the buildings all the way,
as many a fine old house has been built facing the
road with its garden in front, and now some huge
shop covers the garden, leaving only half the house
in view; others are completely shut out, and can
only be seen when one explores along the side
turnings. Such, for instance, was the case with a
fine early Georgian mansion which I had noted by
the side of the Great Eastern Railway near Strat-
ford. The approach was down a side street at Bow,
and the entrance was through a high plain brick wall
showing no vestige of the house within, which,
indeed, lay back about one hundred yards at the
end of an avenue of trees. But this frontage did
not offer a suitable vantage point from which to
make a sketch; this I found eventually on the
banks of the salubrious Lea. The house is called
Grove Hall, and is now used as a private lunatic
asylum, the fate that comes to many an old mansion
which has fallen on "bad times"—first a school,
then a lunatic asylum, lastly lodgings.
Not a very far cry from Grove Hall there stood at
Leyton—it may be there now—a splendid mansion
called the Great House; it too had been through
the same degradation, yet its hall and staircase
were the handsomest I have ever seen, and it had
wonderfully beautiful carved woodwork inside and
out. At one time there had evidently been large
gardens surrounding, but when I drew it the little
houses were steadily eating them up, and the
house being empty there were rumours of its soon
being pulled down. A longer life seems in
prospect for a similar but smaller house at Lower
Clapton with a fine wrought-iron gate, now an
asylum for deaf and dumb females, its gardens
GREAT ORMOND STREET
318
FROM THE LITHOGRAPH BY T. R. WAY
by J. Britton, 1826, to be bought for a few
shillings. At about that period the solid mass of
houses shown covered but a small part of the
present area of London, and in that part com-
prising the City, Westminster, and Southwark, if
you want to find really ancient and picturesque
buildings which have not already been noted and
drawn, you must be very diligent indeed. Vet
right in the heart of the City, Mr. Philip Norman
delights to show two such. Farther afield the
search is not so hopeless. The map shows roads
leading from the City across fields to the distant
villages, Hampstead, Highgate, Hackney, Bow,
to name but a few on the northern side. Towards
any of these villages one starts along the old main
road, carefully watching the buildings all the way,
as many a fine old house has been built facing the
road with its garden in front, and now some huge
shop covers the garden, leaving only half the house
in view; others are completely shut out, and can
only be seen when one explores along the side
turnings. Such, for instance, was the case with a
fine early Georgian mansion which I had noted by
the side of the Great Eastern Railway near Strat-
ford. The approach was down a side street at Bow,
and the entrance was through a high plain brick wall
showing no vestige of the house within, which,
indeed, lay back about one hundred yards at the
end of an avenue of trees. But this frontage did
not offer a suitable vantage point from which to
make a sketch; this I found eventually on the
banks of the salubrious Lea. The house is called
Grove Hall, and is now used as a private lunatic
asylum, the fate that comes to many an old mansion
which has fallen on "bad times"—first a school,
then a lunatic asylum, lastly lodgings.
Not a very far cry from Grove Hall there stood at
Leyton—it may be there now—a splendid mansion
called the Great House; it too had been through
the same degradation, yet its hall and staircase
were the handsomest I have ever seen, and it had
wonderfully beautiful carved woodwork inside and
out. At one time there had evidently been large
gardens surrounding, but when I drew it the little
houses were steadily eating them up, and the
house being empty there were rumours of its soon
being pulled down. A longer life seems in
prospect for a similar but smaller house at Lower
Clapton with a fine wrought-iron gate, now an
asylum for deaf and dumb females, its gardens
GREAT ORMOND STREET
318
FROM THE LITHOGRAPH BY T. R. WAY