Chingford Green

Until the C19th there was a scattered farming community in the area around Chingford, which lay within the ancient Forest of Essex. By the late C18th there were hamlets at Chingford Green, Low Street and Chingford Hatch, each a mile or so from the parish church of All Saints (q.v.) on Chingford Mount. Chingford Green became the most important of these and was where the new church of St Peter and St Paul (q.v.) was established in 1844 although the area remained rural until the C20th.The Great Eastern Railway arrived in the late C19th and housing proliferated and by the 1920s suburban housing replaced Chingford's fields. Chingford had been part of Essex until 1965 when it was incorporated into the new borough of Waltham Forest.

There are a number of old buildings near the Green, including the remains of the stable block of an early C18th pub, The King’s Head to the west of the Green. From 1805-1840 the Manorial Courts of Chingford St Pauls were held in the King's Head. Another Edwardian pub is the Bull and Crown, south of the Green. The early C19th Carbis Cottage to the north of the Green is the last surviving weather-boarded cottage in Chingford. Kilgreana and The Lodge to the south-west were once one house, Chingford Lodge, the residence of William Mellish who built a sporting establishment here and between 1798 and 1806 kept a pack of staghounds on the Green. In 1859 four almshouses were built on The Green, probably taking the place of earlier almshouses here, and a fifth was built in 1887. Chingford Assembly Hall and Library, a modernist 2-storey building designed by Tooley and Foster arcitects, was built in 1959 overlooking the Green. In 2000 a series of mosaic roundels were added to the facade depicting events, people and buildings of local heritage interest; the mural was undertaken by Wallscapes. 

The Green today is an open green space, largely grass with perimeter trees, benches, and lamp posts along the tarmac path that borders the churchyard wall. At the east end of the Green is an area of shrub and flower planting, which is part of the Love North Chingford community initiative set up by volunteers, with some support from LB Waltham Forest (www.lovenorthchingford.co.uk). An illustrated site history information board shows old photographs of the Green and some of the surrounding buildings.