Description
Rectory Court is on the former site of the old vicarage of St Mary the Virgin Woodford. The C18th building became the offices for the new borough of Wanstead and Woodford in 1937 and was subsequently used as Woodford Crown Court, a Magistrates Court from 1968-88. The site has now been developed as private housing. In the C19th its garden off Woodford High Road had a circular carriage sweep, mature cedar, and other trees. Within the curtilege was a garden designed by Humphry Repton in c.1801 for John Maitland of Woodford Hall, most of which was destroyed with the construction of the neighbouring court house. As a boy, William Morris lived at Woodford Hall with his parents who have a memorial in the adjacent churchyard.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | The Old Court House; The Old Rectory; St Mary's Rectory |
|---|---|
| Site location | 189 Woodford High Road |
| Postcode | E18 |
| What3Words | ///waving.acid.formal |
| Type of Site | Housing/Estate Landscaping |
| Borough | Redbridge |
| Open to Public | No |
| Opening Times | private |
| Public Transport | Tube: South Woodford (Central). Bus: 179, W13 |
| Research Updated | 1 September 2006 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ400906 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | private |
| Dates | early C19th |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Redbridge |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | South Woodford |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Archaeology Priority Area |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
The churchyard of St Mary the Virgin was a post-mediaeval graveyard, now closed to burials. The red brick church was built in 1817, although the church tower dated from an earlier church of 1708. The building burnt down in 1969 and has been substantially rebuilt. There are monuments dating from Tudor times, with fine late C18th and early C19th memorials in the churchyard, which is planted with beech, Scots pine and yew. An unmarked tomb is the grave of Sir Thomas Roe (d .1644) who was one of England's foremost foreign ambassadors. A large draped urn marks the graves of the parents of William Morris, who lived nearby at Woodford Hall and at Water House, now in Lloyds Park.
Elmhurst, an C18th house with an area of garden to the front, is a fragment of a gentleman's estate. It was originally known as Grove House, having been built to the designs of Joel Johnson of Walthamstow in 1771 by Sylvanus Grove who came to Woodford in 1770. It was later owned by a Quaker tea merchant, Smith Harrison, whose wife Jane was a sister of Lord Lister. Part of the estate was separated from the house when the railway came through the area and was later laid out as a public park, Elmhurst Gardens. The large front garden had two stone urns and was largely lawn with some shrubs and notable trees, including cedar and horse chestnuts; a C20th red brick wall divided the property from High Road. A photograph of c.1900 shows the house front with the cedar tree relatively unchanged. By 1939 it was in use as a hostel, and tennis courts had been built behind the house, and it later became a conference centre connected to Queen Mary College. Elmhurst was sold for residential development with the house converted as part restaurant and part offices.
The Shrubberies, a terrace of six identical pairs of houses with a detached house at the east end, was built in the late C19th and remain fronted by the original strip of landscaping, laid out as a setting to the terrace. Built as a speculative residential development when the area was becoming built up following arrival of the railway, these simple Edwardian-style houses retain most of their original features. The garden strip is laid out with grass, some flower and shrub beds and a few trees, including a row of limes.
