Aldersbrook
The Aldersbrook Estate and Aldersbrook Wood
The Housing Estate
Park Road, AldersbrookThe Edwardian housing estate of Aldersbrook lies sandwiched between Wanstead Flats to the south and Wanstead Park to the north, with the City of London Cemetery to the east. The estate was created mostly between 1900 and 1910 from the purchase of land associated with the Wanstead House estate and of Aldersbrook Farm. The estate roads were set out, then plots and parcels of land were sold with a clearly stated expectation that the housing should be of 'villa' style. The houses retain much of the character of that time.
Tram on the 73 route at its terminus at Aldersbrook ParadeStrangely, very few amenities seemed to have been built to serve the houses. There is a row of shops along the Aldersbrook Road at the very perimeter of the estate and in the early part of last century this was the terminus of the trams from East Ham and the docks. The parade of shops, as shown in the photograph, had a cafe and tea shop (called Mecca then, but Swan Lake when it eventually closed some years ago), next to which was a Post Office. After the closure of the Post Office in 2004, the parade presented a somewhat dismal appearance, and the premises were bought up in 2022/23 supposedly by a large store to establish one of their 'local' branches. In mid-2024 there was still no apparent progress in this. Above the shops is a hotel - but this hardly serves the local community. Aldersbrook Primary School in Ingatestone Road originated in 1908. The school is well thought of locally, as is the small library - opened in 1950 - in Park Road. 
Aldersbrook Library, Park Road It occupies an old garage once used to house the local milk dray. Nearby in Aldersbrook Road is Aldersbrook Bowls Club with a hall which also provides a venue for community events.
At the east end of the Edwardian estate, housing of very different character has been built since the 1970s. The first residents moved in in October, 1971. This occupies the land between Clavering Road, an area of woodland known as Aldersbrook Wood, a riding school and stables, Empress Avenue Allotment Plots and, to the north, the City of London Cemetery. An area that I have named Aldersbrook Wood as well as Aldersbrook Riding School are on the site of a former infectious diseases hospital, on part of which was later constructed a Civil Defence building - a war room known as "sub-regional commissioner's offices". This subsequently became known locally as the "Nuclear Bunker". (photo). The bunker was demolished in 2000, and housing was built on the site. This has been referred to as "Bunker Villas".
Casual plant species by roadsides and pavements, street tree-plantings and some front-garden specimens in the Aldersbrook estate area are included in a listing here.
Aldersbrook Wood
Access to Aldersbrook Wood from Northumberland AvenueThe woodland just north of these houses - which might conveniently be called Aldersbrook Wood - is part-occupied by a wooden building belonging to the Woodford District Horticultural Society. There is a gated access road from the east end of Northumberland Avenue, by which is an isolated two-story house with a more modern vintage than the Edwardian estate, but older than the modern development nearby. The aspect presents a somewhat rural feel to the neighbourhood, with the forest-land of Wanstead Park immediately beyond the fence to the north. The fence - an open construction about 4ft high - divides the forest from the woodland, but brambles and other plants may easily find their way through. Part way along is an un-gated access between the two, leading from the parklands across the wood and out through an unpleasantly narrow gap between high metal fences into the new Aldersbrook estate. Such a shame that this piece of land is not managed as part of Epping Forest so that its untidy aspect might be controlled. Nevertheless, it has a variety of plants, and is certainly the home to foxes which doubtless find cover in some of the brick and concrete remains of buildings which once stood on the site and now lie partially covered with vegetation. At its eastern end, and partially to the south, lies the grounds of the riding school.
For a list of plants that have been found in Aldersbrook Wood, click here
Churches
St. Gabriel's Church, viwed from Wanstead Flats in 2016The Parish Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel, Aldersbrook. At the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Park Road. It was designed by Charles Spooner, and is of red brick in Neo-Perpendicular style. It was completed in 1914. The associated church hall in Park Road is the centre of a number of activities that serve the local community. The foundation stone was laid in 1927. (photos) A tradition that has been followed for many years takes place on Palm Sunday where a service is held by the mound on Epping Forest near the junction of Ingatestone Road (known as Bullet Hill) and Northumberland Avenue. Following the service there is a procession, carrying palms and singing, back to the church. (photos)
Aldersbrook Baptist ChurchAldersbrook Baptist Church, at the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Dover Road. The church was erected in 1909, bombed during the Second World War, and completely renovated. The adjacent church hall in Dover Road is slightly older, having been built in 1902. The church has not been used for worship since about 2000, services being held in the adjacent church hall. (photos)
Since about 2020 the church building has been undergoing intensive renovation with the intention of restoring it to a functional place of worship. (ref: https://ipcbaptist.org/aldersbrook/ )
The Alders Brook
This look at the Alders Brook investigates its location, its source, its present state and its potential. The Ordnance Survey Map appears to show the Alders Brook as nothing more than a channel of the Roding, but it is not that at all; it is a tributary of the Roding and a stream in its own right which should be a treasure of Newham and Redbridge. The stream is little known; it is probable that even many residents of nearby Aldersbrook - named of course after the stream - are unaware of its presence. For information about the Aldersbrook estate, click here.
For a map showing the location of the Alders Brook - click here.
For a list of the plant species - click here.
For a historic map (1816) showing the brook - click here
The Alders Brook is a tributary of the River Roding, with its source appearing to be within the City of London Cemetery. Presumably the stream's origin is run-off water from the slightly higher ground to the south-west - that is, Wanstead Flats. The Cemetery's Conservation Management Plan states "There is an outcrop of London Clay running west along an old stream bed, from the pond almost opposite the main gate of the Cemetery through the Catacomb Valley to Alders Brook". It can be seen that from just west of the main gate of the City of London Cemetery, near to the cemetery Superintendent's house, there is a shallow valley - the "Catacomb Valley". This runs generally towards the north-east, with the crematorium buildings built within it, and culminates apparently at the catacombs and columbarium. The area in in front of the catacombs was, in the time of the Aldersbrook Manor, an ornamental lake known as the Great Pond.
The overflow from Alexandra Lake; the ultimate source of the Alders Brook?Alexandra Lake on Wanstead Flats - just to the south of the City of London Cemetery - was, as far as can be ascertained, originally a persistently damp and muddy area adjacent to what is now known as Aldersbrook Road. Around 1906/7, in an effort to control flooding which took place from time to time in the vicinity of Wanstead Park Avenue and Aldersbrook Road, the muddy area was dug out using unemployed labour to form Alexandra Lake. One can conjecture that increasing use of the Aldersbrook Road, and presumably in attempts to improve the surface of that road, had cut off the natural drainage of Wanstead Flats which would have flowed ultimately into the River Roding. The overflow water from the lake would have been directed under the road and may well find its way through underground pipes down this valley. An overflow drain exists at the north edge of Alexandra Lake almost directly opposite the cemetery Superintendent's house in Aldersbrook Road, both of which can be seen in the photograph. If one enters the cemetery and turns left for a short distance along West Boundary Road, near to the back fence of the Superintendent's house one can make out the shallow valley running N.E. towards the Modern Crematorium. It can also be noted that there are a series of manhole covers set in the roadways (e.g. in Rhododendron Avenue) leading to and beyond the crematorium.
The Modern Crematorium, looking towards Wanstead Flats along the buried course of the Alders Brook. A manhole cover can be seen in the foreground, presumably giving access to the pipe.Just to the east and adjacent to the crematorium there is an ornamental pond which may also have some bearing on the present source of water, and I surmise that surface water from the cemetery roads may be directed into the underground pipe that should carry the excess water from Alexandra Lake. The crematorium and chapel buildings - known as the Modern Crematorium - are built within the valley which would have been the route of the Alders Brook, and to my mind are somewhat inappropriately positioned, obstructing the view down the valley towards the Catacombs. What are now the Catacombs would have been the embankment of the former Great Pond of the Aldersbrook Manor, formed by damming the brook. Beyond the catacombs was another ornamental lake known as the Great Canal, which now lies within an area of woodland much of which is very overgrown and almost inaccesible. At the east end of this woodland a pond has been created and now comprises part of a wildlife refuge called the Birches. The source of the pond's water is a concrete culvert which contains a stream that - prior to culverting - could be seen to flow from the direction of the catacombs. This can be seen in the photograph below.
The Birches Pond in January 2006, showing the culvert from which the brook flows from beneath the Catacombs and Haywoods LawnThis constantly flowing stream, together with the pond, now constitutes the visible source of the Alders Brook. The outflow from the pond passes via a culvert beneath the cemetery railings and under the Bridle Path which follows the cemetery boundary fence; this can now be seen as the stream that is called the Alders Brook. Its course takes it just a few metres eastward to a point where it divides north and south. The north branch, however, is stagnant water which in a hundred or so metres encounters the flood bank of the River Roding. It is interesting that on all maps including present day ones, the brook appears to join the Roding at this point. It would seem that before the present flood bank was built the Roding split into two channels, and the present Alders Brook is the remains of the western of those. The name derives from ealdan hile, (ealden = old, so possibly the "old" river, but the name of the alder tree also has elements of the same word association) which formed part of the bounds of Hamme in A.D. 958 (1), and in about 1570 was called the Old River (2). In 1815-16 it was called the Aldersbrook. (3). I surmise that the culverted runoff water from Wanstead Flats and what is now the cemetery was itself just a small tributary of the western branch of the Roding, and with the embanking of the Roding to form just one channel (plus the flood-plain which is now Ilford Golf Course), what was an arm of the main river is now the continuation of that small tributary.
Adjacent to t
The Alders Brook shortly after it emerges from the cemetery, with Ilford Golf Course to the left and Aldersbrook Allotments to the righthis northern arm of the brook, between it and the cemetery fence, is an area of land which - although incorporating an electricity pylon - is a pleasant enough spot, far enough away from the noise of roads to have a sense of peacefulness about it. It is an area of scrubby vegetation for the most part, with plenty of the ubiquitous bramble, but with some nice pedunculate oak trees Quercus robur near to the bridle path, some now-dying silver birch Betula pendula and - apparently taking their place - both holm oak Quercus ilex and Turkey oak Quercus cerris. A single yew Taxus baccata was noted here in 2008; it will be no surprise to see more of these over the forthcoming years. Where the arm of the brook ends at the Roding embankment, the River itself comes into view, accompanied by a bank-top track which affords some long views across the golf course to Ilford, ahead to the high trees of Wanstead Park, and some nice river meanders. Although the bridle path continues northwards towards the Park, the open land here eventually meets the old gates and fence of what was the Redbridge Southern Sewage Treatment Works and what are now called The Exchange Lands, and are part of Epping Forest.
Alder trees by the brook in August 2008
The southwards flow of the brook proper, however, follows a course to the east of the London Borough of Newham's Bridle Path Allotment site; on the east bank is Ilford Golf Course. Between the allotments and golf course the brook is not accessible to pedestrians. South of the allotments, between the cemetery railings and the brook, there is some open land known locally by some as "The Butts". This possibly refers to the area at one time being used as a practice ground for archery; the 1816 map shows the area as "Brick Clamps" but just across the stream is "Gun Mead"; is there a historic connection? It is at this point - the southern end of the allotments - that the stream actually flows between a group of alders. On the east side of the Alders Brook here is Ilford Golf Course, beyond which is the A406 North Circular Road.
Access to the Butts and hence to the Alders Brook may be made via a foot-tunnel under the railway line from Romford Road at Little Ilford or via the footpath which follows the perimeter of the cemetery either from Rabbits Road or from Empress Avenue. There is also access from the north via the Aldersbrook Exchange Land - the old Sewage Works site - in Epping Forest.
The area had an incredibly rural feel for part of Newham - something of a wildflower meadow together with a gentle stream. Although no plants of great rarity were found the overall effect was pleasant; species included red clover Trifolium pratense, white clover Trifolium repens, goat's rue Galega officinalis, tufted vetch Vicia cracca, meadow vetchling Lathyrus pratensis with some blackthorn Prunus spinosa and wild cherry Prunus avium forming something of a hedge between the meadow and the bridle path.
The Alders Brook in September 2000However in 2007 this effect was considerably spoilt by the laying of a 2 metre wide track, part of the Roding Valley Way, a combined footpath and cycleway through the London Boroughs of Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and Newham. Instead of using the existing bridle path along the edge of the cemetery, the new route was insensitively laid across what was the meadow! For some years local conservation groups did attempt to enhance the meadow-aspect of the area, but now this would not really be a viable option. There is a considerable ground-cover of dewberry Rubus caesius, particularly near the allotments, and it is likely that this will invade much of what remains of the meadow. During 2015 and 2016, evidence of occupation in the form of "camps" could be found, reference perhaps to the numbers of refugees now present hereabouts?
North of the allotments, the new path also led to the severe trimming of some of the small but nice oaks and other trees and potentially may lead to stress on the root system of these. However, it has considerably improved access to the area by pedestrians as well as cyclists, and is a much easier walk in many parts which were almost invariably muddy and overgrown. However, the surfaced route veers away from the existing route to pass through the old gates of the Exchange Land site of Epping Forest (the Old Sewage Works Site). This means that this land, with its wealth of flora and fauna, now suffers a disturbance which it had not previously endured, and - for pedestrian visitors - a change in the ambience of the place. It is a shame that some lovely and unique wildlife areas have suffered - and all unnecessarily for the route of the existing path was perfectly adequate and - particularly at its northern end - could have benefited from surfacing.
The very overgrown Alders Brook, viewed from Lugg Approach in October 2008It is interesting to note that the L. B. Newham Adopted UDP 2001 ( Unitary Development Plan ) includes the following statement : "Sites of nature conservation importance will be protected and enhanced". The encouragement of cyclists and provision of a hard-surface track cannot, I suggest - be protecting and enhancing the site. The boundary between Newham and Redbridge is quite complex here, and it may be that provisions and the routing of the track was made under L.B. Redbridge's jurisdiction. However, the Exchange Lands are now part of Epping Forest, so the continuation of the hard-surface route through the old sewage works must have been allowed by the City of London Corporation.
By and in the brook, plants found include water fern Azolla filiculoides, purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, amphibious bistort Persicaria amphibia, water pepper Persicaria hydropiper and water mint Mentha aquatica. For a full list of the plants of this area, click here.
At the southern end of the Butts, the brook encounters a concrete barrage, where the water is controlled as it passes under the main Liverpool Street railway lines. Adjacent to this is a foot-tunnel below the railway lines which allows foot and cycle traffic access to the Romford Road in Little Ilford. The brook of course continues beyond the barrage, but once again is inaccessible to pedestrians. It can be viewed from Lugg Approach - a short road off the Romford Road that leads to what was Aldersbrook Sidings - and when the photograph was taken in 2008 it can be seen that the stream itself was full of vegetation (and rubbish) and that the banks were very overgrown, particularly with the invasive Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica. During 2015 much - if not all - of the Alders Brook south of the railway lines had fences with notices warning of control areas regarding the knotweed.
Viewed from the bridge into Ilford, the Alders Brook is in the centre of the picture, emerging from the leftIt would not, it seems, be impossible to clear the stream-bank and tidy up the general environment so that a walking-route be established as an alternative to the present one between Romford Road and the Aldersbrook Bridle Path. This is Aldersbrook Lane - the remnant stretch of an old route that was the approach to Aldersbrook Manor, but which now passes through a housing estate. Considering the effort that has been put into the creation of the cycle route, perhaps this should have been considered. Lugg Approach and the old sidings site that was mentioned earlier is to be used in the work involved in the construction of a new railway station for Ilford. In the Crossrail Environmental Statement plans for this it is stated: "The site is, however, largely derelict. Overall this is a townscape of low quality and low sensitivity to change"(10.7.25). Perhaps at relatively small cost compared to all the other work being undertaken hereabouts there is an opportunity to give pedestrian and perhaps cycle access to the banks of the Alders Brook here and improve on the dereliction and low quality? This would also enable more direct and pleasant access to and from Ilford town centre from Wanstead Flats and to the Roding Valley Way route for Wanstead Park and beyond - a benefit to Redbridge as well as Newham residents.
Eventually the brook emerges from its over-vegetated cutting to join with the River Roding at Ilford Bridge, from where it can just about be viewed. Near to this point there is a considerable amount of traveller's joy Clematis vitalba, which is otherwise scarce in our study area.
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For a list of the plants which have been found in the Alders Brook area - click here
For a map showing the brook - click here
For a historic map (1816) showing the brook - click here
A walking route via Aldersbrook Bridle Path which incorporates the Alders Brook is available here
References
(1) Cart. Sax. ed. Birch, no. 1037; cf. P. N. Essex, ii. 94.
(2) E.R.O., D/DQs 17.
(3) E.R.O., Map of manors of Wanstead, Aldersbrook &c., 1815–16
Conservation Management Plan Corporation of London, 2004
L. B. Newham Adopted UDP 2001 ( Unitary Development Plan )
Crossrail Environmental Statement - Chapter 10.