By Chris Guy posted on 22 Sep 2014 in Urban

We start with the dildo sale at the Bellend Security Company – definitely a contender for the Crap Graffiti blog, but it made me smile nonetheless. This is on the Hertford Road industrial estate in Barking.

Metal security fence with a red-and-white 'WARNING' A&M Security Co sign and telephone number; industrial yard and cranes visible behind the gate.

Bellend Security Co. Dildo Sale

Walking up onto the footbridge, I get a sun-kissed view past the builders merchants back to the Hart’s Lane Estate in Barking and down to the six lane carriageway of the North Circular Road below.

Industrial yard with yellow material sacks by a large warehouse; colourful high-rise flats stand behind under a blue, clouded sky.

View to the Harts Lane Estate, Barking

Dual carriageway with light traffic, streetlights and overhead electricity pylons, bordered by grassy verges and industrial buildings.

The North Circular Road – from the footbridge between Barking and East Ham

East Ham lies on the other side of the footbridge. And past the gasometer are neat streets of terraced housing and the old Roding Hotel – now closed down.

Terraced houses and parked cars beside a brick wall with circular gas holder frame under a clear blue sky.

Gasometer, Watson Avenue, East Ham

Large Victorian corner pub with red-and-white brickwork on a quiet residential street, parked cars and terraced houses under a late afternoon sky.

The Roding Hotel and Public House (now closed)

I cross underneath the railway bridge which marks another boundary, this time between East Ham and Little Ilford. Parklands, allotments and mushroom farming lies ahead…

Narrow urban road passes under a low railway bridge marked with yellow-black hazard stripes and 'LOW BRIDGE' sign, flanked by brick walls, fences and a leafless tree.

The railway bridge on Stevenage Road

Overgrown allotments and bramble scrub in the foreground, with a motorway gantry, houses and bare trees on a ridge under a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds.

Allotments beside the North Circular Road

Tucked away alongside the allotments and beneath the North Circular Road is the Agridutt Mushroom Farm. A pleasing find, although I was dissuaded from venturing too much further by the barking dogs and fencing.

Weathered metal gate with a yellow mailbox labelled 'MUSHROOM FARM', its lid propped open, attached beside another postbox at the entrance to a farm.

Agridutt Mushroom Farm

Small brick shed labelled 'Mushroom Farm' in a rundown industrial yard beneath a motorway overpass, with pallets, fencing and a clear blue sky.

Agridutt Mushroom Farm

And so I moved on towards Little Ilford Park – a recreation ground and woodland that runs between the North Circular and Grantham Road.

A wrought-iron fence and open gate overlook bare trees and a park, with power lines above and two modern glass towers rising in the distance under a pale sky.

Entrance to Little Ilford Park

Little Ilford Park

Pylons in Little Ilford Park

On the other side of the North Circular the brutalist hulk of British Telecom’s Mill House is plain to see. Telephone exchange architecture of the 60s and 70s does have a pretty distinctive look.

Urban scene: modern apartment and office blocks beside a grassy park, crossed by a steel electricity pylon and overhead power lines, bathed in warm late-afternoon light.

BT’s Mill House from Little Ilford Park

There are a series of ten H-shaped brick built tower blocks in the estate alongside the park: Alfred Prior, Susan Lawrence, Richard Fell, Annie Taylor, John Cornwell VC, Charlbury, Willis, Arthur Walls, Blakesley and Twelve Acre House.

John Cornwall VC House is named after John ‘Jack’ Cornwall who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross at the age of just 16 for his bravery at the Battle of Jutland in World War I.

Two mid-rise brick tower blocks beyond bare winter trees, with a grassy field and a distant electricity pylon under a pale blue sky.

Alfred Prior House and John Cornwell VC House

Low-angle view of a tall red-brick apartment block forming a U-shape, with repeating windows, satellite dishes and a pale blue sky above.

Detail of Alfred Prior House

And finally strolling back through the car park of Twelve Acre House I discover this strangely beautiful mural, which blends wonderfully with its surroundings. I particularly like the roots of the tree on the right.

Weathered brick wall painted with tree mural, a real silver birch in front, overgrown yard with fencing and barbed wire, high-rise buildings visible beyond.

Twelve Acre House, Ilford

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