South Woodford and Wood Street

I began this section of the walk by taking the Central Line to Snaresbrook, and my initial thought was to have a look at Snaresbrook Crown Court – which is really the first (and only?) thing that comes to mind at the mention of Snaresbrook.

Unfortunately, and perhaps obviously, you can’t really get that close to it, so instead I had a wander around that corner of Epping Forest and up to Eagle Pond, before heading up Woodford Road and the art deco delights of South Woodford.

At the top of Woodford Road is the North Circular Road, which at this point is a ten-lane dual carriageway running in a cutting beneath the High Road on the bridge above.

The bridge itself is the site of a public art scheme financed by Telford Homes as a planning condition for the nearby Queen Mary’s Gate development. The art piece consists of a sculpture by Lucien Simon and commemorative benches by Tim Ward that pay homage to Winton Churchill and local designer and poet William Morris.

From here I continued west along the small roads that run parallel to the North Circular heading towards Waterworks Corner. The mix of architectural styles and uses is pretty varied in these few streets and ranges from neat suburbia to boarded-up industrial/residential hybrids and modernist churches.

From Waterworks Corner I walked down Forest Road and through the backstreets of Upper Walthamstow in the direction of Wood Street.

There is a lot going on in Wood Street itself. A traditional high street with independent shops and an indoor market.