Essex 1863 Whites Trade Directory for Great Ilford
ILFORD (GREAT) is a large and populous village on the London
and Romford road, and on the east side of the river Roding,
which is navigable to it for barges. It has a station on the Eastern
Counties Railway, and is distant 1 miles E. by N. of Whitechapel,
2 miles N. of Barking, and 6 miles W.S.W. of Romford. It gives
name to an extensive Ward of Barking parish, with which it maintains
its poor, though, in ecclesiastical matters, it was constituted a
separate parish, jointly with CHADWELL WARD,in 1831. The latter
has a range of scattered houses, called Chadwell street, on and near
the high road, from 1 to 3 miles E. of Ilford, .and includes about
800 inhabitants, several fertile farms, and a portion of the Heath.
GREAT ILFORD WARD has about 4000 inhabitants, and comprises
the village of BARKINGSIDE, the hamlet of Aldborough Hatch, and
a large and thickly wooded portion of Hainault Forest, extending
from 2 to 5 miles N. and N.E. of Great Ilford. About 2000 acres
of this forest were enclosed and let as a farm in 1853. The two
Wards comprise about 8000 acres of land, and many scattered farm
houses, &c. : About 60 houses were taken down in Great Ilford, to
make room for the Railway Station, in 1839; but since then the
village has been much improved by the erection of new houses, &c.
It has three good inns, many well stocked, shops, a never-failing
public well, and a Police Station, to which 12 of the metropolitan
police are attached; and in Little Iford parish, on the opposite side
of the river Roding, is Ilford Gaol. etc, where petty sessions are
held every Saturday. The Gas Works were constructed in 1839, at
the cost of about �2000, raised in �5 shares. In the vicinity are
two extensive brick yards. Sir Edward Hulse, Bart, is lord of the
manor, but a great part of the parish belongs to the Marquis of
Salisbury, H. C. Holcombe, P. Dare, J. Davis, and many smaller
proprietors, some of whom have pleasant seats here. ALDBOROUGH
HATCH, an estate with several farm houses and other dwellings, is
more than two miles N.E. of Ilfojd, and adjoins Hainault Forest.
About 1730, Martin Bladen, Esq.,built a large and elegant mansion
here, at the cost of �14,000; but the greater part was taken down
many years ago, though .the remaining part still forms a good house;
and near it is a new church, built in lieu of the old Chapel of Ease,
in 1861, at the cost of .�1200, mostly given by Government. It is
a perpetual curacy, valued at �20,in the patronage of the Lords of
the Woods and Forests, and incumbency of the Rev. W. F. E
Knollys. In an adjacent part of Hainault Forest, is held an annual
pleasure fair, on the first Friday in July, upon and near the site of
FAIRLOP OAK, which was of such great age that, as Mr. Gilpin
says, "the traditions of the country traced it half way up the
Christian era." Great care was taken, to preserve this venerable
oak, but in 1805 it was accidentally set on fire, and the trunk was
considerably injured, and most of the principal branches wholly destroyed.
Part of it was afterwards converted into the beautiful
carved pulpit in St. Pancras Church, London. The trunk measured
36 feet in girth, and the branches spread over an area of 800 feet in
circumference. About 130 years ago, a Mr. Day, a block and pump
maker, of Wapping, commenced the practice of dining with his
friends annually, beneath the shade of this monarch of the forest,
and in the course of a few years, other parties were formed, in London,
on Mr. Day's anniversary, and suttling booths were erected
here for their accommodation; and these continued to increase till
the place assumed the appearance of a regular fair, on the return
of every first Friday in July. A few years before Mr. Day died, his
favourite oak lost a large limb, out of which his coffin was made.
He died in 1767, aged 84 years, and was buried at Barking.
Great Ilford CHURCH (St. Mary) is a handsome white brick structure,
which was finished in June, 1831, at the cost of about �3500,
raised by Parliamentary grants, a liberal donation from the Church
Building Society, and by private subscriptions. It is in the lancet
Gothic style, with a tower and spire, and has 850 sittings, most of
which are free. The site was given by J. S. Thompson, Esq., and
the clock by C. A. Hackett, Esq. The late W. R. H. Dare, Esq.,
was the greatest promoter of the building, and after its completion
the parishioners presented him with a piece of plate weighing 250
ounces. The benefice was constituted a vicarage, by the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, in 1836, and endowed with the small tithes of
Great Ilford and Chadwell Wards. It is now valued at �430 per
annum, and is in the patronage of All Souls College, Oxford; and
in the incumbency of the Hon. and Rev. Hy Wm. Bertie, D.C.L.
Before the erection of this church, the only episcopal place of worship
in the village was the Hospital Chapel, noticed below. There
is a small chapel of ease at Aldborough Hatch, as already noticed;
and a handsome CHURCH, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was erected
for BARKINGSIDE DISTRICT in 1840, at the cost of about �3000, for
the accommodation of the inhabitants of the northern parts of the
parish, near the forest. It is a neat brick structure, of mixed architecture,
with a spire and about 500 sittings, of which 314 are free.
Towards the building, �ll50 was obtained in grants from the Essex
Church Building Society, the Incorporated Society, the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, and All Souls College, and the rest was raised
by subscription. The site of the church and burial ground was
given by Messrs. Hibbit, Wright, and Campion. Towards the endowment
(�130 per annum), about �1500 has been raised by subscription,
and about �400 has been granted by the Governors of
Queen' Anne's Bounty. The annual sum of �45 has also been
secured to the incumbent, out of the tithes of the vicarage of Great
Ilford. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the
Vicar, and incumbency of the Rev. W. P. E. Knollys. To the endowment
fund, �200 was given by an anonymous donor, and �l0
by the Master and Fellows of All Souls College, who are appropriators
of the rectorial tithes, now held on lease by the Marquis of
Salisbury. Barkingside was made a district parish, of about 1400 souls,
in 1841, and has a National School, built in 1842, at the cost of �700.
In Great Ilford is a National School, built in 1835, by subscription,
and an Infant School, erected in 1846, at the sole expense of the
Misses Thompson. In 1846, Captain Ibbetson, of Heath House,
erected near his mansion a small handsome Ohurch, or Chapel of
Ease, in the early English style, with a tower and stained glass
windows. The Baptists have a chapel here, erected in I80l and
enlarged in 1827. It is endowed with about �30 per annum, and
is now under the ministry of the Rev. J. Woodard. Here is also a
small Wesleyan Chapel; and a Mechanics' Institution, for which, a neat building
was erected by Miss Thompson, in 1858.
ILFORD HOSPITAL was founded in the reign of Henry II., by the Abbess
and Convent of Barking, as an asylum for their leprous tenants and servants,
subject to the visitation of the Bishop of London. It was endowed
by the abbess and others with considerable property, in Barking, East
Ham, and Great and Little Ilford, for the support of a master, 13 brother
lepers, two priests, and a clerk. After the dissolution of the religious
houses, it was re-founded by a grant of Queen Elizabeth, in 1572, for the
residence and support of a master, a chaplain, and six poor aged men.
Thos. Fanshawe, his heirs and assigns, were appointed visitors and governors
of the hospital, and vested with the appointment of the master,
who enjoys all the revenues of the hospital, after providing for the repairs
of the building, and paying the following yearly salaries, viz.:- �14 to
the chaplain, and �2. lls. each to the six almspeople. These payments
are now made by the Marquis of Salisbury, who holds the estates, and
combines in himself the two characters of patron and master of the hospital,
in virtue of a mortgage deed, dated 1668, whereby Viscount Fanshawe,
in consideration of �1219, owing by him to Thos. Allen, granted
to the latter and his assigns, for 1000 years, all the valuable estates, and
his other rights and interest in the hospital. The chaplain performs
morning and evening service in the CHAPEL (St. Mary) every Sunday, and
besides his salary of �14, he receives about �30 a year from pew-rents,
and �3 as the rent of two rooms, intended for his residence. He likewise
occasionally receives the burial fees. The Hosptal is on the London road,
and in its centre is the chapel, which was built in the 16th century, and
is 100 feet by 20. The Rev. J. Reynolds is the chaplain. The poor of
Great Ilford participate in the charities of Barking parish.In 1812, when digging for brick earth, near Ilford, various fossil remains
were found, consisting of large bones of oxen, horns and bones of stags,
and also the head, bones, and teeth of an elephant, differing from those of
Asia and Africa. Teeth and tusks of the hippopotamus have also been
found here. The ILFORD BATTALION OF RIFLE VOLUNTEERS comprises the
Ilford, Romford, Brentwood, Rochford, Hornchurch, Great Bentley, and
Woodford companies. J C. Davis, Esq., is the lieutenant-colonel; and
0. E. Coope, Esq., major.