1. Redbridge Central Library bus stop

This stop is on the route of a number of buses, some of which have already been written up about. However, the museum that’s inside the Central Library is fascinating and there is always something to see that hadn’t been seen before. So it’s worth another visit. It’s also opposite the art gallery SPACE but this wasn’t open on the day of my visit (Thursday) – again, it’s a good art space so if you’re in the area, do pop in to see what they are currently exhibiting. There is always a large piece of art on the outside wall and this April it’s Revival by Isha Bohling.

Back to the library and this time I found a section about Redbridge’s association with the East India Company. In the 1700s, the local area was home to wealthy traders who worked for the company. At the time, it was the world’s largest business, founded in 1600 in London. Its ships brought cloth from India, spices from Indonesia and tea from China. Redbridge was a popular place to reside, with its elegant mansions set in pleasant countryside but close enough to London docks and the City of London where business took place.

Another showcase had artefacts by the Kelvin Hughes company. The factory opened in Hainault in 1917 and was a world leader in making sextants, compasses, binoculars, sea charts and radar systems, all for use on ships, aircraft and on land.

There’s also a display dedicated to suffragette and activist Sylvia Pankhurst, with items relating to her life in Woodford, Essex, where she lived between 1924 and 1956. You can see the typewriter that she and her co-suffragettes used to create pamphlets and posters. While she was in prison, her main source of paper was toilet paper!

2. Valentines Park bus stop

The park has been visited on at least 2 previous journeys (66 and 128) and Valentines Mansion is only open on Sundays and Mondays so you need to plan accordingly. The house was built c1696 for Elizabeth Tillotson and her family, after the death of her husband, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since then, it has changed hands many times including Robert Surman, a city merchant and banker who created the dovecote, walled gardens and grottoes. In the 1760s Sir Charles Raymond spent some of his vast fortune on renovating the house, giving it its Georgian appearance. The last private resident was Sarah Ingleby who died in 1906, after which time the council acquired the house. Since 1912, it has been home to wartime refugees, a hospital, a public health centre and a council housing department. It has been open to the public since 2009 and is a beautiful venue for special occasions as well as a museum.

3. Ilford Station bus stop

Ilford station itself is worthy of more than just a cursory glance. It was originally opened in 1839 as a mainline station and it was only in 2022 that it became part of the TfL network, as a station on the Elizabeth line. The old building was demolished and a new, modern building was erected. Down on the platforms, there is a sci-fi feel and because of its layout, there’s plenty of room – unlike many of the stations on the London underground.

The Ilford Hospital Chapel is round the corner from the station and as it was described in an earlier blog (bus route 150), I’ll just place some photos here to remind you of what it looks like and why this is also somewhere worthy of a visit.

4. Brandville Gardens bus stop

Opposite the stop is Queen Victoria House, a property that was built in the early 1900s and formed part of the Girls Village Home, an ambitious programme by Dr Thomas Barnardo to provide accommodation for children. With Barnardo’s philanthropy, stable living environments and education for ‘penniless girls’ were provided. The girls acquired skills enabling them to gain useful employment. More recently, the building has been restored, still preserving its charming character, with many of its original features.

A stone’s throw away is the Brutalist Barkingside Magistrates Court. It was built in the 1960s using brutalist concrete, distinguishing it from other surrounding local historical buildings. It’s still operating as a focal point for local justice, unlike its predecessor which has been turned into the inevitable flats.

Also here is Queen Elizabeth II Recreation ground, a lovely green open space with some commanding trees lining the paths.

5. Chigwell Station bus stop

The bus stops opposite Chigwell Green which is a small space for walking and relaxing. One of Chigwell’s claims to fame is that it’s mentioned in Charles Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge. In particular, the Maypole Inn which is a fictionalised version of the real 16th-century King’s Head Inn. Dickens himself described the inn as having “more gables than a lazy man can count on a summers day”. And if you go and see the existing Ye Olde King’s Head, you’ll understand why. Next to the inn is a weather-board property which also dates back to Tudor times and which contributes to the village charm.

The other place to see in Chigwell is St Mary’s Church, a pretty grade II* building. One-time Archbishop of York, Samuel Harsnett, was the vicar of Chigwell from 1597 to 1605, and he founded two schools here in 1619 and was in fact buried in St Mary’s in 1631. As happens a lot these days, the church doors were closed on the day of my visit but if you’re around the area, take a quick look. It has an interesting history – in fact there was a church on the site as early as the 12thC. Only part of the south wall remains from that time and inserted in the wall are some reused stones. The distinctive bell tower was added in the 15thC

6. Pentlow Way bus stop

This is a great place to alight from the bus, especially if the weather is clement. Take a walk through Roding Valley Meadows and you’ll reach Roding Valley Lake, a haven for wildlife and for taking a well-earned break from life! It’s a stillwater fishery and has pike and carp among the many species found here. Running alongside the meadow is the river Roding, which passes through or near a group of eight or nine villages in Essex known collectively as the Rodings. At one end, the river rises near Stansted airport and at the other it flows into the Thames at an aptly-named spot called Creekmouth.

7. Stonards Hill bus stop

A quick stop here to see the Memorial Rose Garden, which is also adjacent to the river Roding. The garden first opened to the public in the late 1960s, but soon fell into disrepair. After 20 years, a group was formed to restore the garden and the area alongside the brook. It took some time to raise enough funds to give the garden the makeover it needed. The garden’s new benches were all donated by people commemorating a member of their family and the pretty garden was designed by a local landscape architect to include plants chosen to be nearly all native species.

8. Loughton Station bus stop

Final stop on the route is at Loughton station which is an iconic place in itself. It’s architecturally deemed important and has been listed as Grade II. If you take a step back to look at the building from outside, you’ll see that the main structure consists of a high, square block dominated by large arched windows at high level. Step inside the ticket hall which takes the form of a lofty arched hall, from which leads a subway that gives access to the two island platforms. Even the platforms are pleasing to the eye, being dominated by graceful, gull-winged shaped canopies. 

In the ticket hall is a poster with information about the local bus service since 1900 up to 1989. In the early days, the buses were horse-drawn carriages and each of the 12 pictures paints its own story of the era. Until WWII, the service was predominantly served by men but with many of them fighting overseas, it was left to the women to take over initially as conductors and it wasn’t until 1974 that Jill Viner became the first woman to qualify as a bus driver in London.

So ended another good route. There is a considerable overlap with other routes so I had seen quite a lot of the places previously. It helped that the sky was blue and the sun was shining and being springtime, everywhere was in bloom. There were no major “wow” places that I hadn’t seen before but Ilford Hospital Chapel and Valentines Mansion and Park shouldn’t be missed, if you intend to go on the 167.

I do feel that the more routes I take, the harder it’s getting to find new things to see but that is the challenge that I set myself each time. I’m just beginning to realise that it’s okay to go on a route and accept it for what it is, rather than try to make it into something it certainly isn’t. This way, I don’t get disappointed and I may even be delighted when I stumble on something hitherto unknown.

Toilets that are open and free to the public:

• Redbridge Central Library
• Valentines café
• Ilford Station
• Loughton Station