| Ilford | |
|---|---|
  From top to bottom:Redbridge Town Hall on Ilford High Road; Ilford Hill | |
  Ilford Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 168,168 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ445865 |
| • Charing Cross | 9.0 mi (14.5 km) WSW |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ILFORD |
| Postcode district | IG1-IG6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°33′27″N00°05′09″E / 51.55750°N 0.08583°E /51.55750; 0.08583 | |
Ilford is a largetown inEast London, England, 9 miles (14 km) northeast ofCharing Cross.[2] Part of theLondon Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within theceremonial county ofGreater London. It had a population of 168,168 in 2011, compared to 303,858 for the entire borough.
Identified as a metropolitan centre in theLondon Plan, Ilford's commercial and retail centre is surrounded by extensive residential development. The town is on the transport corridor between London and coastal Essex, with both theA12 and thecentral railway station linking the regions. In recent years, as a result of increased levels of immigration, Ilford has become one of the mostmulticultural towns in England.
Historically a small rural settlement in theancient parish ofBarking in theBecontree hundred of thehistoric county ofEssex, its strategic position on theRiver Roding and theLondon to Colchester road made it a coaching town.[3] The arrival of the railway in 1839 accelerated its growth, leading to the area becoming part of theconurbation withLondon. It split from the parish of Barking in 1888, and, in the 20th century, Ilford significantly expanded and increased in population,becoming a municipal borough in 1926. In 1965, it merged withWanstead and Woodford, also incorporating parts of neighbouring districts, to form the London Borough of Redbridge, part of Greater London.
Ilford was historically known asGreat Ilford to differentiate it from nearbyLittle Ilford.[4] The name is first recorded in theDomesday Book of 1086 asIlefort and means "ford over the Hyle". "Hyle" is an old Celtic name for theRiver Roding that means "trickling stream". Great and Little Ilford share the place name origin,[4] but the Domesday reference is to the Little Ilford area.[5]
Great and Little Ilford appear to have always been distinct areas separated by the Roding. The place names of Great and Little Ilford both appear to derive from the ford (and river), rather than deriving from the subdivision of a larger Ilford area.
Barking was a huge Manor (landholding), first mentioned in a charter in 735 AD. The Manor covered the areas now known asBarking,Dagenham and Ilford. The Manor was held by the Nunnery ofBarking Abbey.
By the late 1100s (the Parishes of England were, with a few exceptions, fixed for around 700 years from the late 12th century onwards)[6] the huge Manor of Barking was served by twoAncient Parishes, Barking (including Ilford) and Dagenham. This reversed the usual situation (for smaller, and even quite large Manors) where a parish would serve one or more manors. As with other manors, the area held by the declined over time, but the parish boundaries based on its former extent remained constant.
The Parish of Barking, in theBecontree hundred ofEssex, covered the areas now known as Barking and Ilford. Barking was a large ancient parish of 12,307 acres (49.80 km2) in the Becontree hundred of Essex. It was divided into the wards of Chadwell, Great Ilford, Ripple and Town.
The Barking parish authorities gradually lost responsibility for a variety of functions during the 19th century; from 1836, for the administration of poor relief, Ilford came within the RomfordPoor Law Union and in 1840 theMetropolitan Police District was extended to cover the area. In 1875, the Romfordrural sanitary district was created, covering a wide area including Ilford.
In 1888, Ilford and the neighbouring ward of Chadwell to its east were split from Barking and together formed a separate Ilford civil parish. In 1890, alocal board of health was set up for the parish, replacing the rural sanitary authority, and in 1894 a reform of local government reconstituted it as an urban district. It formed part of theLondon Traffic Area from 1924 and theLondon Passenger Transport Area from 1933.[7] It was incorporated as theMunicipal Borough of Ilford in 1926.[8]
The suburban expansion of London caused a significant increase in population and the borough became one of the largest in England not to gaincounty borough status.
In 1965, the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that ofWanstead and Woodford, the northern extremity ofDagenham and a small partChigwell Urban District (around Hainault), to form the newLondon Borough of Redbridge.
Two the UK Parliamentary constituencies are named after Ilford:Ilford North andIlford South.TheMember of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North isWes Streeting of the Labour Party, who succeeded the previous MPLee Scott of the Conservative Party in the2015 general election. The MP for Ilford South from 2024 isJas Athwal of the Labour Party. Redbridge forms part of theHavering and Redbridge London Assembly constituency.
The only complete skull of amammoth discovered in the United Kingdom was unearthed in 1864 close to where Uphall Road is today. The skull can now be seen in theNatural History Museum and a cast of the skull and other prehistoric animal remains can be seen at Redbridge Museum, Central Library, Ilford.
Redevelopment has destroyed much of the evidence for early Ilford, but the oldest evidence for human occupation is the first- and second-century BCIron Age earthwork known as Uphall Camp. This was situated between the Roding and Ilford Lane and is recorded in 18th-century plans.[3]Roman finds have also been made in the vicinity.[9]
A nearby mound called Lavender Mount existed into the 1960s, when it was removed during building work at Howards chemical works. Excavation has shown that Lavender Mount may have been a 16th-century 'beacon-mound'. Archaeological discoveries are displayed at Redbridge Museum.[10]
Ilford straddled the important road from London toColchester. The Middlesex and EssexTurnpike Trust controlled and maintained the road from 1721. TheRiver Roding was made navigable for barges as far as Ilford Bridge from 1737.[9] Ilford remained largely rural until its expansion in the 19th century. This brought about brickworks, cement works and coal yards to service the new buildings, largely centred on the River Roding. In 1839, a railway station was opened on theline from Romford to Mile End. The early businesses gave way to new industries, such as paper making and services such as steam laundries and collar making, to provide for the new commuting class created by the railway.
A number of major businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymousphotographic film and chemicals manufacturerIlford Photo.[11] This was founded in 1879 by Alfred H. Harman, a photographer fromPeckham, who established the business in a house in Cranbrook Road making gelatino-bromide 'dry' plates.[3] The business soon outgrew these premises, and its headquarters moved to a site at Roden Street until 1976 when the factory was closed. Many Ilford Limited products are displayed at Redbridge Museum.[10]
The radio, electronics and telecommunications companyPlessey, founded in 1917 inMarylebone, moved to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in 1919 and then to Vicarage Lane where it became one of the largest manufacturers in its field. DuringWorld War II, the factory was heavily damaged by bombing and the company carried out much of its manufacture, with 2,000 workers servicing a production line, located in the underground railway tunnel betweenWanstead andGants Hill.[3] In 1955 the company employed 15,000 workers, in sites throughout Ilford and neighbouring areas, with an extensive research department.[3]BAL-AMi Jukeboxes were manufactured at 290–296 High Road, Ilford, during the 1950s, which also served as the headquarters of the Balfour (Marine) Engineering company.[12]The Exchange is the main shopping centre.
By 1653, Ilford was a compact village of 50 houses, mostly sited north and south of the current Broadway[3] and the area was distinctly rural. In 1801 the population of Ilford was 1,724 and by 1841 it had grown to 3,742.[3] It had a population of 41,244 in 1901 and occupied an area of 8,496 acres (34 km2). 2,500 houses of the vastBecontree Estate, built by theLondon County Council from 1921, were within the boundaries of Ilford; the addition caused a rise in population of 11,600 by 1926.[3]
TheCentral line service of theLondon Underground to new and former main-line stations in the area began in 1947[13] and the population of the Municipal Borough of Ilford peaked in 1951 at 184,706, declining to 178,024 in 1961 before being absorbed into Redbridge and Greater London in 1965. At the2001 Census the combined populations of theIlford North andIlford South constituencies was 196,414.[14][15]
Home of Ibrahim Salam.John Logie Baird, who invented thetelevision, moved to Ilford in the mid to late 1920s to work on his new invention. He worked in a workshop on the roof of thePlessey premises in Ley Street, which has long since been demolished to make way for new housing.
In 1922, Ilford became notorious for being the site of theThompson-Bywaters case, acause celebre in the United Kingdom that later influenced the debate aroundcapital punishment in the UK.
Ilford was also the birthplace of the actorMaggie Smith who left forOxford at the age of four.
During World War II an Ilford man lost his life when hisRoyal Air Force training aircraft crashed in the United States. Local residents living near the site, in theState of Oklahoma, erected a monument in 2000 honouring the lives of all four RAF fliers who perished. The event was attended by the Mayor of Redbridge and his mace-bearer, to much local acclaim. The residents, who includeChoctaw Indians and theChoctaw Nation government, continue honouring the lives of all four on each anniversary of the crashes, which took place in February 1943.[16]
Its proximity to theOlympic Park inStratford meant that in 2011, Ilford was the fastest-growing tourist destination in Europe due to theLondon 2012 Summer Olympics.[17]
In 2005, Ilford was ranked sixth in the Retail Footprint ranking for Greater London, behind London'sWest End,Croydon,Kingston upon Thames,Bromley andBrent Cross Shopping Centre. It ranked just above Romford and central London'sKensington.[18] As of 2020, Ilford has 145,860 square metres (1,570,000 sq ft) of total town centre floorspace, the tenth highest in Greater London and noticeably lower compared toStratford and Romford.[19]
The town is bounded in the west by theNorth Circular Road,Manor Park and theRiver Roding, withChadwell Heath andRomford to the east andBarking to the South. TheAlders Brook is a tributary of the Roding that marks the boundary between Newham and Redbridge. Climate data for Ilford is taken from the nearest weather station atGreenwich, around 6 miles (9.7 km) south south west of the railway station:
Climate data forGreenwich Park, elevation: 47 m (154 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1948–2004 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 16.8 (62.2) | 19.7 (67.5) | 23.3 (73.9) | 25.3 (77.5) | 29.0 (84.2) | 34.5 (94.1) | 35.3 (95.5) | 37.5 (99.5) | 30.2 (86.4) | 26.1 (79.0) | 18.9 (66.0) | 16.4 (61.5) | 37.5 (99.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) | 9.2 (48.6) | 12.1 (53.8) | 15.4 (59.7) | 18.6 (65.5) | 21.4 (70.5) | 23.8 (74.8) | 23.3 (73.9) | 20.3 (68.5) | 15.8 (60.4) | 11.6 (52.9) | 8.9 (48.0) | 15.8 (60.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) | 6.2 (43.2) | 8.4 (47.1) | 10.7 (51.3) | 13.8 (56.8) | 16.7 (62.1) | 18.8 (65.8) | 18.7 (65.7) | 15.9 (60.6) | 12.4 (54.3) | 8.8 (47.8) | 6.3 (43.3) | 11.9 (53.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.4 (38.1) | 3.2 (37.8) | 4.7 (40.5) | 6.0 (42.8) | 9.1 (48.4) | 12.0 (53.6) | 13.9 (57.0) | 14.1 (57.4) | 11.6 (52.9) | 9.0 (48.2) | 6.1 (43.0) | 3.8 (38.8) | 8.1 (46.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −12.7 (9.1) | −9.4 (15.1) | −6.7 (19.9) | −4.8 (23.4) | −1.0 (30.2) | 1.1 (34.0) | 5.0 (41.0) | 5.3 (41.5) | 1.1 (34.0) | −2.1 (28.2) | −8.0 (17.6) | −10.5 (13.1) | −12.7 (9.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 43.9 (1.73) | 39.9 (1.57) | 36.5 (1.44) | 38.6 (1.52) | 44.0 (1.73) | 49.3 (1.94) | 36.3 (1.43) | 53.0 (2.09) | 52.4 (2.06) | 58.3 (2.30) | 59.9 (2.36) | 50.7 (2.00) | 562.9 (22.16) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 10.5 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 10.3 | 10.6 | 10.2 | 105.6 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 44.4 | 66.1 | 109.7 | 152.9 | 198.7 | 198.6 | 209.2 | 198.0 | 140.6 | 99.7 | 58.5 | 50.1 | 1,526.4 |
| Source 1:Met Office[20][21][22] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[23][24] | |||||||||||||
| 1891 | 10,913 |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 41,234 |
| 1911 | 78,188 |
| 1921 | 85,194 |
| 1931 | 131,061 |
| 1941 | # |
| 1951 | 184,706 |
| 1961 | 178,024 |
| # no census was held due to war | |
| source:UK census[25] | |
The entire town of Ilford is also made up of its neighbourhoodsAldborough Hatch,Barkingside,Clayhall,Cranbrook,Fairlop,Fullwell Cross,Loxford,Gants Hill,Goodmayes,Newbury Park,Redbridge,Hainault,Little Heath andSeven Kings. It approximates to 11electoral wards, and the total population counted 168,168 people in the 2011 census, compared to 303,858 for the borough of Redbridge as a whole.[26]
Ilford has a very large ethnic-minority population, and is one of the most diverse towns in the country.[27]
Ilford North had the fourth-highest Jewish proportion of residents in the 2001 census.[14] The Hindu, Muslim and Sikh population number some 30,000.[28] The large South Asian community in Ilford speak a variety of languages, includingBengali,Gujarati,Hindi,Punjabi,Tamil,Telugu andUrdu.[29]
According to the 2001 census, theparliamentary constituencies of Ilford North and Ilford South consisted of the following demographs:
| Ilford North | Ilford South | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Population | 89,806 | 106,608 |
| White | 75.6% | 45.1% |
| Black | 5.2% | 11.4% |
| Asian | 15.5% | 39.3% |
| Mixed | 2.2% | 2.8% |
| Other | 1.5% | 1.4% |
| Ilford North | Ilford South | |
|---|---|---|
| Christian | 55.1% | 42.5% |
| Hindu | 6.7% | 10.5% |
| Jewish | 10.3% | 7.9% |
| Muslim | 6.4% | 19.6% |
| Sikh | 2.7% | 9.4% |
At the 2011 census, the Clementswood ward's population with aBAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) background was 84.2%, one of the highest in Greater London. Most of Ilford's other wards have figures above 70%. The lowest BAME ward in Ilford was Fairlop, 34.9%.[30]
House prices in Ilford are generally far lower than the average for Greater London. The median house price in 2014 in Ilford's Loxford ward was £193,000, which was the sixth lowest out of the 628 wards of Greater London.[30]
In most wards, a majority of houses are owned by the households. The exceptions are in Clementswood, Loxford, and Valentines.[30]
The table below shows housing type data for Ilford's wards at the 2011 census (but altered to match new ward boundaries in 2015).
| Ward | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments[31][32] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aldborough | 4.9% | 25.1% | 43.5% | 26.6% |
| Barkingside | 4.2% | 31.5% | 40.2% | 24.1% |
| Clayhall | 7.2% | 48.7% | 30.4% | 13.6% |
| Clementswood | 7.7% | 12.4% | 45.0% | 34.9% |
| Cranbrook | 3.5% | 27.8% | 39.7% | 28.9% |
| Fairlop | 7.4% | 28.8% | 37.7% | 26.2% |
| Fullwell | 7.6% | 43.7% | 21.9% | 26.8% |
| Goodmayes | 6.3% | 22.1% | 42.2% | 29.3% |
| Loxford | 2.9% | 12.2% | 42.8% | 36.0% |
| Mayfield | 10.8% | 26.6% | 47.3% | 15.3% |
| Newbury | 4.5% | 17.8% | 48.2% | 29.3% |
| Seven Kings | 6.1% | 20.4% | 42.9% | 30.5% |
| Valentines | 4.7% | 13.1% | 31.6% | 50.5% |
The male life expectancy was 76.4 years in Loxford, and 84.5 years in Barkingside. The female expectancy was highest in Barkingside, 87.5 years, and lowest in Loxford, 81.7 years.[30]
Ilford station is inLondon fare zone 4.[33]
Ilford railway station is on theGreat Eastern Main Line. It is served byElizabeth line trains which also call at the nearbySeven Kings andGoodmayes stations.[34]
The station was the scene of two fatal rail crashes in1915 and1944. Atraction maintenance depot forelectric multiple units is situated in Ilford, which maintains manyNational Rail andLondon Overground trains.
London Underground'sCentral line is to the north of Ilford, withRedbridge,Gants Hill,Newbury Park,Barkingside andFairlop nearby. The stations are on theHainault loop branch of the Central line, with direct connections to Stratford,the City, the West End and West London.[33]
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London Buses link Ilford to other districts ineast andcentral London.
Routes include25, 86, 123, 128, 145, 147, 150, 167, 169, 179, 296, 364, 366, 396, 425, 462,SL2 and W19. Night buses N25 and N86 additionally serve the town overnight.[35][36][37]
East London Transit route EL1 begins in Ilford; it links up with routes EL2 and EL3 atBarking, with onward connections toChadwell Heath,Becontree andDagenham.[37]
Ilford is aprimary route destination in east London, and main roads link the town to key destinations throughout the capital and theEast of England.[38]
TheA118 runs east-west through Ilford, linking the town withStratford andthe A11 westbound, andRomford eastbound. TheA123 runs north-south through the town, with direct connections toGants Hill andChigwell northbound, andBarking southbound.
TheA406 North Circular Road links the town directly with north and west London destinations, such asWood Green andBrent Cross. It carries traffic northbound tothe M11 forStansted Airport andCambridge. Southbound, the route runs toBeckton, theWoolwich Ferry, and theA13 forIsle of Dogs,Dagenham andTilbury.
North of Ilford, theA12 links the town directly tothe M25,Chelmsford andIpswich. Southbound traffic runs past Stratford, through theBlackwall Tunnel and onto theA2 forDartford and destinations inKent.
There is an intermittent cycle lane between Stratford, Ilford, Romford andHarold Wood along theA118. The lane is part of the formerLondon Cycle Network, as signposted route number 12.
At Stratford,Cycle Superhighway 2 begins and runs throughMile End andWhitechapel to the City. The route is mostly segregated from other road traffic.[39]
Cycleway 16 passes to the north of Ilford, providing a direct cycle connection between theQueen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Stratford andBarkingside.
The Roding Valley Way is a shared-use route running alongside theRiver Roding. It begins in Ilford and runs unbroken toRoding Valley tube station nearBuckhurst Hill,Essex.[40]
Valentines Mansion was built in 1696 and was used as council offices until 1994. It gives its name toValentines Park, the largest green space in the borough.
Pioneer Point consists of two buildings: Pioneer Point North is 105 m tall with 33 floors and Pioneer Point South is 82 m tall with 25 floors.
Raphael House is 99m tall and Lynton House is 93m tall; they were completed in 1969.
St Mary's Church is the original parish church, but for much of the 20th centurySt Clement's Church was the main Anglican church until it was demolished in 1977.St Alban's Church is a redbrick Neo-Gothic building on Albert Road.Ilford Hospital Chapel is the oldest building in Redbridge, dating back toc. 1140.St Luke's Church is occupied by theMar Thoma Syrian Church.
Another building in Illford is St. Augustine's Catholic Church. There are also a number of Muslim, Hindu and Sikh buildings.
Loxford School inLoxford has over 3000 students from 11 to 18,Seven Kings School is half that size.The Palmer Catholic Academy is a Catholic secondary school andUrsuline Academy Ilford is a Catholic school for girls.Cranbrook School was an independent school that closed in 2016.Valentines High School is another seconday school in Ilford closer toGants Hill Station.Uphall Primary School is in Loxford near the North Circular.
The local newspaper, covering the town and the borough, is theIlford Recorder.
The poetsKathleen Raine (1908–2003) andDenise Levertov (1923–1997) were both born and spent their early years in Ilford.[41] Levertov's Russian father, born a Hassidic Jew but converted to Christianity as a student, settled in Ilford as an Anglican minister.[42] There is a tablet memorialising Levertov's father in Ilford'sHospital Chapel.[43] Whilst Levertov wrote lyrically about Ilford, and in particular Valentines Park, in later life,[44] Raine described it as a "suburban Hades".[45]
The Kenneth More Theatre was officially opened in January 1975. It places emphasis on serving the local community, and stages a mix of professional and amateur productions. Its programme is varied, and runs throughout the year with productions generally changing on a weekly basis. It is well known within the local area for its annual pantomime, which normally runs from mid-December to mid-January.[46]
St. Alban's Singers is a mixed voice choir for men and women based in St. Alban's Church in Albert Road, Ilford. The choir meets to rehearse at the church each Tuesday evening during term-time and aims to give three concerts per year.[47]
Space Gallery Ilford opened in 2019.[48]
Kathy Kirby was born in Ilford.
Dame Maggie Smith Actress was born in Ilford.
Louise Lombard Actress lived in Barkingside, Ilford in childhood. Attended St. Augustine's Primary School.
Tamzin Outhwaite Actress lived in Redbridge, Ilford in childhood. Attended St. Augustine's Primary School.
William Morris 1834-1896. Socialist, Interior Designer, Artist, Poet, Craftsman. Lived at 18 Coventry Road, Ilford briefly in 1848.[49]
John Logie Baird 1888-1946. A Scottish inventor who pioneered television technology. Lived at 32 Coventry Road[49]
Anna Karen[50] of On the Buses fame lived at 131 Windsor Road, Illford.[51]
An unspecified venue in Ilford was used for acricket match in August 1737 betweenEssex andLondon. It is the earliest known organised match definitely played in Essex.[52]
Ilford Cricket Club plays home games atValentines Park. This ground was opened in 1897.[53] It was used regularly byEssex County Cricket Club, but inadequate maintenance meant that the county stopped playing there after 2001.[54]
TwoNon-League football clubs play at the Cricklefield Stadium,Ilford F.C. of the Essex Senior League andBarkingside F.C. of the Eastern Counties League Division One South.Waltham Forest F.C. (nowWalthamstow F.C.) played at the Cricklefield from 2008 to 2013.
South Park is one of the largest open spaces in the London Borough of Redbridge and has been awardedGreen Flag status.[55] TheRedbridge Parks Police patrolled the parks until they were disbanded in 2011.
Nigel Benn World Champion Boxer was born in Ilford.
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