Odds and ends

I simply have to have some pics of the visit by the Queen and the Duke Of Edinburgh to the South Mall and Community House. I believe they also wandered around near Salmon's Brook and the new housing but I didn't even attempt to see what was happening there. It would have helped if they had arranged to have them arrive on Plevna Road as well as depart from there as having them arrive via St George's Road meant about hundred yards of unnecessary barriers guarded from nobody by unnecessary and largely disinterested policemen, less room for the crowds up close and an unnecessary blocking off of access to the South Mall at one end. It would also have been nice to have made more of an effort at Community House where the Queen just drove in an out.

"Your Majesty, over here love" — The Royal Visit 15th October 2003

Anyway I couldn't get good ones with them in it because of various heads and bodies in the way and the shutter delay on my camera when the Queen was yard in front of me. So if you want decent pictures of Brenda and Keith this is the wrong place. I can, however provide some nice pictures of policewomen, rogues gallery of reception committee waiting for the arrival and car at Community House!

Oh yes, and woman standing nearby really did call out something approximating to "Your Majesty, over here love".

Local shops for local people

Here is selection of parades of local shops (well OK, just the one parade now!) that are not featured elsewhere on the site (yet!).

The parade above is on the south side of Westerham Avenue. Disfigured only by an extension on the near side, it seems remarkably elaborate building for such relatively humble purposes and quite out of keeping with the rest of the road. Something about it screams "Co-Op" at me and sure enough 1937 directory indicates the London Co-op at numbers 18 and 20 which are the centre pair.

Montagu Road

The above photos show couple of the new developments on Montagu Road that are housing some of those relocated from the Barbot Estate as well as providing new housing. The developments include 1 and 2 bedroom flats, and 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom houses. Just west of these is another new Laing development called North Nine which incudes use of solar panels to provide electricity.

Walking along Montagu Road in February 2004 I caught sight of horse above the roofs of some cars in the parking bays for Chad Crescent. Moving closer it revealed itself to be metal horse. I had an e-mail from the artist who was commissioned to create "Monty" but sadly it was deleted before I had chance to update this page so I can't give him the appropriate credit.

The left hand photo looks across Montagu Recreation Ground and hints at the limits of the development along the road and how far back it goes. In the south-west corner the cycle speedway track can still be seen (next photo). The border of Lower Edmonton could be considered to be the southern edge of this recreation ground though I think sometimes it gets bundled into N18 (as I can't think why I would have largely ignored it otherwise).

I can't really remember exactly what this area was like before but I am pretty sure that site preparation would have involved demolition of light industrial buildings and warehousing or something like that as similar usage exists either side of the developments. Having said that maps and aerial photos show Montagu Community Park covering much of this area. I don't remember that at all.

This is the tower block on the estate on the corner of Bounces Road and Montagu Road. I liked the way the floors had been numbered. It is called Walbrook House. As result of the refurbishment it now has new paint job and although perhaps the skyline would ideally be better without it, it at least looks quite nice from distance.

As an aside, I did have Nightingale Road in the sentence above to start with but I think that was wrong. It is tempting to think of Bounces Road as the point where the road changes name but it is actually round the slight bend where modern day Goodwin Road runs east. On the 1894 map you can clearly see the road turns east here and runs off to join Pickett's Lock Lane. A 1902 directory refers to all of the road to the lock as Montagu Road although Pickett's Lock Lane is marked on the older map for the section east of the railway at least.

Plevna Road

The first part of the housing replacements for the Barbot Estate blocks is the development on Plevna Road. There is also a neat open space that leads back to the allotments. Clarke Mews on the south-west side of the new development next to the brook is shown in the centre photo. Also on Plevna Road on the south side tucked in next to the swimming pool is Plevna Road clinic. The basement of the clinic has an interesting past as Subterranea Britannica will reveal.

Other Odds and Ends

This is the southern ramp to the pedestrian subway under the A10 just north of the junction with Deansway.

Here is an increasingly rare sight — a patch of green space that hasn't been built on. Given that the likes of Fairview seem to be able to squeeze housing into the smallest of spaces in the most improbable of locations it is refreshing to see this triangle of grass on the side of the Great Cambridge Road just north of the junction with Church Street remains untouched.

This interesting tower is on the north-east side of the railway bridge on Pickett's Lock Lane next to Meridian Way.

Not the best or the most interesting photo in the world. This is lookjing across the Edmonton Cricket club sports ground from the Cambridge Road.

A blurry photo taken through a car windscreen on a dull day. This is part of the back alleyway between Nightingale Road and Charlton Road. I guess it is most of interest for showing just how generous they were with space back then.

Recognise these steps? They are from Dimsdale Drive to the Great Cambridge Road. Not technically in N9 but I consider that area an honorary part of Lower Edmonton and if you were walking from the north or middle of the Galliard Estate towards Edmonton County School you would know about them.