The local history society for the Leyton & Leytonstone area of east London
Our next talk will be on Wednesday 17th July at 7.45pm in St John’s Church Hall off Leytonstone High Road.
Adrian Frost has got together with two other veterans of the 20th and 21st century battles to save the ancient Right of Way across Leyton Marshes, and has compiled a 22-page illustrated history booklet. It tells the story not only of the 1989 and 2004 protests at attempts to move or demolish the Footbridge, but the 1892 opposition to the laying of fenced-off rail tracks across the peoples’ means of getting themselves and their animals from the end of Marsh Lane onto to the marsh meadows.
Adrian Frost and Claire Weiss, members of the Society, and supported by Karl Weiss and his photographs, give a presentation entitled “Orient Way Footbridge: A Historical Overview”. In 2020 our speakers were part of a campaign to improve the accessibility of the bridge which, although it forms a safe and green way of travelling between Leyton and Clapton, can only be used by those fit enough to climb the thirty steps. The Council has listened to campaigners and has undertaken a feasibility study, but finance for installing proper ramps on the footbridge is not yet available.
The entrance to St. John’s Church Hall is in the alleyway just past St. John’s. Buses 66, 145, W13, W14 and southbound 257 stop on the Church Lane side of the station and W15, W16, W19 and 339 on the Grove Green Road side of the station. You should be able to park nearby in Kirkdale Road after 6.30. If using the Central Line get off at Leytonstone not Leyton. The postcode is London E11 1HH.