ILFORD
Includes Cranbrook and parts of Clayhall, Gants Hill
& Newbury Park
Great Ilford, Essex (Dom. Ilefort), on the Colchester road, 6½ miles
from Whitechapel church; 7 miles by Great Eastern Railway, Colchester line. Inns: Angel;
Red Lion.
Ilford is a ward of
Barking parish, but for
ecclesiastical purposes was in 1830 constituted a district parish: population 3689.
Ilford, no doubt, owes it name to the ford over, the Roding here; but whether it was an
"ill ford," as Morant supposes, or an "eald (old) ford," as Lysons
thinks more likely, we will not undertake to determine. It is a respectable roadside town,
but looked livelier in the old coaching times, when the Angel was a busy posting house,
and the other half-dozen inns seldom lacked customers. The Roding has been made navigable
for barges to Ilford (2 miles above Barking) where is a wharf. By the river is a large
corn mill, and there are extensive lime and brick works.
Ilford Church is a neat structure of white brick, Early English in
style; erected in 1831, and extended eastward, and painted windows inserted, in 1866. In
the tower is a peal of 6 bells. Better worth looking at is Ilford Hospital, on the north
of the main road, originally founded by Adeliza, Abbess of Barking, as the Hospital of the
Virgin Mary and St. Thomas the Martyr, for 13 "lepers of the king's servants."
[Handbook to The Environs of London :
James Thorne 1876]
Church Records:
- St. Mary, High Rd
Baptisms 1831-1949,
Marriages 1835-1924,
Burials 1833-1926 : ERO
- Chapel of Hospital of St. Mary & St. Thomas of Canterbury, Ilford Hill
Built 1783, early records with St. Margaret, Barking
Baptisms 1952-1960 : GL
- St. Alban the Martyr, Albert Rd
Marriages 1902-1948 : ERO
- St. Andrew, The Drive, Cranbrook
Baptisms 1923- date,
Marriages 1924- date : Not deposited
- St. Clement, Park Ave
Formed 1893
- St. Luke, Baxter Rd
Baptisms 1909- date,
Marriages 1916- date : Not deposited
- St. Margaret of Antioch, Perth Rd
Baptisms 1914- date,
Marriages 1947- date : Not deposited
- St. John Vianney (Roman Catholic),
Stoneleigh Rd, Clayhall
Formed 1944
- St. Peter and St. Paul (Roman Catholic),
High Rd
Baptisms 1895- date,
Marriages 1897- date : Not deposited
- Baptist Chapel, Clementswood
Marriages 1940-1942 : ERO
- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Cranbrook Park
Marriages 1906-1973 : ERO
- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, High Rd
Marriages 1899-1961 : ERO
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Click the image to view
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St. Mary's Church
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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St. Mary's Church c.1905
from Shirley O'Donnell's
postcard collection
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St. Clements Church
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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St. Margaret of Antioch's
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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St. Peter & St. Paul's
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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