Looking towards Hog Hill

Image: © Marathon Taken: 16 Aug 2017

This is the view from Romford Road where it meets Whalebone Lane North looking towards Hog Hill which is the highest part of Fairlop Plain. The fields are part of Furze House Farm to the south, just over the border with Barking and Dagenham. Furze House Farm is the last remnant in this area to the west of Romford Road and north of Billet Road of the agricultural landscape which predominated until the 1920s. Although the fields here serve as a reminder of how most of the area once looked, this particular farmland is of relatively recent origin. In the early 19th century this land lay within Hainault Forest. The name 'Furze House' refers to the heathy nature of the Forest, furze being an old name for gorse. It was only after the removal of the Forest's legal protection in 1851 that this area was turned over to agricultural use. The area of open countryside in the far north of Barking & Dagenham and stretching into Redbridge was reduced to the current extent around 1960 when the Marks Gate housing estate to the south was completed. This is a classic example of how the Green Belt works. To the south of Billet Road is the estate of Marks Gate while to the north is built-up Hainault. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5436203

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