IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Romford Road, CHIGWELL, IG7 4QW

These cottages are near the entrance to Hainault Forest Golf Club.

Next door to Image, which is to its left.

Hainault Forest Golf Club has two 18-hole courses (The Upper and The Lower Course). This is the part of the club house on Romford Road.

Next door to Image which is to its right.

Redbridge Cycling Centre http://www.redbridgecyclingcentre.co.uk/ offers a safe environment for on or off road cycling without the worry of motorcars.

Once a narrow track this is now a reasonably wide road to a new housing development, but still leads nowhere.

This is the view from Romford Road with the towers of the City of London looming large and The Shard dominating. 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

Four cyclists in a 'criterium' road cycling race, photographed by a race marshal. Photo captured Saturday 1 May 2021 at 13:46.