Churches of the British Isles

All Nations Church is on the north-west Walton Road corner with Church Road in Little Ilford. Baptists opened the Grantham gospel mission in 1899, thanks to F Tite, coal merchant, who put up an iron building in nearby Southborough Road (see below). The present site gained a hall in 1934 and, in 1959, a Sunday school. From its early days the mission, although undenominational, had support from local Baptists, and in 1963 it joined the Baptist Union until later closure.

The iron room St Mary's Mission was on the east side of Southborough Road (now Grantham Road), where Ogden House now stands, some way north of this shot of the road's entrance. It opened in 1899, erected by F Tite to serve a crowded new district with no other places of worship. People were said to be in danger of drifting into 'heathenism of the worst kind'. A permanent mission church was dedicated in 1909, later superseded by Church Road hall (above).

Little Ilford Baptist Church sits at the south-east corner of the Romford Road and Sheringham Avenue junction. It started in 1889 as Little Ilford Tabernacle in High Street North. The present site gained an iron chapel in 1895. This burned down and was re-erected in 1897. A permanent church was built in 1905. A new hall, mainly for youth work, was added in 1957 and it is this which survives today. The original site was sold for the apartment block which sits next door.

The Parish Church of St Michael & All Angels is at the north-east corner with Toronto Avenue. St Mary the Virgin (see links) remained the only parish church for Little Ilford until 1894 when a mission hall was opened on this site. The original building was a 'tin church' which was replaced in 1898 by the nave and aisles of a permanent red-brick church, designed in the Perpendicular style by Charles Spooner. A chancel was added in 1906, but the present building is entirely new.

Celestial Church of Christ is at the south-west corner of Romford Road and Sixth Avenue. It began as Manor Park Primitive Methodist Church in 1885. Mission work was launched in 1886 from an iron building. The present building was erected in 1901. Reluctant to accept amalgamation when post-war attendances fell, the church merged in 1963 with Manor Park church (see links). The buildings were sold for the Anglican Reformed Episcopal Church for a period of time.

Zion Church formerly sat at the south-eastern corner of the junction between Romford Road and Fifth Avenue. The site was first purchased by Strict Baptists for their chapel. This was registered for worship in 1916 but the meeting cannot have been particularly successful as the church appears to have ceased operations in 1922. The building's style is unknown. Today the site is occupied by a small retail and accommodation premises, hosting Manor Fish Bar in 2008.

City of London Cemetery Chapel sits within the cemetery on the north side of Aldersbrook Road. The cemetery opened in 1856 in eighty-one hectares with a parkland atmosphere, formal gardens, tree-lined avenues, and local heritage. The mortuary chapel is dated to 1855, designed by William Haywood in rubblestone with ashlar dressings. A three-bay nave sits under a tiled pitched roof. A small bell tower is located to the left of the entrance facade.

All photos on this page by P L Kessler (from 2010-2011). The tour now progresses into Waltham Forest.