Estate agent Kieran Thomas who is marketing the cottage here said: “This beautiful cottage, rich in history, is one of five homes originally built for the staff of Wanstead House. It is believed to have once housed the saddler, who crafted the leather equipment for the estate’s horses.”
Wanstead features in the new book from England’s greatest living novelist Jonathan Coe – and we can’t help thinking he might have been writing it when he visited for the Wanstead Book Festival in 2023.
The Proof of My Innocence is in some ways strongly in the tradition of much of Coe’s novels, reflecting contemporary politics in personal stories, but it also adds a layer of crime fiction too. The mention of Wanstead is no more than a cameo (the sort of thing we might have won in an auction) but for the record here it is:
And therein is perhaps a slogan for us: Wanstead… for some reason I really like it.
A plan to redevelop the large Holy Trinity church site on Hermon Hill has reached a key stage as it moves from public consultation to consideration by planners.
The ambitious scheme involves demolishing two halls on the site along with a vicarage, and replacing them with a new church hall, 19 residential flats in a three-storey apartment building, nine town houses, a children’s play area and new landscaping.
An earlier project was given planning permission in 2013 but did not go ahead. The new planning application states:
The development is being bought forward by the Holy Trinity South Woodford PCC as a not- for-profit development of the site, to ensure the longevity and continuity of the Holy Trinity church and the associated community uses through the provision of a purpose built community hall and public play space and improvements to the existing church building, funded through the provision of residential dwellings on the site.
The vicar at Holy Trinity, the Reverend Abi Todd, said in a statement on the project website there had been a process of community involvement during which questions about the scheme had been raised, and that she hoped construction would start in Spring 2026. She added:
[T]he proposal includes 28 new homes (9 townhouses and 19 apartments). It is hoped that the sale of these residential units will fund the majority of the new church & community facilities. The church is not actively seeking to make a profit from the scheme; indeed, members of the church family have already given around £500k and some further fundraising is likely to be required.
The plan is not without its opposers, though. Wanstead architecture blogger Ray Weekes has objected to the demolition of the old church hall, saying the building is a “fine example of the turn of the century Arts and Crafts architecture”, adding:
Arts and Crafts buildings such as this are unusual in the area and should be preserved for their heritage value. Particularly in this type of suburban residential environment which has little in the way of buildings of architectural or historic value. The building has a striking aesthetic value and can be singled out as a landmark within the local street scene. The current building relates to the church and presents a public face, whilst the setting of the two buildings together represents the spiritual origins of the parish.
The application, available here, will now be considered by Redbridge planners with a decision anticipated for March.
The industrial dispute by teachers belonging to the NEU at Wanstead High ended last week following agreement with the school and Redbridge on. most of the union’s outstanding issues.
So in case you’re wondering, that was the sound of a massive sigh of relief by parents who were facing having children at home for an additional nine strike days.
Parents of pupils at Wanstead High who have been frustrated by five days of teacher strikes in the past two weeks have taken to demonstrating outside the school, calling for the NEU union to end its industrial action.
More than 450 parents have signed a petition calling for a halt to the strikes while negotiations continue. The petition says that following meetings with the union and the local authority, and having examined all the documents from all sides, the group has concluded the union should “now immediately stop all strike action”. It says:
The strike action is not the appropriate route to resolve [the outstanding disputes] and the impact on our children is disproportionate.
Negotiations to resolve the dispute were taking place at the arbitration service ACAS on Thursday but it is not yet known if agreement has been reached.
UPDATE 3PM: It looks as if agreement was not reached at ACAS even after some concessions by the school, though further meetings have been mentioned. If nothing changes though there will be two further strike days next week.
Wanstead historian Greg Roberts has played a part in uncovering what might turn out to be the only existing adult portrait of William Long-Wellesley, the cad whose ruinous tastes led to the magnificent Wanstead House being demolished for scrap.
Though William and his wife, Lady Catherine, were the Posh and Becks of their day with huge celebrity and comment in the papers, there aren’t any known portraits of William as an adult.
Then the above picture turned up in an attic in St Ives, Cornwall, where William is known to have spent some time. Greg Roberts was invited by an art dealer there to help compare it to other likenesses and cartoons which still survive.
He has concluded that the portrait is an “extremely important” discovery, and is hoping further tests on it by other experts will be conducted. He also hopes the portrait may one day return to Wanstead
The story of William’s marriage to the richest heiress in Regency Britain, Catherine Tylney-Long, has become internationally famous since the publication of Angel and the Cad by Geraldine Roberts (2015). Long-Wellesley went on to wreck Catherine’s ancestral home at Wanstead House, leading to the fire sale of its priceless art and treasures; even her cherished family portraits were lost. Although William retained some of Catherine’s heirlooms, they had to be auctioned off in 1852 because he never paid the storage fees, and their current whereabouts are unknown.
He concludes:
I am not yet sure what will become of the painting, but it would be wonderful to see it back in Wanstead. Imagine the irony of forcing Wicked William to gaze upon the wreck of his once proud estate from his position on the wall of the Temple at Wanstead Park – This would be a small yet symbolic act of penance for the misery and cruelty he wrought upon Wanstead House and its ancestral owners.
