Category Archives: Uncategorised

Lord Brocket might return to Brocket Park

Lord Brocket is looking to regaining control of his family seat Brocket Hall a little earlier than expected.

This follows the surprise news that the hotel company leasing the mansion has gone into administration.

The peer had to leave his home after being jailed in 1996 for fraud. The house was due to revert to the family in 2056 but Lord Brocket has said that he is now  interested in buying it back.

The Broadwater, the great feature of Brocket Park on the Lea valley Walk, is fed by the River Lea.

Letty Green Church for sale

The Queen and her sister Princess Margaret once worshipped at St John’s Church at Letty Green.

This was in the 1930s when the two princesses stayed with their grandparents Lord and lady Strathmore. Their home was Woolmer’s Park where the grounds ran down to the River Lea.

The Victorian church is now up for sale having been converted into a house.

Letty Green hamlet with its former church is to the south of The Cowper Arms at Cole Green on the Lea Valley Walk.

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Waltham Abbey: Search for King Harold

Today, Tuesday 14 October 2014, is the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 which is being marked at Waltham Abbey by a search for the body of defeated King Harold.

He is outside the east end of the town’s abbey church in an area which was once within the building.

The annual wreath-laying took place at the grave only last Saturday. However, some believe that the Saxon King did not die at the Battle of Hastings as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry but lived on.

The team which found Richard III in a Leicester a car park two years ago are on site to look for a much older man.

Until now it has been thought that Harold was buried at Waltham Abbey after the battle since he had stopped there to pray on his way south to stop the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror landing.

Open Luton Church says Christopher Howse

The Lea Valley Walk passes lovely Luton Church which is highlighted in The Daily Telegraph today by Christopher Howse.

With the new edition of Pevsner’s Buildings of England Bedfordshire in hand he has attempted see the church’s very unusual baptistry dating from about 1340.

There are many other interesting features in the very large building including a chapel built by Mr Speaker Wenlock who died in the Wars of the Roses. More recent is the seat used by our present Queen earlier in her reign when paying an annual visit during her wedding anniversary weekends at Luton Hoo.

To see this remarkable church you walk to the far south end of the shopping centre where a huge window frames the church.

Christopher Howse laments that he found the church locked. Until a few years ago is was always open on weekdays. Keeping the doors, given by Cardinal  Wolsey, locked fails both Luton’s tourism push and Christian mission. Locals should be able to visit their own church.

The Line opens Cody Dock link this autumn

Megan Piper, curator of The Line, has indicated that the sculpture trail which will unlock the Cody Dock crossing will be open by the autumn.

Tonight’s Evening Standard has a preview of the artworks which will make this possible.

The pedestrian Bridge across Cody Dock will mean that after years false starts by a quango it will be possible thanks to crowd funding to walk the last few miles of the tidal River Lea.

Lea Valley wetland plan

The Evening Standard carries news of the locally much discussed plan to create a wetlands centre in the Lea Valley.

The boundaries will embrace are Tottenham Marshes in the north and Walthamstow Marshes in the south as well as the reservoirs alongside.

The Lea Valley Walk runs north-south through the middle of the zone.

Access is to be free with the main entrance opposite the Ferry Boat pub at Tottenham. Funding comes from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Thames Water.

Planning permission is expected to be granted by Waltham Forest Council shortly.