WILLIAM MORRIS AND PRESENT-DAY WALTHAM FOREST

William Morris was born in Walthamstow in 1834, and spent his early years in what was then rural Essex - an area which left a profound and lasting impression on him: his love of Nature, his fascination with history and architecture, his passion for story-telling were all rooted in his childhood experiences.

Today Walthamstow is part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, itself part of Greater London, but the Morris links remain strong, and many buildings and other landmarks familiar to Morris still exist. The Borough’s motto is ‘Fellowship is Life’, from Morris’s novel A Dream of John Ball.

The grounds of the WILLIAM MORRIS GALLERY, now attractively laid out as Lloyd Park, were once the extensive gardens of Water House and include the original moated water-garden where Morris and his brothers and sisters played as youngsters. To commemorate the 1996 Centenary of Morris’s death, trees featured in his poem Tapestry Trees have been specially planted to form a tree-trail in the park. Other modern features of Lloyd Park include the Changing Room Gallery, an exhibition space for contemporary art, and the Horizon Cafe.

The historic centre of Walthamstow is Walthamstow Village, located around the medieval St.Mary’s Parish church (pictured left) where the Morris family worshipped and where William was baptised. Nearby are the Tudor timber-framed Ancient House and Vestry House Museum, housing Waltham Forest’s local history collections.

Not far from the Gallery and Lloyd Park in Forest Road (known as Clay Street in Morris’s time), a Blue Plaque on the present fire station records the site of Elm House, where Morris was born on 24th March 1834. At the eastern-most end of Forest Road are outlying sections of Epping Forest, which Morris knew as a child and which he campaigned to conserve in his very last years. Also on the edge of the Forest was Woodford Hall, the Morris family home in the 1840s; it no longer exists, but the tomb of Morris’s father (and other members of his family) is conspicuous in the churchyard of St. Mary’s, Woodford. Nearby is the Forest School, attended by Morris’s brothers and where his tutor, the Rev. F.B. Guy, was headmaster.

One of the landmarks of the Forest which left a deep impression on Morris as a boy was the historic Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge, (external) pictured right, now owned by the Corporation of London) at Chingford in the north of the Borough. Today the lodge is open to the public, and displays replica items and information about Tudor food, costume and hunting. Visitors can take part in free events that are arranged throughout the year.

At the southern end of the Borough of Waltham Forest is Leyton, where Morris’s mother lived for a number of years. Leyton House, her home from 1857 to the early 1870s, no longer stands but the adjacent Etloe House survives as an interesting example of early neo-Gothic domestic architecture. At St. Mary’s church, William Morris gave away his sister, Isabella, in marriage in 1860. Members of Mrs. Morris’s household are also buried in the churchyard there.

Visitors to the William Morris Gallery arriving at Walthamstow Underground or bus station can walk along Hoe Street, where Morris lodged with his tutor before going up to Oxford and will pass High Street, the present day centre of Walthamstow, with its famous street market (nearly a mile long).

For more information to help you plan your visit to Waltham Forest, click here.