As the Wanstead Historical Society filled the library for its talk last week on 200 years of the high street, reporter Douglas Patient delves into its history up to the 1920s.

With the introduction of the railway to Wanstead in 1856, the rural village's population was rising.

This led to the building of churches along the high street, with Christ Church built in 1861 and a Camden church, demolished for the building of the original St Pancras Station, was re-erected piece by piece in 1867 as the current United Reformed church.

In the mid-Victorian times, in 1881, the population of Wanstead was 4,448.

However by the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, the population had more than doubled to 9,197.

Wanstead Historical Society Secretary Mark Galloway said: “In the early to mid-Victorian era, the high street was dominated by great houses, occupied by rich merchants.

“Only Manor House, now a bar and restaurant, looks the same as it was then.

“It was very rural and children would have been seen regularly playing in the middle of the high street.

“All this was steadily changing with the introduction of the railway to Wanstead, it made it possible to live here and work in central London.”

The site of the current Wanstead Church School was listed as school as early as 1790 but it underwent building work in 1890 before being demolished and rebuilt again in the 1980s.

In 1897 the fountain on George Green was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 60th year as monarch.

Soon after in 1903, The George Hotel, now a Wetherspoons pub, was rebuilt.

The pub was the geographical centre of Wanstead and was standing as far back as 1752.  

Buses were introduced to Wanstead in the 1920s with the London General Omnibus, which included the 40A service to Camberwell Green and the 96 to Putney.

Mr Galloway said: “It was a remarkable service for its time. You can only get as far as West Ham now!”

“In the 1920s there were also 12 postal collections and deliveries a day, so you could send your post in the morning and get a reply later in the day.

“The make-up of the high street has changed in regards to shops, in 1900 there were no restaurants but in 1995 there were 15.

“On the other hand there was one estate agent shop in 1900 but in 1995 there were seven.” 

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

High Street, Wanstead, in 1904.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

The George Hotel, pictured in 1904 a year after it was rebuilt.