The first all-British flight took place on Walthamstow Marshes. But it is only one of the many industrial achievements of the Lea Valley, writes Nick Elvin

The Lancaster bomber, the Vulcan and the 504 are just three of the aircraft built by the Avro company that served with distinction during the two world wars and the ensuing Cold War.

But an important event in the company’s development, not to mention the history of British aviation, took place on Walthamstow Marshes a century ago when one man took to the skies in a rickety triplane.

In July 1909, Alliott Verdon Roe became the first Briton to fly an all-British machine. The following year Roe and his brother, Humphrey, established AV Roe and Company in Manchester, and to mark 100 years since the company was founded, the Pump House Museum will this weekend welcome AV Roe’s grandson, Eric Verdon Roe, who will open an exhibition on the company and its history, and give a talk on the subject.

Lindsay Collier, project director at the museum, says Avro played an important role in the defence of Britain.

“Without Roe’s trials and tribulations on Walthamstow Marshes, which produced Britain’s first all-British flight, things might have been very different today,” he says.

In addition to the iconic Lancaster, other World War Two bombers built by Avro included the Lincoln and Manchester. During World War One the Avro 504 was the most produced military aircraft of any nation.

Lindsay adds: “Many different types of aircraft were also built by the company between and after the World Wars that also changed our flying experiences forever.”

These included the Shackleton, used as a marine patrol plane, the Vulcan bomber, which formed part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent during the Cold War, and the Tudor airliner, which took part in the Berlin Airlift. Avro eventually merged into the Hawker Siddeley aircraft company in the 1960s.

However, Roe’s maiden flight is one of many contributions the Lea Valley has made to British industry. The motor and hat industries at Luton, the de Havilland aviation company at Hatfield, bus building in Walthamstow and the development of petrol in Hackney, are just a few other examples.

There are plans in place for the full development of the Lea Valley Experience Museum at the Pump House, and Lindsay hopes this will allow more people to learn about the industrial history of the area.

“The museum should have been built years ago,” he says. “The current project will bring alive the missing part of the story of the industrial revolution.”

The talk by Eric Verdon Roe takes place on Sunday, 11.30pm, at The Pump House Museum, 10 South Access Road, Walthamstow. At 1.30pm, author and historian Dr Jim Lewis will give a talk on the many other aviation stories of the Lea Valley. The exhibition on the history of Avro is open every Thursday and Sunday in August (11am-4pm).

Details: www.leavalleyexperience.co.uk