Day 037
Gallions Reach - Gants Hill - Gloucester Road
Today's collection of stations (or at least the areas they serve) have one thing in common in that they all got their names from people or families, rather than historical usage (Shepherds Bush or Burnt Oak for example) or local landmarks (e.g. Mansion House, Temple, etc.). So we have Gallions Reach, from the Galyon Family, Gants Hill from the Le Gant Family, and Gloucester Road, named after Maria, Duchess of Gloucester.
Sadly that's about the most interesting thing I discover on today's journey. True, it's a grey and miserable day, which doesn't help, but none of the places themselves have much to recommend them - at least not to me.
I start with Gallions Reach - the last station but one of the Beckton branch on the DLR, and also the most easterly as the line actually doubles back on itself.
Like many of the areas served by these outlying DLR stations - despite clearly having been extensively redeveloped - it still seems rather barren and 'dead'.
I suppose the problem is there's only so much you can do with the site (in this case) of a former gas works.
Yes, there's a collection of modern apartment blocks, a marina full of reasonably nice boats, and the brightly coloured facades of a Logistics and Distribution centre behind the station - but the streets are empty and lifeless (save for the occasional lone male wandering the streets carrying a can of Special Brew...)
According to the website of the distribution centre (BDM Logistics) they consider this to be a 'Central London' location - I just hope no-one comes here expecting Nelson's Column.
I wander down to the riverside - and find what seems to be the only remaining bit of the area's history, the grade II listed Gallions Hotel (or 'The Reach' bar & kitchen as it's known today). It was built in the 1880s and can claim Rudyard Kipling as one of its guests.
It's a fairly attractive building - certainly compared with the surrounding blocks - but seems just as lifeless as the rest of the place at the moment. Perhaps things get livelier here at night - although I don't particularly fancy hanging around to find out.
***
I head north (or rather, west, north, and then north-east) to Gants Hill - yet another station on the Hainault Loop section of the Central Line.
The station is a Charles Holden design - although you wouldn't really know it, as it's entirely underground beneath a major roundabout. The exits which pop up at various points around the roundabout are the only sign there's anything below.
What is below is actually a fairly impressive barrel-vaulted ceiling - and this is where Charles Holden's design can be seen.
Above ground the streets radiating from the roundabout are mainly filled with beauty and nail parlours, with the occasional Indian or Chinese restaurant to mix things up a little.
Also to be found - a few metres along Cranbrook Road - is a nightclub which, apparently plays host to stars of sport, fashion and TV and in particular has featured on the bewilderingly popular ITV show - The Only Way Is Essex. Since I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty corkscrew than watch a 'scripted reality' (I mean, really?) show, I'm afraid I can't comment on this. But here's a photo of you're interested in that sort of thing.
I head south from the roundabout to the local park - Valentine's Park - which also contains Valentines Mansion, built in 1696 and largely renovated in the 1760s. It's another grade II listed building, and hosts various events, as well as containing a recreation of a Victorian Kitchen.
The park is a pleasant walk, and has a large lake on which geese and gulls clamour for food from passers-by.
I stroll round the lake for a while, but the day is not one for outdoor leisure, so I soon head back to the station and on to the next stop - Gloucester Road.
***
Like several stations in London, Gloucester Road is an amalgamation of what were once two separate stations.
To the left - the entrance to the deep-level Piccadilly Line platforms. To the right - the sub-surface District and Circle Line entrance.
Inside they share a ticket hall and are to all intents and purposes now all part of the same station.
Gloucester Road itself, as I mentioned earlier, is not so-named because it leads to Gloucester (since it pretty much runs due north-south this would be difficult) but because Maria, Duchess of Gloucester built a house here in 1805.
Or rather, of course, she had one built for her. I can just imagine her in tattered jeans and paint-splattered t-shirt troweling mortar onto a pile of bricks, fag hanging out of the corner of her mouth and a copy of The Sun rolled up in her back pocket...
Up the road from the station, on the way to Hyde Park further north, is St Stephens Church, where the poet T.S. Eliot spent many years as Church Warden.
We're in the heart of Kensington here - to the east are the various museums for which this part of London is famous, and to the north is Kensington Gardens. There are plenty of coffee shops and tarted-up pubs to entertain the locals, and plenty of locals seem to be out and about enjoying them.
However, despite the lure of the latté, I feel like I've seen enough for one day, so home I head, hoping that next time I'll find a little more life and a little less façade.
Sadly that's about the most interesting thing I discover on today's journey. True, it's a grey and miserable day, which doesn't help, but none of the places themselves have much to recommend them - at least not to me.
I start with Gallions Reach - the last station but one of the Beckton branch on the DLR, and also the most easterly as the line actually doubles back on itself.
 |
| Gallions Reach |
I suppose the problem is there's only so much you can do with the site (in this case) of a former gas works.
Yes, there's a collection of modern apartment blocks, a marina full of reasonably nice boats, and the brightly coloured facades of a Logistics and Distribution centre behind the station - but the streets are empty and lifeless (save for the occasional lone male wandering the streets carrying a can of Special Brew...)
According to the website of the distribution centre (BDM Logistics) they consider this to be a 'Central London' location - I just hope no-one comes here expecting Nelson's Column.
I wander down to the riverside - and find what seems to be the only remaining bit of the area's history, the grade II listed Gallions Hotel (or 'The Reach' bar & kitchen as it's known today). It was built in the 1880s and can claim Rudyard Kipling as one of its guests.
 |
| The Reach - or Gallions Hotel |
***
 |
| Gants Hill |
The station is a Charles Holden design - although you wouldn't really know it, as it's entirely underground beneath a major roundabout. The exits which pop up at various points around the roundabout are the only sign there's anything below.
 |
| Gants Hill Station |
Above ground the streets radiating from the roundabout are mainly filled with beauty and nail parlours, with the occasional Indian or Chinese restaurant to mix things up a little.
 |
| Faces Nightclub |
I head south from the roundabout to the local park - Valentine's Park - which also contains Valentines Mansion, built in 1696 and largely renovated in the 1760s. It's another grade II listed building, and hosts various events, as well as containing a recreation of a Victorian Kitchen.
 |
| Valentines Mansion |
The park is a pleasant walk, and has a large lake on which geese and gulls clamour for food from passers-by.
I stroll round the lake for a while, but the day is not one for outdoor leisure, so I soon head back to the station and on to the next stop - Gloucester Road.
 |
| Valentines Park |
Like several stations in London, Gloucester Road is an amalgamation of what were once two separate stations.
To the left - the entrance to the deep-level Piccadilly Line platforms. To the right - the sub-surface District and Circle Line entrance.
 |
| Gloucester Road |
Inside they share a ticket hall and are to all intents and purposes now all part of the same station.
Gloucester Road itself, as I mentioned earlier, is not so-named because it leads to Gloucester (since it pretty much runs due north-south this would be difficult) but because Maria, Duchess of Gloucester built a house here in 1805.
Or rather, of course, she had one built for her. I can just imagine her in tattered jeans and paint-splattered t-shirt troweling mortar onto a pile of bricks, fag hanging out of the corner of her mouth and a copy of The Sun rolled up in her back pocket...
Up the road from the station, on the way to Hyde Park further north, is St Stephens Church, where the poet T.S. Eliot spent many years as Church Warden.
 |
| St Stephens Church |
However, despite the lure of the latté, I feel like I've seen enough for one day, so home I head, hoping that next time I'll find a little more life and a little less façade.
No comments:
Post a Comment