Day 89
Upminster - Upminster Bridge - Upney - Upper Holloway - Upton Park
We've been having something of a heatwave across the country for the last few days, and despite the sky being a little hazier when I first set off this morning, today promises to be as stiflingly hot and sticky on the tube as ever.
And I'm going to be pushing myself today as I'd really like to get all the U stations done on one go if at all possible.
On paper at least it doesn't look too bad - with four out of the six stations being gathered in reasonably close proximity at the eastern end of the District Line.
The fourth and sixth stations, however, are less conveniently placed - particularly the latter, as it's about as far across town from the eastern end of the District Line as it's possible to go. Still - it's worth a shot, and would be a neatly packaged day of (admittedly uncomfortable) travelling if I pull it off.
I start then, with an hour and a half's journey from the western end of the District Line (Ealing Broadway) to the eastern end - Upminster.
Both this station, and its next door neighbour Upminster Bridge are in the once rural area known as Upminster, which is centred around the River Ingrebourne - a tributary of the Thames.
There are a few shops on the street south of the station - Station Road - which leads to a crossroads , on the corner of which is the Church of St. Laurence.
Although it has mostly been rebuilt, parts of the tower date back to the original 13th Century building, and it is the tower that is the most significant part of this particular church - for reasons more connected to science than religion.
It was from the top of this tower in 1709 that the Reverend William Derham, rector of Upminster, first accurately measured the speed of sound.
The good reverend climbed to the top of the tower, and used a telescope to observe a shotgun being fired off in the distance. Using a half-second pendulum he then recorded the time it took for him to hear the sound of the shot, and from that was able to calculate the speed of sound.
These days the top of the tower barely manages to overlook the nearby trees, so one assumes that the land surrounding the church was considerably flatter in the early 18th Century...
Heading west from the church I walk towards the next local landmark, the nature of which - if I tell you it is located in Windmill Field - you may be able to guess.
A sign welcomes me to Windmill Field with a smattering of history concerning the windmill itself, and a couple of photographs of the mill in all its glory.
Which is just as well, since I'm not actually going to be able to see the real thing.
It's currently completely covered in plastic sheeting (making it look like it's about to be sent somewhere via courier) which indicates that a massive refurbishment project is underway. So all I can do is look at the pictures on the sign, and carry on along the street towards Upminster Bridge.
Not surprisingly, the station is named after a crossing over the local river - the Ingrebourne. However, at this point along its length this is little more than an overgrown and rather unexciting stream tucked away behind long runs of fencing, and the bridge over it is so inconspicuous as to be easily missed, even when standing on it.
The station itself is a little quirky, for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the ticket hall is octagonal in shape, and art deco in design, reflecting its age - having been built in the early 1930s.
More striking, however, is the large swastika emblem in the entrance hall.
Now, I'm sure most people are aware that the swastika began life as a Hindu symbol meaning "well-being and good fortune", and that it was appropriated by the Nazis who have given it a bad name it hardly deserves.
Nevertheless, it was (and sadly still is) such a potent symbol of the fascist movement that it is a little disconcerting to see it so prominently displayed on a public building.
I've been unable to discover the exact reason for its inclusion in the station design. Some sources claim that the swastika was 'a popular design' at the time - but this was in December 1934, by which time Hitler was Chancellor of Germany and the swastika had already been flying on Nazi flags for several years at the Nuremberg Rallies.
Looking back from our modern point of view it seems hardly possible for the swastika's Nazi symbolism to have escaped the notice of those who designed the station - but perhaps it was, at that point, just another design element. After all, just because a bit of stonemasonry features a Cross or a Star, it doesn't mean the building is showing inherent support for, say, Switzerland or China...
With nothing else in the area to divert me, and with the clock ticking, I catch the tube from Upminster Bridge and head back along the District Line a few stops, to Upney.
***
Upney Station is on Upney Lane, and is now in the district of Barking, though it was once an area in its own right. Barking Hospital, next to the station, was once Upney Hospital and there is still an Upney Baptist Church to the north of the station.
The streets consist mainly of unremarkable council houses, built in the 1930s, and at first glance you would be forgiven for thinking there's nothing here of any real interest.
But tucked away behind the rows of semi-detached houses, to the south of the station, is a somewhat surprising find.
It's called Eastbury Manor House, and is an Elizabethan property now owned by the National Trust. Built in about 1573, the house retains many of the original features, including exposed timbers, lead drainage and interior wall paintings.
There doesn't seem to be any sign of life from within the building as I wander around the neat gardens outside, and looking through the downstairs windows all I can see is bare empty rooms - nothing especially ornate. It's all a bit of a disappointment - much like the shrink-wrapped windmill in Upminster - and after only a few minutes taking photos of the exterior, I leave Eastbury Manor and head back to the station.
***
After a single stop's journey to Barking, I change from the District Line to the Overground Line to travel to my next destination - Upper Holloway.
This is a (relatively) short stretch of the Overground network between Barking and Gospel Oak, and trains run only every 15 minutes, so I have a bit of a wait before continuing my journey. Similarly the train seems to be running at a slower than usual speed on this stretch of the line, so by the time I arrive at Upper Holloway nearly an hour has passed. Not very good as far as my intended schedule is concerned as I still have two more stations I'd like to visit after this one.
The station is on Holloway road, in the area known as Holloway (unlike Upney - the station and the area still share the same name). This is within the Borough of Islington, and I had therefore expected it to be rather gentrified, but in fact this isn't (yet) the case.
There are various shops and cafés along Holloway Road, but these are nothing much to write home about, being mainly beauty parlours, newsagents and coffee shops, with the occasional estate agent thrown in.
To the south of the station are a couple of points of interest, however, the first of which is pretty hard to miss.
The large floral sculpture of a superior looking cat (is there any other kind?) sits at the entrance to Whittington Park - and astute readers will have no trouble putting two and two together and realising that this is all in some way connected to the legend of Dick Whittington - London's most famous Lord Mayor.
If any more clues were needed, a couple of hundred metres to the north of Upper Holloway station is Highgate Hill, where there's a Whittington Hospital and a stone called the Whittington Stone, which is said to mark the point where Dick Whittington heard the sound of Bow Bells, which - unlikely as it seems - 'spoke' to him saying "Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London..."
I wander into the park - but again, it's nothing special. A few bits of exercise equipment and a kids' playground are slightly dwarfed by the large fenced-off football pitch which takes up the northern half of the park. What little green space there is left over is - today - full of mums and toddlers.
A little further south again, opposite a colourful (if historically and architecturally inaccurate) mural featuring the aforementioned Mr. Whittington, is a small, unregarded side street called Kingsdown Road.
Along this, at a distance of roughly 92 metres, is an utterly insignificant little blue terraced house, whose erstwhile ape-descended inhabitant was a man called Douglas Adams - who, while living here, wrote a novel called the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
It had already been a successful radio series, and would later go on to be a TV series, a stage show, a film, a video game and a series of comics, but it was at number 19, Kingsdown Road that the radio script-writer became the novelist.
That does seem to be it for the area though, so having stopped for a bite to eat, I head back to the station once more.
***
And once again I have a long wait for the train to take me back to Barking, and the District Line to my next stop - Upton Park.
So much so that even before I begin exploring this area, I realise that I'm not going to achieve my hoped-for objective of visiting all the U stations in one day. It's already 3pm, and right now I'm very much in East London, while my next - and last - "U" is in Uxbridge, which is not only the western terminus of both the Piccadilly and Metropolitan Lines but also quite possibly the most westerly town in Greater London.
It will take me a good hour and a half to get there, even if I don't spend that long here, and then there's the time I need to have a look around...
So, reluctantly, I decide to end my day's travelling here at Upton Park.
And, sadly, it's not the most salubrious of areas at which to round off the day.
The street outside the station is Green Street, though only by name, as the buildings are very much brick and concrete. It's a shopping street, with many of the businesses reflecting the largely Muslim community that lives here.
The station itself was - unusually - built by property developers in 1877 to serve the housing development they had built nearby. 'Upton' was a nearby village, and the developers added the word 'Park' to give it more of an appealing gentility. The name was gradually adopted by the surrounding area.
Just to the south of the station is a large covered market - Queen's Market - originally a street market run by Jewish stall-holders, and now the usual collection of clothing and household goods.
At the bottom of Green Street I turn eastwards and head a short way along Barking Road.
I've noticed a shop marked on the map that seems oddly out of place here for some reason, though it certainly seems popular when I arrive outside its door.
The 'WHO' Shop is nothing to do with the World Health Organisation, but is actually an emporium selling all things related to the TV show 'Doctor Who'.
Quite why such an establishment should have settled way out here in East London, as opposed to - say - the seemingly more lucrative Covent Garden area is something only the owners can explain. Nevertheless, there are a handful of German students taking photos of the exterior when I arrive, and several more inside browsing the impressive collection of props, memorabilia and - let's face it - nerdy tat, that form the shop's merchandise.
Retracing my steps from the WHO shop to Green Street, I pass a sculpture of several football players at the junction of the two roads - Barking Road and Green Street - the reason for which will soon become clear...
Green Street also marks the boundary between the areas known as West Ham and East Ham - and West Ham football club played for many years at a ground just off this street called - officially - the Boleyn Ground (after the house which formerly stood there - at which Anne Boleyn is said to have stayed). Unofficially the ground was known simply as Upton Park.
Three of the players in the 1966 World Cup winning England squad - Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters - all played for West Ham (the fourth figure in the sculpture is Ray Wilson, who was in the photograph on which the sculpture is based).
Following the Olympics in 2012, West Ham have moved into the former Olympic Stadium, as I noted when I visited Stratford a little while ago.
A quick look at the map will show you that their original ground was actually in East rather than West Ham, so the move to Stratford (which is in the West Ham area) does at least mean their name makes sense again.
Their former home is, however, not long for this world.
As I pass by I can see the demolition crew hard at work and there is very little of the original structure left. It is now - appropriately enough perhaps for this area - in the hands of property developers, who are going to be building new homes and leisure facilities on the site.
And that's all I manage to fit in today.
It's a little disappointing not have finished off the letter, and a tad galling to have to head out again for just one more "U". On the other hand - since there are only two "Vs" in total - I'm going to take the unusual (for me) step of covering two letters in one journey.
Which means that, all being well, next time out I'll be crossing two letters off my list in one go - which can't be bad going!
Ta-ta till then!
And I'm going to be pushing myself today as I'd really like to get all the U stations done on one go if at all possible.
On paper at least it doesn't look too bad - with four out of the six stations being gathered in reasonably close proximity at the eastern end of the District Line.
The fourth and sixth stations, however, are less conveniently placed - particularly the latter, as it's about as far across town from the eastern end of the District Line as it's possible to go. Still - it's worth a shot, and would be a neatly packaged day of (admittedly uncomfortable) travelling if I pull it off.
I start then, with an hour and a half's journey from the western end of the District Line (Ealing Broadway) to the eastern end - Upminster.
 |
| Upminster |
Both this station, and its next door neighbour Upminster Bridge are in the once rural area known as Upminster, which is centred around the River Ingrebourne - a tributary of the Thames.
 |
| Station Road |
There are a few shops on the street south of the station - Station Road - which leads to a crossroads , on the corner of which is the Church of St. Laurence.
 |
| Church of St Laurence |
Although it has mostly been rebuilt, parts of the tower date back to the original 13th Century building, and it is the tower that is the most significant part of this particular church - for reasons more connected to science than religion.
It was from the top of this tower in 1709 that the Reverend William Derham, rector of Upminster, first accurately measured the speed of sound.
The good reverend climbed to the top of the tower, and used a telescope to observe a shotgun being fired off in the distance. Using a half-second pendulum he then recorded the time it took for him to hear the sound of the shot, and from that was able to calculate the speed of sound.
These days the top of the tower barely manages to overlook the nearby trees, so one assumes that the land surrounding the church was considerably flatter in the early 18th Century...
Heading west from the church I walk towards the next local landmark, the nature of which - if I tell you it is located in Windmill Field - you may be able to guess.
A sign welcomes me to Windmill Field with a smattering of history concerning the windmill itself, and a couple of photographs of the mill in all its glory.
 |
| Upminster Windmill Background Info |
Which is just as well, since I'm not actually going to be able to see the real thing.
 |
| The Windmill - under wraps |
It's currently completely covered in plastic sheeting (making it look like it's about to be sent somewhere via courier) which indicates that a massive refurbishment project is underway. So all I can do is look at the pictures on the sign, and carry on along the street towards Upminster Bridge.
Not surprisingly, the station is named after a crossing over the local river - the Ingrebourne. However, at this point along its length this is little more than an overgrown and rather unexciting stream tucked away behind long runs of fencing, and the bridge over it is so inconspicuous as to be easily missed, even when standing on it.
 |
| River Ingrebourne |
The station itself is a little quirky, for a couple of reasons.
 |
| Upminster Bridge |
Firstly, the ticket hall is octagonal in shape, and art deco in design, reflecting its age - having been built in the early 1930s.
More striking, however, is the large swastika emblem in the entrance hall.
 |
| "Wellbeing and good fortune" - or fascist hate? |
Now, I'm sure most people are aware that the swastika began life as a Hindu symbol meaning "well-being and good fortune", and that it was appropriated by the Nazis who have given it a bad name it hardly deserves.
Nevertheless, it was (and sadly still is) such a potent symbol of the fascist movement that it is a little disconcerting to see it so prominently displayed on a public building.
I've been unable to discover the exact reason for its inclusion in the station design. Some sources claim that the swastika was 'a popular design' at the time - but this was in December 1934, by which time Hitler was Chancellor of Germany and the swastika had already been flying on Nazi flags for several years at the Nuremberg Rallies.
Looking back from our modern point of view it seems hardly possible for the swastika's Nazi symbolism to have escaped the notice of those who designed the station - but perhaps it was, at that point, just another design element. After all, just because a bit of stonemasonry features a Cross or a Star, it doesn't mean the building is showing inherent support for, say, Switzerland or China...
With nothing else in the area to divert me, and with the clock ticking, I catch the tube from Upminster Bridge and head back along the District Line a few stops, to Upney.
***
Upney Station is on Upney Lane, and is now in the district of Barking, though it was once an area in its own right. Barking Hospital, next to the station, was once Upney Hospital and there is still an Upney Baptist Church to the north of the station.
 |
| Upney |
But tucked away behind the rows of semi-detached houses, to the south of the station, is a somewhat surprising find.
 |
| Eastbury Manor |
It's called Eastbury Manor House, and is an Elizabethan property now owned by the National Trust. Built in about 1573, the house retains many of the original features, including exposed timbers, lead drainage and interior wall paintings.
 |
| Architectural Info |
There doesn't seem to be any sign of life from within the building as I wander around the neat gardens outside, and looking through the downstairs windows all I can see is bare empty rooms - nothing especially ornate. It's all a bit of a disappointment - much like the shrink-wrapped windmill in Upminster - and after only a few minutes taking photos of the exterior, I leave Eastbury Manor and head back to the station.
***
After a single stop's journey to Barking, I change from the District Line to the Overground Line to travel to my next destination - Upper Holloway.
This is a (relatively) short stretch of the Overground network between Barking and Gospel Oak, and trains run only every 15 minutes, so I have a bit of a wait before continuing my journey. Similarly the train seems to be running at a slower than usual speed on this stretch of the line, so by the time I arrive at Upper Holloway nearly an hour has passed. Not very good as far as my intended schedule is concerned as I still have two more stations I'd like to visit after this one.
 |
| Upper Holloway |
There are various shops and cafés along Holloway Road, but these are nothing much to write home about, being mainly beauty parlours, newsagents and coffee shops, with the occasional estate agent thrown in.
To the south of the station are a couple of points of interest, however, the first of which is pretty hard to miss.
 |
| Dick Whittington's Cat |
 |
| Info about the cat sculpture |
If any more clues were needed, a couple of hundred metres to the north of Upper Holloway station is Highgate Hill, where there's a Whittington Hospital and a stone called the Whittington Stone, which is said to mark the point where Dick Whittington heard the sound of Bow Bells, which - unlikely as it seems - 'spoke' to him saying "Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London..."
 |
| Inside the park |
 |
| Not sure how many of those landmarks were actually there at the time... |
A little further south again, opposite a colourful (if historically and architecturally inaccurate) mural featuring the aforementioned Mr. Whittington, is a small, unregarded side street called Kingsdown Road.
Along this, at a distance of roughly 92 metres, is an utterly insignificant little blue terraced house, whose erstwhile ape-descended inhabitant was a man called Douglas Adams - who, while living here, wrote a novel called the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
It had already been a successful radio series, and would later go on to be a TV series, a stage show, a film, a video game and a series of comics, but it was at number 19, Kingsdown Road that the radio script-writer became the novelist.
That does seem to be it for the area though, so having stopped for a bite to eat, I head back to the station once more.
***
And once again I have a long wait for the train to take me back to Barking, and the District Line to my next stop - Upton Park.
 |
| Upton Park |
So much so that even before I begin exploring this area, I realise that I'm not going to achieve my hoped-for objective of visiting all the U stations in one day. It's already 3pm, and right now I'm very much in East London, while my next - and last - "U" is in Uxbridge, which is not only the western terminus of both the Piccadilly and Metropolitan Lines but also quite possibly the most westerly town in Greater London.
It will take me a good hour and a half to get there, even if I don't spend that long here, and then there's the time I need to have a look around...
So, reluctantly, I decide to end my day's travelling here at Upton Park.
And, sadly, it's not the most salubrious of areas at which to round off the day.
The street outside the station is Green Street, though only by name, as the buildings are very much brick and concrete. It's a shopping street, with many of the businesses reflecting the largely Muslim community that lives here.
The station itself was - unusually - built by property developers in 1877 to serve the housing development they had built nearby. 'Upton' was a nearby village, and the developers added the word 'Park' to give it more of an appealing gentility. The name was gradually adopted by the surrounding area.
Just to the south of the station is a large covered market - Queen's Market - originally a street market run by Jewish stall-holders, and now the usual collection of clothing and household goods.
 |
| Queen's Market |
At the bottom of Green Street I turn eastwards and head a short way along Barking Road.
I've noticed a shop marked on the map that seems oddly out of place here for some reason, though it certainly seems popular when I arrive outside its door.
 |
| The WHO Shop |
 |
| Everything from Sonic Screwdriver Earrings to Cybermen Christmas Baubles |
Quite why such an establishment should have settled way out here in East London, as opposed to - say - the seemingly more lucrative Covent Garden area is something only the owners can explain. Nevertheless, there are a handful of German students taking photos of the exterior when I arrive, and several more inside browsing the impressive collection of props, memorabilia and - let's face it - nerdy tat, that form the shop's merchandise.
 |
| World Cup Sculpture 'The Champions' |
Retracing my steps from the WHO shop to Green Street, I pass a sculpture of several football players at the junction of the two roads - Barking Road and Green Street - the reason for which will soon become clear...
Green Street also marks the boundary between the areas known as West Ham and East Ham - and West Ham football club played for many years at a ground just off this street called - officially - the Boleyn Ground (after the house which formerly stood there - at which Anne Boleyn is said to have stayed). Unofficially the ground was known simply as Upton Park.
Three of the players in the 1966 World Cup winning England squad - Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters - all played for West Ham (the fourth figure in the sculpture is Ray Wilson, who was in the photograph on which the sculpture is based).
Following the Olympics in 2012, West Ham have moved into the former Olympic Stadium, as I noted when I visited Stratford a little while ago.
A quick look at the map will show you that their original ground was actually in East rather than West Ham, so the move to Stratford (which is in the West Ham area) does at least mean their name makes sense again.
Their former home is, however, not long for this world.
 |
| The last remaining turret... |
As I pass by I can see the demolition crew hard at work and there is very little of the original structure left. It is now - appropriately enough perhaps for this area - in the hands of property developers, who are going to be building new homes and leisure facilities on the site.
And that's all I manage to fit in today.
It's a little disappointing not have finished off the letter, and a tad galling to have to head out again for just one more "U". On the other hand - since there are only two "Vs" in total - I'm going to take the unusual (for me) step of covering two letters in one journey.
Which means that, all being well, next time out I'll be crossing two letters off my list in one go - which can't be bad going!
Ta-ta till then!
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