CURRENT READING: A POTTED HISTORY OF ILFORD

Recently, I've had some enquiries from expats interested in their old homes including Ilford and surrounding towns.  Newcomers to this area have asked:  Is this a part of London or Essex?  Certainly Essex is included in some of the postal addresses and this question was raised by the celebrated Ilford historian, a good friend, the late Norman Gunby who wrote his fascinating book A POTTED HISTORY OF ILFORD.  He chronicled some of the town’s intriguing stories of times past and the interesting characters living in the area when he was a young man.

Mr Gunby’s love of Ilford resulted in ten years’ study. He informed us that Ilford included the districts of Gants Hill, Newbury Park, Barkingside, Hainault and Fairlop.  From 1926 until l April 1965, Ilford was a Municipal Borough in the county of Essex and is now part of the London Borough of Redbridge. 

The Ilford post code always fascinated Mr Gunby. By comparison with most others, the Ilford area was considered small, although it extends from the Thames (Barking Reach) in the south, to the “Wake Arms” (now demolished) at Epping Forest in the north – a distance of eleven miles. 

The Ilford post code area letters are IG. The letter G may seem puzzling, but is explained by the fact that when Ilford’s code was allocated on 17 November 1971, it was decided to use I for Ilford with G being the last letter of the name Barking (because it was formerly the Ilford & Barking postal area). The following explains some of the areas so familiar to Ilfordians:

IG1:  Ilford – central and south

IG2:  Gants Hill, Newbury Park/Aldborough Hatch
IG3:  Seven Kings and Goodmayes
IG4:  Redbridge Lane East/Woodford Bridge Road
IG5:  Clayhall      
IG6:  Barkingside and Hainault
IG7: Chigwell
IG8:Woodford Green/Woodford Bridge/Claybury
IG9: Buckhurst Hill
IG10: Loughton
IG11: Barking