Abandoned building behind St. Saviour's on Hanley Road.

Mirandola · January 2012

Old church hall, I think. It's huge and has a massive garden. Anyone know what's up with it?

poxy · January 2012

Are sure it's abandoned? There's a kid's playground in the back that I've seen being used. It's visible from the back of the Laundry centre on Sparsholt Road.

Mirandola · January 2012

It looks pretty damn abandoned.

malcolmsmill · July 2012

the building is the old church hall.. its always looked run down and derelict as it was built after the war with salvaged materials... it always leaked as well. in the 50s it was used by scouts, guides, cubs and brownies with ocassional friday / saturday dances..... it banned the teddy boys as too dangerous. the original hall was flattened in the war by a parachute mine, as was the site the flats were built on towards stroud green lights, the library site opposite these flats, the flats between regina and evershot, the flats half way from evershot to almington and the large estate opposite almington. the site between evershot and almington was the last to be developed in the early 60s and had gone all the way back to wray crescent..... it was a great playground with several half-blownout houses. 148 had all the plaster mouldings blown off in the blast and were badly repaired "by the ministry" in the mid 50s me... I was born in no 89 and grew up in 148, going to montem street school (in montem street) and then in the transfered montem street school in hornsey road

malcolmsmill · July 2012

forgot to say...... the parachute mines were 1 raid, probably on the britains toy factory in granville road (they made grenades and "specials") and the southend line (behind the church hall)

gardener-joe · July 2012

great local history ... thanks

conformable_kate · July 2012

yes, thank you! Reminds me what a lot of these abandoned patches there used to be, and they were around for ages after the war - I remember playing in an old bomb site off the Caledonian Rd in the 70s. Did the Evershot Rd allotment patch come about the same way?

miss annie · July 2012

I remember walking past an old bomb site by St Pauls in the early 70's on the way to visit my Grandad in Barts.

malcolmsmill · July 2012

what evershot rd allotment patch?? on the corner of hanley road from evershot to regina were a block of flats built early 60s and a second block forming an L shape along regina. behind the flats was open ground consisting of grass and a couple of small flower beds (the council was big on grass) that extended from hanley road to opposite corbin street ((is it corbin 1 street back from hanley? I moved in 69) the block nearest stroud green (opposite side of hanley from regina) was built in late 50s... the library was built opposite these flats. the entrance to the church hall was through an alley part way between the traffic lights and sparshot road, down the "cut through" and past a couple of garages /workshops. its good to hear the old united dairies building is still there......... it was the stables and our milkman was the last one there.. he was called curly and his horse called ginger... they ended in about 58 and the dairy changed from a small shop to a small supermarket.. eggs, bread, milk, butter was about it. I moved from 89 to 148 when a babe in arms and we bought 148 when the landlord died in 63... the survey said the base was about 2 inches from next door and leaning slightly.. I still remember filling the gaps between the basement stairs and the wall with sponge so we could plaster the gap... apparently the movement was because of the parachute mine.

Arkady · July 2012

Good stuff Malcolmsmill. Stick around and tell us more.

conformable_kate · July 2012

Allotment patch: it's between Evershot and Regina. For quite a while it was under the council radar; people who knew it passed allotments to friends/ neighbours when they couldn't look after them. It has now become formally recognised and sits on the general Islington allotment list. But it's an odd patch of ground, cutting out the ends of Evershot and Regina gardens at the north end. I always assumed it must have belonged to a dig for victory sort of project; I'll find out more.<div> </div><div>My house (Corbyn St) still leans all over the place, but I grit my teeth and call it London clay ... </div>

Ali · July 2012

I think this is a film of toys being made in the Hornsey Toy factory mid 60s. You can look at the stillsfor free as I couldn't gt the video to work <A href="http://www.britishpathe.com/video/toy-soldiers/query/TOY">http://www.britishpathe.com/video/toy-soldiers/query/TOY</A>;

Ali · July 2012

More about the toy factory <A href="http://www.gibbs.fastfreenet.com/WebPages/BritainsToys/WBritain.htm">http://www.gibbs.fastfreenet.com/WebPages/BritainsToys/WBritain.htm</A>;

Ali · July 2012

If you live at 28 Lampton Road your have a famous house at least in the toy world <A href="http://www.gibbs.fastfreenet.com/WebPages/BritainsToys/OldToySoldierFiles/britainsltd.pdf">http://www.gibbs.fastfreenet.com/WebPages/BritainsToys/OldToySoldierFiles/britainsltd.pdf</A>;

gardener-joe · July 2012

Ali, Thanks for tracking down and sharing all that info; great stuff!

malcolmsmill · July 2012

in the 50s most women who worked in the area worked either at lakeland laundry or brittains toy, both in granville road..... my mother had to be different and started as a secretary for the night school in ashmount school crouch end........ she ended up running the adult education network from archway and whittington schools to highbury corner before moving to lancashire. most people have heard the urban myth about welding a petrol tank...... well its actually true. cars were rare in the 50s and 60s but they were still solid parked on almost every street. about half way along corbin street from evershot to almington, a bloke had a reliant.. they were quite common in those days.... one summers sunday morning we thought an unexploded bomb had gone off.... I was about 7 and ran out to see the hole (idiot kid)..... in the middle of hanley road was a smoking reliant on its roof... we went through the bomb site (now hanley court) to corbin and saw a man flat on his back between 2 wheel ramps, laying in a shallow depression (man shaped like a cartoon) and completely black from head to toe with a gas welding torch in his hand. he had a petrol leak, ran it out of petrol and had started to repair it with a weld.... you know the rest.. BANG the car went over the house roofs about 4 doors from the bomb site and landed upside down. he got it fixed with a chemical patch and was still driving the same reliant when we left 12 years (or so) later

Ali · November 2012

It seems that the toy factory is back in the news. It was where this was made before thye started maiking grenades <A href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229091/Beautiful-toy-aeroplane-bought-child-played-killed-Blitz.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229091/Beautiful-toy-aeroplane-bought-child-played-killed-Blitz.html</A>;

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Abandoned building behind St. Saviour's on Hanley Road.

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