East Ham Station to the Olympic Park via the Greenway

East Ham Station is on the District and Hammersmith & City Lines and numerous buses stop near to the station.

[1] Exit East Ham station on to High Street North and turn left. Walk about 15m to reach the Lidl supermarket, slightly set back from the road.  The walk starts from outside Lidl's [1] . Continue along High Street North and turn left into Burges Road. At the mini-roundabout turn right into Keppel Road. Walk down Keppel Road until you reach Barking Road.

[2] Turn right into Barking Road and continue to the traffic lights.On the opposite side of the road you will see Newham Town Hall [A].  At the lights cross first Barking Road and then immediately cross High Street South and continue down High Street South, passing the Police Station and Newham College East Ham Campus on your right to reach Central Park Road.  Turn right into Central Park Road, cross the road and continue until you reach the junction with Bartles Road.

[3] Turn left into the Bartles Road and enter Central Park [B]. Having entered the Park go through the first gate on your right and then take the right fork. There is a cafe and toilets to your left. At the next  fork go right and follow the path round to reach the exit gate onto Cheltenham Gardens.

[4]Turn right into Cheltenham Gardens, cross the road and turn left into Central Park Road. Go past the Elm Church and turn immediately left into Geoffrey Gardens. Continue to the end of Geoffrey Gardens, turn right into Haldane Road, and take the second left into Boston Road. At the end of Boston Road, cross Masterman Road.

[5] Go straight ahead through the gate into Brampton Park [C]. By the pergola (photo) turn right and after a few metres go diagonally across the grass (or follow the path if you prefer) to re-gain the path running alongside  the red metal fence which encloses a hard-surface sports area. Continue along the path to exit the park onto Lonsdale Avenue. Just before the exit gate you will notice a range of exercise equipment - these are located throughout the Park and offer a variety of opportunities for physical exercise (photo). Turn right along Lonsdale Avenue and cross the road at the pedestrian crossing.

[6] Continue a few metres along Lonsdale Avenue and then turn left onto a path signed to the Greenway. Either go up the steps directly ahead, or take the ramp to the left, to access the Greenway [E].

[7] At the top of the steps or ramp, turn right onto the Greenway.  Follow the Greenway straight ahead for approx. three miles. The Greenway crosses a number of roads along its route, all of which are crossed using controlled pedestrian lights.

There are a number of points of interest along the route: Shortly before reaching Barking Road a large church can be seen to the left. This is St.Andrew's Church [F]  After the fifth junction the extensive playing fields on the left are part of the Memorial Recreation Ground [H]. Just before the Recreation Ground is a large wooded area , also on the left of the Greenway, which obscures the East London Cemetery [G] . After reaching a bridge used as a graffiti wall on either side (photo) the strange object on the left, now also covered in graffiti, is known as The Snail.[I]. This is part of an ancient pumping mechanism. Perhaps the main site of interest along this part of the Greenway is located on the left after the end of the bridge over Abbey Creek (a somewhat dried up waterway) - Abbey Mills Pumping Station [J] . Shortly after passing the Pumping Station a decorative iron line inset into the walkway marks the place where the Greenwich Meridien [K] crosses the Greenway.

[8] Just before reaching Stratford High Street, go up the wide flights of steps which take the Greenway over the High Street and continue to the Greenway Gate [9]. For step-free access follow the path to the right of the steps and use the pedestrian crossing to cross Stratford High Street and continue straight  ahead to re-join the Greenway..

[A] Newham Town Hall: the former East Ham Town Hall, is a Grade II listed Edwardian structure designed by architects A. H. Campbell, H. Cheers and J. Smith. It was built between 1901 and 1903 and  was opened by Passmore Edwards, a Victorian newspaper proprietor and philanthropist, on 5 February 1903. The exteriors are decorated with relief carvings in artificial stone (yellow) and terracotta (dark red). The principal feature is an elaborate banded clock tower with an open belfry and pinnacles. Beneath the clock are decorative heads in Art Nouveau style. Most of the porches and doorways have elaborate Renaissance details.

[B] Central Park: This 25-acre historic park, dating back to 1898, was formed from the grounds of the early 18th-century Rancliffe House, which was acquired by East Ham Urban District Council in 1896 in order to create a park in the centre of the growing town of East Ham. Designed by the Council's Surveyor, it had tree-lined avenues and walks, recreational open spaces, a sundial, drinking fountains and seats provided by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, and extensive ornamental gardens along its whole northern edge, which remain largely intact today. These ornamental gardens then, as now, were divided into two distinct areas, in the east more formal rose gardens were centred on a bandstand, which by 1971 had been replaced by the ornamental pond and fountain, and to the west more undulating gardens with serpentine walks and specimen trees and shrubberies. There were glasshouses in the north-west and north-east corners, since removed. By 1920 the Art Deco war memorial [photo] to the 1600+ residents of East Ham killed in WWI had been erected, surrounded by a garden.  A £1.9m Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded to Newham Council in 2007 has enabled restoration of the park, including improved café facilities and public toilets; an extension to the bowling pavilion to provide a base for gardeners; new footpaths, lighting and re-landscaping of the tranquil garden by the historic war memorial.

[C] Brampton Park: Brampton Park was opened in 1915, and is simply laid out with shrubs and trees, some of which, around the periphery, are mature. Near the entrance in Masterman Road is an area of formal landscaping with a pergola [photo]. The park is surrounded by modern railings and adjoins East Ham Jewish Cemetery [D] which was established in 1919. Inside the main entrance is a small area of flowering shrubs, and there are pollarded limes along the two main axes, otherwise the whole area is laid out symmetrically with tarmac paths and gravestones set in gravel. There are some traditional classical funerary monuments. In the centre is a white painted brick prayer hall with cloister /colonnades designed by H W Ford, 1924. Next to the prayer hall is a hedged war memorial of gravestones set in grass. Amongst those buried in the cemetery  is Solomon Mendeloff (c.1970) who as Ted 'Kid' Lewis was the world welter-weight boxing champion in 1915.

[E] Greenway: The Greenway was created as a linear footpath and cycleway along the top of the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, which was built for the Metropolitan Commissioners for Sewers between 1860-65 by Joseph Bazalgette. Improvement works have recently been undertaken to facilitate access to the Olympic Park. There are various landmarks of historic interest at points along the length of the Greenway as well as views across Newham. 

[F] St.Andrew's Church: A Grade II listed building, St. Andrew's was built 1867-70 and designed by James Brooks (1825 -1901) who was one of Victorian England’s most distinguished church architects. He favoured Gothic Revival style and many fine examples of his churches can be found in East London.  His churches are characterised by their wide, lofty naves, narrow aisles, raised chancels, clerestories of plate-traceried windows and lancets. They are described as noble and beautifully proportioned buildings which epitomize the mid-Victorian ideal of the Anglican town church. They were built relatively cheaply, often of brick, and their unembellished interiors and bulky exteriors have something of the gravity of early Cistercian architecture. Following severe bomb damage during the second World War extensive repairs were carried out. The church is now used by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - the largest Brazilian church in the UK.

[G] East London Cemetery: The East London Cemetery Company (Grange Road) was founded in 1871 and the cemetery was laid out on flat terrain bordered on the north by the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, now called The Greenway. The original main entrance to the cemetery remains in place and consists of stone piers and elaborate cast iron double gates, with pedestrian entrance gates on either side; inside is a picturesque Gothic lodge, used as the office. The cemetery has a large number of historic tombs, set among mature trees and grass, with paths laid out symmetrically. Among the monuments is the memorial to the 550 victims of the paddleboat 'Princess Alice', which sank in 1878 in the Thames near Beckton, and a monument to 73 people who died in the Silvertown Explosion of 1917. 

[H] Memorial Recreation Ground opened in 1897, and was the playing fields where West Ham United Football Club originated, before moving to Upton Park in 1904. The Memorial Ground was also the home of the East London Rugby Club. It is adjacent to the East London Cemetery, which lies on its boundary, and is overlooked by The Greenway. It remains essentially laid out as playing fields, and has an avenue of mature plane trees flanking the main north/south path, and some shrubs planted along the border. The Grassroots Resource Centre now provides community facilities in an innovatory building with an undulating turf-covered roof. The Grassroots Resource Centre was designed by Eger Architects with Ove Arup, and is sunk into the parkland with a turf-covered roof and access via a ramp.

[I] The Snail: is the nickname given to the piece of redundant pumping station machinery, now covered with graffiti, situated above Abbey Creek on the left of the Greenway. 

[J] Abbey Mills Pumping Station: The Abbey Mills Pumping Station (1865-68) was the last to be constructed in the first phase of London’s main drainage project in the 1860s, masterminded by the engineer Joseph Bazalgette. It was also architecturally the most extravagant and has come to be known as the ‘cathedral of sewage’. The style of the building has been variously described as Byzantine, Italian Medieval, Russian, Ruskinian Gothic and Moorish. The Builder magazine commented in 1868 that the building ‘seemed to be an elegant structure in a swamp [which] might be taken for a mosque or Chinese temple’. The original twin ventilation chimneys, richly ornamented and standing 212 feet high, gave this building a prominence that has consistently attracted public attention.

[K] Greenwich Meridien: is marked on the ground by an analemic - or human - sundial which was designed by artist Kate Williams, who worked with children from nearby Manor Primary School to design the numbers for the sundial, and with members of Newham Church of Christ to develop the motto at the centre of the dial. To read the time, someone needs to stand at the appropriately marked point at the centre of the dial.The time is read off from where their shadow falls. It was produced with the financial support of The London Development Agency, Access to Excellence, the London Borough of Newham and the assistance of Thames Water, and inaugurated in May 2004.

http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/index.html for information on parks, cemeteries and open spaces in Newham, including the Greenway.

http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/3341/ for architectural information on Newham Town Hall.