Victorian Asylum on the Hill - Leytonstone to Claybury via Wanstead

This walk follows partly the traces of a journey I undertook in March 2007 inspired by a line from Ian Bourn's Leytonstone set film Lenny's Documentary. From the Green Man Roundabout and the Leyton Stone I pass through Wanstead (Woden's Stede) to look at the Victorian Orphanage for the children of Merchant Seaman. Then I cross the River Roding to Claybury Hospital - a late Victorian Asylum now converted to a private estate called Repton Park.
You can watch Ian Bourn's film Lenny's Documentary here at the Carroll Fletcher website until 8th July carrollfletcheronscreen.com/20...
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Music:
Dream Yourself Smooth by Puddle of Infinity
Passing Time by Kevin MacLeod
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[@frank-katieshelley2404]

My maternal grandmother was sectioned after the birth of my mother and ended up in Claybury for 28 years. My mum was told she was dead but later discovered the truth and, with the help of my paternal grandmother, secured her discharge. My mum actually walked into the hospital when she and a friend were out walking and my grandmother recognised her as the six month old baby that had been taken from her arms the day she was hospitalised. Many years later, by pure coincidence, we met an ex-psychiatric nurse who had nursed my grandmother in Claybury. She said she was just a sensitive soul who ended up as ward skivvy and was not 'mad'. Post-partim psychosis is now recognised and treated appropriately.

[@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester]

Wow! So many memories. I worked in the asylum. It was grim. And Claybury and Barkingside was my playground 50 years ago. I did so many soft drugs! I lived at 24 Caterham avenue. But wherever I went, when I saw the water tower, I knew I was close to home.

[@chrisdstard5644]

There's nowhere quite like an abandoned old asylum for atmosphere.

[@andicheese1763]

Thanks for another great video John. I was brought up in Redbridge from about 9 years old and remember all the old school stories about Claybury Hospital. When I was a teenager we actually used their football pitch to play some matches on. It was a single pitch with quite a gradient on, it was always a chore playing the second half going up hill. It's a shame the grounds are lost and sold to developers who whitewash all the history and that of people's lives.

[@trevorbarre5616]

It's a shame that you couldn't carry on to what remains of Friern Hospital, the Old Colney Hatch Pauper Lunatic Asylum, John. Then there's also Napsbury, Harperbury and Shenley Hospitals, the north London equivalent of the Epsom cluster. All gone now, of course, to be transformed into 'luxury' flats

[@FreeLancerLondon]

We walked around Claybury Park yesterday. Lovely place with beautiful views. Only been open to the public since 2005. We used to drink in the Crooked Billet pub opposite Repton Park and you would often see residents of the mental hospital having a quiet drink under the supervision of a nurse or two. Always happy to see them enjoying a little normal life. I wonder what happened to the patients when the hospital closed.

[@midnightteapot5633]

I lived in Hermon Hill as an infant in one of those flats you showed before moving to Australia forever . My mother was also a patient in Claybury for a few months prior to us leaving , she hated the place !!

[@midnightteapot5633]

@Hugothepugalier Went to Melbourne .

[@yth5216]

I live in Repton Park, fascinated by its history and learnt today that my uncle once worked as a nurse at Claybury Hospital. The church at the centre has been converted to a swimming pool, if you google photos it looks amazing and the pool is where the congregation once sat!

[@DaemonZodiac]

If u r really interested in the history of Repton Park, then look deeper. That church wasn't built in 1890 for the occasional Chapel visit. That gyms ceiling was hardly built for a recreational hall. And ive found an old 1805 painting of the Manor House with a series of diagonal red brick buildings behind.. Even tho the hospital wasn't built until 1890. If u haven't explored the worldwide phenomenon of old buildings being re purposed and an old world civisation being covered up, then check out Tartarian architecture on KZbin. America was already there when we found it, with thousands of buildings whose history has been lied about..

[@jacquelinepaddock7535]

Thanks for the walk. In the '60s when I was a student nurse in Epping I was told that there was a special ward at Claybury for nurses who had cracked under the strain, poor girls!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks for the comment - that's an interesting story, now added to the folklore

[@midnightteapot5633]

My mother was a nurse in the 50s and 60s (Connaught hospital ) and she finished up spending some time in Claybury as a patient herself. She always told me that Doctors and Nurses are ironically the most difficult patients heh.

[@rockyfella45]

Having grown up in this area - Claybury and surrounds - it was really interesting to see this 'outside' perspective on the location. Your presentation has a tranquil and relaxing quality to it and I enjoyed your pacing throughout. When you finally got to the concrete stairs in the forest of Claybury and filmed over the fence - at 16.35 - 16.43 - the building at screen left is the exterior of the old Victorian chapel. Claybury also had its own magnificent Victorian Music Hall (which I believe became the swimming pool and gym). The place even had its own bank! It was a real community within a community...not quite Vatican City, but self-contained, all the same. I obtained some casual labour over there, courtesy of a friend, in the 1980s, and he gave me a tour of the tunnels and the water tower....which you had to walk through the kitchen to get to. Absolutely the most bizarrely atmospheric - as well as poignant - place around. The video The Secret of the Asylum contains some shots of Claybury before it was converted to a nouveau-riche housing estate...

[@HonestSonics]

I grew up almost in the shadow of that asylum in the 90's. It was out of use by then but it remained this slightly ominous ever present during my childhood, baring down on us from the hill. My dad used to say you could hear shrieks and various noises floating down while it was in use. Great video, thanks :)

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks HonestSonics. It's got a really powerful presence eh. I've heard people say similar things around Pentonville Prison

[@hotpotato4027]

Great video as usual John👍 I grew up in Clayhall from about aged 9/10, I’m 53 now 😕 so from mid 70s. I Remember ‘Pancake hill’ next to the hospital grounds, the school used it as part of our cross country running route. I never had the guts to go deeper into the hospital grounds though, not sure what I’d see or who would chase after me lol. I prob missed a great ‘little’ adventure.

[@seasmacfarlane6418]

Thank you for this video - I lived in Leytonstone for 45 years, and my aunt was a nurse at Claybury in the 1940s. I worked at Wanstead and Barkingside, and used to go to the wonderful old Whipps Cross Lido in the summers of yesteryear. Such memories.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

My pleasure Seas - many thanks for sharing those memories

[@seasmacfarlane6418]

@@JohnRogersWalks My pleasure too John; I'm travelling down south in August for a family event (I live North of the Border) and am looking forward to a drive around to see the places of my youth - and although I knew about Low Leyton I have never seen that stone, nor of the origins of Wanstead - more please!!!

[@whitestone4805]

Just caught up with this walk John. There is something about those shots of deserted suburbia, especially on very hot days that have a profoundness to them that I can’t quite put into words. But they prompt a tangibly poignant response in me. Wonderful.

[@Heinz57ish]

As someone who grew up in Redbridge, it's nice to hear compliments!

[@ccjelley2390]

You didn't mention the fine UR Church in Wanstead High Street which had originally stood on the site of St Pancras Station! A shame more people don't walk in this area. Another riveting video.

[@dennisperkins1989]

My mum was a nurse who worked nights at claybury at one time it had its own farm. We used to go there to collect conkers in the autumn and sometimes used walk around the corridors I found the place quite peaceful. Years later I mentioned to my mum that I'd found the place peaceful and she told me that in those days, the late 60's , that most of the patients were drugged up to the eyeballs so that they meagre staffing levels could maintain control.

[@jeangeorge5470]

I worked at Claybury as PA in Personnel when it was the Waltham Forest HA. We used to Carol sing carols to the patients at Christmas , they remembered the words despite their poor health. Happy times before Care in the Community came into being before the eventual closure. Jean George

[@marcusgotti8231]

I grew up here I was born 2 years before they closed the hospital but I never knew the history of the area, to me they were just flats and the field lol

[@simonralexander]

The post and paved area at around 18 mins in the video is the old Asylum Tennis Courts, now part of Claybury Park.

[@Richardsrailway]

I was born and bread in Leytonstone since 1974. Grew up on claremont road Leyton, as did 3 generations of my family from the Victorian era . I’d heard the stories and notably stigma about claybury but yet had never seen where it was , there is much history in Leytonstone and certainly the local area’s ,

[@JohnRogersWalks]

were you around Claremont Road for the protests in the 80's and early 90's Triplevalve?

[@Richardsrailway]

John Rogers we moved out in 1980 , but was aware that it had become of interest. We lived at 62 , my grandparents originally lived at 66 , my aunt lived on one corner and across the road next to cat hall road bridge lived her sister . I remember old dolly Watson as a kid as did my family . Originally before the railway was there , there was a river or brook that ran along side that road . Filibrook road in Leytonstone takes it name from one of the old rivers I believe .

[@nzd3742]

I walked through Claybury on my way back from Fairlop Waters yesterday. I sat on that spiral staircase :) Claybury Park is amazing and I'm definitely going to go back for a more in-depth explore. I managed to walk right through the "Repton Park" complex. I think I went through a gate I wasn't supposed to at the Hazel Lane end, and I had to buzz through a locked gate with security guards watching me as I exited at the front. I agree, it's very creepy, in its cosseted extravagance and with the knowlege of what was there before.

[@MultiMrPhill]

Obvious comparison is Warley Hospital in Brentwood. They look so similar I wonder if the same Architect worked on them? My Mum said Warley Hospital was built by her Ancestors, Pavitt Brothers Buidling Firm in Aveley, but I've never found confirmation of this. Love John's comment about the High Fences being built to keep people In when it was a Hospital, & now they are there to keep people Out because it's a Private Residential Development!

[@johntheman2006]

My late grandparents and father lived on Ravensbourne Gardens. Thanks for sharing John.

[@bowlocks]

My aunt Maggie worked in Claybury, some of the stories she told were horrifying and i dont think we were told the worst of them, poor bastards

[@LiamOFarrell]

Great video John. Thanks. I lived in Leyton for a few years. Right opposite the Plough n Harrow pub. Proper Irish.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Many thanks - all roads lead to Leytonstone it seems - I've still not been in the Plough and Harrow somehow, apparently a good music venue now

[@wendyHew]

I went to school in clayhall and at the time the asylum was still there but had been closed for years. We used to go over there in the evenings when younger and go inside. Very scary haha, but alot of fun terrifying eachother. They still had padded rooms and long hallways inside giving it a real haunted feel.

[@adrianleman5158]

Great videos,nice to see my late father's area where he grew up.

[@ashembers8414]

Hi John. Great video that brought back many memories. As a kid in the mid 70's spent loads of time with mates making dens in Claybury forest when it was the grounds of the hospital. We also played a sort of "it" game up near Egg Clump on what we called Pancake Hill. Holes in the concrete fence along Ravensbourne gardens was the way into a sort of private playground as many dared not to enter at the time. Interestingly there was no fence between the forest and the hospital and you would quite often come across a patient out for a walk (not sure if the walks were allowed). Never got into trouble up there but that's probably because we could run fast... Keep them coming. Will look out for the source of the Roding video as now live out of town in Ongar with the river close by. Best, Richard

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Many thanks for sharing those memories Richard. Interesting that the fences were erected for the gated community rather than the hospital. I love it over that way. Really must get back up the Roding

[@Garciamrcool]

I was offered a refurb job on a property in Repton Park. Thought I would research online. Found this and was transfixed. Wonderful and atmospheric. Agree Repton Park looks like a creepy place. Reminds me of a psychiatric hospital in Exminster in Devon. Very similar. Think ill give it a miss...

[@JohnRogersWalks]

+Garciamrcool thanks very much Garciamrcool - it's certainly a strange and bewitching place

[@markahomer]

Really enjoying these videos. What a find! In Wanstead - the hospital facade was used in the TV Doctor in the House series as St Swithuns. As a teenager in the 70s, when we moved from Leyton to Barkingside I could see Claybury tower from my bedroom. John, you find locations I never knew existed or others I had forgotten. Public service videos during Lockdown!

[@drg111yt]

Thank you John - I lived in Wanstead briefly and drive through much of this area periodically . Unusual semicircular staircase round an oak at 15:08

[@hamjazz]

My aunt was matron at Claybury in the early 1950's

[@harvoin]

Adjacent to Claybury at Woodford Bridge was the Boys Garden City (Dr Barnardo's Homes) between 1912-1977, centered on Gwynne House, now a hotel.

[@craigk621]

Yep I went there to box as a youngster

[@obrYo]

Magical. Thank you.

[@chitpaul]

Near to my home you came. Love your videos on these days trapped inside.

[@ExplorerGinge]

I've heard that Leyton came from "Lea Town", as the original settlement would have been roughly where ASDA and Leyton Mills retail park is now (and I guess Temple Mill Lane makes sense in that regard), as the River Lea back then would have had channels all the way over up to there. Leytonstone then for the milestone marker point (in the same vein as was Mile End, at the mile stone marker from the Old Gate/Aldgate of the City). I would love to find you some references for my ramblings, but I can't remember where I read that all.

[@BritishBoy1971]

Very enjoyable to watch. Thank you!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks for watching

[@JagBetty]

That was a good one John, plenty of great stuff to explore...I've always liked those little passageways that thread themselves through estates and lead you out to another area. Another enjoyable video, thanks.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

+Jag Betty thanks Jag - greatly appreciated, yes those byways give me a bigger thrill than the more established paths. Hope the wife's knee is on the mend

[@lestorhaslam]

I believe Claybury was the first asylum to open its doors and let the non-violent patients roam free. When it was being built there was even a railway track laid down Snakes Lane East to transport the building materials from Woodford Station.

[@jde9095]

Great walk, thoroughly enjoyed.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Darrell Eidse thanks Darrell

[@JonnyShire]

Fantastic, as always!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Jonny Shire thanks Jonny

[@johnleach7358]

Another cracking film John. I knew nothing about this place before . However I've often wondered what that water tower was whilst driving nearby ( It pokes out of the trees) . I've often wondered how many came back from WW1 or 2 and ended up in these places. I know of at least one person who spent decades in one . Great film John

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks very much John. Good point about war veterans - I know that Ivor Gurney (poet/composer) lived out his days in Dartford Asylum after coming back from WW1 - sure there were many others

[@normathomas8276]

really enjoyed this walk john been looking up claybury hsll its gtounds were laid out by Humphrey Repton fascinating history as always thankyou so much

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Norma - really glad you enjoyed it. You know I did record a bit about Repton as there appeared to be some landscape evident in the woodland but I cut it as I felt the video was getting a bit long

[@amosbernardmansell2204]

I was the guy who put the grass cutting fold under the A406 bridge. As were Originally found the grass cutting folder In Roding Valley Park on the old playing field next to the A406 bridge.

[@jonathandriver3415]

Leytonstone House, which is partly used by Tesco, some of it can be seen inside. Leytonstone House was a mental institution. Some information is found in a pub near by. The Green Man roundabout has changed a lot over the years, no more cows stopping the traffic. So much has changed over the years in the areas of your walk.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Indeed Jonathan - Tesco also have some info on Leytonstone House, fascinating history with the Buxton family as well

[@bighorse10048]

A good video. So you walked from one old asylum to another ( Leytonstone House on the Green Man roundabout to Claybury). Steve

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Good point Steve - hadn't thought of it that way, I've been reading about the Buxton's over the last few years so always think of Leytonstone House in that context

[@stewartconacher6552]

Interesting video as always John.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Stewart

[@chrismccartney8668]

Claybury was most modern with farm and theatre the latest in medicene and therapy of the time. The most modern in europe when built My Nan was in for a while i visited a number of times when about 8yrs with my father once had to go past padded cells due to an incident in the corridors - creepy .

[@chrismccartney8668]

And you started by Leytonstone House another Hospital for mental patients

[@JohnRogersWalks]

of course, thanks for pointing out Chris

[@mariana4059]

Amazing walk - loved that staircase around the tree. Beautiful evocative music too. And Claybury - how weird that it has been converted into luxury apartments. I always wonder about spaces that have contained great trauma - whether some traces of it remain behind somehow, and can be detected by people now living there?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thank you Mariana. Yes there must be traces of all the trauma etched into the brickwork, certainly not what people have paid premium prices for you'd think

[@steveoutdoorsuk3602]

Apart from starting up a vigilante group, what can be done to stop our lovely British pubs being closed forever? :(

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

LOVELY.

[@ianpennell3626]

Catching up on this video from a few years back, and it’s such a pity how developers sanitise and erase the past when they do up these old institutions. “Repton Park” my arse! I believe Claybury along with other asylums did pioneer less restrictive forms of treatment from the fifties onwards, there was a psychiatrist who lived and worked there then who went to our church in Buckhurst Hill called Denis Martin who wrote a book about his and his colleagues’ programmes of humanising mental health treatment and supporting people moving into the community. I remember when I did holiday jobs as a student driving a hospital van in the 70s I moved a group of inpatients from there out with their possessions to supported accommodation in the community. I subsequently spent my career in the mental health services, no doubt influenced in part by such experiences.

[@voxley19]

Fascinating and enjoyable video John. May I ask.what the name of the app is that you use on your phone to measure the distances you have walked. Thanks.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Voxley - I just use the Apple Health/Activity App

[@lemenelli5100]

Thoroughly enjoyed that walk :)

[@JohnRogersWalks]

+Lemenelli thanks

[@dee74raz]

Wow you travelled to my neck of woods. I live very close to where you walked. Surprised you didn't film the pond in Claybury Park or perhaps you didn't travel to that pond. Curious to know where is that tree with the stairs in the park (15:08 of the video). I would love to go and see that. That must have been added recently, because I've not seen any signs or adverts pointing to that place when I last explored there some years ago. Where did you hear about the tree with the stairs? Was that discovered by accident?

[@HonestSonics]

I'm fairly sure it is along the woodland path that you come to as you enter the forest from Claybury Park.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Great area Dee - I did pass the pond but there were loads of school kids there and didn't want to film them. You find the tree with the stairs if you just walk straight up through the wood from the pond

[@alexthomson7465]

"À hint of urine" 😂🤣

[@paulmessis1985]

I weirdly assumed leyton was to do with the ley line (meridian line) ???

[@JohnRogersWalks]

yeah it would have been nice - mostly translated as the settlement by the river lea or it could be meadow settlement. unfortunately ley lines are a much more recent idea

[@joefleming4017]

like your vid

[@lindsayflight8741]

My mum was a pasint at clayburrey so I've been there

[@lindsayflight8741]

A paishnt my mother was sick and had too vist her so I watched this as a memory of my mum

[@garryferrington811]

Iain Sinclair mentioned twice.

[@mickelderfield5965]

You've got to be mad to buy a house in Repton Park.

[@antonszandorlavey1797]

My Nan worked at the asylum.