We started our tour of the council housing on the London Loop last week. The final sections take us to Purfleet on the northern bank of the Thames.
Section 14: Moor Park to Hatch End
The South Oxhey Estate, a London County Council ‘out of county’ estate created on land compulsorily purchased south of Watford from the Blackwell (soup) family in 1944. Built as part of the post-war drive to disperse London’s population. By 2007, 70 percent of its homes had been lost to Right to Buy but the estate’s original planning and design quality still stands out.
Section 15: Hatch End to Elstree
Some council homes in Carpenders Park – built by Watford Rural District Council in the 1950s.Despite the rendering, they’re all of a piece and feature some fine brickwork.
Section 16: Elstree to Cockfosters
Ducks Island and the fringe of the post-war Stanhope Estate built by Barnet Urban District Council, then in Hertfordshire, after the Second World War. The estate is seen at its finest in Southfields.
The Dollis Valley Estate further on was built by the London Borough of Barnet in the late 1960s. Its southern part is an interesting example of Radburn-style planning with housing bordering open green space with service roads to the rear.
The northern, system-built five-storey blocks were less successful and are now subject to a controversial demolition and regeneration scheme.
Section 17: Cockfosters to Enfield Lock
Dendridge Close – a 1970s housing scheme built by the London Borough of Enfield.
Winnington Road: council flats built in the 1960s, now owned and managed by the London Borough of Enfield.
Beaconsfield Estate, Enfield Lock – approved by Enfield Municipal Borough Council in 1962; four 13-storey tower blocks and low-rise built by Wates for the London Borough of Enfield in 1968.
1960s flats on Ordnance Road, built by Enfield Municipal Borough Council if before 1965 or the London Borough of Enfield if after.
Peter Barber’s wonderful Ordnance Road scheme of 11 three-storey townhouses and four one-bed mews houses; social housing built by the London Borough of Enfield in 2017.
Section 19: Chingford to Chigwell
Guys Retreat: an Epping Forest District Council scheme of the 1970s – a workaday design but great location.
Buckhurst Hill, particularly the interwar housing on Thaxted Road built either by Buckhurst Hill Urban District Council before 1933 or Chigwell Urban District Council after that. It’s now part of Epping Forest District Council. On Blackmore Road you can see the London loop sign.
Section 20: Chigwell to Havering-atte-Bower
Buckthorne House on the Greater London Council’s Copse Estate glimpsed from Hainault Forest Country Park – approved in 1966 and built by direct labour. Now in the London Borough of Redbridge.
Section 21: Havering-atte-Bower to Harold Wood
The Harold Hill Estate is a London County Council out-of-county estate developed from 1947. By 1962, the estate housed 30,000 people. On the fringes of the estate are some ‘superior’ homes designed for middle-class occupation, fulfilling the post-war ideal that council estates should serve a cross-section of the community. Further in are some low-rise flatted blocks along Chudleigh Road and post-war, flat-roofed Orlit precast concrete frame permanent prefabs along Colne Drive. Since 1965, part of the London Borough of Havering.
Section 22: Harold Wood to Upminster Bridge
Cockabourne Court – sheltered housing built by Havering in 1970.
The Hacton Lane Estate – 548 homes built by Hornchurch Urban District Council on land acquired in 1936. Here’s an Airey house in original condition and its renovated counterparts on Newmarket Way (most of the streets are named after race courses).
Section 23: Upminster Bridge to Rainham
The Dovers Farm Estate in South Hornchurch built by Hornchurch Urban District Council after the Second World War. The council regularly built 4-500 new homes a year after the war, the most of any UDC; 3600 in total by its abolition in 1965.
Section 24: Rainham to Purfleet
The Garrison Estate was developed in the early 1970s by Thurrock Council after the closure of the Purfleet Powder Magazine, founded 1681, in 1962. Beyond Marine Court, by the river, many of the streets are named after British army tanks.
Municipal Dreams 
Very interesting thank you so much, I ask again – have you done anything on the Hilldrop Estate in Islington London which was built by the LCC and where I myself was born in 1952 ??
No, I’m afraid not. It would have been quite new when you were born there – completed 1948. I’ll bear it in mind for the future.
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