London forum 22 room
Image by Zeb
close
more_vert

rojo wrote:
Hi,

I am a former resident of that area and you have got me scratching my head. Basically the housing estate stands where the old Electricity Board training college was (demolished in the 90s). From memory there was a car park for the college that was directly behing the cock pub. At the bottom of the car park (point of the streetmap arrow) there was swampy area which had a ditch - although I am not certain if it formed a moat. Jeez... I hadn't thought of this place for years and I am not certain if had any historical detail as I only worked at the place as kitchen go-fer whilst studying!

if my memory provides any more detail I will post again!

Thanks - yes, 'swampy' sounds about right - last time I looked it wasn't filled with water, not like Camlet Moat is.

It seems to have been landscaped on the north side IIRC with big stones/rocks (possibly at the same time as the housing development) - can you recall any such big stones?!

Can you remember whether the Electricity Board training college was an oldish building? On the 19th century maps I was checking, they mention a house (and estate?) called Yeeda Grange...not there now - the only old house I can find is Ludgrove (marked as 'Ludgrove Hall' on the map at the end of Games Rd - NB this is a very old name, cited as early as the 16th century, although the current building is 19th I think).

Have a look on [[www.old-maps.co.uk]] (www.old-maps.co.uk) - if you do have any more recollections please do let us know!

There seems to be (or was) something from the Bronze Age nearby:

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/fr.cfm?rcn=MOLGAZ-2148

and there has been a fruitless excavation just to the north:

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/fr.cfm?rcn=EHNMR-1323525

I don't recall there was any large stones as such. It was at a bottom of the car park and from memory the ditch/moat area was full of bullrushes... I would sometimes steal some time there smoking a ciggie! It seemed to me to be a forgotten/obscure corner of the Electricity board grounds that could also be viewed from the adjacent playing field. There were 3 main buildings on site:- when you entered there (Gatcombe way) was the mansion style administration building which was obviously quite old (1800s ?) and then immediately behind it stood the kitchen / canteen area which appeared to be 40s/50s build. Down the slope from both of these buildings lay the educational offices which I am not certain of its age.

Anyone else got any recollections - I be intrigued to know