High road Leytonstone

1875

This moody and evocative image from 1875 captures High Road, Leytonstone, at a time when this once-rural village on the outskirts of London was beginning to urbanise. Rows of modest shopfronts line the street on the left, while horse-drawn carts and soft gaslight define a scene still rooted in the 19th century.

In the background, the spire of St John's Church, completed in the 1830s, rises through bare winter trees — a silent witness to Leytonstone’s transformation. By the end of the 1800s, the arrival of the railway would bring dramatic growth to the area, turning it into a vital suburb of East London.

1875 was also the birth year of Alfred Hitchcock, born in Leytonstone just a few streets away. Little did the people in this photo know that their neighbourhood would one day be associated with the master of suspense himself.

🌆 Do you have photographs showing how your city or town has changed over time? Upload them to Oldpik.com and help us build a living memory of places before they became what they are today.

Contributed by OldPik on January 7, 2024

Image

High road Leytonstone
You must be logged in to comment on the photos.
Log in

No comment yet, be the first to comment...

Nearby photos

Small but Daring

6 km away
c. 1883 OldPik

Spitalfields at the junction of Commercial St. and Brushfield St.

6 km away
c. 1890 OldPik

Sir Walter Raleigh’s home at Blackwall

7 km away
c. 1954 OldPik

Street in Stepney with power station,

7 km away

Crowd on sidewalk watching a automobile mired in the mud

7 km away

A portrait of street “urchins” in The East end of London

8 km away

A German Heinkel He 111 bomber over the Surrey Commercial Docks

8 km away

Whitechapel Road

8 km away