Inner London
Ramblers

Becontree Circular Walk

The walk begins at Becontree (District Line) Underground Station, although Upney Underground — one stop away — could be used to break the walk into two separate sections. If starting from Upney, follow the instructions from Step 7.

See a video showing highlights of this walk on YouTube.

This is an 8 mile (13 km) walk, mostly over surfaced level paths. Crossing the railway at the end of Section 10, however, involves a steep climb up and down steps. Further steps in Mayesbrook Park and near Upney Underground Station can easily be avoided.

One minor drawback to this walk is the absence of toilet facilities in any of the parks. However, customers can find toilets in either of the seven-day-a-week cafés en route, and toilets are also available in the Castle Green Centre.

1. Turn left out of Becontree Station and, after 100 metres, cross Gale Street by the pedestrian crossing, then go through the gates of Parsloes Park at the corner of Ivyhouse Road. Go forward for 60 metres to the lake, where turn left to follow the railing around the lake. Where the path divides by more railings, with a white pavilion in front of you, take the left fork to pass tennis courts and through bollards to emerge at a multi-pathed junction. Parsloes Park, at 58 hectares, is the largest park in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Tufted duck nest on the islands in the park’s lake.

Parsloes Park

2. Take the path directly ahead, passing sports pitches and a path coming in from the left. Continue to Parsloes Avenue and turn left. Go past the Sydney Russell Leisure Centre and School to use the pedestrian crossing. Retrace your steps for a few paces and turn left into Keppel Road. You are now entering the heart of the Becontree Estate.

The Becontree Estate is claimed to be the largest municipal housing estate in the world. Begun in 1921 as part of the “Homes fit for Heroes” plan, the idea was to provide decent housing for those who had fought in the First World War. The then London County Council built some 25,000 homes by 1934 and nearly another 2,000 were later added. The houses had gas and electricity, inside toilets, fitted baths and both front and back gardens. These standards were well in advance of what many people enjoyed at the time. In return, the London County Council had rigorous rules on what was expected of their tenants, and these covered not only standards of house and garden maintenance, but also children’s behaviour and the keeping of pets. Some 90,000 people were planned to benefit. The estate remains generally well-maintained even today.

3. Continue forward along Keppel Road until reaching the busy Wood Lane. Cross this and continue forward along Aylmer Road. On reaching the T-junction, turn left along Valence Wood Road. After 80 metres, turn right into Henshawe Road. At the top, turn right into Margery Road and go through railings to enter Valence Park. Turn through further railings to the left of the carpark and immediately through more railings to reach the moat of Valence House. It is possible to make a complete circuit of the moat from here, returning to this point, but be aware that the path at the head of the moat is uneven and narrow.

Valence House and Park are named after Alice de Valence who lived here in the 1300s. The house, which dates from the 1400s, contains a fine local museum and there is a herb garden. Both manor house and park are now being redeveloped with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund; intrusive modern buildings are being cleared away and the museum is expected to open again in 2010.

Valence Park

4. Now go up the roadway to Becontree Avenue, where turn left. Continue for 400 metres, then use the light-controlled junction at Valence Avenue to cross diagonally. A café has a toilet available for customers at this point.

Drop-out point: A number 62 bus from near the junction of Becontree Avenue and Valence Avenue can take you back to Becontree or Upney Underground if you want to break off.

Still continue along Becontree Avenue as far as Bennetts Castle Lane (just past Brockelbank Lodge), then turn right along it, and quickly left into Haydon Road to reach a junction with two churches. St Thomas’s, in an Early English style, was the first of the estate’s permanent churches, being built in 1926-7. The adjacent Catholic church of St Vincent de Paul, in a Perpendicular style, dates from 1932-3.

5. Keeping the churches on your right, cross Waldegrave Road and continue forward into Stevens Road, almost immediately forking right, to enter Goodmayes Park at its end. On reaching the lake, turn right, then left over the bridge halfway along its length. (It is possible to walk around the entire lake, but the path at its top end can be tricky). Once over, turn back to walk down the other side of the lake. At its far right-hand corner, go forward to pass sports pitches on the left, then bowling greens on the right. At a junction of paths with its own roundabout, go through two sets of barriers to make for the corner of tennis courts, then turn left through the avenue of trees with former pitches on the right, to go through a gate where this ends. Cross Mayesbrook Road and immediately enter Goodmayes Park Extension opposite. Keep forward on the main path until it swings right in front of a brick building. Ignore the nearby gates, but stay with the path until it leaves the park at its far right corner. Now turn left, using the bollards by Goodmayes Lodge as the safest crossing point, proceed to the junction and swing right into Longbridge Road. A café has a toilet available for customers at this point.

Goodmayes Park

Drop-out point: Several useful bus routes are available from here if you want to break off: Route 5 serves Barking, Route 145 serves Becontree and Ilford, whilst Route 387 serves Barking and Goodmayes.

6. Shortly cross Longbridge Road, via the pedestrian crossing. Just past the Catholic church, turn left into Waterside Close and quickly right through gates into Mayesbrook Park. Take the forward path, close to the park’s right edge. Continue straight on, passing the Mayesbrook Arena over to your left. There are extensive sports facilities here catering for track and field events. The park broadens out and the path divides. Take either option to maintain your original direction and pass children’s swings. Go forward still to arrive between hedges which lead into formal gardens. As steps are reached approaching a lake appearing in front of you, turn left down another set of steps, then right and right again to reach the lake’s edge. When another lake is shortly reached on the right, turn right alongside it - this reverses your earlier direction. Where the path turns right, go forward over grass, to swing left towards houses at the lake’s end, then eventually swinging further left to meet a path at a bridge. This spans the Mayes Brook, which runs into the River Roding near Creekmouth. After 100 metres, turn right to exit the park through gates into The Drive. As you approach the main road (Upney Lane) towards the end of The Drive, turn left along Edgefield Avenue and, where this bends, ascend steps on the right to come out by Upney Underground Station on top of the rise ahead. If you want to avoid these steps, go forward directly into Upney Lane and turn left.

7. Continue past Upney Station. (If you are starting the walk from here, cross the road and turn right). Once over the railway, descend steps and, at their base, turn right and continue left along Meadow Road, passing Merton Road and swinging right to take Keir Hardie Way on the left. Keir Hardie Way is a pleasant estate road, with shrubs planted between the pavements and roadway. Swing left at the end and then right at the crossroads, still following Keir Hardie Way.

Keir Hardie Way

8. Cross over the busy Lodge Avenue at the lights and continue forward down Woodward Road. After 100 metres, take the first right into Campsey Road. Cross over Rosedale Road and continue to Stamford Road, where turn left. Go past a school and take the next right into Canonsleigh Road. At its end, cross Goresbrook Road to enter Castle Green.

There never was a castle at Castle Green - the earth mounds are modern landscaping which do a little to relieve the tedium of the main A13 road, which is the trunk route between London and Tilbury. A new community centre, with school, college, library and theatre has been recently built nearby, however. There are useful toilet facilities here.

9. Initially turn left by the fence, the main area of Castle Green soon appearing. Now cross the green diagonally, towards distant wind turbines and the right-hand corner of a wire-mesh fence. Cross a track to the left of a skateboarding facility, then make for a gap between a small plantation and a further fence corner. Keep to the left of a second plantation and, just before the fence juts out again, veer right towards the main road, swinging left between two grassy mounds and the road. At the fence corner, turn left to follow Gale Street, gaining the pavement through a gap toward the end of this fence. Pass the Castle Green Centre with its complex of facilities and, after recrossing Goresbrook Road, continue further along Gale Street.

10. After 80 metres, turn right into Langley Crescent, passing two schools, and continue to the junction with Urswick Road, where turn right. The church ahead, with its strikingly tall tower, is St Alban’s, built in 1933-4. Fork right here into Vincent Road and take the alleyway on the left between Nos 112 and 110 to enter Goresbrook Park. Immediately turn right along a broad grassy track, then turn left on a metalled crossing path and follow it around to the right. Where the path breaks, cross Dagenham Avenue and take the path’s continuation immediately opposite, soon forking right to cross the bridge over the Gores Brook ahead. Once over, turn left and follow the brook all the way to reach Dagenham Avenue again. Enter the final section of the park by a gate off-set slightly to the right across the road. Don’t recross the stream, but keep forward over grass to leave the park at Hedgemans Road ahead.

Goresbrook Park

If you want to finish the walk here, the 145 bus runs along this road and connects with Becontree Underground.

Turn left along Hedgemans Road and, in about 100 metres, take Coleman Road at the first right. At the second bend, take the alleyway on the right to cross the railway by a steep footbridge, emerging at the corner of Parsloes Park.

11. Cross Ivyhouse Road and take the footpath across the park. Go past the pavilion and turn left onto a path just past the asphalt area behind. Continue straight on, ignoring a right fork. Go over the cross-path and through gates then, on reaching the lake, turn left to go around it, swinging right with the lake until you approach a line of houses. As you get near these, ignore the right turn, but go forward, leaving the lake, then take the next left to exit the park. (If you started from Upney and wish to complete the circuit back there, carry on around the lake until the white pavilion mentioned in Step 1 appears). Turn left at the cross-road and up the rise to reach Becontree station again.

© Mike Biggs, Inner London Area Ramblers’ Association, 2007-8.

If you have any comments about this walk, or notice that it needs updating to take account of changes on the route, then please contact Mike at mikebiggs4@aol.com.