The London Borough of Waltham Forest’s vision to shape the Borough by providing quality space where people want to live, work, invest and visit, also encompasses restoring its diverse architectural heritage. Walthamstow is currently benefiting from a Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS) supported by English Heritage and the New Opportunities for Walthamstow Single Regeneration Budget, whereby generous grants are being offered to property owners and lessees in the town centre for quality exterior restorations.
Walthamstow is home to a number of famous historical figures including Victorian designer William Morris (1834–1896), and has a remarkable cross-section of buildings covering a period of 900 years, making it an important area for conservation and enhancement.
The conservation area to benefit from the scheme is Walthamstow St. James, where several high street shops and the Victorian pub ‘The Cock Tavern’ have already taken advantage of the grant program to improve and restore their building frontages. Most recently, Mr V C Amin, proprietor of independent high street opticians, received a HERS grant to restore the ornate late Victorian frontage of his premises, including restoring and replacing the decorative Victorian rainwater hopper heads.
Martin Rispin, Conservation Heritage Projects Officer of Waltham Forest Borough Council, contacted Tuscan Foundry Products in West Sussex to restore the original hopper head and produce replica cast iron hoppers for the conservation area.
Paul Stenning of Tuscan Foundry Products explains: “It is so important to restore cast iron architecture to retain the historical value of buildings. The original hopper head was carefully shot blasted to bare metal, the decorative pattern was hand carved into wood to create moulds for replicas, and both original and replica were painted to protect from rust.”
These hopper heads are associated with the influential Warner family of Walthamstow, who created distinctive architectural features including decorative cast iron hopper heads and mythical terracotta griffins in the nineteenth century. Heritage improvement grants have been used to restore two of the griffins, with sufficient reproductions commissioned for full reinstatement over the coming years.
The cast iron hopper heads are now installed and contribute to the High Street’s architecture and historic interest, demonstrating the achievements of Waltham Forest Borough Council’s Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme.