Love Local Heritage

We are updating our Local Heritage List, which celebrates characterful and historic buildings and structures in Waltham Forest. 

The list is a way to learn more about our shared heritage and spaces that makes Waltham Forest a special place to live, work and visit.

Unique to Waltham Forest, the list includes buildings identified by you, local community groups, and the Council. 

To help improve the Local Heritage list we need your help. Tell us which buildings in your area have historical, cultural, and architectural interest that represent our diverse borough. 

The existing Local Heritage List already includes a range of structures from private houses to public libraries, mosques to monuments, schools to shopfronts, factories to fountains but we want to broaden this out even further.

And it’s not just old buildings we want to celebrate, we also want to add modern buildings of high-quality design too.

Being on the list does not limit how buildings are used or prevent changes to them, but where planning applications are submitted, any impact on a locally listed building would be considered as part of the planning assessment. 

The Waltham Forest Civic Society commented: “We are pleased to see the Local Heritage List is being updated. The list is an important means to raise awareness of our built heritage which gives our townscapes and streets their unique character - whether public buildings, individual houses or interesting historic features - that can so easily be lost, demolished or damaged beyond repair if we don't recognise their value in time. We encourage residents to get involved and send in their suggestions for additions to the list.”

Unveiled in 1899, the drinking fountain was used by visitors to the forest at a time when the area was a major tourist destination. It was the gift of the MP Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence Bt, as a memorial to his two older brothers.

The Rose and Crown was built in around 1891 by the Truman Hanbury and Buxton Brewery, and designed by Fred Ashton, a local architect based in Stratford. It replaced an earlier public house which had opened in 1865. It is a good example of a distinctive and largely original late Victorian corner pub, with attractive decorative detailing.

Nominations are open between Sunday 10 December 2023 and Sunday 28 January 2024. New additions for the Local Heritage List will be announced next summer at a special launch event.

Find out more and nominate a place or structure on the Let's Talk website.