A semi-rural residential locality situated on the north side of the A12, just beyond Newbury Park. The name probably derives
from the family who built a hall here, while the hatch (a wicket gate) would have led into Hainault Forest. Writing in his
Environs of London at the turn of the nineteenth century, Daniel Lysons described the hall as “a capital mansion situated
in the forest.” The woods provided a living for the local charcoal burners and foresters, and game for the frequent
royal hunts. Before the extensive deforestation of the 1850s, according to local historian George Tasker, “the hamlet
consisted almost entirely of four or five mansions within a stone’s throw of each other, and a farm or two.” By
way of compensation for the destruction of the woodland the government contributed towards the cost of building St Peter’s
church, using stones from the old Westminster Bridge. The Eastern Avenue brought the builders with it in the late 1920s and
early 1930s, including Suburban Developments (London) Limited, which laid out the Aldborough Grange estate on land east of
Aldborough Road North. The green belt has restricted further expansion into the farmland on the north side of the road. Aldborough
ward has a culturally diverse population. Fractionally over 50 per cent of residents are Christians and the main religious
minorities are Jews and Hindus.
Aldborough Hall is now an equestrian centre while Aldborough Hall Farm runs a pick-your-own operation and a farm shop.
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