Hedingham Road

The entrance to Hedingham Lane (now Hedingham Road) leading out from the Market Hill was extremely narrow when this image was taken in 1890. In 1912 the London County and Westminster Bank transferred its business further down the High Street where it became the Westminster Bank. Morton and Son, solicitors, then occupied the old bank premises until it was demolished in 1927 to widen the road. The widening became necessary because of the growing volume of motor traffic although change and progress has caught up with us and the road is much too narrow for the passage of present day vehicles. The George Hotel on the right closed its doors in 1910 and became a branch of Lloyds Bank. It is now a physiotherapy clinic. The house in the distance (with the single chimney) was then the old Boars Head public house (as can be seen in our Public Houses section). When it was rebuilt in 1912 the workmen excavating from the foundations came across a Stone Age knife said to be around 5,000 years old.