Gants Hill tube station

Gants Hill is a London Underground station in the largely residential Gants Hill district of Ilford in East London. It is served by the Central line and is between Redbridge and Newbury Park stations on the Hainault loop. It is in Travelcard Zone 4. It is the easternmost station to be below ground on the London Underground network[5] and the busiest on the Hainault loop.[3]

Gants Hill
Southwest entrance in 2008
Gants Hill Location of Gants Hill in Greater London
Location	Gants Hill
Local authority	London Borough of Redbridge
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2015	6.59 million[1]
2016	7.14 million[1]
2017	6.83 million[1]
2018	6.49 million[2]
2019	6.36 million[3]
Key dates
1942–1945	Tunnels used by Plessey electronics as a munitions factory during the war[4]
14 December 1947	Opened
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51.57666°N 0.06611°E
London transport portal

The station ticket hall is located beneath Gants Hill roundabout and reached via pedestrian subways.[6] It opened on 14 December 1947 as an extension of the Central line to form the new part of the Hainault loop. The station is known for its distinctive architecture featuring barrel-vaulted halls at platform level designed by Charles Holden.

Location

The station has taken its name from the Gants Hill roundabout, where the name Gants Hill could have originated from the le Gant family who were notable as stewards.[7] The ticket hall is directly underneath the roundabout,[8] located in the heart of Gants Hill district. The roundabout connects to Woodford Avenue, Eastern Avenue and Cranbrook Road. The station serves a mainly residential area, and is near Valentines Park, Valentines High School, and "Faces" Nightclub.[9]

History

As part of the 1935–40 New Works Programme, the Central line was to be extended from Liverpool Street to south of Leyton where it would connect to and take over passenger operations on the London & North Eastern Railway's (LNER's) suburban branch to Epping and Ongar in Essex.[10] The section of the LNER's Fairlop Loop (now known as Hainault Loop) between Woodford and Newbury Park was also to be transferred, though not the section south from Newbury Park to Ilford and Seven Kings on the Great Eastern Main Line.[10] To replace the truncated route south from Newbury Park, a new underground section between Leytonstone and Newbury Park was constructed, running mostly under Eastern Avenue. Three new stations, which include Gants Hill were built to serve the new suburbs of north Ilford and the Fairlop Loop.[10][note 1] During planning, the names "Ilford North" and "Cranbrook" were considered for this station.[14]

Construction began before 1937[8] and most of the tunnelled section was completed by 1940 but delayed due to the outbreak of the Second World War and eventually came to a halt in June 1940. During the war, the station was used as an air raid shelter and the unused tunnels between the station and Redbridge were used as a munitions factory for Plessey electronics.[4][15][note 2] Construction restarted after the war ended,[18] with the line extended to Stratford on 4 December 1946, and then to Leytonstone on 5 May 1947. Gants Hill station opened on 14 December 1947 as part of an extension to Newbury Park.[13][19][note 3]

Design

The lower concourse, with its design inspired by stations on the Moscow Metro

The station, like the other two new stations on the branch, was designed by architect Charles Holden in the 1930s. During the 1930s the London Passenger Transport Board had provided advice on the construction of the Moscow Metro and an internal report in 1935 by the Underground's engineers on the Russian capital's system led to the decision to construct a station in London to a similar design.[21][22][note 4]

The station ticket hall is located beneath the roundabout at the centre of the road junction.[23] It is accessed via a series of pedestrian subways and has no street level buildings, although low structures on the roundabout sit above the ticket hall and provide daylight and ventilation. From the ticket hall, three escalators lead to the barrel-vaulted lower concourse between the two platforms tunnels.[24][25][26] The station also features miniature roundels on the tiles at platform level as well as the "roundel clocks".[27][28][29]

Gants Hill is the only Underground station with a concourse designed by Holden that has no surface buildings.[note 5] Unlike Redbridge, the station is not Grade II listed although its distinctive architectural qualities have gained public support for listing the station.[32]

Services and connections

Services

Gants Hill is served by the Central line between Redbridge and Newbury Park stations.[33] Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–4 minutes between 05:23 and 23:57 westbound and 06:25 and 01:03 eastbound.[34][35]

Trains generally run between Hainault and Ealing Broadway via Newbury Park. The typical off-peak service, in trains per hour as of 2018 is:[34][35]

• 9tph eastbound to Hainault via Newbury Park
• 3tph eastbound to Newbury Park
• 9tph westbound to Ealing Broadway
• 3tph westbound to White City

The typical Night tube service, in trains per hour as of 2018 is:[36]

• 3tph eastbound to Hainault via Newbury Park
• 3tph westbound to White City

Connections

A number of London Buses routes serve the station.[37]

Notes and references

Notes

1. South of Newbury Park, the west-facing junction with the Great Eastern Main Line closed in 1948 to allow the expansion of Ilford carriage depot[11][12] while Seven Kings Junction was closed in 1956.[12][13]
2. The factory opened in March 1942 which provided employment for 2,000 people;[4] production lasted until 1945.[16] The factory extended almost 5 miles with about 300,000 sq. ft. of space.[17]
3. Leytonstone to Woodford (via South Woodford) opened on the same day, forming two branches in the eastern region of the Central line.[19][20]
4. Stations on the original section of the Moscow Metro opened in 1935 that have a similar design include Krasnye Vorota, Okhotny Ryad and Chistyye Prudy.
5. All other station designs have at least a surface building, which include Sudbury Town on the Piccadilly Line and South Wimbledon on the Northern Line.[30][31]

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007–2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
2. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
3. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
4. Day & Reed 2010, p. 142.
5. Tube Map with Tunnels (PDF) (Map). Transport for London. July 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
6. "Central Line". Railfanning London's Railways. City Transport Info. 31 December 2016. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
7. "Gants Hill – History". Speedprint Essex Ltd. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
8. "Old Photos of Gants Hill". Speedprint Essex Ltd. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
9. "Gants Hill" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
10. Day & Reed 2010, p. 116.
11. Croome & Jackson 1993, p. 291.
12. Brennand 2006, p. IV.
13. Connor 2007, p. IV.
14. Harris 2006, p. 29.
15. Emmerson & Beard 2004, pp. 108–121.
16. "Remembrance Sunday: The Secret Munitions Factory in the Underground tunnels at Gants Hill". Ilford Recorder. 10 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
17. "Factory in an Uncompleted London Tube Tunnel". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 92 no. 563. Westminster: Railway Publishing Co. May–June 1946. p. 160.
18. Croome & Jackson 1993, p. 288.
19. Croome & Jackson 1993, p. 287, 291.
20. Feather, Clive (19 June 2017). "Central line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
21. Bruce, J Graeme; Croome, Desmond F (2006) [1996]. The Central Line: An Illustrated History (2nd ed.). Capital Transport. p. 56. ISBN 1-85414-297-6.
22. Lawrence, David (1994). Underground Architecture. Harrow: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-160-0.
23. "Gants Hill" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
24. Day & Reed 2010, p. 148.
25. "3D Maps of Every Underground Station (CDEFG)". Transport for London, uploaded by IanVisits. 12 July 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
26. "Tube Stations that Have No Surface Buildings". Tube Facts and Figures. Geofftech. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
27. "8. The Platform Clocks at Gants Hill". 150 Great Things About the Underground. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
28. "32. The Miniature Roundels at Gants Hill". 150 Great Things About the Underground. 3 July 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
29. Marshall, Marshall (3 July 2013). "Londonist Ltd – Secrets of the Central Line". Youtube. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018.
30. Historic England. "Sudbury Town Underground Station (1294594)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
31. Historic England. "London Regional Transport Station, Including Adjacent Shops to Left and Right (1358037)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
32. "From Russia to Redbridge: Moscow influenced Gants Hill Tube station 'worthy of being listed'". Ilford Recorder. 29 July 2015. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
33. Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
34. "Central line timetable : From Gants Hill Underground station to Redbridge Underground station". Transport for London. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
35. "Central line timetable : From Gants Hill Underground station to Newbury Park Underground station". Transport for London. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
36. "The Night Tube". Improving the Tube – What We're Doing. Transport for London. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
37. Buses from Gants Hill (PDF) (Map). Transport for London. 11 March 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.

Books

• Brennand, Dave (2006). Ilford to Shenfield. Middleton Press. ISBN 1-901706-97-4.
• Connor, J E (2007). Branch Line to Ongar. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-05-5.
• Croome, D.; Jackson, A (1993). Rails Through The Clay – A History of London's Tube Railways (2nd ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-151-1.
• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9.
• Emmerson, Andrew; Beard, Tony (2004). London's Secret Tubes. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-283-6.
• Harris, Cyril M. (2006) [1977]. What's in a name?. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-241-0.

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive – Entrance to station in 1953, with low roof of ticket hall visible in background