My landlord told me that the part of Epping Forest between our home [Whipps Cross
Road], and the Hollybush Hill and Snaresbrook Road was the site of an Italian Prisoner
of War Camp in World War II. He said that the common land had been surrounded by
a very high wire fence, and the POWs used to slip him small amounts of money through
the fence. He would use them to buy small sweets and other things for them in the
local shops. My landlord said he used to cycle around “The Bomb Craters”. He also
said that electric tramcars used to run along the Whipps Cross Road. They made a
lot of noise, and bright electric flashes whenever their wires crossed over the contact
points of the wires, which were strung between “lamp posts” that stretched all along
Whipps Cross Road. I’m trying to get him to record more of his memories of this
area, of which he is a native. He has a pair of old gas street lamp poles outside
our house.
