Gallows Corner is a major road junction in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, England. It was the site of the gallows of the

Liberty of Havering Havering, also known as Havering-atte-Bower, was a royal manor and ancient liberty whose area now forms part of, and gives its name to, the London Borough of Havering in Greater London. The manor was in the possession of the Crown from the 11th t ...

, hence the name.

History

During the 18th century, Gallows Corner was a copse-sided part of the road and, approachable by meagre path only from the south or various small lanes in other directions, a favourite spot for waylaying coaches. It was close to the site for the gallows, thought to be north of what is now Eastern Avenue (west), on a grassy stretch below Masefield Crescent. Several entries in the Romford registers of burials of felons confirm many of those executed there in the 16th and 17th centuries. In grounds of Ravensbourne School is where the small jail stood where the condemned were held. The former name of Straight Road was Gallows Lane.

Junction

The current junction is a large roundabout with five exits and a flyover. The exits are: *Westbound: A12 (Eastern Avenue), towards

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. *South-westbound: A118 (Main Road), towards Romford. *South-eastbound:

A127 The A127, also known as the Southend Arterial Road, is a major road in Essex, England. It was constructed as a new arterial road project in the 1920s, linking Romford with Southend-on-Sea, replacing the older A13. Formerly classified as a tr ...

(Southend Arterial Road), towards

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

. *North-eastbound: A12 (Colchester Road), towards

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. *Northbound: Straight Road, a minor road towards Harold Hill.

Flyover

The flyover links Eastern Avenue (East) with the Southend Arterial Road. According to the '' Romford Recorder'' it was erected in 1970 by Terry and Co; it takes the form of a system of prefabricated units (called the Braithwaite FliWay) that was cheaper and quicker to build than a conventional underpass or cast ''in-situ'' flyover. It is notorious for being angular, with sudden changes of slope rather than a smooth arch. The flyover was closed for several months in 2008 for remedial work carried out to the road deck, with several sections replaced. It was found in final inspection that the bridge parapets had suffered severe corrosion. The bridge was fitted with emergency barriers which meant that traffic was restricted to one lane in the London-bound (westbound) direction only. It re-opened to two-way traffic in 2009.

Roundabout

The junction has an above-average number of collisions. Transport for London has put forward proposals to make the junction safer by changing the roundabout layout, adding new white lines and guidance markings, and extending the reduced speed limits on the approaches to the junction. Works were expected to start during spring 2018. Works did not, however, commence in 2018; the local radio station

Time 107.5 Time 107.5 is an independent local radio station, based in Romford and broadcasting to East London and parts of Essex. The station strapline is "All Time Favourites" and the station is available on FM on 107.5 MHz in the broadcast area and ...

reported in July 2021 that TfL was planning to submit a bid to the Department of Transport in Spring 2022 to access £50m of Government funding to address the issues with the junction.

In media

The junction is referred to in the film '' Layer Cake''.

References

{{LB Havering Districts of the London Borough of Havering Areas of London Road junctions in London Roundabouts in England Romford