Hidden away in the undergrowth at the foot of Horsenden Hill you will find all that’s left of the Ballot Box public house. It was built in around 1867 and was used as the polling station for those who lived and worked on the Grand Union canal. If it wasn’t for the helpful sign next to the footpath most people would be unaware of these bits of masonry. Nature has taken hold since it was demolished in 1943 and smothered the site with trees, ivy and brambles. The pub was rebuilt further down the road and has since been extended but this was where an afternoon’s drinking session began in 1887 and ended at the Black Horse pub, with rather soggy consequences (click here and type in reference number t18870725-786 then look through the results for the Old Bailey record of the case of Tom Collis, 25th July 1887).

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26 Sep This entry was published on September 26, 2012 at 2:58 pm. It’s filed under People, Places and tagged architecture, blog, cars, Ealing, environment, Greenford, heritage, history, local, London, nature, pedestrian, photo365, photography, photos, postaday, road, September 2012, society, trade, trees, wildlife. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.