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London Cyclist  August-September 201030

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L   O N  D  O N  The Hitchcock Trail

T he Hitchcock Trail is

a cycle and walking

route linking historic

sites in Leyton and

Walthamstow, home to the

master himsel and hub o early

UK flm production and cinema.

As a child Alred Hitchcock

loved travelling on trains and

trams, and developed an

obsessive interest in train

timetables. Trains came to be a

notable eature o his flms,such as The 39 Steps , The Lady 

Vanishes , North by Northwest  

and Strangers on a Train. Not

ar rom Leytonstone High

Road overground station a

plaque indicates Hitchcock’s

birthplace (517 Leytonstone

High Road).

Hitchcock’s lie is

contemporaneous with the

golden age o cinema and

numerous UK and American

cinemas both opened and

closed in the course o it. In the

1960s many cinemas ell victim

to changing public habits, as

television ownership became

common. The early days o

British cinematography are

frmly linked to the Waltham

Forest area, where many

studios were situated. It is

probably no coincidence that

both the cradle o British flm

and its all-time master should

be so closely tied to this area.

HARROW GREEN1

HITCHCOCK GALLERY 2

3 LEYTON

FLATS

CUNARD STUDIO SITE4

6 THE EMD CINEMA

5

LEYTON HIGH STREET

& HOE STREET

WALTHAMSTOW

Whipps CrossUniversity

Hospital

WalthamstowCentral

WalthamstowQueen’s RdSt James

Street Rail

H    o   e     S    t   r       

e    e     t     

    L  e   e     B    r    i   d   g    e

    R d

        L    e  y  t

o       n

        G         r       e       e      n        R       d

M     a      r       k       h       o      u      s      e      R       o      a      d     

C      h     u    r      c      h      R       d         H

     i     g        h

      R    d     L  e

     y            t     o     n

F   r   a  n  c  i   s  

R       d         

   R  uck hol t   R  d

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   n    R  d

W   o  o    d         S        t       

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  G   r  o   v e

   G  r  e

  e   n     R   d

              H               i          g                    h              R             d

               L          e           y                t    o     n    s      t

    o     n    e

 Harro w   R  d    

D      a    m    

e     s      R     d     

B ush Rd

F   a  i   r   l   o    p    R   d   

   J   a  m e  s

    L  n        N    e     w       W

     a     n     s      t    e     a

      d

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           H                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                o           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  l                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  l                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      y                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           b                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 u                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         s                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              h

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           H                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  i                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  l                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  l

  C  a  m   b  r   i

  d  g  e    P  a  r   k

LEYTONSTONE

WalthamstowSchool for Girls

WalthamstowMarket

Vestry HouseMuseum

Wood Street Rail

Snaresbrook

Leyton Midland Road

St Patrick’sCemetery

Leyton

START

FINISH

1HARROW GREENThe inormation board gives

details o Leytonstone High

Road’s historyand indicates thesite o the police station where

Hitchcock was briey held in a

police cell as a young boy,

apparently with consent o his

ather who wanted to teach him

a lesson. An incident which is

said to have inuenced his

common cinematic theme o the

innocent being pursued, or

example in North by Northwest ,

The Wrong Man andVertigo.Opposite the Plough and Harrow

pub stood a Leytonstone

cinema, The Academy, opened in

1913 and seating 1,100 people;

it is now demolished and

replaced with a block o ats.

A little urther on (619 High

Road) The Premier Electric

Theatre was one o Alred’s

boyhood cinemas, opening in

1910, and accommodating 700

people. It closed in 1961, well

beore the director’s death in

1980. Leytonstone High Road

once had our cinemas.

2 HITCHCOCK GALLERYEnthusiasts have long

bemoaned the lack o proper

acknowledgement or Leyton-stone’s most amous son.

Proposals or a Hitchcock

and early flm museum

have never been realised.

However, in 2001 a

Hitchcock Gallery

consisting o 17 mosaics,

made rom 80,000 glass

tiles, was opened. The

mosaics mostly showed

scenes rom his flms, but

also an early photo o

Hitchcock on a horse

outside his ather’s grocery

store. Given Hitchcock’s

interest in trains, its location at

Leytonstone station may seem

appropriate, but the volume o

passing pedestrian tra c canmake it di cult to stand and

ully appreciate the mosaics.

For silver screen aficionados, a tour linking sites with one of Britain’s greatest

film directors is a must. Gerhard Weiss and Tony Fincham are your guides

 MA P DO W N LOA D

h t tp:// tin yurl.com/

Hi tchcock Trail

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