Reasons for Designation
Dr Barnardo was a major figure in Victorian England and the history of the charity he founded is of manifold significance, not least to the descendants of the thousands of children he helped. Dr Barnardo's Girls' Village Home at Barkingside was not only his magnum opus, but also his place of rest, and was the emblem of the charity's mission well into the C20. The Village survives today as a remarkable physical manifestation of the strengths and weaknesses of Barnardo the man, and the character of Victorian charity, a highly-esteemed virtue in the C19. It evidences both the sentimental and nostalgic aspects of Victorian charitable foundations, as well as the sometimes severe treatment of children in that era, in particular through the story of emigration to Canada. Even lacking many of its communal buildings, and nearly two-thirds of its original cottages, the Barnardo's Girls Village Homes at Barkingside is a special place. For reasons of their special architectural and historic interest, as well as group value, the central components of the Village -- the Children's Church, Cairns Cottage, and the twenty-two surviving cottage homes -- are recommended for listing at Grade II. The fountain, lodge, and boundary walls are recommended too, mainly for their group value as handsome and integral components of the ensemble, which form an essential part of the setting of the cottage homes. Athlone and Linney Houses, both later, less interesting architecturally, and more detached from the main green, are not recommended for listing. A separate advice (UID 170024) recommends that the memorial to Dr Barnardo, currently listed at Grade II, be upgraded to Grade II*.
Details
937/0/10070 TANNERS LANE
05-MAY-10 BARKINGSIDE
Lodge and Boundary Walls to Barnardo's
GV II
Lodge and boundary walls to Barnardo's Girls' Village Home, 1901, by RH Hill (FRIBA). Later alterations including replica iron railings and gates.
LODGE: Like the 22 girls' cottages the lodge is Old English in style, with a canted bay window, half-timbered gables with bargeboards, tile-hung upper storeys, and external stacks with tall brick chimneys. The interior was not inspected.
WALLS: Just the walls to the east of the site survive, built of blue and red bricks with square piers and (replica) iron railings in the upper part. At the entrance to the village the walls curve inwards and terminate in gate piers. The iron gates are replicas of the originals.
HISTORY: The Barnardo's site was originally bound by tall walls and was isolated from the suburb that grew up around it. This was the main entrance to the village from Barkingside Station, used by visiting royalty and by the parents of destitute children alike. It features in several historic photographs of the site, which show there were originally large boards on the walls flanking the gates painted with 'Dr Barnardo's Homes'.
SOURCES: Anon, My Cottage: A Story of Dr Barnardo's Village Home for Destitute Girls by M.E.S. (1884)
Mrs Eyrie-Louise Barnardo and James Marchant, Memoirs of the late Dr Barnardo (1907)
Janet Hitchman, They Carried the Sword (1966)
National Portrait Gallery, The Camera and Dr Barnardo (1974)
Gillian Wagner, 'Barnardo, Thomas John (1845-1905)' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
Plans and photographs in Redbridge Local Studies Library
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The lodge and eastern boundary wall at Barnardo's are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* historical associations: part of the Girls' Village Home at Barkingside, founded by Dr Barnardo in 1876;
* historic interest: the lodge and walls indicate the extent of the historic site and evidence the degree to which the village was isolated from the rest of the Barkingside community;
* architecture: the lodge is the Olde English style, and forms part of the setting of the similarly-styled cottage homes nearby;
* group value: with the twenty-two cottages, Cairns Cottage and the Children's Church (qv).
