Painting of Wangye House 1901 by Alfred Bennett Bamford (1857-1939)

In 1841 William Symington (1802-1867) was living at Wangye House in Essex. He was then employed as a railway Inspector of Works. [1] The other members of the household were his wife Eliza and children Mary 4, Eliza 3 and William 1.

Wangye was an ancient manor house on Chadwell Heath, situated between London and Colchester. 

After the Eastern Counties Railway acquired the manor in 1836, the house was part demolished when construction of the Great Eastern Railway commenced in 1837.

Part of Wangye House, said to have been Elizabethan, was pulled down when the railway was built immediately north of it, and another part demolished when Chadwell Heath station was enlarged in 1901.  The remainder of the building was demolished in 1937. A photograph from 1932 shows an 18th-century front of two stories. The roof was surmounted by a low tower-like structure, probably an observation platform. [2]

[1] 1841 England Census (and also see Mechanics’ Magazine 1841 Volume 34 pages 68 and 218)

[2] Powell, W. R., Ed., A History of the County of Essex Volume V London 1966

William Symington (1802-1867) took this little oil painting to Australia in 1855. 

It is only a simple sketch but several features clearly identify the building as Wangye House.  Certain key features match the construction depicted by Bamford.  The main house is a two-storied residence with attic; the arrangement of the main windows and the dormer window and the placement of the chimney are the same; there is a smaller building at the rear. 

The defining feature of Wangye House was a small observation tower set into the roof, and this cage like structure is indeed roughly revealed in the painting.

The bridge is interesting. T.R.C. Dibdin prepared two watercolour sketches, each titled “View of the Construction of the Eastern Counties Railway near Ilford, 1838.” [1] Wangye house backed directly on to the railway line and the bridge behind the house is reminiscent of Dibdin’s bridges. 

[1] National Railway Museum, York