Artists Rifles @1915 - Do you recognise this building?

[Artists Rifles]

We have been trying to identify the building in the attached picture. Can you help? it was taken @1915 and is not Lords Cricket ground as some have suggested, as it does not seem to match pictures from that period of time. Have you any photographs of the same building? It is somewhere in the London area but where?

 

Regards

 

Greg

Artists Rifles Hare Hall Memorial Project

[MBrockway]

Could it be at Bisley?

[themonsstar]

Could it be somewhere on Bisley NRA.

[Heid the Ba]

Any idea what the flag says?

[kenf48]

1 minute ago, Heid the Ba said:

Any idea what the flag says?

 

Artists Rifles !

[Heid the Ba]

Aha!  A clue . . .

[Artists Rifles]

The building at Bisley is similar but not quite the same. See attached.

[MBrockway]

The buildings at Bisley changed quite considerably after the war.  Many of the clubs/regiments rebuilt their pavilions.  The current Artists' Rifles Club pavilion only dates from 1926.

[Bordercollie]

Yes but the picture posted by Artists Rifles of the NRA HQ is said to be "NRA offices at Bisley, 1909 (on left) with a pavilion on the right (SHC ref 6316/435)". The original picture posted by Aritists Rifles looks to me to be too hilly for Bisley and I don't think a pavilion at Bisley would ever have had an entrance marked "Entrance". I wondered whether it could be a structure at the 1911 Festival of Empire Exhibition at Crystal Palace. Such a structure might well have had an entrance signed as such and would certainly have been on hillier ground but the posted photograph doesn't seem to match any of the photographs on line of that event. 

[MBrockway]

.... however, it's in fact nowhere near BIsley!

 

The photo shows Rigg's Retreat near High Beech in Epping Forest.

The adjoining building seen on the left hand side is the slightly smaller Sawyer's Tea Garden.

 

 

 

 

This was a large cafe catering to daytrippers visiting Epping Forest.

 

Quote

Riggs Retreat at High Beach was on Wellington Hill on the site now partly occupied by the Youth Hostel.

 

Opened in 1881 it was managed by William Riggs a son of the founder.

 

He was greatly interested in Freemasonry and was Provincial Grand Master of Essex. He served in the Boer War with the Imperial Yeomanry and in 1914, although then over 50 years of age, he enlisted to serve in the First World War.

 

At that time the War Office commandeered the retreat which was used as a training centre and the Hampshires and also the Artists Rifles were at various times stationed there.

 

The War Office relinquished the retreat in 1916 and some months later a fire in the adjoining premises occupied by Arthur Sawyer as a tea garden, spread rapidly through both buildings, and being mainly of wooden construction they were completely destroyed in about two hours despite the efforts of two fire brigades.

 

This High Beach Retreat was very popular with many Sunday School treat organisers and also with the Shaftesbury Society and Ragged School Union. It was William Riggs' claim that between 3,000 and 4,000 children had been able to have tea at the same time at his retreat, which was not rebuilt.

 

Source: http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal/p/Archive/s/127/o/0016

 

 

The location is now the site of the former Youth Hostel on Wellington Hill.  OS grid reference TQ 4085 9834.

 

Here it is on Google StreetView:  https://goo.gl/maps/XBCj7F5d23S2

 

 

The Artists' Rifles moved there in July 1915 immediately before moving to Hare Hall.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 11 January , 2019 by MBrockway

[Guest]

A son of the family, Henry John Riggs - whose mother lived in South Woodford,  was killed in action serving with the HAC at Arras in April 1917. He is remembered on the Wanstead War Memorial

Edited 11 January , 2019 by Guest

[Bordercollie]

Good spot MBrockway. Epping Forest isn't as flat as Bisley and the day trippers would have needed the clearly signed entrance.

[Artists Rifles]

MBrockway, thank you very much for identifying the building. The picture had us all stumped and scratching our heads for sometime!!! Many thanks for your work.

 

 

[MBrockway]

My pleasure - I might be asking for your help re Hare Hall and Gidea Park, Frederick Raphael and 18/KRRC in the future, so more than happy to help solve this conundrum!

 

Mark

 

[Guest]

On ‎11‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 23:47, MBrockway said:

My pleasure - I might be asking for your help re Hare Hall and Gidea Park, Frederick Raphael and 18/KRRC in the future, so more than happy to help solve this conundrum!

 

Mark

 

 

     Count me in for running around too Mark- I have to  get over there sometime soon-ish for another history-related matter.

[MBrockway]

3 hours ago, TacticalKarma said:

I looked at this design for a very long time and could not understand what it was. On the one hand, it seems to me that this is a stable, and on the other, that it is some kind of warehouse:))

 

It is a tea house in Epping Forest.

 

See Post #10 above:  Rigg's Retreat, Wellington Hil, High Beach, Epping Forest

Edited 16 February , 2020 by MBrockway

[Guest]

I loved finding the image of Riggs Retreat!

My Grandfather, H. Roland Bate enlisted in the Artist Rifles in June 1915.  Later in the 1970s, he wrote an autobiography that included his WW1 memories and included this paragraph:

"After some weeks of this sort of life when it was thought that the civilian tarnish was removed and sufficient military polish acquired, we received marching orders.  We were sent to camp at High Beech in Epping Forest.  My Company was lodged in a large popular restaurant made of wood with a corrugated iron roof.  A covered verandah open at the sides went round it outside, where no doubt teas and other meals were served in peace-time.  It was known as Riggs Retreat and was a popular resort for London ‘East-Enders’ in  summer at weekends and on Bank Holidays.  Alas! It is no more, for it burnt down many years ago.  But here we all did sleep on three wooden boards which rested on two low trestles, and on the verandah, if you were lucky to get a place there, was pleasanter than the stifling interior.  At night a Guard was posted outside the hutment.  I happened to be the sentry on duty on the night and at the time when one of the first zeppelins flew over.  Although the novelty was a bit frightening at first, it was a magnificent and memorable sight.  The summer night was clear, the air was still and quiet.  Then from out the darkness there was a low soft distant hum and I wondered what it could be.  Gradually it got louder and louder as it came nearer.  Soon, searchlights from the ground, one after another, began to sweep and search the sky.  After a little time on of them found it, and held it in its beam, and all others converged upon it, making its pathway through the sky all sunlight bright as day.  In shape it looked like a long cigar flying across the heavens, but it moved so stately and gracefully that one could forget its deadly purpose, and I was lost in admiration.  Finally, it disappeared into the darkness.  Later I heard in the distance dull thuds and crumps, but could not tell whether they came from our bursting shells or the airship’s bombs.  It was not until a year later that the first Zeppelin was shot down at Cuffley by Lieut. Robinson of the R.F.C., who was awarded the V.C. for his gallantry.  His achievement had proved that the Zeppelin was not invincible and indeed the aeroplane soon outmatched it."

[MBrockway]

Thanks for posting Tony - that really adds depth and interest to the photo!

Mark