The history of Pastures

There has been a building on the Pastures site since the end of the 17th century. The original building was a house occupied by wealthy local traders, including William Davies – after whom the street where Pastures is located is named.

In the early- to mid-19th century the property and land was bequeathed to Agnes Cotton. Her father was Governor of the Bank of England in 1821, and her brother was Lord Justice Cotton. Agnes Cotton was deeply religious and wanted to use the site to benefit the community and church. Between 1865 and 1879 she founded and built the Home of the Good Shepherd which consisted of an orphanage, a home to young unmarried mothers, and a chapel.

In 1899 Agnes Cotton died and left the site to the Sisters of St John the Baptist. The Sisters extended the buildings on the site and continued to look after it until 1940 when it had to be evacuated due to the Second World War. After the war, the buildings were bought by the local council and used by the civil defence corps, providing meals for older people, and other social services.

In 1959 it was proposed that the site should be used for the young people in the borough and “…would be devoted entirely to the needs of young people, with a building in which they could take a personal pride, and in which their activities would not be limited by the restricted facilities available in a school”. To that end, the sports hall and associated facilities on the Pastures site were built by the late 1960s. Many older local people fondly recall the Pastures youth club with sports, social activities and opportunities to develop skills and talents.

In 2020 Waltham Forest Council earmarked the Pastures site for redevelopment. The local community, not wishing to lose such a historic and much-needed resource, came together and successfully fought a campaign (‘Save Our Pastures’) to prevent redevelopment and bring the whole site into wide community use.

To ensure that the site is used to its full potential, the Save Our Pastures campaign has evolved into a community group now named ‘Our Pastures’. We work with the Council to ensure that the site and its activites are accessible to all and effectively promoted.