Make it stand out.

In the early 1970s, the route of the North Circular Road that borders Walthamstow, was significantly altered.

Originally, the road ran up from The Crooked Billet towards the forest, then turned right, running parallel to Beacontree Avenue, before turning left at Forest Road. At the junction with the Woodford New Road, it went round the old Waterworks Roundabout and turned right onto the Southend Arterial Road.

The new scheme cut out two sides of a triangle, by cutting directly through the forest to the roundabout. A huge swathe of forest was removed for the deep cutting for the new road.

The part of the road that ran alongside Beacontree Avenue was given back to the forest and is now a pleasant footpath with virtually no sign of the busy trunk road that once ran along there.

At the same time as the road improvements, Thames Water took the opportunity to build a new underground reservoir. This was excavated in the area alongside Forest Road and Woodford New Road. The only sign of it these days is the large open grassed area behind the trees bordering the roads.

A few years later the new Waterworks junction was altered again to link in to the new approach for the M11 motorway.