Leyton

Leyton ( LAY-tən) is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River Lea, to the west. The area includes New Spitalfields Market, Leyton Orient Football Club, as well as part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The town consists largely of terraced houses built between 1870 and 1910, interspersed with some modern housing estates. It is 6.2 miles (10 km) north-east of Charing Cross. Leyton was an ancient parish, also known as Low Leyton or Leyton St Mary. It formed part of the Becontree hundred of the ancient county of Essex. The parish contained the two settlements of Low Leyton and Leytonstone and remained largely rural until the 19th century. The area saw significant development in the late 19th century, becoming part of the conurbation of London, similar to much of south-west Essex. It became part of the Metropolitan Police District in 1839 and has been part of the London postal district since its inception in 1856. A Leyton local government district was established in 1873, covering Leyton and Leytonstone. The district was enlarged in 1875 to also include Cann Hall. It became an urban district in 1894 and gained municipal borough status in 1926. In 1965, the Municipal Borough of Leyton merged with the neighbouring boroughs of Walthamstow and Chingford to form the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local government district of Greater London.