Gallows Corner is a major road junction in

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, England. It was the site of the gallows of the Liberty of Havering, hence the name.

History

During the 18th century, Gallows Corner was a copse-sided part of the road and, approachable by meagre path only from the south or various small lanes in other directions, a favourite spot for waylaying coaches. It was close to the site for the gallows, thought to be north of what is now Eastern Avenue (west), on a grassy stretch below Masefield Crescent. Several entries in the Romford registers of burials of felons confirm many of those executed there in the 16th and 17th centuries. In grounds of Ravensbourne School is where the small jail stood where the condemned were held. The former name of Straight Road was Gallows Lane.

Junction

The current junction is a large roundabout with five exits and a flyover. The exits are: *Westbound: A12 (Eastern Avenue), towards

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. *South-westbound: A118 (Main Road), towards Romford. *South-eastbound: A127 (Southend Arterial Road), towards

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

. *North-eastbound: A12 (Colchester Road), towards

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. *Northbound: Straight Road, a minor road towards Harold Hill.

Flyover

The flyover links Eastern Avenue (East) with the Southend Arterial Road. According to the '' Romford Recorder'' it was erected in 1970 by Terry and Co; it takes the form of a system of

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some research ...

units (called the Braithwaite FliWay) that was cheaper and quicker to build than a conventional underpass or cast ''in-situ'' flyover. It is notorious for being angular, with sudden changes of slope rather than a smooth arch. The flyover was closed for several months in 2008 for remedial work carried out to the road deck, with several sections replaced. It was found in final inspection that the bridge parapets had suffered severe corrosion. The bridge was fitted with emergency barriers which meant that traffic was restricted to one lane in the London-bound (westbound) direction only. It re-opened to two-way traffic in 2009.

Roundabout

The junction has an above-average number of

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Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

has put forward proposals to make the junction safer by changing the roundabout layout, adding new white lines and guidance markings, and extending the reduced speed limits on the approaches to the junction. Works were expected to start during spring 2018. Works did not, however, commence in 2018; the local radio station Time 107.5 reported in July 2021 that TfL was planning to submit a bid to the

Department of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

in Spring 2022 to access £50m of Government funding to address the issues with the junction. In 2025 work began to make improvements to the roundabout. It is expected it will be totally closed from June - September for work to be done.

In media

The junction is referred to in the film ''

Layer Cake A layer cake (US English) or sandwich cake (UK English) is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by a filling such as frosting, jam, or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for layer cakes; butte ...

''.

References

{{LB Havering Districts of the London Borough of Havering Areas of London Road junctions in London Roundabouts in England Romford