In the 19th century it formed the grounds of a large Elizabethan-style Victorian mansion, seat of Richard Hodgson, lord of Chingford St.
[13] The bailiff's cottage, now known as Hawkwood Lodge, had a sitting room, kitchen, scullery, wash-house and four bedrooms[7] as well as two acres of pasture.
[10] The cottage survives and now has Listed Building status;[2][14] the London Borough of Waltham Forest converted it into a Field Study Centre in 1981.
[7] In 1848 Hodgson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society,[15] and built an observatory in the grounds of Hawkwood,[15] a short distance west of the house.
[23] George Nokes died in 1933,[7] and in 1937 Mrs. Nokes transferred the outlying farms to the Conservators of Epping Forest and the main Hawkwood estate was sold to Chingford Urban District Council[1] for £7250[7] with a covenant for it to be preserved as an open space and as a memorial to King George V.[24][25] In 1938, Chingford County High School, a coeducational grammar school, was founded.
[7] In 1943, Chingford Urban District Council arranged for the house to be connected to mains water and undertook some maintenance of the grounds.
[7] However, the house suffered considerable damage when a German V-1 flying bomb, coming from the north east, crashed into Hawkwood at 11:23 p.m. on 21 October 1944.
[24] During the 1960s, an area in the northern part of the estate next to Yardley Lane was fenced off and a purpose-built special school for deaf children was constructed on the site.
Authorisation was given to those campaigners to create a voluntary organisation called "The Friends of Hawkwood Nature Reserve" as caretakers of the pond and surrounding area.
[4] OrganicLea Community Growers, a workers' co-operative, started in 2001, aiming to produce food locally using organic and permaculture principles.
The work expanded with a grant from the Big Lottery’s Making Local Food Work programme, enabling them to establish the Hornbeam Café plus a weekly box scheme and a Cropshare programme,[4] with their mission statement being to "produce and distribute food and plants locally, and inspire and support others to do the same … bring people together to take action towards a more just and sustainable society.
"[35] After the closure of Hawkwood Plant Nursery in 2007, OrganicLea negotiated to use the site and facilities, and in 2010 they signed a ten-year lease to use the twelve acres, including the greenhouses.
[4] This has allowed significant expansion and has also increased the diversity of activities, which now include not only the production and selling of organic fruit and vegetables, but also training and education,[36] support for community gardening,[37] and working with local schools.