Place Name
Originally part of Manbey Road which was built sometime around 1879. It was divided into two streets after the war, the eastern section from Ellingham Road to Hall Road was rebuilt after the war and renamed Amethyst Road. The other section became Drapers Road. The name Amethyst comes from the Black Swan class sloop HMS Amethyst which between April and July 1949 was trapped in China on the Yangtze River as it made its way from Shanghai to Nanking (now Nanjing). Fired upon by the People’s Liberation Army, the Amethyst had to avoid any contact with the hostile forces, eventually making good her escape on July 30 under the cover of darkness. The road was named the following year. In the parish of Wanstead until the Wanstead Slip was incorporated into Leyton. It was part of the Cann Hall manorial estate that belonged to the Manby-Colegrave family. See Drapers Road and Manbey Road.
