BARKING (see chapter)

UPNEY

Mayesbrook Park is a 43-hectare public park managed by the borough council. The southern end, which is mainly a large lake, is a Local Nature Reserve.The area covered by the park was once part of the historic Manor of Jenkins, seat of the Fanshawe family. For reasons which remain obscure, the park is nicknamed "Matchstick Island".

 BECONTREE

The hundreds of England declined in administrative use because of the rise of various ad hocboards. By 1894 they were effectively replaced by a system of uniform local government districts, which were consolidated over time and finally replaced in 1965 by the London boroughs which are still in use.

The name is first recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Beuentreu, meaning tree of a man called Beohha. The original tree, at Becontree Heath, was the location that early hundred meetings took place. Before 1465 it included the area of Havering liberty, which comprised the parishes of Hornchurch, Romford and Havering-atte-Bower, and thus the hundred meeting place was not originally located on the fringe of the area. After the area of the liberty was removed, the hundred contained the parishes of Barking (including Great Ilford), Dagenham, East Ham, Leyton, Little Ilford, Walthamstow, Wanstead and West Ham.

Hundreds of England

Notes compiled by Gerald Lucy on Essex Field Club Website, transcribed literally from DAGENHAM AND DISTRICT HISTORY SOCIETY

In the early 1920s a small gravel pit existed on farmland north of the railway and east of Gale Street, just a short distance from Gale Street Farm which was on the south side of the line. The farm was demolished in 1926 for the building of Gale Street Halt (now Becontree Station) and the gravel pit was expanded to provide aggregate for the vast Becontree housing estate. During the pit’s working life it produced numerous Palaeolithic flint tools including 26 hand-axes, many of which are now in the British Museum.
This area is situated on the Taplow/Mucking terrace of the Thames and the gravel was laid down about 200,000 years ago (Marine Isotope Stages 8-6). Such a large number of hand¬axes in one spot indicates that this may have been the site of a camp used by Neanderthal hunters for butchering animals on the banks of the Thames.

The pit is now a large lake within Parsloes Park, a public park owned by the borough council.

DAGENHAM HEATHWAY

Dagenham is centred 11 1⁄2 miles (19 kilometres) east of Charing Cross.

It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest in the north to the River Thames in the south. Dagenham remained mostly undeveloped until 1921, when the London County Council began construction of the large Becontree housing estate. The population significantly increased as people moved to the new housing in the early 20th century, with the parish of Dagenham becoming Dagenham Urban District in 1926 and the Municipal Borough of Dagenham in 1938. In 1965 Dagenham became part of Greater London when most of the historic parish become part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Dagenham was chosen as a location for industrial activity and is perhaps most famous for being the location of the Ford Dagenham motor car plant where the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 took place. Following the decline of industry, the southern part of Dagenham adjacent to the River Thames forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area, with a new district of Beam Park under construction on the former site of Ford Dagenham.

DAGENHAM EAST

Beam Valley Country Park is a 74-hectare park in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.^[1] Most of it is designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) called Beam Valley,^[2][3] but a narrow strip next to the River Beam south from Western Avenue is a separate LNR called Beam Valley (Environment Agency).^[4][5] The park is also designated as two Sites of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1, one north and the other south of South Dagenham Road.^[6][7][8]

The park was formerly derelict land. It has woodland and grassland, former gravel pits and the River Beam and Wantz Stream.^[2] Birds found on the site include kingfishers, reed warblers, reed buntings and skylarks.^[9] There is archaeological evidence that the site has been used since the Stone Age, and it also has a Roman pottery kiln.^[1]

In 2014 Beam Valley Country Park was connected to Bretons Manor when a new pedestrian and cycling bridge was installed over the River Beam by Sustrans.^[10]

• Nearest Train Station: Dagenham East Station
• Nearest Bus stop: 50m
• Bus Number: London Transport 103, 145

• Nearest Train Station: Dagenham East (District Line)
• If you are walking from here turn left, continue on to and walk across Reede Road, then use the crossing by the shops. The Chase can be accessed by taking the public footpath by the side of Ladbrokes the bookmakers.
• Nearest Bus stop: The Chase
• Bus Number: 174
• It can be boarded at Dagenham Heathway tube station on the district line or in Romford town centre.

Dagenham is first mentioned in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD. The first Dagenham was almost certainly just a small farmstead, the ham or farm of a man called Daecca.

For over 500 years after this the settlement was evidently too small to be mentioned in records.

Once the centre of Dagenham. The village was a busy area where farm workers and their families lived. There were several shops, 4 inns and a blacksmith's forge. Surrounding the village was countryside and farmland.

In 1205 Dagenham was large enough to have a chaplain and the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paulwas probably built at a similar time.

For centuries the church was central to the local community and most people went to church. The farm workers and their families would come here to pray for fair weather and good harvests. Here too they would meet and socialise with their friends. Even today the church contains clues about important people who have lived in Dagenham.

From the Medieval period until the 20th century Dagenham village did not alter its appearance much. The main street, called Crown Street ran east from the church and crossed the valley of the Wantz stream. After crossing the stream the road turned sharply south and became Bull Lane, ending in the Bull Public House.

William Ford's School was started as a result of money given by William Ford in 1825.

After 1921 the village was rapidly hemmed in on the north by the Becontree Estate. Much of the rural character was quickly lost. By the 1950s and 1960s many buildings that had been important landmarks in the village were in decay. In the late 1960s the majority of the village was demolished for social housing.

Today only the parish church, the Cross Keys public house and the Vicarage remain of the old village.

St. Peter and St. Paul, known commonly as Dagenham Parish Church, is a Church of England parish church in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, England, formerly part of Essex. It is of medieval origin, largely rebuilt at the beginning of the nineteenth century.^[

A map of Dagenham Village from 1653 shows the 'Crossed Keys' in Church Street. The oldest parts of this building were constructed during the fifteenth century and it was restored by Charrington's Brewery in 1962. It was known as the Queen's Head for a period from 1700.

ELM PARK

Elm Park is a suburban planned community in East London and part of the London Borough of Havering. Located 14.3 miles (23.0 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross, it is identified as a district centre in the London Plan with several streets of shops and a priority for regeneration. Prior to the construction of the extensive Elm Park Garden City development in the 1930s it was a scattered settlement of farms in the south of the parish of Hornchurch.
The place name Elm Park was devised in 1933.^[2] It was derived from Elm Farm, which is first recorded in 1777 and was known as Elms in 1883.^[3]
Elm Park has been connected to central London by the electrified District line service since 1935 and the planned development of the area formed part of the interwar private housing boom that was interrupted by World War II. After the war Elm Park expanded with social housing and it has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

The station is of similar design to Dagenham Heathway and Upney, but the station canopy is supported by one central pillar and the ramp to the ticket hall is much wider. The platforms are arranged on an island layout with station buildings typical of the 1930s. A long sloping walkway connects the platforms with the ticket hall which is on a road bridge over the line and above general street level.

The Chase is a nature reserve in Dagenham in London. Most of it is in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, with a small part in Havering. It is owned by the boroughs, and managed by London Borough of Barking & Dagenham - Parks & Countryside Ranger Service.^[1][2] The boroughs have designated the sections in their respective boroughs as Local Nature Reserves.^[3][4] The Chase, together with the neighbouring Eastbrookend Country Park, is also designated a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.^[5]

The manor, located adjacent to the River Beam in the parish of Hornchurch, is believed to have been named after the Breton family, who lived there from the 12th century.

The surviving building is a historic manor house that was rebuilt around 1740 with some features retained from an earlier building.

Enjoy the whole of the THAMES SIDE run places and its web!

HORNCHURCH (See chapter)

UPMINSTER BRIDGE (see chapter)

1930s style

UPMINSTER