Barking & Dagenham

Here is a link to all of the objects from Barking & Dagenham 

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham was formed in 1965 when the two old municipal boroughs were amalgamated. It lies to the east of London in southwest Essex, and its southern border is the River Thames. It stretches to the River Rom in the west and the River Roding in the east.

Population change

1966: 171,000 people
1998: 153,800 people

Barking and Dagenham were important medieval centres, thanks to the presence of a large Cistercian abbey at Barking. Until the 19th century, when much of the borough was developed, the most important industry was fishing. This changed when the railway line from the City of London was extended to Barking and the riverfront at Dagenham was turned into docks.

The most important 20th-century housing development was the Becontree estate. Begun in 1914 and completed in 1940 on marshland at Dagenham, it comprised nearly 30,000 houses. It was the largest out-county meaning cottage estate built by the London County Council (L.C.C.) and the largest council estate in the world at the time. The new houses had gas, electricity and inside toilets, and there were strict rules about house and garden maintenance.

The 20th century also saw heavy industry develop in the district. In 1909, Handley Page opened Britain’s first aircraft factory at Barking. In 1924 the Ford motor company bought some 55 acres of land from Samuel Williams & Sons, and between 1929 and 1931 developed a mammoth car plant in Dagenham. During the Second World War the Ford factory made 360,000 military vehicles including vans, army trucks, mobile canteens and Bren gun carriers. During the 1950s the factory was enlarged and employee numbers rose from 14,000 to 40,000.

Despite the industrial growth of the 20th century, parts of the borough have been preserved as open space. The largest of these is Eastbrook Country Park and Nature Reserve. The reserve has 125 acres of wetlands, reed beds and woodland.

Places in Barking and Dagenham:

Rail and tube stations: Barking, Becontree, Chadwell Heath, Dagenham Dock, Dagenham East, Dagenham Heathway and Upney.