affable-lurking

By mid 1921, the construction of the Becontree Estate and the enlargement of Dagenham was gathering pace. The photograph below shows an aerial view of the west of the estate looking north to Chadwell Heath. The two prominent roads running parallel to the bottom of the photograph and diagonally to the right are Longbridge Road and Beacontree Avenue respectively.

In the middle distance some of the housing is beginning to take shape, although large areas of land are still open fields. It took a further ten years before some of the more recognisable features of Dagenham were constructed. The second photograph has the Heathway running diagonally down, left to right. Just visible before the great sweep of Downing Road, and towards the top of the photo is a partially constructed Heathway Hill. Heathway station still being a year or so away from opening at this point.

Another random dip into the past next week…

Once again the London Open House weekend has swung around and found me plan-less; not that I’ve had no warning, dg has mentioned it on and off for the last month.

I shall make hasty plans, restricting myself to my home towns and try and turn up something interesting.
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Dagenham Civic Centre: Just me and three old ladies to trouble Dave the mace-bearer and part-time Mayor’s bodyguard [well, he's mainly there to see that no oik takes off with the chain of office - valued at around �20k]. It’s obvious he loves both the building and his job - delivering a guided tour of the parts of the centre the public are lucky to ever see.
Following a fifteen month restoration at a total cost in excess of �1.9M, the building is now restored to its original 1930s art deco style and many original features have been rediscovered.

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Barking Town Hall: Designed around the same time as its Dagenham counterpart, construction of the Barking Town Hall has interrupted by the war. Only the underground parts finished and converted to emergency air raid shelters. This was a rather brief tour by someone who could have easily spoken for longer on her subject; others in the party had asked for a brief tour to make other commitments.
There are plans to next year extend the building by another two floors - hopefully in keeping with the existing style and not taking inspiration from the new library opposite.

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Eastbury Manor House: Dating from around 1560, Eastbury is one of the two surviving manor houses in the borough. Although rather grand in appearance, the inside is rather spartan, with large rooms mainly used for meetings and short events rather than any long term displays. By far the most disappointing of the buildings visited this weekend.

These bank holidays screw up your sense of time… I meant to post this on Wednesday.

The small smudge towards the middle of the leaf is my non-traditional entry for EDW this week.

Here is a zoom so we can really see the beauty of this little foreign invader.

This is Eupteryx decemnotata a Southern European leafhopper that has recently shown up in the UK. They have arrived on plants imported from the continent. They were first reported in the UK a couple of years back and have steadily established themselves.

Leafhoppers in general are very well dressed insects on any day of the week. They are also a total pain to try and photograph, the dedicated bunch over at Flickr are doing much better than I am.

I just caught the tail end of the local news to hear a reporter at the Heathway interviewing locals about Roy’s pie and mash shop - apparently it is closing due to lack of custom. The news segment seems to be trying to suggest that the changing demographic of Dagenham had reduced the flow of custom to Roy’s. Now perhaps this is true to some extent, but we also have to remember that Roy’s is a crap pie and mash shop.

It’s always a shame to see the end of a local institution like a P&M shop, but I’ve never been able to get enthusiastic about the food in Roy’s. Sadly, I foresee the premises ending up as another faux-American fried chicken shop or crap-pizza takeaway.

If you want decent Pie and Mash then Heath Pie Shop at the ‘Fiddlers or Rumford Pie and Mash in Romford, or Eastbrook Pie and Mash are all excellent. You’ll never go back to Roy’s after you’ve been to one of the others.

Mid July, wet weather? It must be town show time! 2007 sees the 56th running of this annual two-day event.

I’m planning to visit on Sunday. On Saturday I’ll be in Regent’s Park not learning to dance at the Broadwalk Ballroom.