Yesterday I visited Valance House Museum for the fist time since it reopened in June 2010 following an extensive 2 year refurbishment. I’d been a frequent visitor before the closure, especially when I was trying to track down the whereabouts of the whale bones that give Whalebone Lane its name. The museum is greatly improved …
Category Archives: Local history
Bells
Something like thirty years ago, I was on a bus with my grandfather passing The Whitechapel Bell Foundry; he told me a little about the place and promised to take me for a visit when I was older. Three years ago, I bought a ticket for a tour the following year, then forgot to go. …
Happy Birthday Becontree
It’s 90 years ago today that the building work on the first houses on the Becontree Estate was completed. Numbers 22-28 Chittys Lane were the first to be finished on the 7th November 1921.
Local history Monday Tuesday
Whalebone Lane, bit of an odd name for a main road in a town not exactly famed for its whaling fleets, isn’t it? Well, the name derives from Whalebone House, that stood close to the junction of the modern-day High Road and Whalebone Lane. The house taking its name from the large whalebone arch that …
Lost Dagenham
Another image from the archives this week: Clay Cottages of Marston Avenue. You won’t find them there now though, these last two were demolished in 1962, razed to make room for garages. These particular cottages were around 500 years old – some of the oldest dwelling places in Essex. They originally had no first floor, …