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. …
Category Archives: Local history
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, …
The Oldest Road
High Road follows the path of an old Roman road from Colchester in Essex to London and is one of the oldest in the UK. It has been in use for at least two thousand years. The junction is where Whalebone Lane South and North meet the High Road. The areas of fields and allotments …