Dagenham

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Dagenham
Dagenham (Greater London)
Dagenham
OS grid reference TQ485845
London borough Barking & Dagenham
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region London
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town DAGENHAM
Postcode district RM8, RM9, RM10
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament Dagenham
London Assembly City and East
European Parliament London
List of places: UKEnglandLondon

Coordinates: 51°32′23″N 0°08′32″E / 51.5397, 0.1422

Dagenham is a suburban town in Greater London, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated 12 miles (19.3 km) east of Charing Cross.

Contents

Dagenham is first recorded c690 as Dæccanhaam and means home of a man called Dæcca.[1]

In 1854, a station was opened on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in the south of Dagenham, near the Thames, at Dagenham Dock. In 1885 a new direct route from Barking to Pitsea, via Upminster, was built with a new station opened just north of the village.

Dagenham was still an undeveloped village, when building of the vast Becontree estate by the London County Council began in the early 1920s.[2] The building of the enormous estate, which also spread into the neighbouring parishes of Ilford, Romford and Barking,[3] caused a rapid increase in population.[4]

In 1932 the electrified District Line of the London Underground was extended to Upminster through Dagenham with stations opened as Dagenham and Heathway and today called Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway.[5] Dagenham East was the location of the Dagenham East rail crash in 1958.[6] Services on the London Tilbury & Southend line at Dagenham East were withdrawn in 1962.

Dagenham was an ancient, and later civil, parish in the Becontree hundred of Essex.[7] The Metropolitan Police District was extended to include Dagenham in 1840. The parish[8] formed part of the Romford Rural District from 1894.[9]

The expansion of the Greater London conurbation into the area caused the review of local government structures and it was suggested in 1920 that the Dagenham parish should be abolished and its area divided between Ilford Urban District and Barking Town Urban District.[3] Separately, the London County Council proposed that its area of responsibility should be expanded beyond the County of London to cover the area.[10] Instead, in 1926 the Dagenham parish was removed from the Romford Rural District and became an urban district.[8]

In 1938, in further recognition of its development, Dagenham became a municipal borough.[11] In 1965 the Municipal Borough of Dagenham was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Barking,[12] which is now known as Barking and Dagenham.[13] The current MP for the Dagenham constituency is Jon Cruddas.

On the corner of Whalebone Lane and the Eastern Avenue, diagonally opposite the Moby Dick pub, is the site of a Saxon moot hall. The adjoining fields were used during World War II by the Royal Artillery as an anti-aircraft battery before being converted into a Prisoner of War camp for Germans. Further south down Whalebone Lane on the corner of the High Road is the Tollgate pub. This stands on the site of the milestone which marked the ten mile (16 km) limit from the City of London and the turnpike toll-gate.

In 1931 the Ford Motor Company relocated from Trafford Park, Manchester, to Dagenham, which was already the location of supplier Briggs Motor Bodies. A 500 acre (2 km²) riverside site was developed to become Europe's largest car plant, a vast vertically integrated site with its own blast furnaces and power station, importing iron ore and exporting finished vehicles. By the 1950s Ford had taken over Briggs at Dagenham and its other sites at Doncaster, Southampton, Croydon and Romford. At its peak the Dagenham plant had 4 million square feet (371600 m²) of floor space and employed 40,000.[14] On February 20, 2002, full production was discontinued due to the expense of manual labour in the United Kingdom, and the factory was downsized to produce engines and gearboxes. It is the location of the Dagenham wind turbines.[15]

Other industrial names once known world wide were Ever Ready whose batteries could be found in shops throughout the Commonwealth, Bergers Paint and the chemical firm of May and Baker who in 1935 revolutionised the production of antibiotics with their synthetic sulfa-drug known as M&B693. The May and Baker plant, now owned and run by Sanofi-Aventis, occupies a large site near to Dagenham East station and its sports and social club has large grounds between Eastbrookend Country Park and the railway.

Dagenham Dock, to the south of Dagenham and adjacent to the River Thames, was once a large coaling port. The Chequers public house (now closed) gained world wide fame due to the many merchant seamen of all nationalities who stopped off there for a last drink before regaining ship. The area now forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. It is planned that the Docklands Light Railway[16] and East London Transit[17] will serve the area.

Dagenham & Redbridge F.C., based in Dagenham, are currently playing in the Football League Two having been promoted from the Nationwide Conference last season. They play at the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium, on Victoria Road.

Motorcycle speedway was staged at the greyhound stadium in Ripple Road in the mid to late 1930s. The club run events focussed on training but a team called the Dagenham Daggers did take part in local competitions.

Dagenham has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V. The park, which has been in existence for over a century, was renamed in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth II. Dagenham also has many other parks such as Valence and Parsloes.

Famous Dagenham natives include Dr George Carey 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, (he held his last communion before retiring as archbishop in the same parish church of Dagenham where he received his first communion at the age of 17), England's World Cup winning football coach Sir Alf Ramsey and player Martin Peters scorer of the second goal who was a Fanshaw schoolboy. Other famous names include England footballers Ken Brown, Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables, singer Sandie Shaw who was in the Girls Life Brigade at Oxlow Lane Baptist Church, Australian pop-star John Farnham, actor/musician/comedian Dudley Moore, 1952 Olympic games marathon hero and martyr Jim Peters, journalist and writer Neil Humphreys and Titanic survivor Eva Hart (died 14 February 1996). Former England and Arsenal Football Captain Tony Adams who's father Alex captained local team Stedfast, for eight years, that played in the Romford and District League lived in Foxlands Road, Dagenham and attended Hunters Hall Primary School and Eastbrook Comprehensive School, along with West Ham United and England footballer Paul Konchesky. Current England captain John Terry lived on the Thames View Estate in the Barking side of the Borough. Dudley Moore and Captain Cook were also known to have lived in the borough. Former England Rugby Union prop Jason Leonard (who has more international caps than any other player in history) was from Dagenham and attended Warren School. Dagenham is also headquarters to The Dagenham Girl Pipers. Some Bizzare Records boss Stevo Pearce.[18]

There are London Underground services from Becontree, Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway. c2c currently operate the National Rail service from Dagenham Dock.[19] National Rail services also operate from nearby Chadwell Heath.

Dagenham Heathway is served by the following Transport for London contracted routes: London Buses route 145(from Hedgemans Road),173,174,175 and 364(from Reede Road) .[20]

Local education is listed on the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham article

  • In 1995, Morrissey released a song called "Dagenham Dave".
  • British Oi band Cock Sparrer have a song called "Last Train to Dagenham".
  • Local resident Rob Jones wrote the Numa Numa Song.
  • In the second series of I'm Alan Partridge, Alan stereotypes East London 'thugs' by referring to 'Dan the Daggerman from Dagenham'.
  • Comedy Duo "The Hairbrush Geezers" have released several Comedy Videos of their covers of the world's greatest songs.

  1. ^ Mills, A., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001)
  2. ^ Olechnowicz, A., Working-Class Housing in England Between the Wars: The Becontree Estate (1997)
  3. ^ a b British History Online - The borough of Barking. Date accessed: 05 May 2007.
  4. ^ Vision of Britain - Dagenham population
  5. ^ Rose, D., The London Underground: A diagrammatic history, (1999)
  6. ^ Railways Archive - Report on the collision at Dagenham East - 30.01.58
  7. ^ British History Online - The Hundred of Becontree
  8. ^ a b Vision of Britain - Dagenham parish (historic map)
  9. ^ Vision of Britain - Romford RD (historic map)
  10. ^ Greater London: Case for Central Authority: Area and Powers. The Times. December 14, 1921.
  11. ^ Vision of Britain - Dagenham MB
  12. ^ Vision of Britain - Barking LB
  13. ^ Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council - The Mayor
  14. ^ Ford UK - History of Ford in Britain
  15. ^ Greater London Authority - Wind Turbines, Ford Estate, Dagenham planning application. 4 June 2003.
  16. ^ Transport for London - DLR takes first steps toward Dagenham. 29/01/2007.
  17. ^ Transport for London - East London Transit
  18. ^ Page 98, Marc Almond, Tainted Life, Sidgwick & Jackson
  19. ^ c2c - Stations and route map
  20. ^ Transport for London - Buses from Dagenham Heathway


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