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Dagenham

Dagenham is a large suburb in east London, England, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located 12 miles (19.3 km) east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began construction of the large Becontree estate. The population of the area significantly increased during the 20th century, with the parish of Dagenham becoming an urban district in 1926 and a municipal borough in 1938. It has formed part of Greater London since 1965 and is a predominantly residential area, with some areas of declining industrial activity. The population is set to rise as the southern part of Dagenham, adjacent to the River Thames, forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area.

Toponomy

Dagenham as Dæccanhaam is first recorded in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD. The first ever area of Dagenham was almost certainly just a small farmstead, the ham or farm of a man called Daecca, as Dæccan hamm means home of a man called Dæcca.^[1]

Economic development

In 1931 the Ford Motor Company relocated from Trafford Park in Stretford, 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.^[2] On February 20, 2002, full production was discontinued due to overcapacity in Europe and the relative difficulty of upgrading the 60 year old site compared with other European sites such as Almussafes, Valencia, Spain and Cologne. Other factors leading to the closure of the Auto-assembly line were the need of the site for the new Diesel Centre of Excellence, which produces half Ford's Diesel Engines worldwide and the UK employment laws when compared to Spanish, German and Belgian laws. Ford offered a good redundancy package, billed as one of the best in UK manufacturing. It is the location of the Dagenham wind turbines.^[3]

Sterling Ltd who were famous for manufacturing British Army weapons and Jaguar car parts were also based in Dagenham until they went bankrupt in 1988. 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 revolutionized 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.

Local government

Dagenham was an ancient, and later civil, parish in the Becontree hundred of Essex.^[4] The Metropolitan Police District was extended to include Dagenham in 1840. The parish formed part of the Romford Rural District from 1894.^[5][6] 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.^[7] Separately, the London County Council proposed that its area of responsibility should be expanded beyond the County of London to cover the area.^[8] Instead, in 1926 the Dagenham parish was removed from the Romford Rural District and became an urban district.^[5] In 1938, in further recognition of its development, Dagenham became a municipal borough.^[9] In 1965 the Municipal Borough of Dagenham was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Barking,^[10] which is now known as Barking and Dagenham.^[11]

Market gardens to suburban estate

In 1205 Dagenham was large enough to have a chaplain and the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul was probably built at around that time.^[12] 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.^[13] The building of the enormous council estate, which also spread into the neighbouring parishes of Ilford and Barking,^[7] caused a rapid increase in population.^[14] 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.^[15] Dagenham East was the location of the Dagenham East rail crash in 1958.^[16] Services on the London Tilbury & Southend line at Dagenham East were withdrawn in 1962.

Governance

The current MP for the Dagenham constituency is Jon Cruddas. For elections to the London Assembly, Dagenham is in the City and East constituency.

Geography

Dagenham Dock, to the south of Dagenham and adjacent to the River Thames, was once a large coaling port. The area now forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. Major brownfield housing developments are forecast to increase the population by tens of thousands of people. The Roundhouse public house on the junction of Porters Avenue and Lodge Avenue became East London's premier rock music venue between 1969 and 1975. Incorporating the "Village Blues Club", some notable bands who performed at the pub were Jethro Tull, Supertramp, Queen, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Status Quo, and Led Zeppelin (on 5 April 1969).

Demography

The area was predominantly white working class. At the last census in 2001, around 85% of the population was 'white', with 80% being classed as 'white - British'. The remaining 20% of the population comprised primarily other European nationalities (5%) Black (7%) and Asian (5%) populations.^[17] However recent immigration has transformed the area. It now has a large and growing black and multicultural population, including south Asian and Eastern European nationalities such as Albanians and many other ethnic groups.^{[citation needed]}

Transport

There are London Underground services from Becontree, Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway. c2c currently operate the National Rail service from Dagenham Dock.^[18] National Rail services also operate from nearby Chadwell Heath. Dagenham Heathway is served by the following Transport for London contracted routes: London Buses route 145,173,174,175 and 364.^[19]

Culture

Valence House, a home of the Fanshawe family, is in Becontree Avenue. It is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham.^[20] Dating back to the 13th century it is sited in parkland and is partially surrounded by a moat. Valence House is the borough's local history museum and art gallery, displaying an impressive collection of artifacts and archives that tell the story of the lives of the people of Barking and Dagenham. The collection also includes portraits, family papers and other mementoes of the Fanshawe family, who occupied Parsloes Manor, since demolished, from the sixteenth century.^[21] The Fanshawe collection is "one of the best collections of gentry portraits in the country and is of international importance," according to Valence House.^[22] Valence House will soon open a new Fanshawe Gallery featuring the 53 Fanshawe portraits in one room.^[23] Among members of the Fanshawe family was the diplomat Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet, whose portrait is at Valence House. Nine successive members of the Fanshawe family served as Remembrancer to the Crown, following Henry Fanshawe's appointment to the position by Queen Elizabeth I in 1566. The appointment made possible the family's rise to prominence.

On the corner of Whalebone Lane and the Eastern Avenue, diagonally opposite the Moby-Dick public house, 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.

Dagenham & Redbridge F.C., based in Dagenham, are currently playing in the Football League Two having been promoted as Nationwide Conference champions in the 2006/7 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. Dagenham Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps, founded by John Johnson, were the first British Drum Corps and performed in America for the first time in 1983. They have recently reformed to perform for DCUK's 30th anniversary.

Notable people

bobby moore englang captin world cup winner

sir tevor brooking

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)

Sir Alf Ramsey, England's World Cup winning football coach , and also player

Martin Peters, scorer of the second goal in the 1966 World Cup Final, who was a Fanshaw schoolboy.

Ken Brown, former England footballer

Jimmy Greaves, former England footballer and

Terry Venables, former England footballer and manager

Sandie Shaw, singer that was in the Girls Life Brigade at Oxlow Lane Baptist Church

John Farnham, Australian pop-star

Dudley Moore, actor/musician/comedian

Jim Peters, 1952 Olympic games marathon hero and martyr

Neil Humphreys, journalist and writer

Eva Hart, Titanic survivor (died 14 February 1996)

Françoise Dior, Nazi who was arrested in Dagenham while living at the home of her secretary Terry Cooper

Tony Adams, Former footballer and captain of Arsenal and England, whose father Alex captained local team Stedfast 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

Paul Konchesky, fulham fc and England footballer

John Terry, current England captain lived on the Thames View Estate in the Barking side of the Borough

Captain James Cook was also known to have lived in the borough

Jason Leonard, former England Rugby Union prop (who has more international caps than any other forward in history) was from Dagenham and attended Warren School

Dagenham Girl Pipers

Stevo Pearce, Some Bizzare Records boss .^[28]

Martin Gore of Depeche Mode was born and spent his early years in Dagenham

Stevie Shears worked and apparently lived there before forming Ultravox

Colin Larkin The founder, editor and writer of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Pritesh Patel, Under 18 UK snooker champion

Michael Sean Martin, former University of Cincinnati and Minnesota Twins pitcher attended Robert Clack School

The Rubettes, 1970s band who had a number one hit with "Sugar Baby Love"

John Keating, actor

Neal Barry, actor

Glen Murphy, actor from TV's London's Burning series are all ex-Dagenham residents. Some members of

Diversity, members of the Britain's Got Talent winners are from Dagenham

Stacey Solomon, ITV X Factor 2009 Finalist Runner Up

Vic Barney, Played with Alf Ramsey for Fanshawe Old Boys. First Englishman to play football in Italian Serie A for Napoli 1945/46, Also played pro for Reading, Grimsby, Oxford Utd.

Popular culture

Linda Smith once wrote "Erith isn't twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham".

In 1995, Morrissey released a song called "Dagenham Dave", which was also the title of an earlier song by the Stranglers, and British Oi! band Cock Sparrer have a song called "Last Train to Dagenham". Additionally, UK Grime artist Devlin has a song called "Dagenham", which is about living in the area.

An episode of The Secret Millionaire featured Dagenham prominently, particularly the local legend Wyn.