Upton Park is an area of the

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

borough of

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

, centred on Green Street which is the boundary between

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

and

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186. It was originally part of the Becontree Hun ...

West Ham United Football Club West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

formerly played at the

Boleyn Ground The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London. It was the home of West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years ...

, commonly known as Upton Park. The term 'Upton Park' first applied to a housing estate developed to the east of

West Ham Park West Ham Park is a privately owned public park in West Ham in the London Borough of Newham. Spanning , it is the largest park in the borough. The park has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1874. Records from 1566 show that th ...

in the 1880s. The estate took its name from the adjacent village of Upton with the suffix 'Park' added for marketing reasons. The estate's developers paid for a new station to be built which was named after the estate. Consequently, the area surrounding the station became known as Upton Park rather than the term being limited to the original housing estate. Originally a part of the hundred of Becontree, and part of the historic county of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, since 1965, Upton Park has been part of the London Borough of Newham, a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

of Greater London.

Football

The southern end of Green Street runs alongside the western edge of the former

, the original home ground of

West Ham United FC West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

. The club initially rented the land from

Green Street House Green Street House, usually known as Boleyn Castle, was a stately home in East Ham in the modern London Borough of Newham, East London. The alternative name derives from the local legend linking the house with Anne Boleyn and from its imposing ...

, known locally as ''Boleyn Castle'' because of its imposing nature and an association with

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

. The football stadium was commonly known as Upton Park. After the 2015–16 season, West Ham relocated to the former Olympic Stadium in Stratford and the Boleyn Ground has now been demolished. An unrelated football club of the area, Upton Park FC, were early pioneers in the game, and represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

football tournament, where they won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

. They played their home games at

, which was host to the first ever

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

goal, scored by

Jarvis Kenrick Jarvis Kenrick (13 November 1852 – 29 January 1949) was an English footballer. Career Born in Chichester, Sussex, Kenrick scored the first ever goal in the FA Cup, for Clapham Rovers in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871. K ...

for

Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct. The club playe ...

in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871. Upton Park F.C was founded in 1866, and is believed to have folded for the second and last time around 1911, while West Ham United were founded as

Thames Ironworks F.C. Thames Ironworks Football Club, the club that later became West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, was founded by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd owner Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder), Dave Taylor in ...

in 1895, before reforming as West Ham in 1900, playing their first games at Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground, from 1904.

Transport

On the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

network, the southern area near the Boleyn Ground is served by

Upton Park tube station Upton Park is a London Underground station on the District and Hammersmith and City lines, on Green Street in the Upton Park area of the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is in Zone 3. The station was opened by the London, Tilbury ...

, in Green Street, on the

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

and Hammersmith and City lines. On the overground rail network,

Forest Gate railway station Forest Gate railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line serving Forest Gate in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and . Its three-letter station code is FO ...

on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

served by

TfL Rail TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in London, England and its environs whilst the Crossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. On 24 May 2022, upon the opening of th ...

, and Wanstead Park railway station on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line served by the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...

, are both near the northern end of Green Street. On the road network, Green Street itself runs on a north–south axis, linking the A118 Romford Road in the north and the

A124 List of A roads in zone 1 in Great Britain beginning north of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longe ...

Barking Road in the south, both major arterial routes linking central London to the eastern counties.

Retail

Many shops in the area cater for east London's large

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

community.

Queens Road Market Queen's Market, also known as Queen's Road Market, and Green Street Market, is a historic street market in the London Borough of Newham. It lies adjacent to Green Street and Upton Park tube station. The street market originated in Green Str ...

is a covered food and clothing market on Queens Road, off Green Street near the tube station. It was formerly a large open-air street market until the current structure was built in the 1980s.

Priory Park

Upton Park also contains a green space, Priory Park , extending from the north east corner of the Boleyn Ground.

Administration

Green Street is a former tramway which divided the former Essex County Boroughs of

and

. The Upton Park area is in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

, but it is not the name of any of its

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

. It is roughly encompassed by the wards Green Street East/West in the north, and Plaistow North/South and Boleyn in the south.Ward Profiles
Newham Information Management System, accessed 6 May 2010

Notable people

Elliott Seabrooke Elliott Seabrooke (1886–1950) was a British landscape and still-life painter. His work is in the permanent collection of the Tate. Seabrooke was born in Upton Park, Essex (now London). He trained at the Slade School of Fine Art The UCL S ...

(1886–1950), British landscape and still-life painter, born in Upton Park.

References

External links

{{LB Newham Districts of the London Borough of Newham Areas of London East Ham West Ham de:Upton Park