Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London borough in East London. It lies around 9 miles (14.4 km) east of Central London. It is an Outer London borough and the south is within the London Riverside section of the Thames ...

. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the

Becontree Hundred Becontree was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Essex, England.John Marius Wilson, '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'', (1870-72) Its area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London; with its name reused in 192 ...

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 Grea ...

, stretching from

Hainault Forest Hainault Forest Country Park is a Country Park located in Greater London, with portions in: Hainault in the London Borough of Redbridge; the London Borough of Havering; and in the Lambourne parish of the Epping Forest District in Essex. Geograp ...

in the north to 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 longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in the south. Dagenham remained mostly undeveloped until 1921, when the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

began construction of the large

Becontree Becontree or Both pronunciations are given as Received Pronunciation in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, but the form is prioritised (). The dialectologist Peter Wright wrote in 1981 that is the traditional pronunciation in the cockney ...

housing estate. The population significantly increased as people moved to the new housing in the early 20th century, with the parish of Dagenham becoming Dagenham Urban District in 1926 and the

Municipal Borough of Dagenham Dagenham was a local government district in south west Essex, England from 1926 to 1965 covering the parish of Dagenham. Initially created as an urban district, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1938. It was established to deal with t ...

in 1938. In 1965 Dagenham became part of Greater London when most of the historic parish become part of the London Borough of Barking. Dagenham was chosen as a location for industrial activity and is perhaps most famous for being the location of the

Ford Dagenham Ford Dagenham is a major automotive factory located in Dagenham, London, operated by the Ford of Britain subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. The plant opened in 1931 and has produced 10,980,368 cars and more than 39,000,000 engines in its history ...

motor car plant where the

Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 The Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 was a landmark labour-relations dispute in the United Kingdom in England. It was a trigger cause of the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970. Strike action The strike, led by Rose Boland, Eileen Pullen, V ...

took place. Following the decline of industry, the southern part of Dagenham adjacent to the River Thames forms part of the

London Riverside The London Riverside is a redevelopment area on the north side of the River Thames in East London, England and part of the larger Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The London Riverside area forms part of the Green Enterprise District, a project ...

section of the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

redevelopment area, with a new district of

Beam Park Beam Park is a new neighbourhood in the south of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Havering. It is named after the River Beam which forms the boundary between the boroughs. It will be served by Beam Park railway ...

under construction on the former site of Ford Dagenham.

History

Toponymy

Dagenham first appeared in a document (as ) in a charter of

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, f ...

dating from 666 AD (though alternative 7th century dates have been suggested for the charter). The name almost certainly originated with a small farmstead, the "ham" or farm of a man called Daecca, as in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

means ''home of a man called Dæcca''. The charter was made to reflect a transfer of land from Aethelred, kinsman of King Saebbi of Essex, to Barking Abbey.

Manor of Barking

Dagenham has been historically defined by its Ancient Parish boundaries, which were subsequently re-used by the

up until 1965. The parish of Dagenham was formed in the medieval period to serve - along with parish of

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

(which included Great Ilford until the 19th century) - the people of the huge manor of Barking, which was owned by the Nunnery of

. This reversed the usual situation where a parish would serve one or more manors. As with other manors, the area held by the declined over time, but the parish boundaries based on its former extent remained constant. Barking Abbey was dissolved in 1539.

Pre-urban landscape

Like most Essex Thames-side parishes, Dagenham was laid out on a N-S axis to give it a share of the marshes by the river, the agricultural land in the centre and the woods and commons on the poorer soils on the high ground in the north. Dagenham included a significant part of the now mostly lost

Dagenham Breach

South of Dagenham was a low-lying area including the Dagenham levels and Dagenham Marsh, these having been subject to periodic flooding from the Thames, and flood banks were built to protect the farmland, culminating in defences and a flood gate on the Beam River being built in the 17th century by Dutch engineers. In 1707 an exceptionally high tide swept away fourteen feet of embankment and flooded over 1,000 acres of land, the description given by Daniel Defoe when he visited eight years later giving the area inundated as being 5000 acres is today considered an exaggeration. The "Dagenham Breach" widened over time to a width of 400 feet, allowing the Thames to strip the top layer of marsh clay from the flood plain and deposited it as a mud bank in the Thames where it became a danger to shipping. Despite various remedies, the breach was not securely filled and a further flood occurred in 1718 after which, under an act of parliament, over £40,000 of public money was spent on successfully closing the breach roughly at the location of Dagenham Dock. The closure of the gap left behind a large lake, also known as "Dagenham Breach" which became a popular spot for anglers. The lake is still there but much of it has silted up or been filled in and is now surrounded by industry, but parts can still be identified as the lakes to the north of Ford's plant and also where Breach Lane follows the now lost western outline of the lake.

Whitebait Dinners

Dagenham was formerly home to the famous annual whitebait feast. The custom appears to have been started by the King's Commissioner of Works to celebrate the closure of the breach in the seawall around 1714–20, and was held every subsequent spring, on or around

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: th ...

. Many years later, Sir Robert Preston MP, invited his friend George Rose the Secretary of the Treasury and others to celebrate the feast, and on another occasion Rose invited the Prime Minister, William Pitt. Thereafter it became an obligatory ritual of government for the entire cabinet to come to Dagenham and celebrate the security of the Thames and over time this simple but hearty meal based on Whitebait and local Essex Ale grew more lavish, including turtle, grouse, champagne and a range of other luxury food and drink. Eventually the cabinet tired of the long trip to Dagenham and moved the event to

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

Economic development

In 1931 the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

relocated from

Trafford Park Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the l ...

in Manchester, to a larger new plant in Dagenham, which was already the location of supplier Briggs Motorway Bodies. A riverside site was developed to become Europe's largest car plant, a vast

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...

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 Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

and

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

. At its peak the Dagenham plant had of floor space and employed over 40,000 people, although this number gradually fell during the final three decades of the 20th century as production methods advanced and Ford invested in other European factories as well. Some of Britain's best selling cars, including the Fiesta, Escort, Cortina and Sierra, were produced at the plant over the next 71 years. On 20 February 2002, full production was discontinued due to overcapacity in Europe and the relative difficulty of upgrading the ageing site compared with mostly newer European production facilities such as Almussafes (

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain) and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. 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 of Ford's Diesel Engines worldwide, and the UK employment laws when compared to Spanish, German and Belgian laws. In 2005 Cummins went into a joint venture and offered $15 million (US) to reinstate the factory. Ford and Cummins offered a good redundancy package, billed as one of the best in UK manufacturing. It is the location of the

Dagenham wind turbines The Dagenham wind turbines are two high Enercon E-66 and one E-82 wind turbines located on the Dagenham estate of the Ford Motor Company in East London, England. The first two turbines were completed in April 2004 and the third was installed in ...

.Greater London Authority –
Wind Turbines, Ford Estate, Dagenham planning application
''. 4 June 2003. Some 4,000 people now work at the Ford plant. The movie ''

Made in Dagenham ''Made in Dagenham'' is a 2010 British comedy-drama film directed by Nigel Cole and starring Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike, Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Daniel Mays and Richard Schiff. ...

'' (2010) is a dramatisation of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike at the plant, when female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination and unequal pay. Sterling, who manufactured British Army weapons and Jaguar car parts, were also based in Dagenham until they went bankrupt in 1988. Other industrial names once known worldwide were Ever Ready, whose batteries could be found in shops throughout the Commonwealth, Bergers Paint and the chemical firm of May & Baker who in 1935 revolutionized the production of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

with their synthetic sulfa-drug known as M&B 693. The May & Baker plant, owned and run by

Sanofi-Aventis Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...

, occupied a 108-acre site in Rainham Road South, near Dagenham East Underground station. It was abandoned in 2013 when the company closed it. BeFirst, a company working on behalf of the council, began to redevelop the site for commercial opportunities. NTT have their London1 data centre on this site, and the Eastbrook Studios is currently under construction.

Local government

Dagenham was an ancient, and later civil, parish in the

Becontree hundred Becontree was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Essex, England.John Marius Wilson, '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'', (1870-72) Its area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London; with its name reused in 192 ...

. The Metropolitan Police District was extended in 1840 to include Dagenham. The parish formed part of the

Romford Rural District Romford Rural District was a local government district in southwest Essex, England from 1894 to 1934. It surrounded, but did not include, Romford which formed a separate urban district.Vision of Britain �Romford RDDagenham parish

historic map
) Dagenham Parish Council offices were located on Bull Street. 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. Separately, the London County Council proposed that its area of responsibility should be expanded beyond the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

to cover the area. Instead, in 1926 the Dagenham parish was removed from the Romford Rural District and designated as an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

. In 1938, in further recognition of its development, Dagenham became a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

. In 1965 the

was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Barking, which was renamed Barking and Dagenham in 1980.

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. In 1854, the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , Tilbury, Southend and . The company ...

was built through the south of Dagenham, near the River Thames. In 1885 a new direct route from Barking to Pitsea, via Upminster, was built with Dagenham station opened just north of the village.

Dagenham Dock Dagenham Dock is a place in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in London, England. It is located to the south of Dagenham and on the River Thames. It was once the site of a large coaling port and continues to be the location of a small t ...

station opened on the original southern route in 1908. Dagenham was still an undeveloped village, when building of the vast

estate by the

began in the early 1920s. The building of the enormous council estate, which also spread into the neighbouring parishes of Ilford and

,British History Online –
The borough of Barking
'. Date accessed: 5 May 2007. caused a rapid increase in population. In 1932 the electrified

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...

of 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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

was extended to

Upminster Upminster is a suburban town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Havering. Located east-northeast of Charing Cross, it is one of the district centres identified for development in the London Plan. Historically a rural vill ...

through Dagenham with stations opened as ''Dagenham'' and ''Heathway'' and today called Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway. Dagenham East was the location of the

Dagenham East rail crash The Dagenham East rail crash was a railway accident on the London, Tilbury and Southend line of British Railways which occurred at Dagenham, United Kingdom. The accident took place at around 19:34 on 30 January 1958 and was a rear-end collision ...

in 1958. Services on the London Tilbury & Southend line at Dagenham East were withdrawn in 1962.

Governance

The wards of Eastbrook, Heath, River, Village and Whalebone are in the Dagenham and Rainham Parliamentary Constituency. The wards of Alibon, Mayesbrook, Parsloes, Thames and Valence are in the Barking Parliamentary Constituency. Each ward elects three councillors to Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. The whole area is within the City and East London Assembly Constituency.

Geography

Dagenham is located approximately east of Charing Cross in Central London. The

estate is largely in the pre-1965 borough of Dagenham, which also included

Becontree Heath Becontree Heath (also spelt Beacontree Heath) is an open space in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The name has also been applied to the local area, in particular to the RM8 postal district. History Becontree Heath functioned as the ...

, part of Rush Green, Old Dagenham village, and the southern section around

and adjacent to the

. This southern section, which includes

, is part of the

section of the

redevelopment zone. The Dagenham

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

includes the whole of the Becontree estate, including those sections that were in the former (pre 1965) boroughs of Barking and Ilford. Parts of the former borough of Dagenham - part of Chadwell Heath, part of Collier Row and part of Rush Green - are in the Romford Post town. It is adjacent to

to the west,

to northeast and

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...

to the east.

on the River Thames is to the south.

Demography

Dagenham is a working class area. During the 2000s there was a large influx of migrants, in particular Africans. The current population of the former (pre 1965) Borough of Dagenham could be approximated from the population of the current wards which together most closely match the area, but the former boundary between the borough and neighbouring Barking, with which it merged in 1965, no longer corresponds to any ward boundaries. At the time of the 2011 census, the Alibon ward (north of Heathway station) was 61% White British and 15% Black African. Goresbrook ward (southwest from Heathway) was 57% White British and 17% Black African. River ward (south of Heathway) was 51% White British and 19% Black African. Village ward (east from Heathway) was 58% White British and 19% Black African. Eastbrook ward (around Eastbrookend Country) was 69% White British and 11% Black African. Heath ward (north of Heathway) was 60% White British and 17% Black African.

Transport

Dagenham is connected to the

services from three stations,

(in the pre-1965 borough of Barking), Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway, all on the

c2c Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

, part of

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

operated by

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail tra ...

since February 2017, runs a train service through Dagenham Dock station.

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 ...

services also operate from nearby

Chadwell Heath Chadwell Heath is an area in east London, England. It is situated on the boundary of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Redbridge, around west of Romford and east of Ilford, and north-east of Charing Cross. ...

station. A proposed, and as yet unfunded

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Lo ...

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

from

Gallions Reach Gallions Reach is a stretch of the River Thames between Woolwich and Thamesmead. The area is named for the Galyons, a 14th-century family who owned property along this stretch of the river,Hidden London http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/ga ...

. It was anticipated that the project could be completed and open for use by 2017.Transport for London
Docklands Light Railway - Dagenham Dock: Key Project Milestones
However the public inquiry has been postponed due to concerns about funding. Dagenham Heathway is served by the following Transport for London contracted routes: London Buses routes 145,173,174,175 and 364. Routes 5, 103, 128, 150, 173, 174, 175, 499, and N15 and

East London Transit East London Transit (ELT) is a part-segregated bus rapid transit, operated as part of the London Buses network. The East London Transit opened in phases between 2010 and 2013. The scheme for this system was developed by Transport for London ...

service EL2 operate from

or the nearby Dagenham Civic Centre. Route 128 and EL1 runs a 24-hour service, while the N15 runs through the night.

Culture

Valence House, in Becontree Avenue, is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. Dating back to the 13th century, it is sited in parkland and there is a moat around part of it. Valence House is the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham's local history museum, displaying 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 mementos of the Fanshawe family, who occupied Parsloes Manor, since demolished, from the sixteenth century. The Fanshawe collection is "one of the best collections of gentry portraits in the country and is of international importance", according to Valence House. Elizabeth Ogborne
The History of Essex: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time
Printed for the Proprietors by R.H. Kelham, London, 1814, p. 61. Among members of the Fanshawe family was the diplomat

Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet PC (June 1608 – 16 June 1666) was an English poet and translator. He was a diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1666. During the English Civil War he supported the Royalist caus ...

, whose portrait is at Valence House. Nine successive members of the Fanshawe family served as

Remembrancer The Remembrancer was originally a subordinate officer of the English Exchequer. The office is of great antiquity, the holder having been termed remembrancer, memorator, rememorator, registrar, keeper of the register, despatcher of business. The R ...

to the Crown, following Henry Fanshawe's appointment to the position by

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

in 1566. The appointment made possible the family's rise to prominence. In the post town of Romford and the pre-1965 borough of Dagenham, on the corner of Whalebone Lane and the Eastern Avenue, diagonally opposite the

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

public house, is the site of Marks Manor House, a large 15th-century moated building demolished in the early 19th century. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the adjoining fields were used by the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

for an anti-aircraft battery; later a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

for Germans was erected there. Further south down Whalebone Lane on the corner of the High Road is the Tollgate pub. This stands on the site of the

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

which marked the ten mile (16 km) limit from the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and the

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

toll-gate.

The Roundhouse The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhous ...

public house on the junction of Porters Avenue and Lodge Avenue (in the pre-1965 borough of Barking) became eastern Greater London's premier rock-music venue between 1969 and 1975, incorporating the ''Village Blues Club''. Notable performers at the pub included Jethro Tull,

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending p ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Status Quo, and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

(on 5 April 1969). The Eastbrook is a Grade II* listed pub. Given the influence of U.S. blues on the English musicians who played at the Roundhouse, journalist

Nik Cohn Nik Cohn, also written Nick Cohn (born 1946), is a British writer. Life and career Cohn was born in London, England and brought up in Derry in Northern Ireland, the son of historian Norman Cohn and Russian writer Vera Broido. An incomer to th ...

called the London of the late 1960s and early 1970s the "Dagenham Delta."

Media

The ''

Barking & Dagenham Post The ''Barking & Dagenham Post'' is a weekly local newspaper in the area of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. It is published by Archant. The paper was originally called the ''Dagenham Post'', and some older residents of its distribution ...

'' is printed weekly and also published online.

Sport

Dagenham & Redbridge F.C., based at Victoria Road were relegated to the in the 2015/16 season from the

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, after being relegated from the Football League One which they had reached having been promoted as playoff-winners of League two after beating

Rotherham United F.C. Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

3–2, in the 2010/11 season. They were also the Nationwide Conference champions of the 2006/07 season. 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. It is possible that the venture was operational as early as 1931 a meeting at Caxton (Cambridgeshire) was advertised as Caxton Speedway v Dagenham Speedway. Dagenham's leading cricket club Goresbrook Cricket Club are based at the May & Baker Sports Club in Rainham Road South, in 2011 the club won the Essex County Cricket League for the first time in its history. Dagenham has a King George's Field in memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. The park was renamed in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth II. Dagenham also has many other parks such as Valence - and Parsloes (which lies partly in the pre-1965 borough of Barking). Dagenham Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps, founded by John Johnson, was the first British Drum Corps and performed in the United States for the first time in 1983. In 2010 they reformed to perform for DCUK's 30th anniversary, fielding a competitive corps for the first time in 22 years. The town is also home to the

Dagenham Girl Pipers The Dagenham Girl Pipers are a female pipe band based in Dagenham, Greater London. The band was founded in 1930, and toured extensively as a professional organisation before and after the Second World War, with several members performing during ...

, a

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

founded in 1930 by the Revd Joseph Waddington Graves.

Notable people

Please see 'Geography' above for various definitions of 'Dagenham'. * Abraham Blackborne, long-serving vicars of Dagenham. * England international footballer and World Cup-winning manager Alf Ramsey was born in Dagenham in 1920. * St Peter and St Paul's Church in Dagenham was once the Parish Church of the former archbishop of Canterbury,

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the C ...

. *Musician and comedian

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

was brought up in Dagenham, which was the home of

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

and Dudley Moore's famous comic alter-egos ''

Pete and Dud Pete and Dud were characters played by the comedians and entertainers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The dialogue format originated in 1964 when Dudley Moore invited Peter Cook to appear in a television performance. Cook scripted a conversation bet ...

''. *

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...

, 1960s pop singer, who had a string of hit singles in the decade and won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with Puppet on a String *

Rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

artist

Devlin Devlin may refer to: * Devlin (surname) * Devlin (given name) * Devlin (rapper), a British rapper * ''Devlin'' (TV series), a 1974 animated TV series by Hanna-Barbera * ''Devlin'', a 1988 novel by Roderick Thorp * ''The Devil and Max Devlin '' ...

is from Dagenham. *Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and author

Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...

is from Dagenham. * Depeche Mode member

Martin Gore Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and DJ. He is one of the founding members of the electronic rock band Depeche Mode and is the band's main songwriter. He is the band's guitarist a ...

was born in Dagenham. *

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage War ...

matchmaker Ian Dean is from Dagenham. *Australian singer John Farnham was born in Dagenham before migrating. *Former darts player

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

was born in Dagenham before living in Romford. *British singer, TV presenter, and personality

Stacey Solomon Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash (born 4 October 1989) is an English singer and television personality. She finished in third place on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009, and won the tenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Ou ...

is from Dagenham. *British singer, Steve Ignorant of the original anarcho-punk collective

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestylism, way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the ...

grew up Dagenham. *

Richard Wisker Richard Wisker (born 1 February 1995) is a BAFTA Award-nominated British actor and presenter from Dagenham, England, known for his role as Liam O'Donovan in ''Tracy Beaker Returns''. From 2013 to 2015 he portrayed Rich in the CBBC series ''Dani ...

actor, was born in Dagenham.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * Terry Cooper Death by Dior: Françoise Dior, (Dynasty Press, 2013, )

External links

{{Authority control Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Vehicle manufacture in London District centres of London