Castle Green is a park and suburb in the

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London boroughs, London borough in East London. The borough was created in 1965 as the London Borough of Barking; the name was changed in 1980. It is an Outer London borough and the south is wi ...

, United Kingdom. The locality is close to

Creekmouth Creekmouth is an area of Barking in east London, England. It is best known for its large industrial estate. The industrial area around River Road and Thames Road is one of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham's largest employment areas. Cr ...

and is part of the

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 ...

estate. Castle Green contains a secondary school, Jo Richardson Community School, a library, theatre, arts and conference spaces, sports facilities which house

Barking RFC Barking RFC is an English rugby union team based in Barking, east London and currently play in the ninth tier of the English rugby union league system, Essex 1. History Park Modern Old Boys The club was founded in 1930, under the name of Park ...

and a community centre.

History

The area was rural into the 18th century but was dominated by manorial estates dating from the mediaeval period. Some of these were demolished for market gardening with the expansion of the city. In the 1920s, the manors of Parsloes and Valence were acquired for the

housing estate; remnants of the manors still exist as parks. Valence House now houses the

Valence House Museum Valence House Museum is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. The timber-framed museum building, partially surrounded by a moat, is situated in Valence Park off Becontree Avenue, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, L ...

. Over the 19th century, industrialisation moved into the area; the borough remains the most industrialised in London. The growth in population necessitated urban expansion. The area became important as a place for social reform. With the expansion came a need for public parks as amenities. In the 1890s

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking, 1965–1980 ** Municipal Borough of Barking, 1931–1965 ** Barking (UK Parliament constituency) ** Barking (electoral division), Greater ...

town centre became planned out with

Barking Park Barking Park is a public park covering 30 hectares to the northeast of Barking town centre in east London. It was opened as the Recreation Ground in 1898 by the Barking Town Urban District Council and is now the oldest public park in the Londo ...

being established in 1898. The Becontree estate was created between 1919 and 1935 as a public housing for returning soldiers and to relieve overcrowding in the centre of London, covering the last of the borough's rural area. The estate accommodated a population over 167,000 and also included Valence and Parsloes parks, Mayesbrook Park, Castle Green and Goresbrook Sports Ground. Tha name dates back over 200 years to a time when the area was rural. The "castle" that gave its name to the place was a

castellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

house which was built around 1800 and survived until 1938.

Transport

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

173 Year 173 ( CLXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Pompeianus (or, less frequently, year 926 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 173 for th ...

and 287 serve the area. The nearest station is

. Barking & Dagenham Borough Council have proposed a new London Overground railway station.

References

{{LB Barking and Dagenham Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham