Custom House is an area in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County Bor ...

, in

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 fa ...

, England. The area is named after the

custom house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

of Royal Victoria Dock. Today the dock is used for recreation but, in the past, it dominated the industry and commerce of the area from 1855 until the 1940s before closing in 1980. The main economic building of the area is the ExCeL London Exhibition Centre and the district is connected to 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 ...

by the

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 L ...

. Offices, factories and storage premises close to the DLR route provide most of the areas employment land. Schools, a college, a care home, council offices and a parade of shops also support the local economy, which has parks to north and south-east. It was originally part of the ancient parish and

County Borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent t ...

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 ancient ...

, in the hundred of Becontree, a 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, Custom House has been part of the London Borough of Newham, a local government district of Greater London. It forms part of the London E16 postcode district. Custom House has often been regarded as the eastern part of

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation wa ...

, also a part of West Ham; however this link has tended to be downplayed since the Victorian period due to Canning Town’s poor, industrial character.

History

Historically, the area was in the extreme west of

and, along with

and Silvertown, formed the south of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, a largely rural parish until the early 19th century. Trade expanded in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...

and the

royal docks Royal Docks is an area and a ward in the London Borough of Newham in the London Docklands in East London, England. The area is named after three docks – the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock. They are mo ...

were built, connecting 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 ...

in this district. Custom House took its name from the Custom House of the Royal Victoria Dock, opened in 1855. The demand for trade brought rapid population expansion, chiefly the families of dockworkers, warehousemen, carters (distributors), packaging and semi-skilled manufacturing hands, building and utilities workmen and workers in London's street and general distribution markets. About 1740 the number of householders was estimated at 570. In the first national census of 1801 the population of West Ham was 6,485. It rose steadily to 12,738 in 1841 and then began a growth, which was especially rapid between 1871 and 1901, when over 204,000 were added. By 1911, with 289,030 inhabitants, West Ham was seventh in size among English

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent t ...

s, a status newly acquired. The new population were crowded within the boundaries of the ancient parish being in limited height of homes then affordable to most people. Unlike in the various wealthy streets of other London districts almost the whole population of this part of what was Canning Town consisted of low-paid workers who lived in cheap, unadorned brick and mortar low rise terraces. There was a chronic shortage of open land which only became available once again when the cost of sound mid-rise and high-rise buildings became lower. High rise was first adopted in the country as

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

, attaching a stigma to

tower blocks A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdicti ...

, many of which have since been demolished, including the few in this district of what was West Ham or Canning Town. A slight population decline to 1931 paled into insignificance by the devastation wrought on this area in

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when bombing destroyed in many cases entire streets and forced large-scale evacuation. The area is marked in early 20th century maps as the eastern half of Canning Town. The first Custom House in London was built in 1275 next to Old Billingsgate Market in the

several miles to the west. Royal Victoria Dock which was the economic hub of the settlement is today in recreational use but it dominated the industry and commerce of the area from its 1855 opening until the 1940s and closed in 1980 due to

containerisation Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the ...

of freight.

Amenities

The Custom House Hotel (on the corner of Freemasons Road), was opened in 2001 to service visitors to the ExCeL centre in the district. With a

large park Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (or ...

, Newham City Farm, a King George V Park, vegetable allotments and arguably the north side of Royal Albert Dock, approximately half of Custom House's land use is for housing. The two main roads which serve Custom House are Freemasons Road near the

Custom House DLR station Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to: Traditions, laws, and religion * Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom * Norm (social), a ...

and Prince Regent Lane. Buses serving Freemasons Road are the

241 Year 241 ( CCXLI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gordianus and Pompeianus by the Romans (or, less frequently, year ...

325 __NOTOC__ Year 325 ( CCCXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Paulinus (or, less frequently, year 1078 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 3 ...

and

678 __NOTOC__ Year 678 ( DCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 678 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

(school journeys only). The Custom House Surgery is also located on this road. The Royal Docks Community School and the Shipman Youth Centre are both on Prince Regent Lane, in addition to local stores which serve the residents. Bus routes passing through Prince Regent Lane are the 147, 300 and

473 __NOTOC__ Year 473 ( CDLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Leo without colleague (or, less frequently, year 122 ...

Education

Custom House has one secondary school with academy status, and a number of primary schools: Primary Schools * Calverton Primary School * Rosetta Primary School * St Joachim's RC Primary School. * Scott Wilkie Primary School (The school dates from 1896, though the present building was opened in 1968.) * Scott Wilkie Primary School Secondary Schools * Royal Docks Academy

Sport and recreation

Custom House has one of the King George's Fields 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 Q ...

. The Canning Town recreational ground is located on Freemasons Road. Custom House was home to a

football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

club,

Thames A.F.C Thames A.F.C. were an English association football, football club from Custom House, Newham, Custom House, east London, which played in the Football League between 1930 in association football, 1930 and 1932 in association football, 1932. Name ...

, from 1930 to 1932, when the club was dissolved. Although no adult football teams play within Custom House, various teams in recent years with names containing 'Custom House' have played just outside it. Custom House United (Est 2018) played at the Will Thorne Pavilion on Stansfeld Road in Beckton. Custom House Community FC (Est 2013) played at the Terence McMillan Stadium in neighbouring Plaistow but just over the A13 from Custom House. Custom House FC (founded in 2011) play at their home ground of Lyle Park in Silvertown. There is no longer any green space within Custom House that an adult football club could use as there are no adequate changing facilities. Custom House was home to the West Ham Hammers speedway team at the 120,000 capacity

West Ham Stadium West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, in East London (it was in the County Borough of West Ham, in the county of Essex, at the time of the stadium's construction). The stadium was built in 1928 on Pri ...

. Many roads built on the stadium site following its demolition are named after the stars of the team - including

Aub Lawson Aubrey "Aub" Lawson (born 5 April 1914 in Kelly's Gully, Warialda, New South Wales - died 20 January 1977) was an Australian international speedway rider who featured in ten World Championship finals including the 1939 final which was neve ...

, Jack Young and promoter Johnnie Hoskins.

Places of worship

In Custom House there are three purpose built Christian churches representing the Anglican,

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

denominations. On Berwick Road is the church of St Annes, which today is part a two church Catholic parish known as the Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham (POLOW). The Ascension Church is the Church of England place of worship on Baxter Road since 1891. On Prince Regent Lane next to the public library is the Custom House Baptist Church. At different times in recent years, Royal Docks Academy has been used as a place of worship by various evangelical churches.

Notable residents

Founder members of the punk band The Cockney Rejects, brothers Mick and Jeff Geggus, were born in Custom House, as was actor

Danny Dyer Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in '' Human Traffic'', with other notable roles as Mick Carter in EastEnders, Billy the Limpet in '' Mean Machine'' and as Tommy John ...

and singer/rapper Guvna B.

Transport

Buses

Bus services are the

and

(school journeys only) running along Freemasons Road, and the 147, 300 and

using Prince Regent Lane.

Docklands Light Railway and Crossrail

* Custom House Station, currently serving the

and

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway ...

, also known as the Elizabeth Line. * Prince Regent DLR Station

Roads

The district's roads feed into the London radial route the A11 to the north. In the east of the district a single carriageway, the A112, links Stratford via West Ham to the north to the Excel Exhibition Centre by Custom House railway station where it terminates in the south.

References

;References ;Books *