Upton Park is an area of the

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

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 ...

, centred on Green Street which is the boundary between

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

and

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Essex, East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a ...

. West Ham United Football Club formerly played at the

Boleyn Ground Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium in Upton Park, London, Upton Park, east London, England. It was the home of West Ham United F.C., West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic ...

, commonly known as Upton Park.

History

Toponymy

The place name ultimately derives from the farmstead and hamlet of ''Upton'', sited at Upton Lane in the parish of West Ham. The place name is first recorded as ''Hupington'' in 1203. The place name is thought likely to mean 'at the high lying farmstead'. The term 'Upton Park' was later applied to a housing estate developed to the east of West Ham Park 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.

Local government

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

and

. Originally a part of the hundred of Becontree, and part of the historic county of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, since 1965, Upton Park has been part of the London Borough of Newham, a local government district 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. The club initially rented the land from Green Street House, 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 List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

. 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 north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), 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 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

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 b ...

. They played their home games at West Ham Park, which was host to the first ever

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

goal, scored by Jarvis Kenrick for Clapham Rovers 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. in 1895, before reforming as West Ham in 1900, playing their first games at Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground, from 1904.

Governance

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 ...

, but it is not the name of any of its electoral wards. 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

Geography

Many shops in the area cater for east London's large Asian community. Queens Road Market 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.

Transport

The southern area, near the Boleyn Ground, is served by Upton Park tube station, 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

and Hammersmith and City lines of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. Forest Gate railway station on the Great Eastern Main Line served by the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

, and Wanstead Park railway station on the Tottenham & Hampstead railway served by

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, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

's Suffragette Line trains, are both near the northern end of Green Street. Many buses serve the Upton Park Area such as 5, 58, 104, 115, 147, 238, 330, 376 and N15. On the road network, Green Street itself runs on a north–south axis, linking the A118 Romford Road in the north and the A124 Barking Road in the south, both major arterial routes linking central London to the eastern counties.

Notable people

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

References

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