Dagenham

[dag-uh-nuhm]

Dagenham, England: see Barking and Dagenham.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Dagenham is a suburban town in east London, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated east of Charing Cross.

Etymology

Dagenham as Dæccanhaam is first recorded in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD. The first ever area of Dagenham was almost certainly just a small farmstead, the ham or farm of a man called Daecca, as Dæccan means home of a man called Dæcca.

Demographics

The area has a strong white working class tradition and up to a couple of years ago it was a mainly White area. But, recent immigration has radically transformed it. It now has a large and growing black population, who have moved out from Hackney and Stratford. There is also a growing south Asian population, who have moved out from Ilford and Goodmayes.

History

Historic sites

On the corner of Whalebone Lane and the Eastern Avenue, diagonally opposite the Moby-Dick public house, is the site of a Saxon moot hall. The adjoining fields were used during World War II by the Royal Artillery as an anti-aircraft battery before being converted into a Prisoner of War camp for Germans. Further south down Whalebone Lane on the corner of the High Road is the Tollgate pub. This stands on the site of the milestone which marked the ten mile (16 km) limit from the City of London and the turnpike toll-gate.

Valence House is in Becontree Avenue and it is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. Dating back to the 13th century it is sited in parkland and is partially surrounded by a moat. Valenc House is the borough's local history museum and art gallery, displaying an impressive collection of artifacts and archives that tell the story of the lives of the people of Barking and Dagenham.

In 1854, a station was opened on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in the south of Dagenham, near the Thames, at Dagenham Dock. In 1885 a new direct route from Barking to Pitsea, via Upminster, was built with a new station opened just north of the village.

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.

Dagenham was still an undeveloped village, when building of the vast Becontree estate by the London County Council began in the early 1920s. The building of the enormous estate, which also spread into the neighbouring parishes of Ilford and Barking, caused a rapid increase in population.

In 1932 the electrified District Line of the London Underground was extended to Upminster 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 in 1958. Services on the London Tilbury & Southend line at Dagenham East were withdrawn in 1962.

Local government and politics

Dagenham was an ancient, and later civil, parish in the Becontree hundred of Essex. The Metropolitan Police District was extended to include Dagenham in 1840. The parish formed part of the Romford Rural District from 1894.

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 to cover the area. Instead, in 1926 the Dagenham parish was removed from the Romford Rural District and became an urban district.

In 1938, in further recognition of its development, Dagenham became a municipal borough. In 1965 the Municipal Borough of Dagenham was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Barking, which is now known as Barking and Dagenham. The current MP for the Dagenham constituency is Jon Cruddas.

Industry and commerce

In 1931 the Ford Motor Company relocated from Trafford Park, Manchester, to Dagenham, which was already the location of supplier Briggs Motor Bodies. A 500 acre (2 km²) riverside site was developed to become Europe's largest car plant, a vast vertically integrated 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, Southampton, Croydon and Romford. At its peak the Dagenham plant had 4 million square feet (371600 m²) of floor space and employed 40,000. On February 20, 2002, full production was discontinued due to overcapacity in Europe and the relative difficulty of upgrading the 60 year old site compared with other European sites such as Velencia and Cologne. 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 Ford's Diesel Engines worldwide and the UK employment laws when compared to Spanish, German and Belgian laws. Ford offered a good redundancy package, billed as one of the best in UK manufacturing. It is the location of the Dagenham wind turbines.

Other industrial names once known world wide were Ever Ready whose batteries could be found in shops throughout the Commonwealth, Bergers Paint and the chemical firm of May and Baker who in 1935 revolutionised the production of antibiotics with their synthetic sulfa-drug known as M&B693. The May and Baker plant, now owned and run by Sanofi-Aventis, occupies a large site near to Dagenham East station and its sports and social club has large grounds between Eastbrookend Country Park and the railway.

Redevelopment

Dagenham Dock, to the south of Dagenham and adjacent to the River Thames, was once a large coaling port. The Chequers public house (now closed) gained world wide fame due to the many merchant seamen of all nationalities who stopped off there for a last drink before regaining ship. The area now forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. Mayor brownfield housing developments are forecast to increase the population by tens of thousands of people. It is planned that the Docklands Light Railway and East London Transit will serve the area.

Sport and recreation

Dagenham & Redbridge F.C., based in Dagenham, are currently playing in the Football League Two having been promoted as Nationwide Conference champions in the 2006/7 season. They play at the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium, on Victoria Road.

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.

Dagenham has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V. The park, which has been in existence for over a century, was renamed in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth II. Dagenham also has many other parks such as Valence and Parsloes.

Notable residents

Famous Dagenham natives include Dr George Carey 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, (he held his last communion before retiring as archbishop in the same parish church of Dagenham where he received his first communion at the age of 17), England's World Cup winning football coach Sir Alf Ramsey and player Martin Peters scorer of the second goal who was a Fanshaw schoolboy. Other famous names include England footballers Ken Brown, Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables, singer Sandie Shaw who was in the Girls Life Brigade at Oxlow Lane Baptist Church, Australian pop-star John Farnham, actor/musician/comedian Dudley Moore, 1952 Olympic games marathon hero and martyr Jim Peters, journalist and writer Neil Humphreys and Titanic survivor Eva Hart (died 14 February 1996). Former England and Arsenal Football Captain Tony Adams, whose father Alex captained local team Stedfast, for eight years, that played in the Romford and District League lived in Foxlands Road, Dagenham and attended Hunters Hall Primary School and Eastbrook Comprehensive School, along with West Ham United and England footballer Paul Konchesky. Current England captain John Terry lived on the Thames View Estate in the Barking side of the Borough. Captain James Cook was also known to have lived in the borough. Former England Rugby Union prop Jason Leonard (who has more international caps than any other player in history) was from Dagenham and attended Warren School. Dagenham is also headquarters to the Dagenham Girl Pipers. Some Bizzare Records boss Stevo Pearce. Martin Gore of Depeche Mode was born and lived his early years there. Stevie Shears worked and apparently lived there before forming Ultravox. The founder, editor and writer of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin Larkin (writer) was born here. Under 18 UK snooker champion Pritesh Patel was also born in Dagenham and still currently resides there.

Transport and locale

There are London Underground services from Becontree, Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway. c2c currently operate the National Rail service from Dagenham Dock. National Rail services also operate from nearby Chadwell Heath.

Dagenham Heathway is served by the following Transport for London contracted routes: London Buses route 145,173,174,175 and 364.

Nearest places

Popular culture

Linda Smith once wrote "Erith isn't twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham". In 1995, Morrissey released a song called "Dagenham Dave" and British Oi! band Cock Sparrer have a song called "Last Train to Dagenham".