Becontree Heath
Becontree Heath maps (2 available)
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Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Becontree Heath photos (none available)
We have no photos of Becontree Heath,although these nearby locations do:Becontree Heath books (18 available)
Becontree Heath memories
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London memories
Shopping at the Heathway
My mother asked me to go to the shops and get some bread at Barton's the bakers.
I was just ten years old. 'But' she said, 'if a raid starts, don't hang about but run straight back home'. I often had to go to the shops, it was never a lot I had to get - mainly just one or two things, and if a raid did start, providing it was relatively quiet, I would always try to get these things. So this day saw me queueing up for bread - you had to queue for everything in those days, when suddenly a distant siren was heard. Everyone shifted about slightly looking about them. Then a more closer siren joined in, ...read more here
A memory of Dagenham contributed by William Pullum
Heathway Life
I grew up within a few minutes walk of this our local shopping centre. The photo was taken outside the Fifty Shilling Tailors looking towards Dagenham Heathway Station. Some of the shops I remember were Day's the newsagents, Meyer's the greengrocers, Gillings the fishmongers run by a pair of identical twins and Jenners which was a general store selling all manner of household equipment, linens, clothing and toys. They also ran a club whereby you could pay for things little by little and when paid for could take your purchases away. On the other side of the road stood the Church Elm pub, the Post Office and Burton's the Tailors. Above Burtons was the Snooker Hall and above that the Doughty ...read more here
A memory of Dagenham contributed by Eileen Hammond
Grange Cinema
This photograph was taken from outside the Grange Cinema. There were three cinemas in Dagenham and The Grange was the smallest. We patronised all three in turn for the Saturday Morning pictures which cost I believe 6d (2 1/2 p.). The parade of shops contained the only bank in the borough and a very busy barbers shop called Viney. My Dad used to work at the Ford Motor Works and when he was on night shift would call at Coleman's the bakers in Goresbrook Road, front of picture, to bring us home hot rolls for breakfast. Just out of shot to the right was the Chequers pub, now alas demolished.
A memory of Dagenham contributed by Eileen Hammond
Valence swimming pool
I remember Valence swimming pool from the late fifties. I lived in Bushgrove Road and went to Valence School and used to go early on a Saturday morning with my mates to be first in there before the crowds. I couldn't swim, but that didn't matter 'cos I had an old van tyre to keep me afloat (I've still got the damn valve marks in my ribs now). I remember jumping in and not being able to breathe for about a minute due to the temperature (normally about 55 degrees Farenheit, if I remember rightly). It used to be posted on the board outside to let you know what misery you were about to go through. A cup of Oxo and ...read more here
A memory of Dagenham contributed by Bob Valentine
Extracts From Becontree Heath & London books
High Street North is a
relatively undistinguished
and typical London
suburban shopping street:
the exuberance of the Town
Hall complex is forgotten.
The Midland Bank on the
corner of Caulfield Road
(right) is one of their 1920s
Classical-style single-storey
buildings that add quality to
many High Streets. On the
left the taller Victorian brick
buildings were demolished
in the 1970s and replaced
by bland flat roofed ones.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
We pass under the River Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel - the northbound side dates from the 1890s, an early
project of the LCC, which was established in 1888. East Ham was in Essex until 1965, but since the mid 19th
century very much a part of greater London. Here we approach East Ham’s town centre along the busy North
Circular Road, which seems in places merely a casual linkage of suburban roads. These terraces of neat
Edwardian bay-windowed houses survive, and lead towards the Town Hall with its tower.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
Our tour now heads north-east to Greenwich to a much grander building. The Royal Naval Hospital, a
counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, began as a rebuild of Greenwich Palace by Charles II in the
1660s, but it changed direction in the 1690s. The second pediment from the right is Webb’s 1660s work. In
1873 it became the Royal Naval College; when that closed, in the 1990s it became part of Greenwich University.
In the distance are the chimneys of Greenwich Power Station of 1902-10.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
St John’s Church, by Benjamin Ferrey, was completed in 1853 as the centrepiece of Angell Town. It has a fine
Perpendicular-style tower with chequer-work battlements and elegant corner pinnacles. The 1850s houses
between it and the photographer were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a large council housing estate,
Peckford Place. The lime trees in front of the church survive, and have matured well.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".
Angell Town was an estate of 1850s Italianate villas, mostly semi-detached, built on curving roads centred on St
John’s church, whose 1853 tower is crowned by four pinnacles. This view is from an upper balcony of Eldon
House, one of the eleven-storey blocks of council flats built c1960 on the Loughborough Estate. Nearly all the
villas have since been demolished and replaced by four-storey council flats in yellow stock brick. In the distance
we can see the Houses of Parliament, the Victoria Tower and Big Ben.
An extract from from"London Living Memories".