Eastside Community Heritage Eastside Community Heritage is an independent charity founded in 1993 to record and celebrate the histories of the people of east and south east London.
In 1999 Eastside established the People’s Archive, which is located at the University of East London and holds over 1000 oral histories as well as a large collection of films and photographs.
To find about more about Eastside Community Heritage, please visit our website, www.hidden-histories.org.uk.
Current News
Newspaper articles for the year 2009 have been added to an updated edition of Barking & Dagenham Newspapers. It is hoped to add items for 2002 later in the year!
Following the introduction of some charges for the Newspaper items the numbers of people obtaining copies has totalled merely a few! I shall not however, be removing these charges as I believe the amount of work that has gone into the initial project, and the later formation of these indexes has run incredibly into a year or two! The fee by today's standards is not a high one to pay for such research and information, which is all freely at hand for those interested, and excellent value.
The Barking Shop Survey, 2004; along with the 'Newspaper Indexes', are available to download immediately as E-Books, at a modest fee. More serious users can purchase a 'Print on demand' paperback. If you wish to know more please do not hesitate to contact me on the e-mail address below.
Also available for download or paperbacks are: "A Roam Through Chadwell Heath" and a new updated version "Health & Sanitation in Barking Town in the 1800s".
More information can be found on all these works on the Books & E-Books pages.
I have not been able to update the picture galleries for some time, due to the vast amounts of organisational work needed, but I hope to address this at some point. So bear with me!
Please feel free to send me your memories or pictures of the borough, but please remember that as Editor I do have to edit sometimes, even if it is just to allow these to fit within the confines of the pages here!
Chadwell Heath, High Road
I have added a new series of photographs, which were originally in the form of a power point display on the High Road in Chadwell Heath. I compiled this display between March and May this year. The study proved very interesting, but to get many of the pictures it meant an early morning start prior to the traffic building up on the busy road.
Many of the buildings are from late Victorian times, being original and still surviving today. Although these are just over a hundred years age-wise, they form the oldest series of buildings and structures within one roadway in the whole of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham.
Web Site
The web site in its first year from 2006-07 received over 5,000 hits. Its second year has proved even more successful, as in November 2008 the count was well in excess of 20,000... far more than I ever thought possible when I came up with the idea. The third year has also started off well! I thank all the people who have utilised these pages and found them useful.
All the items have been prepared by myself for the site, and although many are my copyright I do not mind other's utilising details from them for personal usage only. If you are using them for other uses please contact me, details of copyright exist on the readers' service page. Some of the pictures are also my copyright, so please see the new Readers' Services page (link below). Please sign the Guestbook if you have found these pages of interest!
http://www.barkingdagenhamlocalhistory.net/readersservices.htm
I think one of the successes of the site has been chiefly due to my constant updating of the pages and adding new features. I am always open to receive articles for consideration on the pages, and one such person-- Mervyn Gould-- provided me with an excellent compilation on the Cinema's of the borough.
If any reader requires further information about these historical items or articles I will do my best to provide it, or point them in the right direction. It is my intention to add new items to the site when they are ready, and it will be constantly updated.
Readers' Forum
The forum is not getting used enough! Come on you's lot!
Many 'readers' access the site but do not leave their comments! Some of this is probably due to the fact that they have to register their details. This in effect stops alot of people registering, but also stops those which would write loose comments! Feel free to write and share your memories here, and to send pictures of the Barking, Chadwell Heath and Dagenham regions. The following is a direct link to the pages.
http://www.barkingdagenhamlocalhistory.net/forum.htm
If you have any photographs that you wish to share on the district I am always happy and grateful to do so. Please scan them over to me at my e-mail address.
General Information About The Site
The site itself, is intended to be of assistance to people interested in local history, throughout not only the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, but through the country. The site is also accessed by people all over the world, in particular the USA and Australia, where many old residents live today! It is my chance to give some of the information back to the people, which I have researched over the last quarter of a century.
Site Highlights
An abridged version of the Barking Ministers' Account for the Manor of Barking, dated 1540, was added on 28/10/06. A Place Name Index for this was added early in 2007. These show the principal entries in the manuscript, both names and places. A searchable version is available from myself.
On the 8th March 2007, an abridged version of The Rental for Barking Abbey, dated 1456, for the northern part of the town was included. This does not include the following information: the page number in the Translation, the original folio number in the manuscript (Mss), the total properties owned by the landowner/occupier, his trade where known, or indeed the full Mss property details, in addition the total rent for each persons properties, although the unit rent is given here. As before these further details are available directly from myself if required. Unfortunately interest has not been sufficient for me to add the Rental for the southern part of the manor, which includes south Barking and Dagenham.
The 2004 Barking Town Shop Survey is available here, and a fully searchable version is obtainable on Microsoft Access. There are further surveys of Barking's shops which I took in 1988, 1993 and 1998, and these are available directly from me. Due to the amount work involved a fee will be charged if anybody requires these.
The Newspaper Index provides information chiefly for the Barking & Dagenham region. It includes articles from the years 1888 and now runs through to the end of 2009. They are available in two parts, but please be aware that some years are not yet included or I still have information to add! Further information on this is given in the Books & E-Books section. They are available in two parts, in the books and e-books section, or direct via the author.
Although these indexes are not exhaustive, they are still a useful tool and finding aid for those researching the Borough. They mainly consist of historical items, principal or unusual news stories and transport snippets. I formulated the bulk of this between 1984-1986 spending long periods of time on the microfilm reader down in Valence Library Dagenham. I'd come out of the old reading room there with cross-eyes! It too is available on Microsoft Access. It is good to know that this is the most popular of features here with readers, with well over 2,000 hits on this alone last year. The local libraries staff have also found this useful!
Also available is a Place Name Index of The Survey of the Manor of Barking in 1609 in Word format (although does not appear here). The original of which was taken during the reign of James I.
A variety of photographs and documents are in my possession, and a 'Photographic Source & Document' Index has been placed on the site during March 2008. This again is not exhaustive of my collection! Many of these photographs are taken by myself from 1986-2008, and show Barking & Dagenham in a state of change. These include Barking Town, Dagenham Village, and other main regions; in addition most major buildings of the region over the last 20 plus years. A small range of these photographs is shown on the website to give readers' a notion of what my collection entails.
A selection of historical photographs is also available on the Borough. A section of these has been added covering both Barking and Dagenham. Another selection of modern views has been placed on the site in the Summer (2007), and augmented following readers' comments. The Dagenham pictures section was updated, May 2008.
The latest article to the site include items on the: History of Barking Reach (October 2007), Barking in the 1890s and The Manor of Barking from 1500-1750 (January 2008). Mervyn Gould's details on cinema's was also added in Summer 2008.
A large part of my collection comprises of Transport information for Barking & Dagenham. This includes: stagecoach, turnpike, tram, trolleybus, omnibus, bus & train timetables, maps, tickets, magazines and other ephemera. The latest addition was a selection of Transport Pictures from my ever expanding collection also in October 2007.
Other Information
Anyone with an interest in the Vickers surname from: Sudbury (1790-1850s), Halstead (1800s-1870s), West Ham (1860s-1960s) , Rainham (1940s-1960s), Barking & Dagenham (1950s-present) may also find this site useful, as we may well be related, and they can contact me direct.
Please e-mail me with any questions about the items on the website. I will endeavour to do my best to answer them at MrIVickers@AOL.com.
Last updated, February 2010.
