Essex Record Office News
19/02/12 06:01
February edition of the Essex Record Office e-bulletin.
Reception Display in February
The theme for February’s display in the foyer is the 1950s. From the Festival of Britain to the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, from the rise of television to the post-war housing boom, there will be documents recording the decade. This was a time of seaside holidays at home rather than abroad, the growth of nuclear power and more controversially nuclear weapons, as well as the catastrophic East coast floods in 1953.
Martin Astell, our Sound Archivist, will also be putting together a selection of clips from the fifties to accompany the display so do come and have a look and listen.
Forthcoming Events:
Essex History Group
This group is open to anyone who has an interest in history. It meets on the first Tuesday of the month for an informal lecture and cup of tea. The talks are free, although a small charge is made for refreshments.
How to Speak Essex - 6 March 2012
Talks start at 10.30am in the ERO lecture theatre, ask at the ground floor reception.
Further Bookbinding
Aimed at those with some basic experience of bookbinding, this 6 week course in the Conservation Studio at Essex Record Office covers the making of a more advanced style of book than those in the Introduction to Bookbinding course.
This method of constructing books is descended from the traditional techniques of bookbinding before the introduction of mass produced bindings.
Classes will be take place from 6.00 to 8.00pm on Monday evenings starting on the 11 June with the final session on the 16 July.
Numbers are limited to a maximum of 8 participants. The course fee is £120 per person and includes all materials.
All equipment is provided. Call 01245 244620 to book.
Conservation Update
Work has begun on the latest Conservation project funded by the Newton Bequest.
A collection of 42 deeds relating to the manor of Colchester Hall in Takeley are being cleaned, repaired if necessary and re-packaged using archival quality materials. This will allow the handling of each document without causing strain by repeated folding and unfolding.
These early parchment documents are of particular interest due to the number which still have original seals attached, an unusual feature in deeds of such an early date (12th – mid 13th Century).
This project will protect the delicate seals as well as the documents to which they are attached.
Runwell Hospital Records
Runwell Hospital opened in May 1936 as a joint venture between the Boroughs of East Ham and Southend for the treatment of people with mental health problems. Prior to this date, patients from these two Boroughs would usually have been treated at Warley Hospital near Brentwood.
The hospital has now closed and surviving records have now been deposited at the Essex Record Office under the reference accession A13123.
The documents include patient registers, minutes, correspondence, photographs and records relating to the construction of the hospital.
Some of the records, mostly registers of patients, have now been catalogued under the reference A/H 3.
Patient registers and any other records which mention patients by name are closed to the general public for 100 years after the last date in the document.
However, we can release information to next of kin through our closed records search service. For further information, including details of the cost, please email ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk .
Anne Pollard’s Journey
This month Professor Anthony Tuck gave an excellent lecture about Anne Pollard and her life in America to the Saffron Walden Historical Society. Her story is well documented, not only because she was one of the first settlers in Boston, but she also lived to the incredible age of 104. Right until the end of her life she had an excellent memory and enjoyed smoking her pipe.
When interviewed late in life, Anne stated that she was born in Saffron Walden in 1621. At the age of nine, she was one of the migrants travelling with the Winthrop fleet to America in 1630. She was in excellent health and survived the hard and perilous journey, eager to be the first to jump off the flag ship Arabella and land on American soil where the town of Boston, Massachusetts was later built.
The new ERO online service, Essex Ancestors (www.essexancestors.co.uk), might make it possible to research Anne and her family’s background in Saffron Walden in the 1620s.
More Newspapers in the searchroom
For the searchroom library we have acquired a number of Basildon and Billericay newspapers on microfilm for the years 1939 to 2004.
These are now on open access in the Essex Record Office searchroom.
Memories of Childhood Play Project
25/11/11 05:27
The University of Sheffield is undertaking a project about memories of childhood play.
They are interested in interviewing people who were at primary school in the Newham area in the 1950s and 1960s about their memories of childhood play, both in school and home.
Initially focussing on St Winefride's School in Manor Park, they would like to broaden the research out to include other schools in the area.
So if you ever rolled your hoop and stick through the streets and bomb sites of East Ham or West Ham and are interested in learning more about the project, please visit their web site at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/education/research/groups/csnl/relationmedia
75th Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street
14/09/11 23:15
October 4 sees the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when in 1936 thousands of residents of the East End turned out in force to prevent Oswald Mosley’s British fascists marching through the mostly Jewish area.
There are a range of fascinating opportunities to celebrate this anniversary including the hosting of the Protest And Survive exhibition by the Cable Street Group at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives from 7th October until the end of the month.
Other events include a seminar at St George’s Town Hall on Sunday 25 September put on by the Jewish East End Celebration Society and a day of celebration organised by the Cable Street Group at Wilton’s Music Hall on Sunday 2nd October.
The mural on the side of St George’s Town Hall completed in 1983 marking the battle has been recently restored and a new plaque will be unveiled by the council in the same week.
For more information, visit www.battleofcablestreet.org.uk
Plaistow church bells restored
31/08/11 04:05
The 10 bells in the east tower of Memorial Community Church have been cleaned and painted and rehung as part of the National Lottery funded scheme.
Philippa King, development manager of the church in Barking Road, said:
“It’s been a slow process. The bells have been cleaned by hand but it makes an amazing difference. They were really dirty and rusty and should be a lot easier to ring after the work is completed.”
The work, which was scheduled for completion this month, is being undertaken by Gillett & Johnston in Croydon, the original maker of the bells in 1925.
Image by the Newham Recorder
The £49,000 project is being carried out in tandem with the £194,000 restoration of the Memorial Church’s east tower, which is on target to be finished by the end of October. Work also includes repairs to the belfry staircase and the fitting of a new handrail.
People not able to climb the tower will be able to see the bells in a virtual tour available at the church.
An opening ceremony, attended by members of the British Legion and relatives of the fallen 169 servicemen from Plaistow and Canning Town featured on the bells, will be held at the church at November 19 at 11am.
Anyone who thinks they know of a relative whose name might be on the bells, or would like more information, is invited to call Philippa at the church office (020) 7474 6603 or email development@memorialcc.org.
Tower Bridge goes back to 1894 with Victorian games for kids
18/06/11 04:34
Traditional Victorian games are being added to the permanent exhibition from July 23 to August 29.
These include giant dominoes, hopscotch, noughts & crosses, quoits and roll-a-ball that hark back 117 years to when the world’s most iconic bridge was first opened and hailed as the great engineering marvel of its age.
Tower Bridge is also staging a photo exhibition from the end of the month with 60 shots in black and white from the City of London’s Metropolitan Archive.
They show Victorian London in its ‘monochrome splendour’ including snaps of the bridge itself being built (as pictured) in 1893.
Link to Tower Bridge web site for further information
Redbridge History Project
25/04/11 19:18
Eastside Community Heritage, based at the University of East London, Docklands, wants to hear from anyone in the borough with an interesting tale to tell about local life from the last 50 or more years.
The records will join an archive of over 1,500 oral histories and thousands of photographs preserved for the public’s benefit.
Angela Hatcher, of Eastside, said: “The headquarters of Ilford Films were in Redbridge from 1879 to 1983 and many Redbridge women in the 1940s became munitions workers as thousands were conscripted into the war effort, were you one of them? The first tube trains to stop at Woodford and Newbury Park were in 1947, were you there?
“If you remember any of these events or have anything else to share then we want to hear your story.”
If you are interested in taking part call Angela Hatcher on 020 85534343 or email angela@ech.org.uk.
Victoria Park Plans
25/04/11 19:08
The investment from the Big Lottery and Heritage Lottery funds and Tower Hamlets council is the biggest since the park’s creation in the 1840s and will allow for makeovers of two popular children’s areas and the restoration of marble statues.
The Victoria & Alexandra and Pools playgrounds will benefit from new apparatus with the V & A site to be trebled in size and its shelter to be transformed into an under-fives play area.
Replicas of the Dogs of Alcibiades statues are also now in place at the Bonner Gates and will eventually find a home in the “Eastern Hub Building” once complete which will house a café, community room and park managers office.
The council has appointed construction firms Osborne and Rooff to carry out the restoration works and a spokeswoman said the park will remain open to visitors.
Other plans include a new “Wheelpark” to cater for skaters and bikers and improving the water quality of the East and West Lakes through drainage and de-silting.
A third island is also to be introduced on the West Lake where a Chinese pagoda will be placed and two new bridges will be built on and off the island, the Pennethorne Bridge, which was in original plans for the park but was never constructed and the Rustic Bridge.
The Old English Gardens are also to be refurbished and the Burdett Coutts Fountain will be restored to provide drinking water to park users.
A masterplan for the whole site and further information can be viewed here
Largest cinema organ in Europe finds new home in the East End
25/03/11 03:07
The largest Wurlitzer pipe organ ever installed in a European cinema will find a new home in the art-deco building in Commercial Road, itself a cinema until 1960 showing films from “King Kong” to “The Siege of Sidney Street”.
The four keyboard organ, which uses 1,500 pipes which will also be restored on either side of the Troxy stage, began life at the former Trocadeo cinema at the Elephant & Castle.
Its saviours, the Cinema Organ Society, still need funds for the restoration, which will cost £240,000 to complete and are holding an open day at the Troxy on Saturday April 9th 2011 to show off the organ console and give guided tours of the theatre.
In the heyday of silent films, cinema organs differed from church varieties because they were voiced to mimic orchestral instruments and had their own percussion.
For fans of large organs the society and the Troxy owners plan to hold special events to showcase the instrument once the installation is complete.
Entry to the open day is free but a donation of £3 is recommended.
Queen visits St Katherine's in Limehouse
25/03/11 02:49
The tree was planted outside the centre’s chapel which was restructured in 2004 in memory of the Queen Mother who was a patron of the foundation and had visited it many times. Pupils from Stepney Greencoat School sang a hymn for the Queen in the chapel grounds.
Founded in 1147 as a religious centre and hospital for the poor, the foundation is one of the oldest of its kind and has always been in the patronage of the Queens of England.
It has been at its current site since 1948 and is an oasis in the middle of east London where people can come and find tranquillity.
Open to all, it offers conference rooms for hire, bed and breakfast accommodation and also acts as a retreat centre.
Link to The Royal Foundation of St Katherine, Charitable Conference and Retreat Centre
Rainham Spitfire factory
23/02/11 09:00
Richard Smith wants to speak to anyone who worked in the factory, which is believed to have been based near the site of the former Cherry Tree Pub in Cherry Tree Lane, Rainham.
From the early 1940s, Richard believes that factory employees based in Rainham would undertake basic repair works of the spitfire.
The site was one of many dispersal aircraft repair sites across the country, where people would work on repairing the aircraft’s wings and body frames.
Richard, who has written a number of books on the subject, first came across the factory as part of research he was doing two years ago on the site.
The appeal is part of the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the aircraft which now has become a British icon and a symbol of the Second World War.
To mark the anniversary a special exhibition will take place on Sunday March 6 at the Purfleet Heritage And Military Centre.
For the first day of the exhibition, Richard is hoping to have the return of one of the world’s oldest spitfires and to be able to reunite many of the people who may have played in the history of spitfires.
If you were one of the people that worked at the Rainham factory or know anyone else that might have, contact the Romford Recorder Newsdesk on 0208 477 4444.
Plaistow Memorial Church bells to be restored
02/02/11 01:00
Memorial Community Church in Barking Road has been given the funding to clean and repair its ten Memorial Bells, which include the names of 169 men who died during service in the First World War.
The funds will be used to have the bells restored at a local foundry and for the staircase up to the belfry to be made safe with a handrail.
Plans are in place to carry out the work at the same time as the external repairs to the bell tower this summer, provided a further £29,000 can be found to fund this separate £250,000 project.
Volunteers from The Hub, Kaizen Primary School, the East Ham branch of the Royal British Legion, Newham Community Learning and the Historica Apus history club will work together to find out more about the men whose names are preserved on the bells.
They will use their findings to produce an exhibition and website about the memorial. A virtual tour will be available at the church for those not able to climb up to the belfry.
The volunteers hope to track down relatives of the servicemen. The Grade II listed Byzantine-style church opened in 1922, with the bells being installed in 1925.
You can help the church reach its fundraising target by going to www.memorialcc.org
The Indian trading company with Redbridge roots
08/11/10 16:09
The story goes that the East India Company bought 214,000lbs of Chinese tea in 1713. Roll on 100 years, and that number had risen to 32million lbs. The rest is history, as they say.
The revelation is one of many held within the posters, artefacts and memorabilia of the East India Company exhibition at Redbridge Museum, Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford.
The exhibition, which has been open for two weeks, explores the history of the trading body and its deep-rooted connection with Redbridge through its employees and their fortunes.
The East India Company was established on December 31, 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I gave royal approval by charter.
But what do Ilford, Wanstead and Woodford have to do with the company, which traded mainly with the Indian subcontinent and which became the largest multinational business the world had ever seen?
Valentines Mansion, Valentines Park, Ilford, was home to Sir Charles Raymond, an owner of East India Company ships.
Meanwhile Sir Josiah Child ran the East India Company in the 1680s.
He used his massive wealth to buy Wanstead House and live there until his death in 1699.
Sir Robert Preston, who lived in Harts House, Woodford Green, started as a captain of ships before becoming a company director
Two of his ships were named Woodford and they made eight trips to India in the 1790s.
Artefacts and memorabilia at the exhibition include a painting of a cloth merchant, a cutting of chintz fabric, common in Gujurat in the 1700s, together with a replica chintz dress, an opium pipe and a Chinese porcelain plate.
The East India Company and Redbridge: An Exhibition, is open from 11am-5pm Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-4pm on Saturday.The free exhibition runs until February 26.
'Old Flo' returns to the East End
19/09/10 21:00
The bronze sculpture, believed to be worth millions, was originally placed in the former Stifford Estate in Stepney in 1957.
The striking woman lounged there for 40 years until the estate was demolished in 1997.
Flo was then sent on free loan to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, which also paid for her insurance.
The sculpture had remained there ever since, but not without campaigning from deputy leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Tim Archer, to see it returned.
A motion to go-ahead with the move was unanimously agreed at full council on Wednesday (September 15).
The options included selling the Draped Seated Woman and using the money for social housing or bringing it back to the borough to be put on display by Canary Wharf.
Canary Wharf has offered to pay for it to be moved and insured and placed in a secure site.
Parish Register Newsletter
13/09/10 18:24
Additions to on-line searchable database this month: St Matthew Bethnal Green 1799-1819
Click here to read the latest newsletter
Winning Endeavours: Images to feature on 2012 website
13/09/10 16:49
A significant number of pictures from the Local History Library’s image collection will feature on an exciting new site as part of the Winning endeavours project.
The project is a partnership of The London Metropolitan Archives, Archives for London and the British Library, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Winning Endeavours will digitise and share documents, newspaper articles, visual material and ephemera relating to sport in London, especially the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games which were hosted in London, and London sportsmen and women who have participated in Olympiads over the years.
The archive material will be taken from repositories throughout London and the South East, and digital copies will be taken of all selected items. These copies will be published on a new website which will remain live until the end of 2012, when it will be archived at the British Library.
The stories behind the images will be told in the website and the collection of images will be fully searchable. The website will be useful for journalists, researchers and anyone interested in London’s place in Olympic History.
The project’s dedicated researcher has visited over 20 repositories in the London area and was particularly impressed with the richness of the collections.
Image courtesy of the Tower Hamlets Idea Store
Wilmot Street History
06/09/10 05:49
A collection of posts and articles on the history of The Waterlow Estate in Bethnal Green, London, E2. The Estate comprises Wilmot , Corfield, Finnis and Ainsley Streets.
Link to web site
Billingsgate porters in mass protest to protect ancient licenses
07/08/10 08:30
MARKET porters protesting this morning (August 3rd) at the historic Billingsgate fish-market to protect their ancient role were backed by MPs and London Assembly members.
At least 100 demonstrated at the market complex near London's Canary Wharf at 7am against what they claim is the City Corporation's bid to end the centuries-old licensing of porters.
MP Jim Fitzpatrick, whose Poplar & Limehouse constituency includes Billingsgate, spoke to support the protesters at the rally, along with London Assembly budget chairman John Biggs and ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
"The porters felt angry and frustrated at the City Corporation refusing to come to the negotiating table," Mr Fitzpatrick later told the East London Advertiser.
"They had to invoke the historic Billingsgate Charter that goes back to 1327 to force the City Corporation to negotiate, when the porters will make their case on Thursday."
The leasehold on the Billingsgate complex is up in 2013 and the City Corporation is seeking a new location, possibly further out towards the M25.
"Billingsgate has a historic importance serving London," the MP added. "It is the most famous fish market in the world. Billingsgate is a national treasure that must be protected."
Billingsgate has been in Docklands for the past 35 years, since it moved from its historic site neat the Tower of London where it had been since the 14th century.
At least 100 demonstrated at the market complex near London's Canary Wharf at 7am against what they claim is the City Corporation's bid to end the centuries-old licensing of porters.
MP Jim Fitzpatrick, whose Poplar & Limehouse constituency includes Billingsgate, spoke to support the protesters at the rally, along with London Assembly budget chairman John Biggs and ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
"The porters felt angry and frustrated at the City Corporation refusing to come to the negotiating table," Mr Fitzpatrick later told the East London Advertiser.
"They had to invoke the historic Billingsgate Charter that goes back to 1327 to force the City Corporation to negotiate, when the porters will make their case on Thursday."
The leasehold on the Billingsgate complex is up in 2013 and the City Corporation is seeking a new location, possibly further out towards the M25.
"Billingsgate has a historic importance serving London," the MP added. "It is the most famous fish market in the world. Billingsgate is a national treasure that must be protected."
Billingsgate has been in Docklands for the past 35 years, since it moved from its historic site neat the Tower of London where it had been since the 14th century.
Photographs of historic housing schemes available on-line
23/07/10 09:00
Tower Hamlets has a huge variety of council housing estates developed over a period of over 100 years.
Many of these were built by the borough councils of Bethnal Green, Poplar, Stepney and Tower Hamlets, and others by the London County and Greater London Councils.
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives has a fine collection of photographs of borough-council built housing estates taken mainly when the estates were under construction or just completed.
A sample of around 150 of these pictures has recently been made available in the Digital Gallery on the IDEA store website.
Victorian Thames steamship to be 'airlifted' onto pontoon
29/06/10 08:00
The historic vessel will be lifted onto her new floating base at Lowestoft in Suffolk, ready for her return to East London where she will eventually take up her role in Docklands as a new museum and learning centre for youngsters.
The SS Robin, built in East London in 1890, is a unique piece of maritime history, listed on the National Historic Fleet register and regarded as one of the most important British-built ships.
Picture: Carmen Valino
Monday’s crane lift marks the penultimate milestone in a two-year restoration. The operation at Lowestoft’s Commercial Road slipway involves two heavy cranes raising the 300-ton vessel off the quayside and onto the floating pontoon, starting around 9am and taking five hours.
The irreplaceable vessel is a classic Victorian coaster, of the type immortalised in John Masefield’s poem Cargoes. She was brought to Lowestoft in 2008 from her Isle of Dogs mooring for essential conservation and repairs to her riveted structure.
Spitalfields Market resurrects ancient role of Ale Taster
14/05/10 09:00
In medieval times, ordinary citizens were appointed to oversee and inspect various aspects of everyday life.
Duties involved visiting stalls and inns on market days and during the town's fairs to ensure that the ales, beers and other produce on sale were of good quality.
Read More...
Bethnal Green's Victorian facades get facelift after 130 years
01/05/10 11:30
Sections of the terrace, stretching from 125-159 Bethnal Green Road near its junction with Brick Lane, will be restored to their former glory by a skilled team of workers who will return the building facades to their original design and decoration.
Tower Hamlets council said that work on the historic terrace will include repairing facades and shopfronts and hopes the restored facades will set a benchmark for how shopfronts should look in the area.
The council's conservation team leaser Mark Hutton said: "This significant financial boost to restore the area's heritage is a big win for local businesses.
"The terrace has a lot of history behind it and we hope these works will inspire other business owners to improve their shopfronts and enhance their building's historical features."
Work on the terrace, which is in the Redchurch Street Conservation Area, is being paid for by section 106 planning contributions following the development of Bishop's Square at Spitalfields Market and with funding from English Heritage.
It will be carried out in three phases between April this year and March 2012. Scaffolding went up last week around the first four buildings, located close to the junction with Brick Lane.
The terrace frontage last had a major facelift in the mid-1880s in 'High Victorian' style, although much of the original 18th century fabric remains to the rear.
East End's Vicky Park (no relation) to get £12m revamp
08/04/10 22:00
EAST London's famous Victoria Park is getting a £12 million 'makeover' in time for the 2012 Olympics.
The plans were almost three years in the making, with 5,000 East Enders having their say on what they think their park should look like for the 21st century.
Read More...
Bethnal Green Tube Disaster 1943
01/04/10 09:08
Link to web site
Last chance today to walk through Brunel’s 1843 Thames Tunnel
13/03/10 05:45
TODAY is the last time anyone gets the chance to walk through Brunel’s magnificent Thames Tunnel two miles east of the Tower of London—the world’s first tunnel built under a river—before Underground trains start running through it again. Read More...
Hornchurch War Memorial Mystery
13/03/10 04:16
A MYSTERY memorial plaque bearing the names of 17 servicemen who died during the first and second world wars has been found dumped in Hornchurch. Read More...
Book published about local crooner
08/03/10 06:47
A candid biography about Shoreditch crooner Matt Monro - hailed by Frank Sinatra as one of the best ever male vocalists - has been written by his daughter.
Read More...
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