Becontree

This is the 7th station I have visited on the District Line. Becontree station originally opened as Gale Street Halt in 1926 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway on the existing route from Fenchurch Street to Southend. The station was renamed and completely rebuilt in 1932 with an additional pair of platforms to serve the electric District railway which later became known as the District Line.

National Rail services ceased  to stop at this station in the 1960s leaving just two platforms in operation. The platforms are linked by an overhead bridge.

The brick built station is similar in design to previous stations on this line. On leaving the station I turned left onto Gale Street.

Shops close to the station are more service industry than retail such as providing ironing, dry cleaning, accountancy, taxis and so on.

On the other side of the road was Parsloes park which I wrote about in the last post.

Backing onto the park is the Future Youth Zone which opened just a few months ago. It is a purpose built facility for local young people aged 8-19 and up to 25 for those with disabilities. The youth zone promises to offer over 20 different activities every evening including sports,drama, music, enterprise skills and more, 7 days a week.

Across the road from the youth zone is this large modern health  centre.

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Possibly the most well known place in the area is Valence House and Park. Valence Park first opened in the 1930s during the construction of the Becontree Estate. The moat and surrounding parkland were historically part of the Valence House Estate and the park was created from several fields that originally belonged to the manor.

The moat was built as early as 1290 as a defence feature for the house and a mark of social standing in society. It may also have been dug to drain the ground on which the house was built.

This is Valence House, the only surviving one of five manor houses in the Dagenham area. The original medieval timber framed house dates from the 1400s. The house shows evidence of building phases from every century from the 1400s onwards. At some point the orientation of the house was reversed and the present entrance created. Each new owner of the house expanded and modernised the house and landscape according to their wealth and social status. The manor house with its farm buildings gradually evolved into a residential house surrounded by gardens.

 The council bought up local land through compulsory purchase orders. Valence House was earmarked for demolition to make way for a new housing development. In 1926 it was bought by the Dagenham Urban District Council which needed office space and so it was saved from destruction. The council offices remained here until 1937 when they moved to a new civic centre in Becontree Heath. The house then became the headquarters of the Borough's Library Service and part of the building was used as an exhibition space for a growing local history collection. When the Library service left the premises in 1974, the house opened to the public as the local history museum for Barking and Dagenham.

During the WW2, Valence House was used as an Air Raid Precautions and fire watching post . Staff distributed gas masks and ration books to local residents. From 1940 the Dagenham Women's Voluntary Service was based at the house. Its members distributed clothing and other essentials to people whose homes had been bombed. After the war the museum exhibits increased and filled several smaller rooms in addition to the original gallery. 

There are a number of interesting artefacts in the museum such as The Dagenham Idol. This wooden figure, discovered in Dagenham marshes, is one of the earliest known carvings of the human form. It was found in 1922 and has been dated, using Dendrochronology, from around 2250 BC. It is thought the Idol was deliberately buried in the marshes as an offering to the gods to increase the fertility of the land.

'Homes for Heroes' was a huge national housing project after the first World War. It aimed to improve the health and stability of the nation by providing good quality housing for the families of men returning from the war. Conscription had highlighted the poor state of the health of the working classes. It was believed that better living conditions would lead to a healthier population. In 1921 the London County Council began a massive house building programme. Three hundred acres of land were acquired by compulsory purchase. The new development was named the Becontree Estate and aimed to house 100,000 people The building of the estate took ten years to complete. During the construction of the estate a number of Roman artefacts were found which are displayed in the museum.

In the Museum is an example of a living room from a typical house on the Becontree estate.

Henry Fanshawe (1506-1568)

A couple of rooms in the museum are devoted to the Fanshawe bequest, paintings, books and letters that span 500 years. Henry Fanshawe moved to London from Derbyshire when he became clerk to Queen Elizabeth I's Exchequer.
In 1567 he purchased a large manor house in Barking, which is nearby. He worked in the Exchequer for 40 years in a high position, the first of nine Fanshawes to hold that position.

The paintings on display were of a high quality and told much about the status of the Fanshawe family. One member of the family briefly owned Valence House in the 19th century.

Outside the Museum was a cafe and study centre.


You cannot have a local museum without some reference to Ford cars. I think this is a Ford Capri, but I'm probably wrong.

I wandered through the garden and then made my way back towards the station to have a look at the area beyond the station.

Walking South from the station  took me through part of the huge Becontree housing estate. I felt very much at home as I was brought up on a large council estate in Manchester that was identical to this one with its tree lined streets and houses with a front and back garden.

This is Castle Green, a multi purpose building including a sports centre, community school and cafe. It opened in 2005 with a remit to serve the community. 'It is a place where people come together for many different purposes, we are a centre that aims to provide leisure, training, a community provision and education for all. We have fantastic facilities to hire and offer affordable high-quality activities for a wide range of age and cultural groups.'

At the end of Gale Street where it meets the busy A13 is this hill with a sculpture of local sporting legends. The statue recognises Sir Alf Ramsey, England football manager; Bobby Moore, Captain of England World cup football team; Jason Leonard, international rugby player and Beverley Gull, champion paralympic swimmer.

The steel figures appear as silhouettes and are 4m high.

The figures look over the A13, one of the main routes from Central London out to the East of the country.

A little way along the A13 is a leisure park with a travel lodge as well as a Hollywood Bowl.

I left the main road and returned to the station via the housing estate and yet another park.

 Passed this church on the way with its bright yellow woodwork.  The building was built in 1930 by a Christian called Captain Dawson. He wanted the people moving onto the new estate to hear the gospels of Jesus Christ . He died before the hall opened. The hall was later given to the London City Mission. The Becontree Church was launched in 2014 as a church for those who don't go to church. Its members take the church out into the community.
Although Becontree station is in the middle of a huge housing estate, the planners did not ignore the need for greenery and open spaces. It is also an estate of houses and not high rise flats and there was a community feel about the place with its projects and new leisure facilities.