Upney

It was a crisp Sunday morning with blue skies as I set off to explore the 8th station on the District Line. As we approach the dark, dreary days of winter I am aware I won't be visiting many more stations this year. So whilst the sun was shining it was the perfect opportunity to find out about another unknown area of London to me - Upney.


















I think it is time the station was repainted.

A sloping walkway takes you to the exit.

On leaving the station I turned left. There was a large green area running alongside the station. As far as I could make out this was a private landscaped area for a group of houses.

A couple of hundred metres from the station was the hospital. Barking hospital was a major feature of this area. In 1893 it opened as The Upney Isolation Hospital dealing with infectious diseases like scarlet fever, diphtheria and typhoid. By the 1930s more land had been acquired and a new isolation hospital was built parallel to the railway lines. A maternity unit was added in 1936. The new Becontree estate had a birthrate that was double the national average, hence the need for more maternity beds. During the Second World War, the maternity hospital became a casualty hospital. In 1948 the hospital became part of the National Health Service and over the next 60 years wards were added, departments moved and  new hospitals opened. In 1999 most of the site was sold off for housing development.

 Now it is a walk-in centre and provides treatment for self-presenting patients of all ages with a minor injury or minor illness

The houses near the station are different from the previous station. They are privately owned 1930s style semi detached rather than the
large council estates of Becontree.

At  a number of the  street junctions were green triangles of  shrubs and bushes.

I walked on to Mayesbrook Park, one of  the largest parks in East London being almost a mile from north to south. It was first opened in 1934 during the growth of the Becontree estate and was formed by enclosing land that was previously open countryside. It has two lakes which were created  when gravel was extracted for use in the building of the surrounding housing estates.

During the Second World War the park was used for temporary army accommodation. Today the park offers lots of different facilities such as a toddlers play area, an outdoor gym, basketball courts picnic tables and so forth. It is also home to a number of sporting clubs.

In 2011 the park was significantly altered to help adapt to more extremes in climate. The Mayes Brook was widened and moved to meander through the park to allow controlled flooding to occur in times of heavy rainfall. This new floodplain provides an ideal habitat for wildlife and is also an attractive river landscape. More trees have been planted to provide shade in hotter drier summers and in many places the grass has been left longer to give it more chance of surviving a drought.

All the changes should help the park to become more resilient to the changing climate with more winter floods and summer droughts predicted in the future

These two young men were curious as to why I was taking photos of the river and the lakes. They thought a photo of themselves would be better. So I duly obliged.

After an enjoyable walk around the park, I walked back to the station to have a look south of Upney.station



About half a mile from the station in the middle of a housing estate is a 16th century Elizabethan manor house.

Eastbury Manor House was completed in 1573 and has been little altered. It was originally in an isolated position, on rising ground with views of the river Thames across marshland to the south. It is a rare example of a mid 16th century brick built Gentry house. It was built between 1560 and 1573 and was known as Eastbury Hall created for Clement Sisley and his family. It was designed in the shape of the letter H and this is the primary reason for it being Grade I listed. When the house was threatened with demolition in the 1910s, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings recognised its significance and worked with the National Trust to save it from demolition. The National Trust acquired it for the nation in 1918, and leased it to Barking Borough Council in 1934.
When Eastbury Hall was built bricks were a relatively new building material. They were expensive to make so only the grandest Tudor houses were built with them. It was also rare for houses to have glass in their windows, again because of the cost. All of Eastbury's many windows were glazed. Clement Sisley was out to impress.

As there was no local hard stone, the builder covered the moulded bricks with lime rendering to make them look like stone.

The house was built of red brick with darker black bricks used to create diamond and heart shaped patterns on the outside walls.

There are still some original features inside the house.This is the servants' staircase.

This Tudor oak staircase was made from three tree trunks going from the ground to the roof and constructed around a central newel post. The staircase gives access to all three floors.

From the windows at the top of the staircase you can see out onto the roof and the chimneys.

On display in one of the rooms was a map from the mid 17th century. You can see there are no other buildings in the vicinity. This map was used for the collection of tithes in 1666.

An overlay of a modern map showing how the house is now surrounded by a housing estate.

When the Sisley family lived here this was two rooms, each with its own fireplace. The walls of one of the rooms were decorated with wall paintings. (I don't think these are the original wall paintings but restorations.)

The south fireplace in the East Chamber is the only one at Eastbury with its original stone surround. It is decorated with Tudor roses and acanthus leaves.

The square structures on the side walls housed the first garderobes (toilets). Excrement would have dropped down a chute to the courtyard level and would have been removed by servants.

The back view of the house and more chimneys.

I left Eastbury House to walk back to the station. I had noticed a cemetery nearby which is always worth a look. Rippleside cemetery is a large cemetery set up by Barking Parish Burial Board in 1886. The original railings still remain as well as the chapel. The cemetery chapel has changed little since it was built in 1886. It was designed as a scaled down parish church and the interior retains most of its original fittings and victorian glass. It also has a hammer beam roof but sorry, no photos, as the only time it is open is for funerals.

When built the grounds were well planted with cedars, yew, laurel and holly.

The burial ground was extended in 1950. Today the cemetery has memorial and lawn grave sections, a dedicated children's area and a memorial garden.

Across the road from the cemetery is this large car salesroom. Naturally it was for Ford cars.