East Ham

Here I am at the 10th station that I have visited on the District Line.

There are two platforms for the East/Westbound District and Hammersmith and City lines. Other trains pass through but their lines are not visible as a barrier has been erected to separate the lines.

The ironwork on the canopy support shows the initials of the first railway company that opened the station in 1858 - the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. Much of the original Victorian station architecture has been retained

A busy station it has a large number of ticket barriers.

This is the first station building on this line that looks different.  It was rebuilt in 1902 when the station became part of  the London Underground and was taken over by the District Line. When the station first opened the area was described as a 'scattered village' but due to the new railway the population increased by over 7000% according to the census of 1911!


The station exits onto a long High Street.

East Ham is in the London Borough of Newham. It is a multicultural area with a majority of Caribbean and South Asians, African and Eastern European residents. In 2010 East Ham was noted as having the fourth highest level of unemployment in the country. Around 7 in 10 children are from low income families making it the worst area in the country for child poverty.

Newham is a London Borough that experiences significant problems with poverty and inequality. 35.6% of employees are low paid, the highest percentage in London and the poverty rate is 37% - ten percentage points higher than the London average. However the number of affordable homes has increased in the  last five years and the unemployment rate has also dropped. (Information from Trust for London.)

I turned right  as I left the station and just 100m along the High Street was this Hindu Temple.

The Sri Mahalakshmi Temple was completed in 2017. This was formerly the site of a public house. The ornate exterior was the design of specialist Hindu Temple designers and is based on temples prevalent in Southern India

A very impressive golden entrance. The Gopouram's (towers) are deliberately  intended to be visible from a long distance away and are an important part of the building.

On the other side of the High Street is a 99p store, above which is a Masjid or Mosque.

Due to a very large Muslim community, East Ham has many mosques. Some of the mosques include the Masjid Bilal and Islamic Centre and the Medina Masjid and Muslim Cultural Centre. The centre has provided Islamic knowledge to the local community since the 1980s. The madrasah is open each evening and  weekends to educate children between the ages of 5 and 14 in all matters of the Islamic faith.

Most of the fashion shops catered for an Asian community.

Also on the High Street is The Ruskin Arms, well known as home to local rock and heavy metal music, where the group 'Iron Maiden' began their career and played here regularly. They immortalised the pub on the cover of their 1986 album 'Somewhere in Time'. The pub closed down in December 2018 when its licence was not renewed following a brutal attack outside the pub. It was alleged that bar staff from the pub continued to serve drinks and failed to call the police as two men were reportedly said to have 'stamped on the head' of an unconscious customer.









Another place of worship on the High Street was this church which turned out to be a community centre run by the Kingdom Mandate Ministries.

As I looked in through the open door I was greeted by a man vacuuming the floor who beckoned me in. He was very keen to tell me about the centre and explain all its functions and activities. On Saturdays it was used by Muslims who were taught the Quran and on Sundays it was used by Christians studying the bible.

During the week it offered many different classes including English conversations for the whole community. It was also a food bank and distributed food to the needy. It truly was a centre for the whole community.

This was the gentleman who welcomed me into the centre. Ruben is a Tamil from Sri Lanka and moved to East Ham 20 years ago. He now has 40 members of his extended family also living in the area.  He told me how much he loved living here. Ruben wanted to make me a cup of tea but I declined as I had only just stepped off the train and still had a lot more walking to do.

I left the High Street to have a look at the side streets which were full of cars as these houses were built long before every household owned at least one car.

There were so many places of worship in East Ham. Every denomination seemed to be represented. Here's just a few of the churches I walked past.

Manor Park Spiritualist church

Pilgrim's Way Church (Congregational and Methodist)

 East Ham Christadelphian church

St Paul's (Church of England)

This church houses the Trinity Centre. Trinity centre was set up in 1972 for the benefit of Newham residents. Last year it provided 251 different activities at the centre. Over 110 languages are spoken in Newham.

I walked down a couple of side streets and ended up at Plashet Park. Every area has at least one park. Plashet Park was originally the grounds of the 18th Cent Wood House. The land was acquired for the park in 1889 and opened to the public in 1891. The original layout of paths and trees remains but some features such as the bandstand and fountains have now gone. New facilities were added and in 1964 a small zoo opened with Vietnamese pot bellied pigs, wallabies, Shetland ponies and an aviary and butterfly house. This was closed in the 1990s. The current facilities in the park include tennis courts, a children's playground and a bowling green.

Across the road from the park is East Ham Memorial Hospital. It was founded in 1902 as the East Ham Hospital, a voluntary cottage hospital with 20 beds. The original concept of a cottage hospital was a small rural building housing a few beds. It had the advantage of providing care locally and avoiding the need to travel long distances to the county hospital. Local doctors could admit their patients to it and prior to the NHS the in patients would have to pay a small weekly sum for their keep. This particular one was financed by a Cornish philanthropist, John Passmore Edwards who gave £5000 towards its cost. The hospital was extended in 1915 and renamed the Passmore Edwards East Ham Hospital. During WW1 it became an army hospital. Following the war an appeal raised enough money to build a general hospital here as a memorial to those local servicemen who died during WW1. A new 2 storey building was erected on an adjoining site in 1929 and was renamed the East Ham Memorial Hospital. It had 100 beds. The former hospital was converted into children's wards. When it joined the NHS in 1948 it had 138 beds. It closed as an acute hospital in 1981 but reopened in 1990 with beds for acute psychiatric and psychogeriatric patients. A purpose built 78 bedded care centre opened in 2007 and the building and facilities are part of the East Ham care Centre.

The main entrance to the Passmore Edwards Building.

Around the corner from the hospital is this Grade II listed building the Passmore Edwards Library. It has no connection to the hospital except it was financed by the same philanthropist. Edwards was born in 1823 in Cornwall, the son of a carpenter. He went on to become a journalist and freelance writer in London. About this time he became an activist and served on a number of committees such as one in favour of the abolition of capital punishment. He also published and edited a number of magazines that promoted peace and temperance. Over the next few years he purchased  several successful publications and in 1876 he bought the 'Echo', London's first daily newspaper. A decade later he was in a position to begin his philanthropic activities. Some of his major beneficiaries were the Whitechapel Art Gallery and The London School of Economics. He founded 24 libraries and in a short period of time he funded 70 different building projects including hospitals, schools, convalescent homes and art galleries, many of which continue today.

At the end of the road is Plashet, a girls' secondary school. The school is housed in two buildings on either side of Plashet Grove, linked by the award winning Plashet Unity Bridge. The bridge has become a feature in its own right and is an unusual installation for a school. The undulating Unity bridge is a symbol of the uniting of two schools. East Ham Grammar School for girls was opened in the 1930s on the South site. Two decades later on the North site the Plashet County secondary modern school for girls was opened. The two schools were amalgamated in 1972 but it wasn't until 2000 that the bridge was built to unite the buildings. It was initially designed to be a safer way for the girls and members of staff to cross the very busy road between the two buildings but it seems it became much more than that and symbolised the fusion of the two schools. The bridge received the Structural Steel Bridge award in 2001, the RIBA award in 2001 and was a finalist for the building of the year award (2001).

At the end of the street is a pedestrian bridge over the railway. I have to admit I would not be walking around here during the dark and even in daylight I didn't feel particularly safe.

A piece of wasteland near the railway lines. The land used to be part of the Beckton Gas works which had nine gasometers.The gasometers were used to store 'town' gas made from coal. Only No.8 gasholder still survives. The discovery of natural gas in the North sea meant it was uneconomic to manufacture gas. The gas works closed in 1969. Some gasometers are being restored for historical reasons. I'm not sure what will happen to this one. I returned from here back to the High Street to have a look at the Southern end of the High Street.

This 1930s building used to be Burton's menswear.

At the end of the High Street is Newham Town Hall. A beautiful ornate Grade II listed Edwardian building which was opened in 1903 by the philanthropist, Passmore Edwards.

Beside the town hall is the technical college, Opened in 1905, it was designed for use as a secondary day school as well as an evening college. As a technical college it had carpenters' and plumbers' workshops, a building department and a clinical laboratory. The building is now a 6th form college, library and leisure centre.
Time to return to the tube station. My abiding memory of East Ham will be the number of places of worship and the community projects helping to create harmony within the town.