West Ham

West Ham is a London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and National Rail interchange. The station serves three different underground lines: the District, Hammersmith and City and the Jubilee. The station opened in 1901 by LTSR. It expanded in 1999 with the addition of four new platforms. This is by far the largest station I have visited on the District Line.

West Ham station opened  as part of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. The District Line began running services here in 1902 and the Metropolitan line - now the Hammersmith and City line route - began running here in 1936. In 1969, London Underground took over management of the station. Jubilee line services were extended to the station in May 1999 and DLR (Dockland Light Railway) services started calling at West Ham in 2006.

The station was completely rebuilt in 1999 as part of the Jubilee extension. Although it features the stainless steel, concrete and glass that are common among Jubilee line extension stations, the architecture also uses geometric brick designs similar to the 1930s  stations designed by Charles Holden.

The different parts of the station are linked by a glass and steel corridor that Part of the station crosses the road.

Next to the station is the West Ham bus garage. It opened in 2008/9 and can house 350 buses making it one of the largest bus garages in the UK.

 At the nearest end of the bus garage to me, were a couple of the popular routemaster buses, the icons of London Transport.

A little further on is the depot for the Jubilee Line Underground trains. The main shed is 100m wide and 190m long and provides 11 maintenance bays. The site of the depot has much historical significance as St Mary's Abbey was built at the southern end of the site in 1135. It remained there until  it was destroyed in 1538 under the dissolution of monasteries act brought in by Henry VIII.  In the 19th century the North Woolwich railway was built here and then in 1879  Stratford Market was established here. The market moved to make way for the building of the Jubilee Line in 1991 and opened as the new depot in 1996, maintaining and repairing trains.

I left Manor Road and had a walk through the housing estate to the  Memorial Recreation Ground. It is now mainly laid out with playing fields for football and rugby as well as a children's playground.

In 1897 Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company owner, Arnold Hills, bought a large piece of land here and built a sports centre. There was a football pitch in the middle of a cycle track. It also had tennis courts, cricket pitches and a large outdoor swimming pool. Low attendance at the matches that followed was put down to a lack of public transport to the site. In November 1897, the owner secured an agreement with London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to build a station in Manor Road. The station was completed in May 1900. It opened as West Ham station in 1901. Thames Ironworks FC became West Ham FC in September 1900 and continued to play at the Memorial ground until 1904 when West Ham found a new Ground in Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground.

Running alongside the Memorial Ground is the Greenway, a raised path and cycleway along the top of the embankment of Thames Water's Northern Outfall Sewer.


The  Sewer, which was built to carry effluent to the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, was constructed in 1862-63 by Joseph Bazalgette to cope with the increased sewage due to population increases and the popularity of flushing toilets. A section of the sewer carries the entire sewage of North London to the Abbey Mills pumping station. The remaining sections of the Outfall Sewer carry the sewage from Abbey Mills to the treatment plant at Becton.

This is Abbey Mills Pumping station known as the 'Cathedral of Sewage'. Its name comes from watermills belonging to Stratford Langthorne Abbey, a monastery founded in 1134. The first record of a mill here was in the early 14th century. The pumping station is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering and decoration. Thames Water receive more requests to see inside Abbey Mills than any other property. I have tried to get a ticket during Open House weekend but as yet have not been successful. If I ever manage to get inside I will definitely be sharing the photos with you. The best view of the outside is from the elevated Greenway footpath.

One of the electrical centrifugal pumps from Abbey Mill Pumping Station stands beside the river Lee on the Greenway. At first I thought it was a sculpture of an ammonite.

The pathway gives you views of the rooftops and of further afield.

On one side you can see the Anish Kapoor 'Orbit' sculpture which is in the centre of the Olympic Park.

On the other side of the pathway I could see down onto the platforms at West Ham station. In the distance are the financial buildings of Docklands .

This is Channelsea House, once an office block that has now been converted into a residential block.  There has been a lot of regeneration in this area mainly because it is so close to Stratford, home to the 2012 Olympics. Since the Games, the area has been transformed with a number of regeneration projects.

The building overlooks the river Lee.

These houses looked older than others I had walked past.

I left the walkway to go and have a look at the front of the houses. There were four pairs of semi detached houses. They are Grade II listed , designed by Bazalgette in 1865, one of the architects of Abbey Mills pumping station. The yellow brickwork banded with red and black brick  makes them look quite distinctive.

As I left the Greenway footpath I saw this notice on the railings! Good job I was a pedestrian and not a cyclist!

The pathway had brought me out on Stratford High Street.

On the other side of the road I noticed this building with  this mosaic of the flower sellers on the side.

This is where the perfume company Yardley had their offices. In 1950 they had a laboratory here to conduct quality control. package testing and research. When they were refused permission to expand in the 60s they moved the business out to Essex.

The path continued across Stratford High Street. From here I could see the 2012 Olympic Stadium which is now home to West Ham United Football Club.

I also had a closer view of the Orbit sculpture which is now used  as a Helter Skelter. I went to the top of the sculpture during the Games but as yet I haven't returned to have a go on the slide.

I crossed back over the High Street to return to the station via Abbey Road. This is not the Abbey Road of Beatles fame which is in another part of London.

On the gate of the Abbey Road council depot is a plaque in memory of 13 men killed on the first day of the Blitz 7th September 1940.

At the start of WW2, part of Abbey Road depot was in use as an Air Raid Precautions Cleansing and Ambulance station. On 7th September 1940, known as Black Saturday, the Blitz on London began. At 7.15pm, the depot received a direct hit, thereby becoming one of the first places in West Ham to be bombed.


Just along the road from the depot is Abbey Gardens - What Will The harvest Be? This is a public space designed by artists Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope on behalf of the Friends of Abbey Gardens. A number of influences inspired the artists' design including a group of 20th century squatters. In July 1906, a group of 20 unemployed men took possession of a nearby piece of derelict land to clear it of rubbish and turn it into an area suitable for growing vegetables. The land was divided into four triangles which gave the area the name 'Triangle Camp' which inspired the shape of the raised beds in Abbey Gardens. The group became known as the 'Plaistow Landgrabbers'. They painted a slogan on a wall behind the land: What Will The Next Harvest Be? At the time unemployment was high following the end of the Boer War and the increase in population in West Ham. The men mourned the rise of urbanisation and loss of being able to survive off the land which was disappearing. They wanted to show that the unemployed wanted to work.

The 'Landgrabbers' received numerous donations of seeds and young plants and they set about planting a variety of vegetables. Their actions were short lived when the West Ham Corporation with the help of the police cleared the camp. The leader of the group, a local councillor was imprisoned for not obeying a court order to leave the land. The Government advised the unemployed to emigrate to Australia or Canada and 1000 residents did just that the following year.

The Abbey Gardens site contains part of the remains of a 12th century abbey. Beneath the gardens are the remains of the gatehouse of the Stratford Langthorne Abbey  where the monks once ran a kitchen garden. In 2006, a group of residents formed Friends of Abbey Gardens with the aim of rescuing the derelict site from vandalism and neglect. Their website describes the gardens as follows:

Abbey Gardens is an open-access harvest garden where anyone is welcome to participate in the communal growing of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Unlike the traditional allotment system, no one has their own patch and everyone gardens together at regular gardening sessions led by an experienced gardener. The produce is shared among volunteers and is also available to the local community in return for donations from one of the garden’s two Honesty Stalls. We also hold regular free events, including a Summer Fair and a Harvest Festival.

Stratford Langthorne Abbey was one of the most impressive buildings in the area. It was founded in 1135 and was built after a local Lord William de Montfichet gave land to the monks to build an abbey. The Cistercian monks worked the land, drained marshland and grew crops. Their land spread across 20 acres and was a self sufficient community. It had a range of workshops where brewing, tanning and weaving took place. The abbey also owned a number of mills. During Henry VIII's reign and the Dissolution of the monasteries,  the abbey was closed down and stripped of all its valuables. Eventually the buildings were pulled down or fell into disrepair. There is a carving and a stone window from the original monastery in All Saints church just down the road from Abbey Gardens. I visited the church but sadly it was closed.

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There has been a building on this site since at least the late 12th century. Three blocked windows on either side of the present building's nave date to that time. I will try and visit the church again when it is open as it sounds as though there is much to see on the inside.

This memorial at the side of the church is dated 1681.

I returned to the station from the church. Just before the church you walk past the British Transport Police station. The first railway police force was formed in November 1830 just a few months after the introduction of the Metropolitan police force in London. With the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool railway in 1830, which was the first public railway in the world to transport goods and passengers,  it was decided that a police presence was required to control law and order along the railway lines and to regulate the movement of trains.. Station houses were erected at one mile intervals along the line to provide shelter for the police officers. It is thought that the name 'police station' is derived from these shelters. These days the British Transport police aim to provide a safe and secure environment for staff and passengers. This service is provided throughout the country not just in London.

Plaistow

For the first time this January I left the house with frost on the ground. But with bright blue skies and the promise of a sunny day it was perfect to explore the next station on the District Line.

Plaistow opened the same year as the previous two stations in 1858. Consequently the station building, platforms and furniture were very similar. The station serves the Hammersmith and City Line as well as the District Line. National Rail trains also pass through the station but on the other side of this fence as they no longer stop here.

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On some of the benches you can see the original ironwork with the initials of the London Tilbury and Southend Railway on them. This railway ran steam trains on the line until 1912 when it became the London Midland Railway.

This is the 12th station I have visited on the District Line.

There are another 48 stations on this line but as I have already visited 19 of them on other lines, it just leaves me 29 to go!

The District and Hammersmith and City lines were built using a 'cut and cover' technique. A large trench was dug under the streets and then roofed over to provide space for the tracks and trains. Because these lines were so close to street level they were called 'sub-surface' to distinguish them from the Underground's deeper tunnelled lines.

The station building is on a slight hill but unlike the others it is not surrounded by shops.

















Next to the station was a Ford car showroom which is now empty.  It is a large area so I assume it will be redeveloped soon with more housing.

On the corner of the High Street and Richmond Street is the Black Lion  pub that dates back to the early 1700s. Much of it has been altered over the centuries but the square doorway built to allow horse drawn carriages to enter the courtyard still exists.

On the other side of  the High Street  on the corner with Balaam Street is this huge house. Surprisingly I couldn't find any information on this building other than it has been converted into flats.

Further down Balaam Street is Plaistow park. I thought at first it was a small recreational ground but it was large enough for football pitches, outdoor gym, fountain and landscaped areas.

I walked through the park to have a look at a building I could see above the trees. I'm glad I did, as I discovered that this façade is what remains of the YMCA Red Triangle Club building.

 It was built in 1919-1921. Inside there was a concert hall and theatre. There was also a swimming pool in the basement.   Today the building has been rebuilt as 64 flats behind the original facade.and the pool has been converted into a car park

The elaborately ornate frontage is Grade II listed.

On the other side of the road is the old Tramways building with a WW1 memorial outside. Electric powered trams began running from Plaistow in 1904  and these offices were built in 1906.

 
The North Metropolitan Tramways Company began as a horse tramway from Aldgate to Leytonstone Road , via Stratford in 1870.

I returned to Balaam Street via the park.

Since 1894 this house has been used as a Franciscan friary. For the first 50 years it was the home of the Society of the Divine Compassion. Then from about 1950 brothers and sometimes sisters of the Society of St Francis worked amongst the people of Plaistow.

'Helping Hands' is an organisation that uses the premises for volunteers to do odd jobs from cooking, cleaning, gardening etc for the elderly and needy within the community.

This is the entrance to the Balaam Leisure centre. I was surprised how dirty it looked round the entrance until I found out that it has been closed since late 2018 due to structural problems.


I thought the brickwork looked really interesting but how sad that it has had to close. The local community are trying to save the facility as it was a well used leisure centre with a swimming pool. The council are looking at various options but none include restoring the centre. It appears Newham council are in favour of converting it into housing. A huge loss of a community resource.

I followed the road round to Barking Road passing the Abbey Arms on the corner. The pub was rebuilt in 1882 and has a few features from that time from the ironwork signs to the  etched and cut glass windows.                     

There is a sign over the entrance saying 'Private Bar and Jugs'.This referred to customers who brought their own jugs to be filled with beer to be taken home to drink. It  was much cheaper to buy it by the jug. This service was used mainly by women who didn't want to be seen drinking in the bar.

 From the pub you can see the many shops that are centred around this road junction.

This is the Swift Centre, home to the 59 motorcycle club. In the 1960s the 59 club was the biggest and most famous motorcycle club in the world. Wearing black leathers and riding a motor bike in the 60s meant you wouldn't be welcome in many places. The reputation of being trouble makers meant that bikers were banned from most cafes, pubs, clubs and cinemas. The only place they could meet was the Ace cafe  in North London. The 59 club started as a church based youth club founded by Father Shergold in Hackney Wick. Club nights took place each Saturday evening at the Eton Mission where there was  parking and a large hall with table tennis, billiards, a jukebox and a coffee bar. The club was known amongst the bikers as the 'Vic's caff'. Father Bill Shergold remained chairman of the club until his death in 2009. The club still exists but is located here in Plaistow. It is still supported by a member of the cloth - Father Scott Anderson.

Next door is the large Memorial church, busy serving midday meals to the homeless so I didn't enter. The church was formed  in Jan 2006 when the congregation of Memorial Baptist Church, Plaistow welcomed the congregation from neighbouring  St Andrew's church who had to move out of rented premises.

On the other side of the road is Plaistow  police station. which closed in 2017. .Many of these large police stations are closing and the buildings sold for redevelopment. There used to be lots of local stations with counter service but that seems to be a thing of the past now.

I decided to make my way back towards the station. On the way I came across the East London Cemetery. What first struck me was  the amount of bright red silk flowers adorning the graves.

Many of the cremation memorials had a rose tree planted next to them so this must look amazing in the summer.

Many of the gravestones were huge, elaborate and fancy. Not just the usual cherubs and angels here. I think it was the size of them that surprised me.

This monument with the anchor marks the grave of 28 of the 38 victims who died in June 1898, when HMS Albion was launched from the Thames Iron Works at Bow Creek. Many hundreds came to watch the launch and a large number of people crowded onto a wooden walkway for a better view. As the ship was launched a wave of water washed away the supports of the walkway and 200 people were thrown into the water. 160 were saved but the rest drowned

This rather plain memorial stone has 11 names on it. All of the men were found guilty of spying for Germany in WW1. They were imprisoned in the Tower of London and shot. In November 1914 Carl Lody was the first person for more than 150 years to be executed in the Tower. Most spies were arrested after letters, newspapers or telegrams they had sent were intercepted by British intelligence.

In one area of the cemetery there is a large number of gravestones with Chinese inscriptions, evidence of the large Chinese community that lives in this area.

From the cemetery I walked back along Upper Street to the station passing these ornate gates of Lister Park on the way. The park is named after Lord Lister who introduced antiseptic procedures into hospitals. Lister lived locally and these gates were specially designed by the artist Daksha Amin,.as a memorial to Lister's contribution to modern surgery.

Round the corner and I was back at the station.