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.