Becontree facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Becontree
Houses built by the London County Council
Becontree
Area	4 sq mi (10 km2)
Population	95,862 (2011 wards)
• Density	23,966/sq mi (9,253/km2)
OS grid reference	TQ485855
• Charing Cross	11 mi (18 km) WSW
London borough	Barking & Dagenham
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DAGENHAM
Postcode district	RM8
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Barking Dagenham and Rainham
London Assembly	City and East
List of places UK England London 51°32′55″N 0°08′34″E / 51.5487°N 0.1427°E / 51.5487; 0.1427

Becontree /ˈbɛkəntriː/ or /ˈbiːkəntriː/ is an area of approximately 4 square miles (10 km²) in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is located 11 miles (17.7 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross and was constructed in the interwar period as the largest public housing estate in the world. The Housing Act 1919 permitted the London County Council to build housing outside the County of London and Becontree was constructed between 1921 and 1935 to cottage estate principles in the parishes of Barking, Dagenham and Ilford, then in the administrative and ceremonial county of Essex. The official completion of the estate was celebrated in 1935, by which time the estate had a population of around 100,000 people in 26,000 homes.

The building of the estate caused a huge increase in population density, which led to demands on services and reforms of local government. An additional 1,000 houses were added in later phases. The estate had no industrial and very little commercial development until the May & Baker and Ford Dagenham sites opened nearby, and a shopping area was built at Heathway. The estate has formed part of Greater London since 1965, when the Barking section was combined with Dagenham, and has been within a single London borough since boundary changes caused the Ilford section to be transferred from Redbridge to Barking and Dagenham in 1994.

History

Toponymy

The estate is named after the ancient Becontree Hundred, which historically covered the area. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is Old English and means 'tree of a man named Beohha'. The tree would have stood on Becontree Heath, just outside the eastern boundary of the estate. The majority of the estate was in the parish of Dagenham and the whole estate is in the Dagenham post town, and the two names are used interchangeably.

Building of the estate

Because of the lack of available land in the County of London, the Housing Act 1919 permitted the London County Council (LCC) to build housing and act as landlord outside of its territory. On 18 June 1919 the London County Council's Standing Committee on the Housing of the Working Classes resolved to build 29,000 dwellings to accommodate 145,000 people within 5 years, of which 24,000 were to be at Becontree. Becontree was developed between 1921 and 1935 as a large cottage estate of around 26,000 homes, intended to be "homes fit for heroes" for World War I veterans.

Most of the land at that time was market gardens, with occasional groups of cottages and some country lanes. It was compulsorily purchased. 4,000 houses had been completed by 1921. The early residents were able to pick rhubarb, peas and cabbages from the abandoned market gardens.

22-28 Chittys Lane Becontree

The very first houses completed, in Chittys Lane, are recognisable by a blue council plaque embedded in the wall. The construction was an enormous civil engineering project. A special railway was built especially for the building work. It connected the railway sidings at Goodmayes on the Great Eastern line and a wharf with a new 500 ft jetty, on the River Thames. Four steam cranes on the jetty could unload building material from seven barges at a time. The building of the estate took longer than anticipated. The LCC hoped to build 24,000 homes by 1924. They were only able to achieve 3,000 and the works were extended into three phases lasting until 1935.

On 13 July 1935 the official completion of the estate was celebrated with the ceremonial opening of Parsloes Park by MP Christopher Addison. However, the demand for housing meant that a further 800 homes were built in 1937. With a population of 115,652, it was the largest public housing development in the world. After the Second World War, between 1949 and 1951, 600 additional houses were built by the LCC in Dagenham in an area called Heath Park, adjacent to the estate.

Wythenshawe, in Manchester with an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km²), is larger but the population density is lower. At times Wythenshawe has also claimed to be the largest council housing estate in Europe. Private home ownership in the area has grown, and Wythenshawe has continued to expand.

First tenants

The LCC built the estate to rehouse people from London's East End, who were displaced by slum clearance. The first residents were almost all relatively prosperous working-class families, such as factory workers and busmen. Prospective tenants were interviewed by London County Council officials in their homes to check their suitability and the size of family, their domestic standards and financial resources. The tenants came from the skilled working class in relatively secure jobs and earning slightly more than the average wage. At the time everyone marvelled at having indoor toilets and a private garden, although the sash windows were extremely draughty, there was no insulation in the attics, and during the winter months very few people could afford enough coal to heat the bedrooms. The toilet, bath tap and a tap in the kitchen over a copper boiler, which was used for both washing clothes and heating bath water, were all fed from a reservoir tank in the attic, which invariably froze on winter mornings, leaving the toilets unusable. One clause in the contract of tenancy stipulated that children born to parents living on the estate would not be housed by the LCC and when the time came for them to establish their own homes, the relevant local authority would be expected to provide housing.

Privet hedges (referred to as "evergreens" or "evers") were planted along the pavements at the end of every front garden and during the spring and summer months a squad of gardeners were employed to keep them in regulation height. Although the estate regulations stipulated that the gardens must be maintained in order, more than a few degenerated into virtual jungles. However, to encourage the application of this rule, prizes were awarded for the best kept gardens. Initial candidates were selected by the rent collectors during their weekly rounds and a committee decided on the final prizes, which ranged from ten shillings consolation prizes up to £20 (an average week's rent in 1953 was about £1 18/- (£1.90)) for the first prize in each ward, plus a notice placed in the centre of the lawn for the benefit of passers-by.

Services

All houses were supplied with gas by the Gas Light and Coke Company; most had gas lighting and some were fitted with electric lighting. Electricity was supplied by the County of London Electric Supply Company in Dagenham and the electricity services of Barking and Ilford municipal corporations in those sections. All gas lighting was converted to electricity in 1955. Water supply in the whole estate came from the South Essex Waterworks Company, but sewerage was split on municipal lines. In 1930 Barking and Ilford formed the Ilford and Barking Joint Sewerage Committee.

The General Post Office placed the entire estate in the Dagenham post town, including the Barking and Ilford sections, giving all residents postal addresses of "Dagenham, Essex". It is perhaps for this reason that Becontree and Dagenham became synonymous. In 1927 the LCC was reluctant to agree that the Postmaster General should provide subscriber telephone lines to the estate, as it was considered incongruous for residents of a subsidised housing scheme to be able to afford such a luxury. Lines were connected from nearby exchanges until the DOMinion exchange was opened within the estate. In 1954 it had 1,337 lines, increasing to 1,620 in 1955 and by 1958 it had 2,700 lines.

The original LCC plan anticipated a civic and commercial centre around Parsloes Park. However, LCC was only a landlord in the area and had limited ability to influence commercial development and had no control over local government. The plan was not followed and Dagenham Civic Centre opened in 1937 outside the eastern boundary of the estate. The lack of a conventional town centre meant residents used the existing centres at Barking and Ilford. Small parades of shops were provided throughout the estate, such as on Gale Street and Wood Lane, but Dagenham Urban District Council tried to make up for the lack of a high street by creating a commercial centre along Heathway in 1934.

The estate was built without any provision for car parking as it was not anticipated that tenants would own cars. The plot sizes did not allow for garages to be added to homes. The LCC provided eleven garages for rent in 1937 and a further eighty in 1951. The LCC planned a tramway through the estate, filling some of the wide spaces on roads left by the special railway, but it was never built. There were no railway stations within the boundaries of the estate, with Chadwell Heath, Dagenham, Dagenham Dock and Goodmayes a short distance away. At first, trains on the Fenchurch Street–Southend line of the LMS passed through the estate without stopping, but in 1926 the LMS provided Gale Street Halt on the line. In 1932 (when the line was doubled with the addition of two electrified tracks) Gale Street Halt became Becontree station and a new station was added at Heathway. The stations were primarily served by the District Railway, which had been extended from Barking to Upminster.

Over the 15-year period of the building of the estate, the school-aged population rose rapidly to 25,000 while there were only 4 secondary schools nearby: 3 in Chadwell Heath and 1 at Becontree Heath, which meant that many children could not attend school. The first secondary school to be built was "Green Lane" in 1923, but it later became a primary school. It was renamed "Henry Green" in 1953, after the first headmaster after the secondary school opened in 1925.

Another improvement was after the 1952 smog, when the estate was declared a smokeless zone. The houses had their old fireplaces converted for use with smokeless fuel, which included fixed gas pokers in the hearths. The elderly man and his wife who lived in Mill Lane, Chadwell Heath and toured the estate in a horse-drawn cart on Saturday mornings selling logs and firewood (mostly tarred wood taken from the East End roads when they were replaced by tarmac) saw their business collapse overnight.

Economic development

Initially the estate had no industrial and very little commercial development planned to support the population. Residents commuted to Inner London for work, until the May & Baker and Ford Dagenham sites opened nearby.

Demography

According to the 2011 census, White British was the largest ethnic group in Becontree ward at 51%. The second-largest was Black African, at 13%. Overall, 41.2% identified themselves as having a BAME background. In addition, the figures for Parsloes ward, which also covers parts of Becontree, were 61%, 14%, and 30.9% respectively. The median house price in 2014 in Becontree ward was £210,000, which along with the borough is one of the lowest in Greater London.

Governance

The estate is within the Becontree, Eastbrook, Goresbrook, Heath, Mayesbrook, Parsloes, River, Valence and Village (2010) wards - 9 of the 17 in Barking and Dagenham - see Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council.

Culture

East London has a long history of brass bands, and Becontree Brass Band was founded in 1981 as an amalgamation of several local bands.

The Dagenham Girl Pipers were formed in 1930 as the first female pipe band in the world and are still in existence.

Education

The area is served by 26 primary schools, and thirteen secondary schools of which three are free schools and one, Elutec, is a University technical college.

Transport

Becontree tube station is served by London Buses Routes 62 and 145. Martins Corner is also served by routes 5, 62, 145, 364, EL2, and night bus N15.

The Becontree estate itself is served by routes 62, 128, 150, 364, and 368. Chadwell Heath station to the north is served by routes 62 and 368.

The area has local bus connections towards Dagenham Heathway, Dagenham Dock, Barking, Ilford, Goodmayes, and Romford.

Notable residents

• Alf Ramsey
• Terry Venables
• Max Bygraves
• Dudley Moore
• Sandie Shaw
• George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury