Dagenham is first mentioned in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD. The first Dagenham was almost certainly just a small farmstead, the ham or farm of a man called Daecca.
For over 500 years after this the settlement was evidently too small to be mentioned in records.
Once the centre of Dagenham. The village was a busy area where farm workers and their families lived. There were several shops, 4 inns and a blacksmith's forge. Surrounding the village was countryside and farmland.
In 1205 Dagenham was large enough to have a chaplain and the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul was probably built at a similar time.
For centuries the church was central to the local community and most people went to church. The farm workers and their families would come here to pray for fair weather and good harvests. Here too they would meet and socialise with their friends. Even today the church contains clues about important people who have lived in Dagenham.
From the Medieval period until the 20th century Dagenham village did not alter its appearance much. The main street, called Crown Street ran east from the church and crossed the valley of the Wantz stream. After crossing the stream the road turned sharply south and became Bull Lane, ending in the Bull Public House.
William Ford's School was started as a result of money given by William Ford in 1825.
After 1921 the village was rapidly hemmed in on the north by the Becontree Estate. Much of the rural character was quickly lost. By the 1950s and 1960s many buildings that had been important landmarks in the village were in decay. In the late 1960s the majority of the village was demolished for social housing.
Today only the parish church, the Cross Keys public house and the Vicarage remain of the old village.
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Crown Street, Dagenham Village
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