The Olympics is coming in four years, this site has been about the history of the area; very soon, it will become an entire introduction in where to go and what to do whilst visiting London & Stratford in 2012. Congratulations to the fantastic Olympians in Beijing, and well done - you stand proud.
Becontree Hundred in 1863 , Chafford Hundred in 1863
Stratford History & West Ham History
& Silvertown & Plaistow & North Woolwich & Canning Town
& Hornchurch & Romford & Havering, plus Rainham & Wennington
Great Warley & Little Warley, South Weald
NEW - History of Barking & History of Dagenham
Useful Links
History of Pubs in London - indexes
I am forever trying ways to attract people to my sites, and the amazing images that are on them. There are some brilliant photos and imagery on my Pubs site, but these do not appear to be found by the major search engines, So, I am trying on this site, with a new approach, to get these listed - piccies is the word.
This is a brand new fun and games site for London. I guess it is really aimed at the coming Olympics in 2012, but in the mean time we can add something of interest to whet the appetite.
I have not yet added the fun & games part yet - but for historical detail, I can recommend no better than the Essex Record Office, in Chelmsford [this is my fun & games]- here is an online database of much of what is on offer- SEAX - it is absolutely brilliant. (Just login as guest if you are a visitor)
From the navigation menu, you will see a few other London sites that I run, and these may interest you, especially all the historical Pubs in London & Essex. A good game can be had in seeing if any of these mainly Victorian establishments are still open, and if they are, consuming large quantities of the English Beer, better known as Bitter. Sadly, this will cost you an 'arm and a leg', or rather 'Loadsa money', as the Pubs are rather expensive these days - I would rather take a day trip to France on the Eurotunnel from Ashford, have a nice meal, a French chat, and pick up some duty free wine, and some tobacco whilst there. For a good listing of the better modern Pubs to drink in, try the Pigs Ear site - part of the CAMRA [Campaign for Real Ale], rather than the chemical liquids we have become too far intoxicated by.
A history of Stratford, West Ham, Plaistow, Romford, Hornchurch, Haverin, Rainham etc etc is being added as fast as I can; plus the latest is a Ruby on Rails Idiots guide! I like to vary the sites from being just drink & no games!
Just for interest to those outside the UK, and to explain the old currency system in England - see Pounds, Shillings and Pence; the currency in the UK is now 100 pennies per Pound, but I look forward to us joining the Euro, in line with other sensible European countries.
The coming Olympic games will be largely centred around Stratford in East London, and the Hackney marsh areas; plus a variety of other top class venues around the Capital. Stratford started it's life as part of Essex, and still has an postcode which does not rank it amongst the London Postal Districts, i.e. EC1 - 4, & WC1- 4; and is therefore listed as East London. It is extremely well linked with Essex and London, through an excellent Rail network.
A favourite pastime is the game - 'having a laugh' [pronounced " 'aving a larf "] - which includes practical pranks at other peoples expense & usually meant light heartedly rather than any nasty form of bullying.
Another interesting side for London is the Nursery Rhymes that have been passed down through the years, e.g. 'ring a ring of roses, a pocketful full of posies, atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down' - this relates to the endemic loss of population from the likes of the plague and other illnesses. Fortunately, there is not too much of this to be found in London these days, with the modern and successful NHS [National Health System] put in place by the Labour Governments in the 1940s.