Canning Town is a town in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, England, north of the

Royal Victoria Dock The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands. History Although, the structure was in place in the year 1850, it was opened in 1855, on a pre ...

. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

. It forms part of the London E16 postcode district. The area is undergoing significant regeneration , with the building of up to 10,000 new homes.

History

Bridges facilitate development

Before the 19th century, the district was largely marshland, and accessible only by boat, or a toll bridge. In 1809, an Act of Parliament was passed for the construction of the Barking Road between the

East India Docks The East India Docks were a group of docks in Blackwall in east London, north-east of the Isle of Dogs. Today only the entrance basin and listed perimeter wall remain visible. History Early history Following the successful creation of the ...

and Barking. A five-span iron bridge was constructed in 1810 to carry the road across the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

at Bow Creek. This bridge was damaged by a collision with a collier in March 1887 and replaced by the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

(LCC) in 1896. This bridge was in turn replaced in 1934, at a site to the north and today's concrete flyover begun in smaller form in the 1960s, but successively modified to incorporate new road layouts for the upgraded A13 road and a feeder to the Limehouse Link tunnel, avoiding the

Blackwall Tunnel The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south ...

. The abutments of the old iron bridge have now been utilised for the Jubilee footbridge, linking the area to Leamouth, in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

, on the western bank of the Lea. The area is thought to be named after the first

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

, Charles John Canning, who suppressed the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

about the time the district expanded. The population increased rapidly after the North London Line was built from Stratford to

North Woolwich North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London, England, on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel. Despite ...

, in 1846. This was built to carry coal and goods from the docks; and when the passenger station was first built it was known as ''Barking Road''. Speculative builders constructed houses for the workers attracted by the new chemical industries established in the lower reaches of the

, and for the nearby

Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf (often referred to as Blackwall) on the west side and at Cann ...

and

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle Public Limited Company is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage products to food and industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s, it began to diversify, eventually dive ...

refinery.

An admiring East End crowd gathers to witness the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi

Royal Victoria Dock opens

The opening of the

in 1855 accelerated the development of the area creating employment and a need to house dock workers and their families. New settlements around the dock developed, starting with Canning Town and Hallsville (Hallsville generall being seen as part of Canning Town), and later the areas now known as

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

and

Silvertown Silvertown is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Becontree Hundred, hund ...

. The new settlements lacked water supply and had no sewage system, leading to the spread of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. The casual nature of employment at the docks meant poverty and squalid living conditions for many residents, and in 1857

Henry Morley Henry Morley (15 September 1822 – 14 May 1894) was an English academic who was one of the earliest professors of English literature in Great Britain. He also authored a popular book featuring biographies of notable English writers. Life The ...

wrote about the area: The industries around the dock were often unhealthy and dangerous. As trade unions and political activists fought for better living conditions and the dock area became the centre of numerous movements with Will Thorne, James Keir Hardie and other later becoming leading figures in the Labour Party. Thorne and others worked and gave speeches at Canning Town Public Hall which had been built in 1894 as the population grew in the southern part of the borough.

Diversity

From the late 19th century, a large African mariner community was established in Canning Town as a result of new shipping links to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Prior to the '' Windrush'' era, Canning Town had London's largest black population of any area in London. The area around Crown Street (formerly located just north of the Royal Victoria Dock, but destroyed in the Blitz) was known as Draughtboard Alley due its ethnic mix. Notable black people from Canning Town include footballers Fred Corbett, who played for Thames Ironworks F.C. and its successor team

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

; and Jack Leslie, who was called up to play for England, but then dropped without explanation, possibly due to racial prejudice. The second black West Ham player, was another Canning Town man,

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh association football, footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United F.C., Leeds United and Juventus FC, Ju ...

. John Charles became the first black person to represent England at any level when he appeared for the Under 18s, scoring a goal in a 3-1 win over Israel. John Charles younger brother Clive Charles also played for West Ham. In 1972 West Ham were the first top-flight team to field three Black players. Clive Charles and teammates Clyde Best and Ade Coker featured in a 3-1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur. Clive Charles would go on to manage the United States football team. A further example of the area's long-standing multi-cultural nature is Indian-born doctor Chuni Lal Katial, who practised in Canning Town for several years from around 1929. Katial was an acquaintance of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and invited him to meet

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

, one of the most famous actors in the world, at his surgery in Beckton Road. Gandhi was staying at Kingsley Hall, in nearby Bromley-by-Bow, for the three-month duration of his talks with the UK government on the future of India. Katial, a noted health pioneer, later moved to the

Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury The Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury was a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough within the County of London from 1900 to 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of Islington to form the Borough ...

, in north London, where he became Britain's first south Asian Mayor.

Silvertown explosion

In 1917 50 tons of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

exploded at the Brunner Mond & Co ammunition work in nearby Silvertown, causing the

Silvertown explosion The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in County Borough of West Ham, West Ham, Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham) on Friday 19 January 1917 at 6:52 p.m. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturi ...

, the largest explosion in London's history and damaging more than 70,000 buildings and killing 73 people.

Slum clearance

In the 1930s the

County Borough of West Ham West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London. It was immediately north of the River Thames and east of the Rive ...

commenced

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

s. New houses, clinics, nurseries and a lido were opened. Silvertown ByPass and Britain's first flyover, the Silvertown Way, were built along with other new approach roads to the docks. Canning Town was heavily hit by the bombings in World War II and West Ham Council's plan to rebuild the area focused on a reduction of the population, transferring industry and the building of new housing such as the Keir Hardie Estate, which included schools and welfare services. In the early hours of 10 September 1940, a bomb hit South Hallsville School where up to 600 local refugees were accommodated. At least 200, mainly children, were killed or injured. Many bodies were never recovered. The slum clearances and the devastation of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, destroying 85% of the housing stock, led to the preponderance of council estates that characterise the area today. Post-war housing schemes followed the

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

principles of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

. As demand for housing grew the first high rise buildings were built in Canning Town in 1961. In 1968 part of

Ronan Point Ronan Point was a 22-storey tower block in Canning Town in Newham, East London, that partially collapsed on 16 May 1968, only two months after it opened. A gas explosion blew out some load-bearing walls, causing the collapse of one entire corn ...

, a 22-storey tower block in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

, collapsed and most of the tall tower blocks built in the area in the early 1960s were eventually demolished or reduced in size.

Slum housing

Victorian era

In 1857

published a detailed description of the area in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' ''

Household Words ''Household Words'' was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s. It took its name from the line in Shakespeare's '' Henry V'': "Familiar in his mouth as household words." History During the planning stages, titles orig ...

'' entitled "Londoners over the Border", writing:

"...by the law there is one suburb on the border of the Essex marshes which is quite cut off from the comforts of the Metropolitan Buildings Act;-in fact, it lies just without its boundaries, and therefore is chosen as a place of refuge for offensive trade establishments turned out of the town, - those of oil boilers, gut spinners, varnish makers, printers ink makers and the like. Being cut off from the support of the Metropolitan Local Managing Act, this outskirt is free to possess new streets of houses without drains, roads, gas, or pavement."

Describing the

slum housing A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

conditions and its effect on the health of local residents, Morley wrote:

"Rows of small houses, which may have cost for their construction eighty pounds a piece, are built designedly and systematically with their backs to the marsh ditches; ...to or three yards of clay pipe "drain" each house into the open cess pool under its back windows, when it does not happen that the house is built as to overhang it... In winter time every block becomes now and then an island, and you may hear a sick man, in an upper room, complain of water trickling down over his bed. Then the flood cleans the ditches, lifting all their filth into itself, and spreading it over the land. No wonder that the stench of the marsh in Hallsville and Canning Town of nights, is horrible. A fetid mist covers the ground... the parish surgeon... was himself for a time invalided by fever, upon which ague followed. Ague, of course, is one of the most prevalent diseases of the district; fever abounds. When an epidemic comes into the place, it becomes serious in its form, and stays for months. Disease comes upon human bodies saturated with the influences of such air as is breathed day and night, as a spark upon touchwood. A case or two of
small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and pla ...
caused, in spite of vaccination, an epidemic of confluent small pox, which remained three or four months upon the spot."

Morley also describes efforts to improve the housing conditions in the area:

"Two years ago, when application was made by more than a tenth of the rate payers of the parish of West Ham for an inquiry into the sanitary condition of the district, with a view to bringing it under the conditions of the Public Health Act, Mr Alfred Dickens was the civil engineer sent by the general Board of Health as an inspector. His report and the evidence at his inquiry is before us as we write, and it dwells very much upon the state of Canning Town and Hallsville. We learn from this report that the area of the ditches in the parish amounted to not less than one hundred and fifty acres, according to a surveyors book upwards of thirty five years old, and that area has been increased by side cuttings at the railway and new cuttings of open sewer. Disease had cost the parish six hundred pounds in the year previous to the inquiry. There was then, of course, as now, no drainage or paving in Canning Town; the roads in winter were impassable; but the inhabitants were paying (for what they did not get) an eighteen penny rate under the Commissioners Act, not for works done in accordance with it, but "for the expenses of the act". Also, although the parish did not take charge of their roads, they were paying a highway rate for the parishioners elsewhere. One horrible detail in Mr Dickens report has, happily, to be omitted from our sketch. Two years ago, there was in Hallsville and Canning Town no water supply. Good water is now laid on. In all other respects, the old offences against civilised life cleave to the district. The local Board of Health which the inhabitants of the parish sought and obtained, whatever it may have done for Stratford, seems to have done nothing for Hallsville, unless it be considered something to indulge it with an odd pinch of deodorising powder."

Alfred Dickens highlighted the severe overcrowding suffered by many of the slum inhabitants as a result of landlord charging high rents and households relying on casual work.

20th century

The 1890 Housing Act made the local council responsible for providing decent accommodation, and in the 1890s some of the first council houses were built in Bethell Avenue. However, many of the

terraced houses A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

built during the late 19th century were little more than slums and cleared by the council in the 1930s. The council replaced the terraces with the first high-rise blocks.

21st Century

According to

Newham London Borough Council Newham London Borough Council also known as Newham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Newham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority co ...

, Canning Town and

are among the five per cent most deprived areas in the UK. Residents suffer from poor health, low education and poverty. 17 per cent of the working age population have a limiting long-term illness, 17.5 per cent claim income support and 49.7 per cent of 16- to 74-year-olds have no formal qualifications.

Regeneration project

The

consultation Consultation or consultative may refer to: * Public consultation, a process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought * Consultation (Texas), the 1835 Texas meeting of colonists on a proposed rebellion against the Republic of ...

and

governance Governance is the overall complex system or framework of Process, processes, functions, structures, Social norm, rules, Law, laws and Norms (sociology), norms born out of the Interpersonal relationship, relationships, Social interaction, intera ...

mechanism of the currently ongoing regeneration project is underpinning by a partnership between councillors, residents, local businesses and other "partners". According to Newham council:

"The views of residents and businesses is central to the development and delivery of the regeneration initiative and developers will be expected to continue with extensive community consultation and engagement as part of their remit."

Newham council is currently attempting to encourage "re-interpretations" of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's established street and housing forms. The council has identified

terraced housing A terrace in agriculture is a flat surface that has been cut into hills or mountains to provide areas for the cultivation for crops, as a method of more effective farming. Terrace agriculture or cultivation is when these platforms are created s ...

as such housing form, stating that it "continues to have enduring popularity with all types of residents including families and children". The area is at the western end of the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

zone and is currently undergoing a £2.7 billion regeneration project, which includes: * demolishing 2,750 homes and building 10,000 new homes * creating 500,000 square metres of floor-space in a revitalised town centre * providing community facilities, including a library, a health centre * undertaking improvements to primary schools The Olympic Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre, which was located in Canning Town, was due to be demolished and replaced with a new industrial estate as part of the Olympic Legacy programme.

Politics and local government

The area falls within the West Ham and Beckton constituency. The local Member of Parliament is James Asser from Labour. Canning Town Town North and Canning Town South wards are in the

. In May 2002, Canning Town South was the only ward in the Borough to return a non-Labour councillor. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, residents elected three

Christian Peoples Alliance The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) is a minor Christian right political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democrac ...

candidates, one of whom was Alan Craig. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Labour gained all three seats and have held them with significant majorities since.

2022 local election

-->

Culture

Thames Ironworks F.C., the

works team A works team, sometimes also referred to as factory team and company team, is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business, institution, or organization in a broad sense. Works teams have very close ties with thei ...

of the nearby Ironworks, went on to become

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their ...

after turning professional. The Bridge House, a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

named for the 1887 ''Iron Bridge'', was at 23 Barking Road – now demolished. The venue operated during the 1970s and 1980s and was host to

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major i ...

, Modern Romance,

Sham 69 Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham in Surrey in 1975. They changed their musical direction after seeing the Sex Pistols play live in early 1976. They were one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, ac ...

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

, The Cockney Rejects,

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

, Remus Down Boulevard and many other notable acts. A venue bearing the name The Bridge House 2 was opened in Bidder Street in more recent years.

Administrative History

The area was part of the ancient parish of West Ham, in the hundred of Becontree in Essex. It became part of the new

in 1900 (The parish and the County Borough had near identical boundaries). Then in 1965 the area became part of the new

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

Education

Transport

Canning Town station is served by the Jubilee line and the DLR with services to Bank, Tower Gateway, Stratford International, Beckton and Woolwich Arsenal. Also, Star Lane DLR Station serves the area, with services to Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal.

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

route 5, 69, 115, 147, 241, 300, 309, 323, 330, 474 and night routes N15, N550 and N551 all serve Canning Town at the bus station. Also, route 276 runs on the Canning Town section of Barking Road and serves Star Lane DLR station.

References

External links

Canning Town: A deprived residential area with plans for regenerationCanning Town regenerationCanning Town Docks & Pubs HistoryHistory of Canning TownHam: Domestic buildings', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973)
{{Authority control Districts of the London Borough of Newham Areas of London Districts of London on the River Thames Port of London District centres of London