Barking
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- For other uses, see Barking (disambiguation).
Template:Infobox London place Barking is the principal town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is a suburban development with a large retail and commercial centre situated to the west of the borough and 9.1 miles (14.6 km) east north-east of Charing Cross.
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History
The manor of Barking was the site of "Barking Abbey", a nunnery founded in 666 by Eorcenwald, bishop of London, destroyed by the Danes and reconstructed about a hundred years later in 970 by King Edgar. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, Barking Abbey was demolished: the parish church, St Margaret's stands upon its site, where some walling and foundations are all that otherwise remain. The Norman church of St Margaret was where Captain James Cook married Elizabeth Batts of Shadwell in 1762.
Barking was an urban district from 1894 and became a municipal borough in 1931. The Municipal Borough of Barking was abolished in 1965 along with the Municipal Borough of Dagenham and the area became part of the London Borough of Barking (renamed Barking and Dagenham in 1980, although this expression circulated unofficially from the beginning of the fusion to console Dagenham residents). [1]
Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Berecingas, meaning either "the settlement of the followers or descendants of a man called Bereca" or "the settlement by the birch trees".
William the Conqueror
Throughout his life, William's greatest fear was that of rebellion. To counter this threat, when he distributed land to his nobles their estates were always separated by many miles obliging his barons to occupy themselves with their personal administration rather than have time free to group amongst themselves to plot treason. At the same time, although Rouen is the capital of Normandy, William's court was equally always on the move from one city to another. After his coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, he established his very first council as King of England in Barking Abbey before quickly moving on to Epping Forest.
Fishing
Barking was a fishing village attached to the abbey but independent at least from the Tudor period. Fisher Street was named after the fishing community there. From about 1775 welled and dry smacks were used, mostly as cod boats. Fishermen sailed as far as Iceland in the summer. They served Billingsgate Fish Market in London, and moored up at home in Barking Pool. Samuel Hewett, born on 7th December 1797, founded the Short Blue Fleet (England's biggest fishing fleet) based in Barking, and using smacks out of Barking and east coast ports. This fleet used gaff ketches which stayed out at sea for months, using ice for preservation of fish. This ice was produced by flooding Essex fields in winter. Fleeting involved fish being ferried from fishing smacks to steamer-carriers by little wooden ferry-boats. The rowers had to stand as the boats were piled high with fish-boxes. Rowers refused to wear their bulky cork lifejackets because it slowed down their rowing. At first the fast fifty-foot gaff cutters with great booms projecting beyond the sterns were employed to race the fish to port to get the best prices.
However, the opening of direct rail links between North Sea ports such as Lowestoft and Grimsby and London meant it was quicker to transport fish by train from these ports straight to the capital rather than waiting for ships to take the longer route down the east coat and up the Thames to Barking, and the Barking fishing industry collapsed in the late 19th century, leaving only a few street and pub names as a reminder of its former importance to the town.
Natives
- Bobby Moore, captain of the England world cup-winning team in 1966.
- Billy Bragg, left wing singer / songwriter.
- John Terry, captain of Chelsea football club and England international defender.
- The Edge, lead guitarist of the Irish rock band U2
- Geoffrey Kaiser, Captain of the England basketball team
- Trevor Brooking, football player turned manager, pundit and administrator.
Transport
The town is situated north of the A13 road and east of the River Roding near its junction with the River Thames in East London. Barking station is a local transport hub and is served by the London Underground, National Rail operators and many London Bus routes. The east of Barking is served by Upney tube station.
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