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Forest Gate and Irish Independence
From its mid nineteenth century development into a busy metropolitan suburb, Forest Gate has embraced a thriving Irish community (see here for details of early Irish settlements in the area and here...
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From Forest Gate to Irish Taoiseach, via the Easter rising
This is a follow-up post to last week's account of Forest Gate and Irish Independence. It weaves together much of the romance associated with Irish nationalism, through the life of local lad, Desmond...
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A nod at our neighbours (3) - The Bridge House, Canning Town
Regular readers will know that we have featured a number of spectacular music venues in Forest Gate (The Upper Cut and Lotus Club, both on Woodgrange Road and the Earlham Grove Music Academy) on this...
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Murdergate (1)
We have recently come across a website dedicated to providing details of every reported murder in London since the time of Jack the Ripper (www.murdermap.co.uk). The authors accept it is a tall order,...
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An Upton introduction
This website has focused almost exclusively on Forest Gate north of Romford Road and neglected the fascinating history of the part of E7 located south of that main road - SoRo, as the hipsters would...
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The street where you live (6): Capel Road
This is the sixth in an occasional series of articles by Forest Gate resident, Peter Williams, who specialises in Newham housing, maps and local history. In each he looks, in detail, at the history of...
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Murdergate (2)
This is the second of two posts examining the eighteen murders that have been committed in Forest Gate since 2003. For details of the source of the information, see the footnote to this post. For some...
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Fires and drought on Wanstead Flats - a reflection
This August is a significant anniversary month for Wanstead Flats; the fortieth since drought dried area up, and the tenth since it encountered a major fire.So, we felt it an appropriate moment to...
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Forest Gate health check (1) - poor General Practice
The NHS has become far more responsive to patient feedback, and in communicating key performance data about many parts of the health service in Britain, over recent years.Below we present what the NHS...
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Edwardian Forest Gate - a photographic essay (1) - street life
The Edwardian era (1901 - 1910) was a fascinating one - wedged between the end of Victorian Britain and the outbreak of World War 1. Locally, it saw the first reversal of population growth, after a...
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The street where you live (7) - Sprowston Road
This is the seventh in an occasional series of articles by Forest Gate resident, Peter Williams, who specialises in Newham housing, maps and local history. In each he looks, in detail, at the history...
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Edwardian Forest Gate - a photographic essay (2) - community life
This is the second half of a two part photographic essay of life in Edwardian Forest Gate. As the previous article indicated, the Edwardian era - essentially the first decade of the twentieth century -...
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Newham Heritage Week (24 Oct - 30 Oct) and Rabbits Road library launch (22 Oct)
Newham Heritage Week is being jointly staged by Newham Council and the Museum for Newham group. This post is dedicated to it, and to the opening of a new library at the Rabbits Road Institute (former...
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A nod at our neighbours: Abbey Mills pumping station. Stratford
Newham's first Heritage Week is over and early impressions were that it was a great success. Â For Forest Gate locals the highlights would have included local historians (and significant contributors to...
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140 -150 Earlham Grove - regeneration plans
Six months after proposals for redeveloping 39a - 49a Woodgrange Road (see here for details) comes plans for an ambitious development on Earlham Grove (between the footprint for the other development...
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Life in a Forest Gate week
A recent post featured a rather special seven day period in Newham - the borough's first Heritage Week.  This one features a rather more ordinary week, in the life of Forest Gate. Our listings column...
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The Struggle for Wanstead Flats 1946-47
Local historian, Mark Gorman (Twitter: @Flatshistorian), celebrates a key date, and significant anniversary in the fight to keep Wanstead Flats the open space so many of us enjoy today.Seventy years...
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Forest Gate: scene of Rock Against Racism's first gig
We have just passed the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Rock Against Racism, and its first gig at the Princess Alice pub, on Romford/Woodgrange Roads.Princess Alice - venue of first ever Rock...
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Forest Gate Industrial school - The 1890 inquest and background to its 1906...
We have written previously about one of the earliest significant institutions to built in Forest Gate: the Industrial School, on Forest Lane. See here for a general history of the school, here for an...
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Godwin School ( boys ) log 1 - 1883 - 1984, the origins
We have been given access to an invaluable document that offers a fascinating insight of 100 years of Forest Gate history - and many of the people who lived here - from a worm's eye view.Godwin - 90...
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