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Wanstead Flats and other local brickfields
Mark Gorman shares his wide-ranging research into local brickfields, significantly featuring the one with remains most obviously still recognisable on Wanstead Flats.Origins of the brickfieldAs London...
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The oldest continuously occupied house in Forest Gate?
Local historian and housing specialist, Peter Williams (pows.wanstead @gmail.com) has taken a deep dive into the long and remarkable history of what is probably Forest Gate's oldest continuously...
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The Forest Gate drinkers’ guide
It is almost a decade since we last featured a Forest Gate drinkers’ guide (see here for 2015 round-up and here and here for the previous ones). Unsurprisingly there have been many changes and some...
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“Irish Row” – a history
Mark Gorman continues his series on pre-suburban farms in Forest Gate and district (first episode here) by looking at the inhabitants and conditions in Irish Row during the 19th century. In doing so,...
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The Canning Town Women's Settlement: its workers and the women who wanted to...
We have invited historian and local resident, Jane Skelding to share her fascinating research with us on the Canning Town's Women's Settlement, which was very much the precursor of Forest Gate's...
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The lost buildings of Canning Town Women's Settlement
In the second of three articles on this important local social institution, Aldersbrook resident and historian Jane Skelding traces the various locations occupied by the Canning Town Women's...
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Rebecca Halley Cheetham (1852-1939) - first warden of Canning Town Women's...
In this, the third and final chapter on her series on the Canning Town Women's Settlement, Aldersbrook resident and historian, Jane Skelding, considers the career of Rebecca Cheetham, who was the...
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Community gardening in Forest Gate and beyond
Forest Gate Community garden stalwart, Derek Smith, surveys community gardening in the Forest Gate locality and shows how you can get involved.There are three community gardens in the Forest Gate area....
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Aeronauts in Forest Gate
In conjunction with local historians, Mark Gorman (@Flatshistorian) and Peter Williams, we examine how Wanstead Flats have been used for various kinds of flying and look at some of the early aeronauts...
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Cann Hall Farm
Mark Gorman (@Flatshistorian) continues his series on the history of the pre-suburban farms that occupied Forest Gate and its surrounding area.Cann Hall Farm was on the western end of Wanstead Flats,...
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Forest Gate schools’ Ofsted ratings – now and then
We have previously reported on the Ofsted ratings of Forest Gate schools (2015, 2013) This post presents the latest ratings of all of E7’s 18 schools (state, maintained and independent) and highlights...
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Aldersbrook Farm
Mark Gorman (@Flatshistorian) continues his series on farms that occupied the lands of pre-suburban Forest Gate. In this episode he traces the history of Aldersbrook Farm, the last survivor of those...
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The boys behind the Godwin artwork (1)
Last year we were fortunate to be given a unique volume of over 40 paintings, drawings and pieces of caligraphy created by boys at Godwin Elementary school at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries and we...
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The boys behind the Godwin artwork (2) and their inspirational teacher:Henry...
Front page of the album of artwork that Harry Earle curatedIn August 2023 we featured an album of remarkably high quality art work produced by a dozen boys attending Godwin Elementary school, at the...
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The boys behind the Godwin artwork (3)
In August 2023 we were given a unique book of 40 paintings, pieces of caligraphy and illustrations created by a dozen young boys attending Godwin school at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, and we...
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The Simpsons – Forest Gate’s jerry builders and slum landlords
Local historian and housing specialist, Peter Williams, considers the story of probably Forest Gate’s most significant jerry builder and slum landlord families – the Simpsons. For most of their time...
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Woodgrange Farm and the growth of modern Forest Gate
Mark Gorman (@Flatshistorian) continues his series on the agricultural lands that dominated the pre-suburban Forest Gate. In this article he examines the history of Woodgrange farm, the longest...
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Wanstead Flats and D Day – 80th anniversary
80 years ago, allied troops staged the biggest seaborne invasion in military history, landing thousands of soldiers on the beaches of Normandy. The liberation of Europe had begun.Our part of east...
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Matchgirls, memorials and Manor Park
The Bow Matchgirls strike of 1888 is one of the iconic events in British working class history, but attempts to get formal public recognition for it, and its significance, via memorials, present a...
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Sarah Chapman, and the search for recognition in Manor Park
This is the second and concluding of two articles on Matchgirls, Memorials and Manor Park, and should be read in conjunction with the previous post.A commemorative plate, marking the centenary of the...
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