- HERITAGE -
	Happiness and tragedy as estate came of age IF YOU go down to the northern end of Grafton Road today and look south your view will be blocked by dozens of cars, trees, and satellite dishes. When George Williams s family moved in to number 20 way back in 1926 it was a very different matter. They wer... » MORE

The days when you could hang for stealing a horse

WITH overcrowding prisons and the strain on the legal system it s a popular argument that today s criminals are being treated far too leniently. All too often the public call for more bobbies on the beat and harsher sentences for wrongdoers, but such publ... » MORE

A hero we can't afford to forget

LEON Greenman devoted his life to making sure the atrocities of the Nazis will never be forgotten. He was the only Englishman to be sent to Auschwitz during the holocaust and years after surviving the ordeal, which cost him his family, he was awarded the... » MORE

Re-enacting our hisory

WHEN Barking was granted its charter in 1931, the stage was set for eleven days of celebrations and exhibitions in the middle of worldwide economic turmoil. Barking Urban District, which used to be the civil parish of Barking until 1895, defied the gloom... » MORE

Breathing new life into historic Eastbury Manor

Eastbury Manor House is due a £1.2million makeover but how will the money be spent and the heritage preserved? The grade 1 listed mansion situated in Barking was built by, Clement Sysley, a rich Essex merchant during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It has a... » MORE

Changing face of the borough's places of worship

A NUMBER of new churches have been set up in the borough in recent years as various communities make Barking and Dagenham their home. These recent additions to the religious tapestry are following in a long tradition of faith groups who have founded place... » MORE

Days of full steam ahead

TODAY we have the luxury of the internet, mobile phones, high speed cars, and other such gadgets and gizmos that we all take for granted. But it wasn t long ago when a device as obsolete as the steam train was a novelty, and the year 1854 marks the time... » MORE

Centuries of our history in names

THOUSANDS OF years of heritage are contained in Essex place names that show how history has shaped the English language. In a book called Essex Place-Names, James Kemble investigates the origins of names that have defined the neighbourhood of Barking and... » MORE