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Upminster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Upminster is a place in the London Borough of Havering, East London. The name has its earliest recorded use in 1062 (as Upmynstre).[1]
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Upminster is a chiefly residential district and consists of mainly Victorian and Edwardian housing laid out on wide leafy roads with several parks and open spaces, a golf course, pitch 'n' putt course, tennis clubs and a bowling green.[2] More modern post-war residential development has gone on in nearby Cranham, however because of the introduction of the Greenbelt laws development was halted and the combined area of Upminster and Cranham forms the easternmost edge of London's urban sprawl.
The area is bordered to the west by the River Ingrebourne which forms the boundary with Hornchurch, to the north by the A127 Southend Arterial Road, to the east by the M25 motorway and North Ockendon and to the south by the borough's boundary with Thurrock.
Upminster is famous locally for Upminster Windmill, a smock mill currently being restored to become the only working windmill in Greater London. Locally, the windmill is an icon for the town and is used in the names of some local businesses and the badges of local sports teams. Upminster is more widely known for being the eastern terminus of the District Line and the location of a London Underground depot at Cranham. An intact 16th century barn is currently used as a museum of nostalgia; it is known locally, although falsely, as a "Tithe Barn". Upminster is the location of three Havering parks and open spaces, the main Upminster Park, Hall Lane Park and Clockhouse Gardens.
Upminster is home to Roomes Stores, a large independent family-run department store, originally located in Upton Park, which occupies several buildings on the principal street, Station Road.[3] Upminster is also the home of the Travel Club of Upminster, one of Britain's oldest tour operators founded in 1936 by Harry Chandler. The high street has a good selection of restaurants but has little in the way of nightlife. Upminster is also famous for Ian Dury, the rock singer who named his 1981 album Lord Upminster after the area.
The placename Upminster is first recorded in 1062 as Upmynstre.[1] It means higher minster and is formed from Old English upp and mynster. The up refers to the higher ground around St Laurence church, in relation to the River Ingrebourne.[1]
It had been a small village until the early 1900s when, with the coming of the railway, the area developed rapidly into an archetypal garden suburb for city workers.
There were two principal manors, and one smaller landholder, at the time of Domesday in 1086, both known as Upminster; although in different spellings. Clearly these manors were well-developed, going concerns for long before the Norman Conquest. The field boundary pattern in the south of the parish suggests at least a middle Saxon origin. One of the manors had been donated to Waltham Abbey during the reign of Edward the Confessor. William Derham (resident in Upminster 1689-1716), the first man to measure the speed of sound,[4] did so from the tower of St. Laurence's Church. Dr. Derham's papers on the speed of sound (in the Proceedings of the Royal Society) describe how he used paired pocket watches, a telescope up the tower of St. Laurence's, and friends around the area (in places such as Rainham) who could be trusted to fire a gun at a precise moment. In 1709, he observed with a telescope a cannon firing on Blackheath. The doors in the south side of the spire used for this purpose are still extant.
Upminster formed an ancient parish in the Chafford hundred of Essex.[5] Like much of contemporary Havering, it formed part of Romford Rural District from 1894 to 1934.[6] In 1934 the rural district was abolished and the parish was added to Hornchurch Urban District.[5] When the urban district and parish were abolished in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963, Upminster was transferred to Greater London to became part of the London Borough of Havering.[5] In 1851 the parish covered an area of 3,373 acres (14 km²) and had a population of 1,228. In 1951 the population was 13,038.[7]
In 1972 the Coopers' Company and Coborn School relocated from Bow to Upminster. There are a number of primary and secondary schools in the area, including the Sacred Heart of Mary Girl's school, Hall Mead and Gaynes (which has recently become a Language College).
Sport Clubs in Upminster include Upminster Golf Club,[8] Upminster Cricket Club,[9] Upminster Hockey Club,[10] Upminster Rugby Club[11] Upminster Football Club[12], Grosvenor Lawn Tennis Club[13] and Cranston Park Lawn Tennis & Social Club.[14] Upminster Rugby Club have had great success at a youth level with their U17 reaching the National Shield final to be played at the Sixways Stadium (home to Worcester RFC) against Caldy RFC on the 6th May 2007.[15]
Upminster station is a local transport hub and provides London Underground and fast rail services to Central London and London Buses services to Romford, Hornchurch, Cranham and Upminster Bridge.[16] Upminster Bridge tube station is half way between Upminster and nearby Hornchurch. Bell Corner in Upminster forms the eastern end of the A124 road which passes through East London as far as Canning Town. Upminster is served by London Bus routes 248, 346, 347, and 370.[16]
- Upminster station (rail and tube)
- Upminster Bridge tube station
- Cranham, a suburb, and within Upminster post town.
- North Ockendon, also within Upminster post town.
- Hornchurch, within walking distance over Upminster Bridge.
- ^ a b c Mills, D., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2000)
- ^ Havering London Borough Council - Parks and open spaces
- ^ Rooomes Stores - Corporate website
- ^ Marja Smolenaars, ‘Derham, William (1657–1735)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 26 May 2007
- ^ a b c Vision of Britain - Upminster parish (historic map)
- ^ Vision of Britain - Romford RD (historic map)
- ^ Vision of Britain - Upminster population
- ^ Upminster Golf Club
- ^ Upminster Cricket Club
- ^ Upminster Hockey Club
- ^ Upminster Rugby Club
- ^ Upminster Football Club
- ^ Grosvenor Lawn Tennis Club
- ^ Cranston Park Lawn Tennis & Social Club
- ^ RFU.com National U17
- ^ a b Transport for London - Buses from Upminster
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| Districts |
Ardleigh Green · Collier Row · Elm Park · Emerson Park · Gidea Park · Harold Hill · Harold Wood · Hornchurch · Rainham · Romford · Upminster
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| Parks and open spaces in Havering | ||