History of Barking in 1863, Whites Directory
Barking
With Rippleside
BARKING is a town and fishing port, on the east side of the
Roding, about two .miles north of the confluence of that river with the Thames;
2 miles S. of Ilford Railway Station, on the Eastern Counties line, and 7 miles
E. by N. of London. It has a Station on the London, Tilbury, and Southend
Railway. Its Parish comprises 12,515 acres of land, and 10,920 inhabitants, but
it is divided into four Wards, of which the following are the names, with their
population in 1851, viz.:- Barking Town, 4930 ; Ripple, 434; Great Ilford, 3745
; and Chadwell, 778. They support their poor conjointly as one township, but
Great Ilford, Chadwell, Barkingside, Aldborough Hatch, and all the north part of
the parish in and adjoining Hainault Forest, have been ecclesiastically formed
into the "Parish of Great Ilford," as afterwards noticed. RIPPLE WABD contains a
number of scattered farm houses, &c., from 1 to 3 miles E.N.E. of Barking. When
the census was taken in 1851, no fewer than 1213 fishermen and their apprentices
were absent from Barking, being then, engaged in the deep-sea fishery. Including
its floating population, the town has now more than 5000 inhabitants. The Gas
Works were established in 1839, at the cost of £1500, in £5 shares. The river,
or creek, is navigable up to Barking, for vessels of 3 or 400 tons burthen, and
was made navigable in 1730, up to Ilford for vessels of 80 tons. Here is a
toll-free quay, and the fishing trade gives employment to about 140 smacks of
from 40 to 60 tons burthen, each carrying 9 men and boys, and constructed with
wells for the purpose of preserving the fish alive, which consists chiefly of
turbot, soles, ling, skate, haddock, and cod, taken, on the Scottish and Dutch
coasts, chiefly for the London markets. The fishermen here are a hardy race, and
many of them form part of the naval reserve. About 30 of them are exercised
daily in a first-class gun-boat. Many of the inhabitants of the town and
neighbourhood are engaged in the cultivation of potatoes and other vegetables
for the metropolis. The market formerly held on Saturday is obsolete; but here
is an annual fair for cattle, &c., on the 22nd of October; and a pleasure fair
is held on the first Friday in July, at Fairlop, near Barkingside, and within
the bounds of Hainault Forest, of which about 1000 acres, covered with fine
timber trees, are in Barking parish, though distant from 4 to 6 miles N.N.E. of
the town, and now included in the district parish of Great Ilford, which see.
The Town Hall, erected in the reign of Elizabeth, over the Market House, is a
wood and plaster building, in which the court leet, public lectures, &c., are
held.
Barking, called in some records Borking, Berckingas,Berckingum, &c., is supposed
to have had its name from Burgh-ing, a fortification in the meadow; and the
remains of a considerable entrenchment are still visible in the fields adjoining
to Uphall farm, about a quarter of a mile north of the town. The. form of this
entrenchment is not regular, but tending to a square of about 48 acres. On the
north, east, and south sides, it is single trenched; but on the west, near the
river Roding, it has a double trench and bank. On the south side is a deep
morass; but on the north and east sides the ground is dry and level, the trench,
from frequent ploughings, being almost filled up. At the north-west corner was
an outlet to a fine spring of water, which was guarded by an inner work, and a
high keep or mound of earth. Mr. Lethieullier, a late lord of the manor, in his
unpublished 'history of Barking, " thinks this entrenchment was too large for a
camp;" his opinion, therefore, is that it was the site of a Roman town; but he
confesses that no traces of buildings have been found on the spot, and accounts
for it on the supposition that the materials were used for building Barking
Abbey, and for repairing it after it was burnt by the Danes. As a confirmation
of this opinion, he relates, that upon viewing the ruins of the Abbey Church, in
1750, he found the foundations of one of the great pillars composed of Roman
bricks. Whatever may have been the origin of the town, its consequence in after
times was certainly owing to its Abbey, of which scarcely any vestiges now
remain. In the Barking Marshes, the GREAT NORTHERN SEWER, for carrying off the
sewage waters of the greater portion of the metropolis, terminates in a
Reservoir 1 1/2 mile long, 100 feet broad, and 21 feet deep, whence the foul
waters, after being deodorized, are discharged at the return of every tide into
the Thames, through sluices which pass from the bottom of the Reservoir far out
into the bed of the river. The Reservoir is roofed with brick arches, which are
covered with earth to a considerable thickness, so that not the slightest smell
or escape of miasma can take place in the neighbourhood.
BARKIKG ABBEY, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is said to have been the first
Convent for women established in this kingdom. It was founded about the year
670, in the reigns of Sebbi and Sighere, Kings of the East Saxons, by St.
Erkenwald, Bishop of London, in compliance with the earnest desire of his sister
Ethelburgh, who was appointed the first Abbess, The founder was nearly allied to
the Saxon Monarchs, being great grandson of Uffa, the first king, and second son
of Anna, the seventh king of the East Angles; he was also the first bishop who
sat in the See of London, after the building of St. Paul's Church by King
Ethelbert. The monastic writers speak in very high terms of his piety and zeal
in the discharge of his episcopal functions; and tell us that when he was grown
weak, through age and infirmities, he was carried about in a litter from place
to place throughout his diocese, constantly teaching and instructing the people
till his death, which happened about the year 685, whilst he was on a visit to
his sister Ethelburgh, at Barking. After his death, great disputes arose (as we
are informed by the monkish annalists) between the nuns of Barking, the Convent
of Chertsey, and the citizens of London, about the interment of his body, each
claiming an exclusive right to the bones of the venerable prelate. Nor was this
dispute terminated without the intervention of a miracle, which declared in
favour of the Londoners, who having obtained the body bore it off in triumph; on
the road they were stopped at Ilford and Stratford by the floods; upon this
occasion, the historians record another miracle, by which a safe and easy
passage was procured for the corpse of the holy man and its attendants. The
bishop was canonized, and frequent miracles were said to he wrought at his tomb.
So highly was his memory revered, that in the reign of Stephen, a magnificent
shrine was erected against the east wall of St. Paul's Cathedral, into which his
bones were translated with great solemnity; and vast sums were expended from
time to time, in adorning it with gold, silver, and precious stones. In 870,
Barking Abbey was burnt down by the Danes, and it lay desolate till the middle
of the 10th century, when it was rebuilt by King Edgar, as an atonement for his
having violated the chastity of Wufhilda, a beautiful Nun at Wilton, whom he had
appointed Abbess ; he restored the Monastery to its former splendour, and
endowed it with large revenues. The historians, Carte and Brady, relate, that
William the Conqueror, soon after his arrival in England, retired to Barking
Abbey, and there
continued till the fortress he had begun in London was completed; hither, they
say, while preparations were making for his coronation, repaired to him, Edwin,
Earl of Mercia; Morcar, Earl of Northumberland; and many others of the nobility
and great men of the land, who swore fealty to him, and were reinstated in their
possessions. The office of abbess
here was for some time held by the Queens of Henry I, and King Stephen and other
royal ladies. The nuns were of the Benedictine order, and the abbess was a
baroness in right of her office. At the dissolution in 1588, the last abbess was
granted an annual pension of 200 marks, and small stipends were given to the 30
nuns. The Abbey Church and convental
buildings occupied an extensive plot of ground, though but few traces of them
are now extant. The site of the former is just without the wall of the present
churchyard, and it was ascertained some years ago to have been 170 feet long
from east to west, and 150 in the transepts. The whole revenues of the abbey,
according to Speed, were valued at the dissolution, at £1084. 6s. 2d. per annum.
All that now remains of the abbey buildings is a square embattled Gateway, at
the entrance to the churchyard,; having octagonal turrets on each side, and in
the centre a pointed arch, above which is an apartment, called in old records "
the chapel of the Holy Rood loft at the gate."
The Manor of Barking, which probably formed part of the original endowment of
the Abbey, continued in the Crown from, the dissolution till 1628, when Charles
H. sold it to Sir Thos. Fanshawe, for .£2000, reserving a fee-farm rent of £160,
now payable to the Earl of Sandwich. The manor was purchased by Smart
Iieithieullier, Esq., in 1754, and it afterwards passed to his niece, who
married Edward Hulse,. Esq., from whom it has passed to its present owner, Sir
Edward Hulse, Bart., of Breamore, Hants., who is also lord paramount of
Becontree Hundred. There are several small manors in the parish; and among the
other principal land, owners, are the Earl of Mornington, the Marquis of
Salisbury, H. Dare, Esq., Miss Tyser, Dr. Manley, and others. Among the estates
and old manor houses in this extensive parish, we find the following names:-
Jenkins, Loxford, Fulkys, Eastbury, Westbury, Gayseshams Hall, Uphall, Stone
Hall, Clay Hall, Claybury, Great Geries, Aldborouglh Hatch, Bifrons, Highlands,
etc, but part of them are now in the district parish of Great Ilford, which see.
Most of them are occupied by farmers.
Barking Church (St. Margaret) is a fine ancient fabric, consisting of a nave, a
chancel, a south aisle, and two north aisles, running the whole length of the
building; and a square embattled tower containing eight bells and a clock.
Against the south wall of the chancel
is a monument in memory of Sir Charles Montagu, who died in 1625. The figure of
Sir Charles is represented sitting in a tent with his head reclined upon a desk,
on which are his helmet and gauntlets; the entrance of the tent is guarded by
sentinels, and near it stands a page with his horse. Various other monuments,
and many funeral inscriptions, are contained in this structure; and near the
steps of a small chapel, at the east end, of the north aisle, is a marble slab,
with a mutilated epitaph, supposed by Mr, Lethieullier to have been inscribed in
memory of Mauritius, who was made Bishop of London in the year 1087. The church,
was restored and newly seated in 1848, at the cost of £2OOO. It has several
stained glass windows, and was formerly appropriated to Barking Abbey. The
vicarage, valued in K.B. at £19. 18s. lld., and in 1831 at £767, has a good
residence, and is in the patronage of All Souls College, Oxford, and incumbency
of the Rev. H. P. Seymour, M.A, The Marquis of Salisbury is lessee of the
rectory, which belongs to All Souls College. In the town is an Independent
Chapel, built in 1846, in lieu of an old one, which was erected by a
congregation formed in 1706. Here are also small chapels belonging to the
Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, the Baptists, the Plymouth Brethren, and the
Society of Friends. The Catholic Sehool, built by Lord Petre, is used also as a
chapel, and the Rev. James Gilligan is the priest. In the parish are National,
Wesleyan, and Independent Schools, each numerously attended.
Until the enactment of the new poor law, and the annexation of Barking to
Romford Union, the charities of this parish were much controlled by two clauses
of a local act of parliament, obtained in the 26th of George III, "for providing
a workhouse, and for the better regulation of the poor : of the parish" One of
these clauses enacted that all the charitable funds not directed to be applied
to any particular object should be applied in aid of the poor rates. The other
clause gave the "directors of the poor" power to appropriate to the purposes of
the act Sir Jas Campbell's School (then in a ruinous condition), and to apply
the school income towards the support of a master and mistress, for educating
poor children, in an apartment either within or near to the Workhouse. The
latter is an extensive building, which was let about 20 years ago, on a 99 years
lease, for £100 per annum, and converted into shops and houses. The old school
was taken down about 1828, when a large NATIONAL SCHOOL was erected on its site,
with room for 300 children. The sum of £666. 13s. 4d., given for the endowment
of the free school, in 1641, by Sir James Campbell, was invested in the purchase
of a yearly rent-charge of £20, out of the Double Briggs Estate, at Thorne, in
Yorkshire, and it is now applied in aid of the National School.
The "DONATIVE ACCOUNT" comprises the following charities, the clear annual
income of which is applied with the poor rates. Leonard's Charity to the poor of
Barking is a yearly rent-charge of £2, out of land called Mobert's. William
Nutbrowne, in 1596, left a yearly rent-charge of £6.13s. 4d., out of the Rectory
of Ashe, for the poor of Barking, except 13s. 4d. for two sermons; but the whole
is carried to the donative account. In 1641, Sir James Campbell left £200 to
this parish, and those of St. Olave and St. Peter, in London, for the poor, at
the discretion of his executors. Of this legacy, £109 was awarded to Barking,
and laid out in the
purchase of 5 1/2A. of pasture land in Eastbury Marsh. In 1662, Sir Thos.
Fanshawe, Kt, gave (for the benefit of the poor, the Market House and tolls of
Barking, with seven cottages and a stable, in the Market place. The Market House
yields only about £4 a year, derived from the fair stallage, and the rest of the
property lets for about £26 per annum. The Cotland's Charity consists of about
five acres of ancient poor's land, let for £25 per annum. . It is copyhold of
the manor of Barking. In 1614, John Wilde left to the poor a house in East
street, to be occupied by poor people rent free. In 1861, this house was rebuilt
as an Almshouse for 14 poor people, seven men and seven women. It cost £1000,,of
which £660.
was raised by subscription, and the rest by savings of charity income,
OTHER CHARITIES.- In 1741, JONATHAN and THOS. COLLET laid
out £210 in the purchase of land, to provide for a weekly distribution of bread
among the poor, at the discretion of the churchwardens. This land consists of 6
1/2A. in Kingsbridge Marsh, let for about £22 per annum. In consideration of
FOWKE'S CHABITY, Barking parish sends two boys, sons of parishioners, to
Christ's Hospital, London. In 1695, RT. BERTIE left £60 to the Corporation of
London, in trust, that they should pay £3 yearly for apprenticing a poor boy of
Great Ilford Ward. He also left a yearly rent-charge of £3, out of a house in
Parker's lane, in St. Giles-in-the-Fields, to be distributed in weekly doles of
bread among the poor of Barking town. In 1725, JOSEPH DENT left a yearly
rent-charge of 20s. out of some land adjoining the Creek, to be distributed in
bread by the church wardens on Nov. 23rd. Mrs. NEPTON left an estate to the
Poulterers' Company, London, subject to a yearly rent-charge of £40, to be
distributed by them in shares of 6s. each, to 160 poor parishioners of Barking.
For distribution in bread by the churchwardens THOS. COLLETT, in 1738, left
£100, which was vested in the purchase of £65.15s. East India Stock. In 1818,
JAS. HAYES left £4000 Three per Cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, in trust, to
divide the yearly dividends equally among 12 poor parishioners of Barking. In
1833, EDWARD SMITH BIGGS left £200, to provide for a yearly distribution of
coals and bread among the distressed poor. This legacy is vested in £201.19s.
3d. Three per Cent. Consols, and the dividends are distributed by the vicar and
churchwardens. A yearly rent-charge of 13s. 4d, left by WILLIAM POUNSETT, in
1594, for 40 poor people of Barking, is vested in trust with All Souls College,
Oxford.