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Canning Town, Essex

Historical Description

Canning Town, a populous district and ward in the municipal and county borough of West Ham, Essex. It is included in the area under the control of the metropolitan police, and is in the eastern metropolitan postal district. The G.E.R. has three stations-viz., Canning Town, Barking Road; Custom House, Lilliput Road; and Tidal Basin, Victoria Dock Road-in this district. It has also a goods department at the Victoria and Albert Dock, as have the G.N.R., L. & N.W.R., and M.R. The docks at Canning Town are of immense extent and capacity. The Victoria (London) docks, excavated out of Plaistow Marsh and opened in 1855, cover an area of 200 acres, with an entrance lock 80 feet wide, and have nearly 28 feet depth at Trinity high water. The Boyal Albert Docks, opened in 1880, consist of a prolongation in an easterly direction of the Victoria Docks, with which they are connected with a canal 80 feet wide. They have a water area of 175 acres, graving and dry docks, and a fine entrance 80 feet wide at Galleons Reach below Woolwich. A further enlargement of the Galleons basin was opened in 1886, with a new entrance from the Thames. In addition to the docks the industries of the district comprise chemical manufactories, creosote works, and iron shipbuilding yards. The district includes the ecclesiastical parishes of Holy Trinity, fit Luke's, and St Gabriel's, all in the diocese of St Albans. Holy Trinity parish was formed in 1868 from the parishes of West Ham and Plaistow. The living is a vicarage; gross yearly value, from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, £250 with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. The church is modern. The parish of St Luke's was formed in 1875 from that of West Ham. The living is a vicarage; yearly value, £260 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and the church, an edifice of brick, was erected in 1874. St Gabriel's parish was formed in 1879 from the parishes of West Ham and St Mary and St Andrew, Plaistow. The living is a vicarage; yearly value, £603, including residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. The church is a plain building of brick in the Early English style. There are also two mission churches and Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Free Methodist, Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. An hospital for seamen and others in connection with the Seamen's Hospital at Greenwich was opened in 1890 at the Albert and Victoria Docks.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Essex is available to browse.

The Essex pages from the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 is online.


Maps

Online maps of Canning Town are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Essex online:

DistrictNewham
CountyGreater London
RegionLondon
CountryEngland
Postal districtE16
Post TownLondon

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