| Beckton | |
|---|---|
 Gas holders at Beckton | |
  Beckton Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 33,247 (ward,2021)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ435815 |
| • Charing Cross | 8 mi (12.9 km) W |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | E6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°30′53″N0°04′02″E / 51.5146°N 0.0673°E /51.5146; 0.0673 | |
Beckton is asuburb inEast London, England, located eight miles (thirteen kilometres) east ofCharing Cross and part of theLondon Borough of Newham. Adjacent to theRiver Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barking, East Ham, West Ham and Woolwich. The development of major industrial infrastructure in the 19th century to support the growing metropolis of London caused an increase in population with housing built in the area for workers of theBeckton Gas Works andBeckton Sewage Treatment Works. The area has a convoluted local government history and has formed part ofGreater London since 1965. Between 1981 and 1995 it was within theLondon Docklands Development Corporation area, which caused the population to increase as new homes were built and theDocklands Light Railway was constructed.
Beckton is named after Simon Adams Beck, the governor of theGas Light and Coke Company when work building Beckton Gas Works began in November 1868.[2] The name New Beckton was used in 1881 for the workers estate atCyprus.[3]
Prior to industrialisation, the area that became Beckton was remote and unpopulated Thameside marshland, known as the East Ham Levels.[4] Urban development took place in the south of the parish ofEast Ham, the part of the parish ofBarking to the west of the River Roding and the part ofWoolwich parish that was north of the River Thames. The western extremity was in the parish ofWest Ham. There was also a county boundary, with Barking, East Ham and West Ham in Essex and Woolwich in Kent. The whole area became part of the expandedMetropolitan Police District in 1840. Reflecting an increase in population and the need for more effective local government,local boards were formed for Woolwich in 1852, West Ham in 1856, East Ham in 1878 and Barking Town in 1882. The section in the detached part of Woolwich parish came within theMetropolitan Board of Works district in 1855 and in 1889 this area became theCounty of London under the control of the newly formed London County Council.[5] The Barking Town and East Ham sections now came within the Essex County Council area, but West Ham instead formed a separatecounty borough because its population was high enough. East Ham was also elevated to this status in 1915.[6] This continued until 1965 when theLondon Borough of Newham inGreater London was formed from territory that had been part of East Ham, West Ham, Barking and Woolwich.[7] Beckton was within theLondon Docklands Development Corporation area from 1981 to 1995.[2][8]
Beckton Sewage treatment works were first established in 1864 as part ofJoseph Bazalgette's scheme to remove sewage (and hence reduce disease) from London by creating two large sewers from the capital, one on each side of the Thames and known as theSouthern andNorthern Outfall Sewers. The Beckton sewage works (TQ448823), at the end of the northern outfall sewer, is Europe's 7th largest and is now managed byThames Water. The outfall sewer has been landscaped and now also serves as the Greenway cycle track through east London.[2]
The site was mooted in 2005 as the location for adesalination plant, but the proposal was rejected by MayorKen Livingstone as environmentally unacceptable. The scheme has been resurrected by the successive mayor,Boris Johnson, as part of a deal with Thames Water to reduce delays in fixing roadworks throughout London. The sewerage works has been expanded to handle the flow from theThames Tideway Scheme.[9]
Situated north and east of the Royal Docks, the area was formerly heavily industrialised, and was the location ofBeckton Gas Works, the largestgasworks in Europe, which served the capital. An adjacentby-products works also produced a wide variety of products including ink, dyes, mothballs, and fertilisers, all by-products of the process of turning coal to coke in the production oftown gas. Britain converted from town gas toNorth Sea natural gas over the period 1966–77 and the Beckton gasworks were closed in 1976.[10]
An extensive toxic spoil-heap from the Gasworks was known ironically as "Beckton Alps". Originally running from the Northern outfall sewer south to Winsor Terrace, this was landscaped in the 1980s. Part became a 25-metre-high (82 ft)Artificial ski slope for a time, opened byDiana, Princess of Wales, with a viewing platform at the summit and a Swiss-style bar at the foot. However, the site is now derelict.[11]
Beckton railway station opened in 1874 as the eastern terminus of a branch fromCustom House.
Immediately after theSecond World War, large numbers ofprefabs were built in Beckton to house those made homeless by the war. The prefab-lined streets were all named after well-known generals and war heroes, but in the redevelopment of North Beckton in the 1980s, these were all swept away with the exception ofEisenhower Drive.[10]
Containerisation during the 1960s, and the development of the docks atTilbury, released all the land from theThames up to the A13 which had been earmarked for a new, North Albert Dock. The original District Plan envisaged a large Council-owned estate, and major infrastructure works—including a huge drainage scheme with pumping stations—were put in place. However, following the creation of theLondon Docklands Development Corporation, much of the land was sold off resulting in today's blend of largely private housing.[2]
In more recent times, industry has left the area, leaving huge areas ofbrownfield land, and Beckton has been redeveloped as part of theDocklands project. It now comprises mainly housing and several out-of-townshopping centres, and the architecture is mostly post-1982. Small areas of Victorian housing survive in Winsor Terrace, originally built as accommodation for Gas Light and Coke Company staff, and in the 'Nottingham' estate off Prince Regent Lane. It is served by local buses andBeckton DLR station, which acts as the terminus of the DLR's Beckton branch.[2]
Beckton absorbed the localities of Cyprus and Winsor Park, which was built in the 1870s to house gasworks employees. Several original properties survive on Winsor Terrace, with two-up-two-downs for the workers and generously proportioned end-of-terrace houses for foremen. North Beckton, bordering the northern end of Woolwich Manor Way, was mostly built up in the late 1980s with a network of short streets, even shorter cul-de-sacs and dinky homes, many built as part of social housing schemes.[4]
In the early 21st century, Beckton burgeons south and further east, towards Gallions Reach, being an essential part of theThames Gateway. "Gallions Hotel", part of the Furlong City development by the lock that links the Royal Docks to the Thames, was formerly a rail terminus which connected with passenger ships leaving for all parts of theBritish Empire.[citation needed] Many colonial officials and their families spent their last night in Britain in the Gallions Hotel, which was mentioned byRudyard Kipling in his novel,The Light That Failed.[12]: 301
In 2003, the largest Shopping Park in London,Gallions Reach was built. There are another three retail parks in the area; Beckton Triangle Retail Park, Beckton Gateway and Beckton Retail Park.[13]
Its boundaries are theA13 trunk road to the north,Barking Creek to the east, theRoyal Docks andNorth Woolwich to the south, and Prince Regent Lane to the west. The area around Prince Regent Lane is also known asCustom House. Modern Beckton is divided into East Beckton, Mid Beckton, North Beckton, West Beckton, South Beckton and Cyprus (named after the British capture ofCyprus from theOttoman Empire in 1878, which occurred as the original estate was being built).[citation needed]
Beckton is at the western end of theLondon Riverside redevelopment zone of theThames Gateway.Transport for London is planning a new bridge, theGallions Reach Crossing, which will connect Beckton toThamesmead on the southern bank of theRiver Thames.[citation needed]
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Beckton is home to a significantLithuanian community,[14] which has led to the area being dubbed asBektoniškės or "Little Lithuania". As many as 8,000 Lithuanians are estimated to have settled in Beckton following an increase in mobility for Lithuanian nationals across the European Union in 2007.[15]
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There areDocklands Light Railway services fromBeckton Bus Station to Canning Town Bus Station, Stratford International Bus Station and Tower Gateway DLR Station. There are a number of stations serving Beckton DLR Station, Beckton Bus Station. The nearestDocklands Light Railway station is Beckton for Mid and North Beckton;Cyprus for Cyprus area;Beckton Park for South Beckton andRoyal Albert for West Beckton. Beckton is near theLondon City Airport and Woolwich. Beckton is served by many Transport for London bus services connecting it with areas including Barking Station, Beckton Bus Station, Beckton DLR Station, Beckton Triangle Retail Park, Canning Town Station, Canning Town Bus Station, Canning Town DLR Station, Central London, Chadwell Heath TFL Station, Dagenham, East Ham, Gallions Reach Shopping Park, Ilford, London City Airport, Manor Park, North Woolwich, Royal Albert, Stratford and Wanstead
Buses
The area is served by TfL bus services 101, 104, 129, 173, 262, 300, 366, 376, 474, 673, 678; and night bus N551.
Routes 101, 104, 173, 366, 376, 673 and 678 terminate inside the bus station while routes 129, 262, 300, 474 and N551 go past the station.
Buses at this station go as far as Wanstead, Canning Town, Stratford, Goodmayes, East Ham, Manor Park, Plaistow, Royal Albert, Chadwell Heath, Upton Park, Barking, Ilford, Loxford Estate, Redbridge, Dagenham, Gallions Reach and North Woolwich.
Beckton is a London Buses bus station in the neighbourhood of Beckton, east London. The station is owned and maintained by Transport for London.
The Gasworks were still extant—although derelict—in the early 1980s, whenStanley Kubrick's team came scouting for an area that could double for the battle scenes in his 1987 film,Full Metal Jacket. The Gasworks rough concrete structures were painted with Vietnamese script, and then strategically dynamited so as to resemble war-tornHuế. Retail parks now cover most of the Gasworks site.[citation needed]
Other notable films shot in and around the Beckton area during the 1980s included the 1981James Bond film,For Your Eyes Only, which featured extensive aerial views of the Gasworks in the pre-credit sequence.[citation needed] Beckton was also used as a location inMichael Radford's 1984 feature film adaptation ofGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four—the Gasworks served as the setting for Orwell's "Proletarian Zones".[citation needed]
The video forLoop's 1990 single 'Arc-lite' was filmed on the set ofFull Metal Jacket,[16] as was the video for the 1997Oasis single, "D'You Know What I Mean?"[citation needed]
Andrew Birkin's 1990 film ofIan McEwan's novel,The Cement Garden, was also filmed in Beckton and starredCharlotte Gainsbourg.[citation needed] In several scenes ofThe Cement Garden, aircraft can be heard taxiing at the nearbyLondon City Airport. Winsor House, which served as the backdrop to the film was later demolished and the Winsor House Hotel stands there now.[citation needed]
In the opening minutes of the 2007Simon Pegg filmHot Fuzz, theTate & Lyle factory, Silvertown, and the City Airport aprons can be seen through the window blinds of Building 1000.[citation needed]
FootballerJermain Defoe was born in Beckton. Defoe has said Beckton has "made him the man he is today". On 13 February 2006 Jermain Defoe scored his 100thPremier League goal against Charlton. He celebrated making a "B" sign with his hands to commemorate Beckton.[citation needed]
On 14 May 2010 Beckton was the location of a terrorist attack on local Member of ParliamentStephen Timms. He was approached by 21-year-old IslamistRoshonara Choudhry during his constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe library and stabbed twice in an attempted assassination. Timms survived the attack and the perpetrator was jailed for life.[17][18]
TheUniversity of East London Docklands Campus is a campus of theUniversity of East London (UEL) situated in theDocklands area of eastLondon in the Cyprus area of Beckton. The campus opened in 1999. It is one of three UEL campuses, the others being theStratford Campus and the new University Square Stratford location.[citation needed]
Kingsford Community School is a secondary school located close to Beckton DLR. It opened in September 2000, and educatesfull-time children from the ages of 11 to 16.[citation needed]
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