Upminster
Encyclopedia : U : UP : UPM : Upminster
Upminster is a place in the London Borough of Havering. The name has its earliest recorded use in 1086.
Garden suburb
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. 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.
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. 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 agricultural life; it is known locally, although falsely, as a "Tithe Barn".
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 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. [link] Many retailers in town are independent or family run and there are fewer chain stores than on the average high street. With the increasing popularity of the out-of-town shopping mall during the 1990s there was a marked decline in local spending in Upminster, however this situation has since reversed somewhat by a regeneration programme and change of use of some outlets.
Upminster is also the home of the Travel Club of Upminster, one of Britain's oldest tour operators founded in 1936 by Harry Chandler. Sport Clubs in Upminster include Upminster Cricket Club, [link] Upminster Hockey Club, [link] Upminster Rugby Club [link] and Upminster Football Club. The high street has a good selection of restaurants but has little in the way of nightlife. Upminster is famous for Ian Dury, the rock singer who named his 1981 album Lord Upminster after the area.
History
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, 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. You can still see the doors in the south side of the spire that he put in for this purpose.
From 1894 Upminster was part of Romford Rural District. In 1934 the rural district was abolished and it became part of Hornchurch Urban District. When the urban district was abolished in 1965, Upminster became part of the London Borough of Havering. In 1972 the Coopers' Company and Coborn School relocated from Bow to Upminster.
Etymology
The placename Upminster may derive from an Anglo-saxon minister church, now St. Laurence, whose location was "Up" from an older one at Tilbury. Evidence that is consistent with this formulation include the location of the parish church at a crossroads, and not alongside a manor house; the Anglo-saxon name for the river along the western boundary, the River Ingrebourne; and a somewhat corrupted copy of an Anglo-saxon charter.
Transport
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. 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.Nearest stations
- Upminster station (rail and tube)
- Upminster Bridge tube station
Nearest places
- Cranham, London, England, a suburb, and within Upminster post town.
- North Ockendon, London, England, also within Upminster post town.
- Hornchurch, London, England, within walking distance over Upminster Bridge.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.