Good morning all!
I am waking up this morning in my new home - its been a tough couple of days. Well moving is, isn't it? After a few months of sofa surfing and experiencing the vagaries of homelessness I finally get to land! Life has a funny way of revealing itself when you are busy making other plans.So pragmatics kick in and I have relocated myself to just above the shop, literally 2 minutes walk from my office in Barking. I have to admit that I would never have imagined this in a month of Mondays!
I have worked in Barking and Dagenham since 1986, when I made my first solo show at the Westbury Teacher's Centre and Arc was born and its always been close to my heart. Many of the friends and colleagues I have grown up with here in those years continue to commit heart and minds to this often derided piece of East London. Yes its one of the poorest boroughs in London, akin more perhaps to a northern city. But its set to be the only borough to grow exponentially over the next ten years.
Economic hardships, unemployment, high rates of teenage pregnancy and domestic violence have marred the perception of this highly creative and resourceful community. There is a vibrancy and energy about working and living in Barking and Dagenham.Its always been a strong working class area with the dominance of Ford in past decades giving solid community to many people.
Since the closure of its main plant in Dagenham, people have been faced with enormous change. Lives that seemed certain were disrupted and many people felt lost. Sadly over the past few years this sense of the ground falling from under their feet has left some people looking for reasons outside of the inevitability of natural change. The desire to hold on tight to the past is essentially human. We all do it, its what we know. It's who we are. We make ephemera concrete, or so we think. And then life takes over.
There has been a wealth of interest and curiosity about this part of London, richly created in films like Made in Dagenham (although I never bought Geraldine James as a woman from here) - documentary The Battle for Barking which charted Margaret Hodge's campaign to win her seat over the odious Nick Griffin. I loved this film and we screened it at the Malthouse. The most powerful achievement from her campaign was the election of a much more diverse group of councillors who reflect the breathtaking change in demography here over the past ten years.
On the other hand the tv doc All White in Barking made my blood boil. It reflected a borough full of white working class racists with bald head and pit bulls unable to meet the challenges of living next door to 'ethnics'. Its true that there are people here who are struggling with change in their lives, and project it onto those people who arrive from elsewhere. Its not entirely surprising that when you've lost your job you think someone who has just arrived has taken it, or your house for that matter But of course this is fundamentally about change and sadly we are all often caught in change not of our own making. That's always tough. But its life too. And change brings unexpected possibilities too.
I meet people every day here in Barking who are excited about life, possibility and also scared by a fast changing world. A little look into the history of the borough reveals of course that it was ever thus.
Barking flourished as a fishing port from the 1400s until late Victorian times, with the Barking fishing fleet one of the most important in the country. The first Ice House to enable fish to be preserved was built in Barking in 1829. This was on the site where our studios at the Malthouse sit today and indeed the new Granary building that was completed two years ago by Rooff sits alongside it too.
In 1850 Barking was full of fishermen, shipwrights, masts makers, sail makers, ships chandlers, water keg makers, pork cask makers, net makers, knitters, waterproof clothing and boot makers and ship biscuits bakers. However, the areas lack of diversity in the economic sectors made it dangerously susceptible to economic competition and change.
The historical significance of fishing in Barking is depicted by a boat on the Barking & Dagenham Council’s coat of arms. Agriculture and
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Founded in 666AD, Barking Abbey had a big influence on its immediate and wider economic area. The Abbey was rich and influential because of its royal patronage and was the most important Abbey in England until Henry VIII ordered its destruction in 1538 after he formed the Church of England.
The suppression of the monasteries and places of pilgrimage was devastating for those pilgrimage centres that had no other economic base. The other great loser of the Dissolution was culture; many monastic libraries full of priceless illuminated manuscripts were destroyed with little or no regard for their value. The real beneficiaries of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries weren’t royals associated with King Henry VIII but the new class of gentry who bought the lands. The borough’s proximity to London made it a convenient place of residence for politicians and government officials, like the Fanshawes of Jenkins. The Fanshawes were the largest landowners from the 1500s until late Victorian times when they relocated to Devon. The manor of Barking was sold by the Crown to Sir Thomas Fanshawe in 1628.
In 1601 Barking Creek was used by boats carrying provisions to the abbey, and corn and meal to and from the adjoining watermills. The wharf was also used by fishermen for taking hay and reeds from the marshes, for landing cattle to feed there, and for the shipment of provisions to the Queen’s manor of Greenwich and to the City of London.
Market gardening became popular in the 19th century when Barking wharf was increasingly used by manure barges. In 1851 there was a campaign against this traffic through and new regulations were made forbidding the landing of soil at night and restricting the hours during which other kinds of manure might be landed. The growth of motor transport in the late 19th Century led to a significant decline in traffic at the wharf. Up until the 1920s Dagenham grew all the green vegetables for the London market.
As the fishing industry declined, new industries moved into the area. In the 19th century new laws on pollution forced many factory owners to move to sites in nearby counties. In 1857 an artificial fertilizer and sulphuric acid factory was built at Creekmouth in Barking, on the shores of the Thames. This was followed by the largest jute works in the world opening in 1866, which employed women and children to make mail sacks. River transport by barges along the River Roding was particularly popular and by the beginning of the Twentieth Century was helping Barking to be attract small factories to its riverside sites.
Heavy industry and chemical plants opened and later oil refineries and storage buildings for hazardous waste. Pollution from some factories left legacies in the town for years. For example, an asbestos factory built in 1913 gave Barking one of the highest death rates in the country from asbestosis. However, Whites Lemonade factory were models of good employee relations and sources of great pride.
In Dagenham development was slower. In 1887 a barge builder called Samuel Williams built a new deep water dock on the Thames. His dock was slow to attract new businesses until 1921, when farms were compulsorily purchased to build the Becontree Estate for those who fought in World War I. This led Ford Motor Company to acquire 244 acres of Dagenham marshland from Samuel Williams & Sons, and in 1929-31 built a large car factory.
Ford is famous for introducing large-scale methods of manufacturing especially engineering sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Highly efficient factories and low prices revolutionized manufacturing which came to be known around the world as “Fordism”. However, during the late 1990s economic factors led to Ford ending car production in 2002, although engines are still made in Dagenham.
Today Ford Motor Company employs about 5000 people aiming to reduce the environmental impact of existing operations, while producing a new Tiger Engine “zero-effluent” facility with a best in-class environmental print.
So you can see just a glimpse of this rich, vibrant and ever resourceful community. And I believe it continues to this day and will continue to grow and deal with change through imagination, hard effort and guts.
I am pleased to be a Barking resident now after nearly 25 years of traveling here every day! (and it saves on the petrol!)
Have a good day - and if you are in Barking, have a stroll along the river. Its beautiful.
I have worked in Barking and Dagenham since 1986, when I made my first solo show at the Westbury Teacher's Centre and Arc was born and its always been close to my heart. Many of the friends and colleagues I have grown up with here in those years continue to commit heart and minds to this often derided piece of East London. Yes its one of the poorest boroughs in London, akin more perhaps to a northern city. But its set to be the only borough to grow exponentially over the next ten years.
Economic hardships, unemployment, high rates of teenage pregnancy and domestic violence have marred the perception of this highly creative and resourceful community. There is a vibrancy and energy about working and living in Barking and Dagenham.Its always been a strong working class area with the dominance of Ford in past decades giving solid community to many people.
Since the closure of its main plant in Dagenham, people have been faced with enormous change. Lives that seemed certain were disrupted and many people felt lost. Sadly over the past few years this sense of the ground falling from under their feet has left some people looking for reasons outside of the inevitability of natural change. The desire to hold on tight to the past is essentially human. We all do it, its what we know. It's who we are. We make ephemera concrete, or so we think. And then life takes over.
 |
| Ford Motor Company |
On the other hand the tv doc All White in Barking made my blood boil. It reflected a borough full of white working class racists with bald head and pit bulls unable to meet the challenges of living next door to 'ethnics'. Its true that there are people here who are struggling with change in their lives, and project it onto those people who arrive from elsewhere. Its not entirely surprising that when you've lost your job you think someone who has just arrived has taken it, or your house for that matter But of course this is fundamentally about change and sadly we are all often caught in change not of our own making. That's always tough. But its life too. And change brings unexpected possibilities too.
 |
| Barking Creek Today (Malthouse is first building on the left) |
Barking flourished as a fishing port from the 1400s until late Victorian times, with the Barking fishing fleet one of the most important in the country. The first Ice House to enable fish to be preserved was built in Barking in 1829. This was on the site where our studios at the Malthouse sit today and indeed the new Granary building that was completed two years ago by Rooff sits alongside it too.
In 1850 Barking was full of fishermen, shipwrights, masts makers, sail makers, ships chandlers, water keg makers, pork cask makers, net makers, knitters, waterproof clothing and boot makers and ship biscuits bakers. However, the areas lack of diversity in the economic sectors made it dangerously susceptible to economic competition and change.
The historical significance of fishing in Barking is depicted by a boat on the Barking & Dagenham Council’s coat of arms. Agriculture and
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Founded in 666AD, Barking Abbey had a big influence on its immediate and wider economic area. The Abbey was rich and influential because of its royal patronage and was the most important Abbey in England until Henry VIII ordered its destruction in 1538 after he formed the Church of England.
The suppression of the monasteries and places of pilgrimage was devastating for those pilgrimage centres that had no other economic base. The other great loser of the Dissolution was culture; many monastic libraries full of priceless illuminated manuscripts were destroyed with little or no regard for their value. The real beneficiaries of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries weren’t royals associated with King Henry VIII but the new class of gentry who bought the lands. The borough’s proximity to London made it a convenient place of residence for politicians and government officials, like the Fanshawes of Jenkins. The Fanshawes were the largest landowners from the 1500s until late Victorian times when they relocated to Devon. The manor of Barking was sold by the Crown to Sir Thomas Fanshawe in 1628.
In 1601 Barking Creek was used by boats carrying provisions to the abbey, and corn and meal to and from the adjoining watermills. The wharf was also used by fishermen for taking hay and reeds from the marshes, for landing cattle to feed there, and for the shipment of provisions to the Queen’s manor of Greenwich and to the City of London.
 |
| The former Ice House |
As the fishing industry declined, new industries moved into the area. In the 19th century new laws on pollution forced many factory owners to move to sites in nearby counties. In 1857 an artificial fertilizer and sulphuric acid factory was built at Creekmouth in Barking, on the shores of the Thames. This was followed by the largest jute works in the world opening in 1866, which employed women and children to make mail sacks. River transport by barges along the River Roding was particularly popular and by the beginning of the Twentieth Century was helping Barking to be attract small factories to its riverside sites.
Heavy industry and chemical plants opened and later oil refineries and storage buildings for hazardous waste. Pollution from some factories left legacies in the town for years. For example, an asbestos factory built in 1913 gave Barking one of the highest death rates in the country from asbestosis. However, Whites Lemonade factory were models of good employee relations and sources of great pride.
 |
| The Granary now |
Ford is famous for introducing large-scale methods of manufacturing especially engineering sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Highly efficient factories and low prices revolutionized manufacturing which came to be known around the world as “Fordism”. However, during the late 1990s economic factors led to Ford ending car production in 2002, although engines are still made in Dagenham.
Today Ford Motor Company employs about 5000 people aiming to reduce the environmental impact of existing operations, while producing a new Tiger Engine “zero-effluent” facility with a best in-class environmental print.
So you can see just a glimpse of this rich, vibrant and ever resourceful community. And I believe it continues to this day and will continue to grow and deal with change through imagination, hard effort and guts.
I am pleased to be a Barking resident now after nearly 25 years of traveling here every day! (and it saves on the petrol!)
Have a good day - and if you are in Barking, have a stroll along the river. Its beautiful.
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