41-676: Memorial Grounds was the home stadium of East London football club Thames Ironworks from the beginning of the 1897–98 season, until the end of the 1899–1900 season. The team continued to play at the stadium, under its new name of West Ham United , until they moved to the Boleyn Ground in 1904. The Memorial Grounds stadium was situated at the east end of Memorial Avenue, West Ham, close to where West Ham station now stands. After being evicted from their previous permanent home at Hermit Road in October 1896, Thames' chairman Arnold Hills leased
82-528: A city in its own right, on account of its large size and social disengagement from the rest of London. The majority of the rail network in East London was built within fifty years from 1839. The first through the area was the Eastern Counties Railway from Mile End to Romford, extended to Shoreditch in 1840. The London and Blackwall Railway built a line from Minories to Blackwall the same year and
123-451: A football pitch, the stadium contained a cycle track, a cinder running track, tennis courts and one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in England. It was said at the time that the grounds, with a capacity of 100,000 spectators, were "good enough to stage an English Cup Final." In November 1897 Arnold Hills secured an agreement with London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) to build
164-670: A hydronym *Plowonida , which would have been applied to the Thames where it becomes too wide to ford, in the vicinity of London. The settlement on its banks would then be named from the hydronym with the suffix -on-jon , giving *Plowonidonjon and Insular Celtic *Lowonidonjon . According to this approach, the name of the river itself would be derived from the Indo-European roots *plew- "to flow, swim; boat" and *nejd- "to flow", found in various river names around Europe. Coates does admit that compound names are comparatively rare for rivers in
205-471: A local dialect (either British Celtic or British Latin) and that the recorded medieval forms in Welsh and Anglo-Saxon would have been derived from that dialectal pronunciation. Coates says (p. 211) that "The earliest non-mythic speculation ... centred on the possibility of deriving London from Welsh Llyn din , supposedly 'lake fort'. But llyn derives from British *lind- , which is incompatible with all
246-659: A series of alternative theories have also been proposed. As of 2017, the trend in scholarly publications supports derivation from a Brittonic form *Londonjon . Richard Coates , in the 1998 article where he published his own theory of the etymology, lists all the known occurrences of the name up to around the year 900, in Greek , Latin , British and Anglo-Saxon . Most of the older sources begin with Londin- (Λονδίνιον, Londino , Londinium etc.), though there are some in Lundin- . Later examples are mostly Lundon- or London- , and all
287-659: A similar Celtic etymology, while demonstrating that the place-name was borrowed into the West Germanic ancestor-language of Old English, not into Old English itself. Coates (1998) proposes a Common Brittonic form of either *Lōondonjon or *Lōnidonjon , which would have become *Lūndonjon and hence Lūndein or Lūndyn . An advantage of the form *Lōnidonjon is that it could account for Latin Londinium by metathesis to *Lōnodinjon . The etymology of this *Lōondonjon would however lie in pre-Celtic Old European hydronymy , from
328-514: A station at Manor Road. The LT&SR board approved this in February 1898 and Mowlem's was given the contract to build a four platform station, allowing for the proposed quadrupling of the line. The station was completed in May 1900 but did not open until 1 February 1901 as West Ham . On 11 September 1897, in their first game at their new ground, Thames beat Brentford 1–0. In West Ham United's first game at
369-475: A temporary piece of land for the team at Browning Road , East Ham . However, the new situation was not ideal, so Hills earmarked a large section of land in West Ham for a new stadium to be built upon. The new home cost £20,000 of Arnold Hills ' own money to build. The Memorial Grounds was opened on Jubilee Day, 22 June 1897, to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria 's coronation . Aside from
410-574: Is also the Celtic name of the German city Mainz . Coates (1998) asserts that "It is quite clear that these vowel letters in the earliest forms [viz., Londinium , Lundinium ], both <o> and <u>, represent phonemically long vowel sounds". He observes that the ending in Latin sources before 600 is always -inium , which points to a British double termination -in-jo-n . However, it has long been observed that
451-533: Is derived from a word first attested, in Latinised form, as Londinium . By the first century CE, this was a commercial centre in Roman Britain . The etymology of the name is uncertain. There is a long history of mythicising etymologies, such as the twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae asserting that the city's name is derived from the name of King Lud who once controlled the city. However, in recent times
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#1732855669870492-503: Is generally the lowest elevated of London's four cardinal points because of the wide Thames that runs here; the only hills here are in northern areas distant from the river in the boroughs of Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. In Tower Hamlets, the population peaked in 1891 and growth was restricted to the outer boroughs. By 1971 the population was declining in every borough. By the 2011 United Kingdom census, this had reversed and every borough had undergone some growth in population. At
533-707: Is governed by a London borough council local authority. Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham and Redbridge are members of the East London Waste Authority . Some local government functions are held by the Greater London Authority , made up of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly . East London is located in the lower Thames valley. The major rivers of East London are the Thames that forms
574-645: Is the northeastern part of London , England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of railways in the 19th century encouraged the eastward expansion of the East End of London and a proliferation of new suburbs. The industrial lands of East London are today an area of regeneration, which are well advanced in places such as Canary Wharf and ongoing elsewhere. The etymology of London
615-505: Is uncertain, but is known to be an ancient name. The concept of East London as a distinct area is a relatively recent innovation. John Strype 's map of 1720 describes London as consisting of four parts: The City of London , Westminster , Southwark and That Part Beyond the Tower . From the late 19th century the term East End of London was used to describe areas immediately adjacent to the City in
656-692: The Elizabeth line . There are road tunnels at Rotherhithe and Blackwall , with the Woolwich Ferry further east. There are foot tunnels to Greenwich and Woolwich . In 1870, the Tower Subway cable railway tunnel was converted to pedestrian use; it was closed in 1898, following the opening of Tower Bridge. A cable car service opened in 2012. 51°33′N 0°6′E / 51.550°N 0.100°E / 51.550; 0.100 ( East London ) Etymology of London The name of London
697-585: The Northern and Eastern Railway connected Lea Bridge and Tottenham with the Eastern Counties at Stratford. The Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway started passenger service on their line from Stratford to Canning Town, Custom House and North Woolwich in 1847. This made Stratford a significant railway junction and location of railway works. The East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway connected Kingsland with Bow and Poplar in 1850 and
738-481: The 16th century and the area that would later become known as the East End began to take shape. Until about 1700, London did not extend far beyond the walled boundaries of the City of London. However, the population in the parishes to the east of the City of London was rising and this led to a need to break up the large ancient parish of Stepney into smaller units to provide adequate religious and civil administration. It
779-439: The 2021 census Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge surpassed their earlier population peaks. The total population of this area in 2021 was 1.9 million people. The population change between 1801 and 2021 was as follows: The City of London and West London are connected to South London by more than thirty bridges, but East London is only connected by Tower Bridge at its innermost edge. The reasons for this include
820-528: The Anglo-Saxon examples have Lunden- with various terminations. He observes that the modern spelling with <o> derives from a medieval writing habit of avoiding <u> between letters composed of minims . The earliest written mention of London occurs in a letter discovered in London in 2016. Dated AD 65–80, it reads Londinio Mogontio which translates to "In London, to Mogontius". Mogontio, Mogontiacum
861-497: The Indo-European area, but they are not entirely unknown. Lacey Wallace describes the derivation as "somewhat tenuous". Among the first scientific explanations was one by Giovanni Alessio in 1951. He proposed a Ligurian rather than a Celtic origin, with a root *lond-/lont- meaning 'mud' or 'marsh'. Coates' major criticisms are that this does not have the required long vowel (an alternative form Alessio proposes, *lōna , has
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#1732855669870902-636: The Thames and east of the City of London that stretched as far as Chingford and Epping Forest, which was similar to the definition used by Robert Sinclair in 1950 that stretched east to include Barking and Dagenham. This broadly matched the Metropolitan Police District east of the city and north of the Thames at that time, and now corresponds to the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest in Greater London . The East End of London ,
943-759: The Tower division of Middlesex. Charles Booth in 1889 defined East London as the County of London between the City of London and the River Lea . In 1902, Booth considered this area to be the "true East End", and his attention had been drawn eastward over the Lea into the Borough of West Ham , which was then outside London, and geographically in Essex, but under the authority of neither; in 1857 Charles Dickens termed it "London-over-the-Border". Walter Besant described East London as an area north of
984-556: The Walthamstow line in 1873 and extended to Chingford. The London and Blackwall built an extension to Millwall and North Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs in 1872 and the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway was extended to Beckton in 1873, and Gallions in 1880. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway connected Barking with Dagenham, Hornchurch and Upminster in 1885, and Romford with Upminster in 1893. The final piece of original railway works
1025-637: The building of new football pitches at its north end at the turn of the 21st century. The venue was the first football ground to stage a boxing match, on 31 July 1909 when Johnny Summers beat Jimmy Britt in the ninth round of a 20-round contest. Nowadays, the site is a public park, known as Memorial Recreation Ground. It retains its sporting connection as the home of East London RFC, Kings Cross Steelers RFC and Newham Dockers Rugby League Club as well as having football facilities. 51°31′41″N 0°00′37″E / 51.5281°N 0.0103°E / 51.5281; 0.0103 East London East London
1066-409: The change to -inium unexplained. Coates speculates further that the first -i- could have arisen by metathesis of the -i- in the last syllable of his own suggested etymon (see below). Peter Schrijver (2013) by way of explaining the medieval forms Lunden and Llundein considers two possibilities: Schrijver therefore concludes that the name of Londinium underwent phonological changes in
1107-527: The early attestations. Another suggestion, published in The Geographical Journal in 1899, is that the area of London was previously settled by Belgae who named their outposts after townships in Gallia Belgica . Some of these Belgic toponyms have been attributed to the namesake of London including Limé , Douvrend , and Londinières . H. D'Arbois de Jubainville suggested in 1899 that
1148-514: The grounds in front of 2,000 spectators, in the Southern League on 1 September 1900, they won 7–0 against Gravesend United , with Billy Grassam scoring four. The Memorial Grounds was also home to National Cycle Union meets, hosted speedway and motorcycle racing , and had the longest swimming pool in Britain. The faint outline of the cycle track remained visible on aerial photographs prior to
1189-562: The long vowel, but lacks the required consonant), and that there is no evidence of Ligurian in Britain. Jean-Gabriel Gigot in a 1974 article discusses the toponym of Saint-Martin-de-Londres , a commune in the French Hérault département . Gigot derives this Londres from a Germanic root *lohna , and argues that the British toponym may also be from that source. But a Germanic etymology is rejected by most specialists. The earliest account of
1230-405: The name meant Londino's fortress . But Coates argues that there is no such personal name recorded, and that D'Arbois' suggested etymology for it (from Celtic *londo- , 'fierce') would have a short vowel. Coates notes that this theory was repeated by linguists up to the 1960s, and more recently still in less specialist works. It was revived in 2013 by Peter Schrijver, who suggested that the sense of
1271-520: The old core of modern East London, began with the medieval growth of London beyond the city walls , along the Roman roads leading from Bishopsgate and Aldgate , and also along the river. Growth was much slower in the east, and the modest extensions there were separated from the much larger suburbs in the west by the marshy open area of Moorfields adjacent to the wall on the north side, which discouraged development in that direction. Urbanisation accelerated in
Memorial Grounds - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-412: The proposed Common Brittonic name *Londinjon cannot give either the known Anglo-Saxon form Lunden , or the Welsh form Llundein . Following regular sound changes in the two languages, the Welsh name would have been * Lunnen or similar, and Old English would be * Lynden via i -mutation . Coates (1998) tentatively accepts the argument by Jackson (1938) that the British form was -on-jo-n , with
1353-573: The proto-Indo-European root * lend - ('sink, cause to sink'), which gave rise to the Celtic noun * londos ('a subduing'), survived in Celtic. Combined with the Celtic suffix *- injo - (used to form singular nouns from collective ones), this could explain a Celtic form * londinjon 'place that floods (periodically, tidally)'. This, in Schrijver's reading, would more readily explain all the Latin, Welsh, and English forms. Similar approaches to Schrijver's have been taken by Theodora Bynon , who in 2016 supported
1394-542: The southern boundary; the Lea which forms the boundary of Tower Hamlets/Hackney with Newham/Waltham Forest; the Roding which approximately forms the boundary of Newham with Barking and Dagenham/Redbridge; and the Beam which forms the boundary of Barking and Dagenham with Havering. The marshes along the Thames which once stretched from Wapping to Rainham are almost completely gone. East London
1435-405: The toponym's derivation can be attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth . In Historia Regum Britanniae , the name is described as originating from King Lud , who seized the city Trinovantum and ordered it to be renamed in his honour as Kaerlud . This eventually developed into Karelundein and then London . However, Geoffrey's work contains many fanciful suppositions about place-name derivation and
1476-480: The urban footprint was constrained in 1878 by the protection of Epping Forest and later the implementation of the Metropolitan Green Belt . The density of development increased during the interwar period , and new industries developed, such as Ford at Dagenham . The industries declined in the later part of the 20th century (and earlier), but East London is now an area of regeneration. London Docklands
1517-638: The widening of the River Thames as it gets further east, and also the need, until relatively recently, to avoid impediments to the river traffic of the strategic London Docklands . Until the end of the 20th century the East was connected to the South by just one railway line, the East London Line . The Jubilee Line Extension opened in 1999, was supplemented by extensions to the Docklands Light Railway and
1558-731: Was defined in the 1980s as the area of redevelopment under the control of the London Docklands Development Corporation . The Thames Gateway extends into East London with two areas of activity: the Lower Lea Valley around the Olympic site and London Riverside adjacent to the Thames. There are seven London boroughs that cover areas of Greater London to the north of the Thames and east of the City of London. They are Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Each London borough
1599-455: Was renamed North London Railway in 1853. In 1854 the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway connected Forest Gate on the Eastern Counties with Barking and Rainham. The East London Railway was opened in 1869. The Great Eastern Railway connected Lea Bridge with Walthamstow in 1870, and in 1872 built a connection from the Eastern Counties line at Bethnal Green to Hackney Downs. This was connected to
1640-592: Was the construction of the Great Eastern loop line to connect Woodford with Ilford via Fairlop in 1903. Areas further east developed in the Victorian and Edwardian eras after the expansion of the railways in the 19th century. Development of suburban houses for private sale was later matched by the provision of large-scale social housing at Becontree in the 1920s and Harold Hill after the Second World War . However,
1681-568: Was the industries associated with the River Thames , such as shipbuilding and the docks, that encouraged growth in the east, and by 1650, Shadwell was a developed maritime settlement. The docks in Tower Hamlets started to reach capacity in the early 19th century, and in 1855 the Royal Victoria Dock was opened in Newham. By 1882, Walter Besant and others, were able to describe East London as