East Ham

"HAM (EAST), a parish in the hundred of BECONTREE, county of ESSEX, 6 miles (E.) from London, containing 1424 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £14. 3. 9., and in the patronage of the Bishop of London. The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is partly of Norman architecture. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The river Thames bounds the parish on the south-east, and Bow creek separates the counties of Essex and Middlesex on the west. An almshouse for three poor men was erected and endowed with £40 per annum, by Giles Breme, in 1621; besides which considerable benefactions have been made, for various charitable purposes, by the Latimer family and others. There is an old brick tower, fifty feet high, in the garden of Greensted house, said to have been built by Henry VIII., for Anna Boleyn. Dr. Stukeley, the celebrated antiquary, who died in 1765, is buried in the church-yard." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]

Places within this parish - Beckton, Upton Park