Thames Tributary Mayesbrook - Mayesbrook Park

Thames Tributary Mayesbrook
The Mayesbrook continues to flow south towards the river Roding.


Post to the north Mayesbrook
Post to the east Becontree

Ben Tillett Close
Named for the union leader who was instrumental in unionising the dock labour force in the late 19th of the late Victorian era. He formed the Tea Operatives and General Labourers' Union which was the largest constituent of what became the Transport and General Workers Union. He was prominent in the 1889 Dock strike. He was a founding member of the Labour Party, an MP and the first general secretary of the T&G.

Bevan Avenue
Named for the Labour politician. As a Member of Parliament he was one of leaders of the left wing. As Minister of Health in the post-war Attlee government, he masterminded the establishment of the National Health Service. (Surprising that in this area it was him and not Ernest Bevin who the road was named after)

Bragg Close
This is on the area of the car park of the Round House and is named after Billy Bragg, local singer and poet who opened the street in 1999 with a tribute to Ben Tillett.

Bromhall Road
Bifrons School was opened here in 1934, echoing an earlier Bifrons school in central Barking which had been associated with the Plymouth Brethren. This was a comprehensuive school which has since closed.

Kier Hardie Way
Named for the Labour politician James Keir Hardie a Scot who also became Member of Parliament for West Ham. Hardie was a founder of the Independent Labour Party as well as the
Labour Party.

Lansbury Avenue
Named for the George Lansbury who as Labour Mayor of Poplar let the campaign for equalisation of rates. He was also MP for Poplar and a leader of the Labour Party.

Margaret Bondfield Avenue
Named for the Labour Member of Parliament and first woman cabinet minister

Mayesbrook Park
The site was given by the London County Council to Barking in 1934 to provide open space for the Becontree area. It was named from the Mayes Brook which flows through it on its western edge
Lakes. Two large lakes dominate the southern half of the Park. They are the former pits from which gravel was extracted for building the Becontree Estate. The northern lake is connected to the Mayes Brook with a channel and spillway, and two lakes are themselves connected by an underground pipe. The north basin is used for boating and there is a small earth banked harbour on the southern shore. Both lakes are used for fishing which has led to the shore of the northern lake become eroded and with few plants – except slender rush the seeds of which thought to arrive on anglers’ boots. There are three small islands with willows and reeds. The banks of the southern lake have a continuous belt of vegetation and there is also submerged vegetation.
Mayes Brook.this is fenced although this is to be changed. It is said that historically divided into two branches here passing off east and west of Upney

Porter’s Road,
East of where it joins Lodge Avenue was once known as Coldharbour – or “Cold Harborough Marsh”
The Roundhouse. An unusual design of pub by Alfred W. Blomfield, 1936. It is circular plan with a T-plan upper storey and, a central square tower. It is a ‘modern’ style building which originally had a large oval lounge, a tearoom and a wing with an indoor bowling green. It has more recently been a music venue and in 1969 was called the "Village Blues Club", become a major rock music venue.

Stafford Close
Named for the Labour Politician Richard Stafford Cripps – member of the Atlee government and much else.

Westrow Drive
Westrow Drive was built as one of the roads of the Leftley Brothers estate
Barking Abbey School. The School was founded in 1922 and was then the first co-educational grammar school in England. In 1970, it merged with Park Modern School to form 'Barking Abbey Comprehensive School. Years 9 to 13 are housed here. In 1997 it was among the first six schools to be awarded Specialist Sports College status and a Sport England Lottery Grant allowed it to build a large Leisure Centre, with full time nursery provision.

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