East Beckton

Beckton is an urban neighbourhood in east London, England and part of the London Borough of Newham. It is located 8mi east of Charing Cross. It was unpopulated marshland adjacent to the River Thames until the development of major industrial infrastructure to support the growing metropolis of London was built in the 19th century. Housing was created in Beckton for workers of the gas and sewage works. Between 1981 and 1995 it was within the London Docklands Development Corporation area which caused the population to increase as new homes were built and the Docklands Light Railway was constructed.HistoryToponymyBeckton is named after Simon Adams Beck, the governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company when work building Beckton Gas Works began in November 1868.Local governmentBeckton was located primarily in the parish of East Ham. It stretched into the ancient parish of Woolwich, which included land on the north bank of the Thames and the parish of Barking that included land to the west of the Roding. The parish boundary was also a county boundary, with Barking and East Ham in Essex and North Woolwich in Kent. In 1889 Woolwich became part of the County of London. In 1914 East Ham became a county borough, essentially a county in its own right. In 1965 the London Borough of Newham was created and all three sections of Beckton became part of the new borough in Greater London. Beckton was within the London Docklands Development Corporation area from 1981 to 1995.