Newham

From the records: “A subsequent charter of 1037 describes a transfer of land which has been identified with East Ham, indicating that the division of the territory occurred between 958 and 1037.”

From the records: “The name is first recorded in 1067 as Strætforda and means 'ford on a Roman road'.”

From the records: “In 1110 Matilda, wife of Henry I, ordered a distinctively bow-shaped (arched) bridge to be built over the River Lea, together with a causeway across the marshes along the line now occupied by Stratford High Street.”

From the records: “The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene dates to the first half of the 12th century and is claimed to be the oldest parish church still in use in Greater London.”

From the records: “In 1135 the Cistercian Order founded Stratford Langthorne Abbey, also known as West Ham Abbey.”

From the records: “The earliest recorded use of the name West Ham, Westhamma, comes in 1186, and East Ham, Estham, is recorded in 1204.”

From the records: “In 1267, for a time, the Abbey became the court of Henry III for the visitation of the Papal legates, and it was here that he made peace with the barons under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth.”

From the records: “Severe flooding of the Thames in 1338 saw the monks decamp to their landholdings at Great Burstead in Essex, and in 1381, the Abbey was invaded by the Peasants' Revolt and its goods removed and charters burned.”

From the records: “The Abbey existed until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1538.”

From the records: “Boleyn Castle on Green Street was built in the 16th century and survived until the 1950s.”

From the records: “In June 1648, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a Royalist force of some 500 to 600 men won a minor battle against the Tower Hamlets Militia at Bow Bridge and occupied Stratford for three days, before heading off along the old Roman Road to the Siege of Colchester.”

From the records: “When Daniel Defoe visited Stratford in 1722, he reported it had "...increased in buildings to a strange degree, within the compass of about 20 or 30 years past at the most".”

From the records: “Using a process that was patented in 1744, Edward Heylin and Thomas Frye operated a factory near Bow Bridge called "New Canton" to produce some of the first soft-paste porcelain to be made in the country.”

From the records: “By the early 19th century, Stratford was an important transport hub, with omnibuses and coaches running into London four times every hour and coaches from East Anglia passing through hourly.”

From the records: “Stratford station was opened on 20 June 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR).”

From the records: “Rapid growth followed the Metropolitan Buildings Act 1844, which restricted dangerous and noxious industries from operating in the metropolitan area, the eastern boundary of which was the River Lea.”

From the records: “The area was named after the factories established by Stephen William Silver in 1852.”

From the records: “The opening of the Victoria Dock (later Royal Victoria Dock) nearby on the Thames in 1855, and the subsequent construction of the Royal Group of Docks (at one time the largest area of impounded water in the world), increased Stratford's importance as a transport and manufacturing centre.”

From the records: “This led to a public enquiry by Charles Dickens' brother Alfred, a medical officer, who published a report in 1855 severely critical of conditions in the slum areas.”

From the records: “The pumping station was designed by the architect Charles Driver for the Metropolitan Board of Works Chief Engineer Joseph Bazalgette and was built between 1865 and 1868, housing eight beam engines by Rothwell & Co. of Bolton, two on each arm of a cruciform plan.”

From the records: “Designed by Lewis Angell and John Giles in the Italianate style with a 100-foot (30-metre) tall domed tower, Stratford Town Hall opened in 1869 as the public offices for the West Ham Local board of health.”

From the records: “Sugar refiners in the area were joined by Henry Tate in 1877 and Abram Lyle in 1881, whose companies merged in 1921 to form Tate & Lyle.”

From the records: “In 1889, Silver's factory was the scene of a twelve-week-long strike by the majority of its 3,000 workers.”

From the records: “In 1892–93, before the land was acquired by the local council, the open plot opposite West Ham Police Station, was let to Castle Swifts F.C. for use as their home ground.”

From the records: “In 1915, the Mayor and Borough of East Ham raised a Pals battalion of local men.”

From the records: “On 19 January 1917, parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory, in what is known as the Silvertown explosion.”

From the records: “The park was formally opened on 24 July 1924 by Sir Leonard Lyle, representing the firm of Abraham Lyle & Sons, who had gifted the land to West Ham County Borough.”

From the records: “In the early 20th century the area suffered greatly from road congestion due to being located between the Thames and the Royal Docks, then the largest and one of the busiest dock groups in the world.”

From the records: “Under the London Government Act 1963, East Ham and West Ham merged in 1965 to create the new London Borough of Newham in Greater London.”

From the records: “It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City development.”

From the records: “In 2021, ABBA began construction of a purpose-built arena in the Olympic Park, called the ABBA Arena, for a motion-capture hologram concert residency which would take place from May 2022.”