St Andrew's Church, Roman Road, East Ham,
was another mission church that was planted by the since-lost St
Michael & All Angels Church in Beckton (see links). St Andrew's
was built in 1934 on a site donated by J Stokes & Sons. It was
closed in 1952, and in 1957 it was sold for £450. With the eastern
end of the road now overshadowed by Newham Way, no sign of church
building exists. It seems to have been replaced by new housing which
now exists on the street.
High Street South (Primitive) Methodist Church
lies opposite the entrance to Marlow Road. It originated in 1872
when A G Batten, a workman at Beckton Gas works, first held services
in a house in Mountfield Road. Five years later he invited the
Primitive Methodists to supply preachers. In 1880 a temporary church
was erected on High Street South, replaced by a brick building in
1885. The buildings were thoroughly renovated in 1958 and new
schoolrooms added.
Bonny Downs Baptist Church, Flanders Road,
is on the southern side between Darwell Close (formerly Bonny Downs
Road) and Telham Road. It began with an open air Sunday School in
1897 and then meetings in a private house. In 1900 an empty shop on
the present site was rented and a free church was formed. The
driving force behind these advances, Charles W Howe, became the
church's first pastor. The present building was erected in 1928 and
is still in service.
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, East
Ham, is on the eastern side of Napier Road, at the very lowest end
with Flanders Playing Fields next to it (on the right here). The
plot was originally given over to light industrial use when this
area was first built up, with a works occupying much of this block.
By 2012, when this photo was taken, a 1943 building still occupied
the main part of the block (on the left here), but it was now closed
and remains so in 2019.
The Roman Catholic Church of St Michael,
East Ham, stands on the northern side of Tilbury Road, with Arthur
Road flanking it on its western side. The eastern side of East Ham
was served from St Mary & St Ethelburga in Barking until 1926,
when this church was built. It was also used as a day school from
the start, and a larger school was soon needed, being added in 1931.
The original building was then used only as the church, but the
present building replaced that in 1959.
St Bartholomew's Church & Centre,
East Ham, lies on the southern side of Barking Road, opposite the
entrance to Ron Leighton Way. The first church building was erected
in 1902 to replace St John the Baptist, High Street North (see
below). It was an enormous, aisled, red brick structure, designed
in the Gothic style which dominated the area. Bombed in 1941, this
photo shows a service being conducted in the ruined shell of the
building on 25 August 1946.
Despite the wartime damage, the church was
rebuilt and was reconsecrated in 1953. It had never been used to
full capacity on a regular basis, however, and with people now
moving out into the suburbs attendances declined. The church,
expensive to maintain, was demolished in 1974 in favour of the
building of a resource for the whole community - a 'People's
Church'. The new build included church, community centre, doctor's
surgery, and flats for older people.
East Ham Methodist Church (Central Hall)
stood on the southern side of Barking Road, behind the town hall.
Its origins lay in Kelly Road Church, an iron structure
erected around 1870 on what is now Market Street - two streets to
the south of Barking Road. A brick church here on Barking Road
replaced it in 1880 and central hall replaced that in 1906. This
was demolished in 1969. Still under construction here in 2013, its
replacement turned out to be East Ham Library.
The Church of St John the Baptist, East
Ham. stood at the south-west corner of High Street North and St
John's Road, flanking the camera to the right in this view which
looks east from St John's Road. It was built in 1866 as a
chapel-of-ease to St Mary Plaistow. It was a flint cruciform
building with stone dressings in a late-thirteenth century style.
In 1902, when St Bartholomew was built (above), this became a church
hall. It was demolished in 1925 and is now a car park.
Wakefield Street Congregational Church
began in the Holme Road Assembly Room mission (1886). In 1890
Stamford Road Church was built, an iron structure two streets
north of Wakefield Street. In 1901 a large brick church opened on
the current site on the southern side of Wakefield Street, now
surrounded by the main shopping area. This was destroyed by bombing
and the present building replaced it in 1957, later as Pilgrims
Way Church Congregational & Methodist.
Nine photos on this page by P L Kessler (from
2010-2011), and one kindly contributed by the London Borough of
Newham.
