Heritage

A museum has been awarded a £70,000 lifeline from a billion pound pot aimed at helping the country’s cultural institutions bounce back from Covid-19.

An archaeological dig is taking place at the medieval moat at Valence House, as part of the first stage of wider plans for the area.

As the country marks Black History Month, local historian Simone Panayi delves into Barking’s links to the slave trade, a prison reformer and Gandhi.

Black History Month is underway with the borough celebrating the history, achievements and culture of black, African and Caribbean people.

An online petition calling for a disused pub to be rebuilt after it was destroyed in a fire has been launched.

Historic England has chosen a Dagenham school to help pilot a scheme championing the value of local heritage and its role in the national curriculum.

A memorial service has been held to pay tribute to seven firefighters who lost their lives at the start of the Blitz.

An author has published the sequel to a novel celebrating the people and history of Dagenham.

Flags have been raised at the town hall to mark the 74th anniversaries of India and Pakistan’s independence.

Views are being sought on proposed boundary changes to a conservation area.

Plans to improve the area around a 500-year-old tower in Barking town centre have been approved by councillors.

While many were celebrating the end of the Second World War in Europe in the summer of 1945, the battle was still continuing on the other side of the world.

A Dagenham Second World War veteran has told how he will be remembering his fallen comrades on the 75th anniversary of VJ Day.

In 1893 The Public Offices were built on land in East Street.

Of the borough’s listed buildings, the Grade II*-listed Barking Public Offices, also known as Barking Magistrates’ Court, is the only one with Victorian origins and remains one of its most imposing buildings.

A virtual memorial has been held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide which killed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Valence House is developing a new digital offering – including video tours, short films and interactive exhibitions – to build on its work online during lockdown.

In the second of his two cricket history features, Prof Ged Martin asks: Did two Yorkshire batsmen really set a world record against Essex in 1932?

In a cricket season that’s been cancelled, Professor Ged Martin looks at an infamous County match that probably never happened.

A Dagenham print company has launched a yearbook to help schoolchildren hold onto memories made during the coronavirus lockdown.

An historic gem could get a makeover if plans get the go-ahead next month.

Former magistrate Sue Hamilton explores crime and punishment as part of a heritage project uncovering Barking town centre’s past.

Curators would have loved to open their Docklands museum to the public for the VE Day 75th anniversary — but coronavirus put paid to that.

Dame Vera Lynn has thanked people for commemorating the 75th anniversary of VE Day during the coronavirus crisis.

On VE Day we celebrate the near-end of the Second World War. But how did the conflict affect Barking town centre? Historian Simone Panayi finds out.

Retired policeman, Ronald Lloyd, 82, from Harold Wood, was a baby when war was declared in 1939. Here he remembers with fondness ‘evacuation’ to his grandparents and Bruno, his constant companion.

Dagenham internet sensation Carlie Townsend is performing a commemorative concert on Friday, May 8 to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

The nation has been invited to toast the heroes of the Second World War as the country marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Proposals to build 56 affordable homes in Dagenham have been given the green light.

Professor Ged Martin looks back 250 years at a shotgun wedding in Barking

Historian Prof Ged Martin takes a light-hearted look at two Dagenham place names

Prof Ged Martin looks at the way Essex people spoke 100 years ago