Upton Park, London
Upton Park is an area of the East London borough of Newham, centred on Green Street which is the boundary between West Ham and East Ham. West Ham United Football Club formerly played at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park.
The term ‘Upton Park’ first applied to a housing estate developed to the east of West Ham Park in the 1880s.[1] The estate took its name from the adjacent village of Upton with the suffix ‘Park’ added for marketing reasons. The estate's developers paid for a new station to be built which was named after the estate.
As a consequence, the area surrounding the station became known as Upton Park rather than the term being limited to the original housing estate.
Football
The southern end of Green Street runs alongside the western edge of the former Boleyn Ground, the original home ground of West Ham United FC. The club initially rented the land from Green Street House, known locally as Boleyn Castle because of its imposing nature and an association with Anne Boleyn. The football stadium was commonly known as Upton Park. After the 2015–16 season, West Ham relocated to the former Olympic Stadium in Stratford and the Boleyn Ground has now been demolished.
An unrelated football club of the area, Upton Park FC, were early pioneers in the game, and represented Great Britain at the 1900 Summer Olympics football tournament, where they won the gold medal. They played their home games at West Ham Park, which was host to the first ever FA Cup goal, scored by Jarvis Kenrick for Clapham Rovers in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871.[2]
Upton Park F.C was founded in 1866, and is believed to have folded for the second and last time around 1911, while West Ham United were founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895, before reforming as West Ham in 1900, playing their first games at Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground, from 1904.
Transport
On the London Underground network, the southern area near the Boleyn Ground is served by Upton Park tube station, in Green Street, on the District and Hammersmith and City lines.
On the overground rail network, Forest Gate railway station on the Great Eastern Main Line served by TfL Rail, and Wanstead Park railway station on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line served by the London Overground, are both near the northern end of Green Street.
On the road network, Green Street itself runs on a north-south axis, linking the A118 Romford Road in the north and the A124 Barking Road in the south, both major arterial routes linking central London to the eastern counties.
Retail
Many shops in the area cater for east London's large Asian community. Queens Road Market is a covered food and clothing market on Queens Road, off Green Street near the tube station. It was formerly a large open-air street market until the current structure was built in the 1980s.
Priory Park
Upton Park also contains a green space, Priory Park 51°32′6.26″N 0°2′31.1″E, extending from the north east corner of the Boleyn Ground.
Administration
Green Street is a former tramway which divided the former Essex County Boroughs of East Ham and West Ham.
The Upton Park area is in the London Borough of Newham, but it is not the name of any of its electoral wards. It is roughly encompassed by the wards Green Street East/West in the north, and Plaistow North/South and Boleyn in the south.[3]
References
- "West Ham: Introduction | British History Online". British History Online.
- "Football: Upton Park FC to host special game to mark first ever FA Cup goal". Newham Recorder. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- Ward Profiles, Newham Information Management System, accessed 6 May 2010
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