Another in the occasional series on historic sites on the “Capital Ring” walk …
West Ham was first recorded in 1186 as Westhamma, from the Old English “hamme”, meaning area of dry land bounded by water, and referring to its situation between the Rivers Lea, Roding and Thames (Ham was first recorded in 958 as Hamme).
The church of All Saints, also known as West Ham Parish Church, was originally built – or possibly rebuilt) in around 1180, and extended in the thirteenth century, and again in the fifteenth, when the tower was added, and yet again in the sixteenth, when the chapels were added. It was owned by Stratford Langthorne Abbey from 1334 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 (see previous posting on “Stratford”).
Inside the church are some relics from the dissolved abbey, including a window, in the porch, and a carved stone from the charnel house, in the tower.
