Borough in London, England
Havering
A king's ring, a beggar who was really a saint, and a borough that is London on the map but half countryside: meet Havering, where Spitfires once scrambled.
Key information
- County
- Greater London (historic Essex)
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 262,000 (2021 Census)
- Area
- about 43 square miles
- Known for
- Romford Market, RAF Hornchurch, Havering-atte-Bower, green belt countryside
- Famous people
- Frank Lampard, Ian Dury, Edward the Confessor
- Football clubs
- Romford FC, Hornchurch FC
About Havering
The beggar, the ring and the royal village
The borough takes its name from Havering-atte-Bower, a hilltop village that was once a royal retreat. Legend says Edward the Confessor was walking out of a church service there when a beggar asked him for alms. The king had no money on him, so he handed over his ring. Years later, the story goes, two English pilgrims in the Holy Land met an old man who said he was St John the Evangelist. He gave them the ring and told them to return it to the king with news of his death. Edward kept a special devotion to St John, and the tale stuck to the place. Havering's royal palace was used by medieval kings and queens, and the village still has its green, its stocks and a rural feel that surprises many visitors who know it only as part of London.
Why Hornchurch has horns
Hornchurch gets its name from the horned church. The parish church of St Andrew has a bull's head with horns mounted on its east end, and the creature turns up all over the area as a symbol, from local crests to street furniture. The town's biggest moment on the world stage came in 1940. RAF Hornchurch was a fighter station in the Battle of Britain, and its Spitfire squadrons scrambled to meet the Luftwaffe over the Thames Estuary and Kent. Pilots from Britain and from allied countries flew from its grass airfield. The airfield is gone, but its footprint is now Hornchurch Country Park, with a museum, wildlife and the outlines of old blast pens in the grass.
Romford: market town with a long memory
Romford is Havering's big shopping and nightlife hub, and its market is its beating heart. A charter dating to 1247 gave the town the right to hold one, and traders have been calling out their bargains ever since. For generations Romford was also a brewing town, with the Ind Coope brewery dominating the centre until it closed in 1993. Its beer ran through the pubs of London and the Home Counties. Just outside the centre is Gidea Park, where the 1911 Exhibition of Houses and Cottages turned the new Romford Garden Suburb into a showcase. Architects built real houses for visitors to walk around, and the garden suburb still holds up as a design landmark.
A London borough that looks like Essex
Havering is one of the greenest parts of London, with large stretches of farmland, woodland and open parkland. Bedfords Park, Havering Country Park and Hornchurch Country Park give locals plenty of space to roam. In the south, Rainham Marshes is an RSPB reserve beside the Thames, where birdwatchers can spot waders and wildfowl within sight of the industry of the river. Nearby, Rainham Hall, a handsome Georgian merchant's house built in 1729 for Captain John Harle, is now a National Trust property. Upminster adds a windmill dating from 1803 and a tithe barn, plus a station on the District line, which makes it feel like London's last stop before the country.
Footballers, punks and Harold Hill
Havering has produced more than its share of football talent. Frank Lampard, born in Romford, went on to win trophies with Chelsea and play for England over 100 times. Local non-league sides, including Romford FC and Hornchurch FC, keep the Saturday habit alive. The pub-rock poet Ian Dury, the voice of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, grew up in Upminster, and his sharp Essex-edged storytelling has a familiar ring around here. Harold Hill, built after the Second World War to house families moving out of bomb-damaged inner London, shows how the borough was transformed in the twentieth century. Its estates now sit beside some of the capital's most open countryside.