Custom House & Canning Town Community Renewal Project

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Some information on the history of St Luke's and Canning Town can be found at these sites:

St Luke's Church - the story

West Ham United FC fan site - what did St Luke's have to do with the formation of West Ham Football Club?

British History Online "A History of the County of Essex. Link to the start of the text on West Ham (Canning Town was once part West Ham).

From "Churches" in the same publication:
"The church of ST. LUKE, Victoria Docks, Boyd Road, planned by Henry Boyd, Vicar of St. Mark's, was consecrated in 1875, and in the same year a separate parish was formed from part of St. Mark's. (fn. 165) The The advowson of the vicarage, originally vested in the bishop, was in 1886 transferred to the Lord Chancellor, so that the benefice might be augmented out of the revenues of All Hallows, London Wall. (fn. 166) The church is a lofty building in the Early English style, with an apsidal chancel and a flèche instead of a tower. The Boyd workmen's institute was built at the same time. (fn. 167) The church of St. Matthew, Custom House, previously a mission of St. Mark's, passed to St. Luke's, and remained in that parish until it became separate in 1920. The church of The Ascension (1887) remained a mission of St. Luke's until 1905. A Lascar mission, under an Indian curate, was opened in 1887; in 1898 this was one of three centres serving the docks. By 1890 there was also a mission in Ford Park Road, (fn. 168) probably the predecessor of the present (1966) St. Alban's mission, Butchers Road. St. Luke's was badly damaged by bombing in 1940. Services continued in a garage until the church hall was repaired. (fn. 169) Temporary repairs to the church were carried out in 1949, and permanent reconstruction was completed by 1960. Since the Second World War this part of West Ham has been redeveloped as the Keir Hardie estate, and in 1961 the parish was also augmented by parts of the parishes of The Holy Trinity, St. Gabriel, and St. Matthew, Custom House. In 1965 the Boyd institute was rebuilt as a youth centre."

London Over The Border, a brief history supplied by the London Borough of Newham.

Extract from "Unknown London; its romance and tragedy." by Alfred T Pratt (1896) - Perseus. The rest of this is well worth a read!

More to come later.

Tina - Facilities Manager

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Local history from the Royal Docks Trust website.

Docklands history page from the Barking & Dagenham Bridges Project website.


Photo History of London's docklands by Mike Slocombe (London Landmarks site)

Charles Dickens article Londoners Over The Border at Kevan's History of Statford and Games for London site. Have a browse around here, the site has some great content.

London Borough of Newham history message board - you could write a book with all the local info posted on here! If you have something to contribute, or a question to ask, go over there and join in.