Barking Town Square
| Barking | |
|---|---|
 Barking Abbey curfew tower with St Margaret's Church in background |
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 Barking
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| Barking shown within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ440840 |
| • Charing Cross | 8.8 mi (14.2 km) W |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BARKING |
| Postcode district | IG11 |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | E6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, England, 8.8 miles (14.2 km) east of Charing Cross.
Historically an ancient parish in Essex, its economic history is characterised by a shift from fishing and farming to market gardening and industrial development south of the River Thames. The railway station opened in 1854 and has been served by the London Underground since 1908. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century, Barking significantly expanded and increased in population, primarily due to the development of the London County Council estate at Becontree in the 1920s, and became a municipal borough in 1931, and part of Greater London in 1965. In addition to an extensive and fairly low-density residential area, the town centre forms a large retail and commercial district, currently a focus for regeneration. The former industrial lands to the south are being redeveloped as Barking Riverside.
Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Berecingas, meaning either "the settlement of the followers or descendants of a man called Bereca" or "the settlement by the birch trees". In AD 735 the town was Berecingum and was known to mean "dwellers among the birch trees". By AD 1086, it had become Berchingae as evidenced by the town's entry in the Domesday Book.
In British slang "Barking" is short for "barking mad", and Barking is sometimes cited as the origin of the phrase, attributed to the alleged existence of a medieval insane asylum attached to Barking Abbey. However, the phrase first appeared in the 20th century. A more likely derivation is from comparing an insane person to a mad dog.
Barking was a large ancient parish of 12,307 acres (49.80 km2) in the Becontree hundred of Essex. It was divided into the wards of Chadwell, Ilford, Ripple and Town. A local board was formed for Town ward in 1882 and it was extended to cover Ripple ward in 1885. In 1888 Ilford and Chadwell were split off as a new parish of Ilford, leaving a residual parish of 3,814 acres (15.43 km2). The parish became Barking Town Urban District in 1894 and the local board became an urban district council. The urban district was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Barking in 1931. It was abolished in 1965 and split, with the majority merged with the former area of the Municipal Borough of Dagenham to form the London Borough of Barking. The part west of the River Roding, which included part of Beckton, became part of the London Borough of Newham. In 1980 the borough was renamed Barking and Dagenham. Barking's population is 48,340 (2011) which includes the Abbey, Eastbury, Gascoigne and Longbridge wards.
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