Editing Upminster (section)

==History==
===Toponymy===
{| class="wikitable" align="right" style=font-size:85%;margin-left:10px;
|+'''Upminster (parish) population'''
|-
!align="center"| 1881
|align="center"| 1,202
|-
!align="center"| 1891
|align="center"| 1,409
|-
!align="center"| 1901
|align="center"| 1,477
|-
!align="center"| 1911
|align="center"| 2,468
|-
!align="center"| 1921
|align="center"| 3,559
|-
!align="center"| 1931
|align="center"| 5,732
|-
!align="center"| 1941
|align="center"| war #
|-
!align="center"| 1951
|align="center"| 13,038
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2|# no census was held due to war
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2 align=center|source: [[Census#United Kingdom|UK census]]<ref name=vob_pop>{{cite vob | url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10248036&c_id=10001043&add=N | name= Upminster population | access-date=6 February 2010}}</ref>
|}
The placename Upminster is first recorded in 1062 as ''Upmynstre'' and is recorded in the 1086 [[Domesday Book]] as ''Upmunstra''.<ref name=mills>{{cite book | last=Mills | first=D. | title=Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names | year=2000 | publisher=Oxford}}</ref> It is formed from [[Old English]] ''upp'' and ''mynster'', meaning 'the large church on high ground'. The high ground of [[Church of St Laurence, Upminster|St Laurence's parish church]] being in relation to the valley of the [[River Ingrebourne]] and the [[Upminster Bridge]] over the river shares the name.<ref name=mills/> An alternative explanation suggests the ''upp'' could refer to the geographical relationship to a church at [[Barking, London|Barking]] or [[Tilbury]] in Anglo-Saxon times.<ref name=blair>{{cite book | title=The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society | page=102 | last=Blair | first=John | year =2005 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

===Economic development===
There was a Roman farmstead in the Upminster area from the 1st century to the 3rd century, and agriculture was the predominant industry throughout the following centuries.<ref name=introduction/>

The area was once wooded, but clearances in the 12th century gave more land over to arable farming; and by the 17th century there were a variety of crops and livestock.<ref name=introduction/> There was a growth in [[market gardening]] in the 19th century.<ref name=introduction/> There have been a number of [[List of windmills in London#T - W|windmills in Upminster]] and one of which, a [[smock mill]] built in 1803, remains.<ref name="london annals">{{cite book | title=The Annals of London | publisher=Cassell & Co | author=Richardson, John | year=2000 | isbn=1-84188-135-X }}</ref> Local industry included a tannery, gravel extraction and a brick works that was connected to the railway station by a tramway in 1895.<ref name=introduction/><ref>{{Cite web|last=hurdler46|date=2018-04-26|title=Upminster's lost brickworks|url=https://upminsterhistory.net/2018/04/26/upminsters-lost-brickworks/|access-date=2021-08-31|website=Old Upminster|language=en}}</ref>

The [[London, Tilbury and Southend Railway]] from [[Fenchurch Street railway station|Fenchurch Street]] was extended from Barking to [[Upminster station|Upminster]] in 1885.<ref name="Barking LTSR">{{citation | publisher=Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council | url=http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/4-heritage/local-history/information-sheets/pdf/info-sheet-10.pdf | work=Local Studies Information Sheets | title=London, Tilbury and Southend Railway | year=2008 | access-date=8 February 2010 | archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5nSOU9e9k?url=http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/4-heritage/local-history/information-sheets/pdf/info-sheet-10.pdf | archive-date=11 February 2010 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref> The underground [[Whitechapel and Bow Railway]] opened in 1902 and allowed through services of the [[District Railway]] to operate to Upminster. The District converted to electric trains in 1905 and services were cut back to East Ham. Delayed by [[World War I]],<ref name="Barking LTSR"/> electrified tracks were extended by the [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]] to Upminster and through services resumed in 1932.<ref name="rose">{{cite book | author=Rose, Douglas | title=The London Underground: A diagrammatic history | year=1999 | publisher= Douglas Rose | edition=7 | isbn=1-85414-219-4}}</ref><ref name="Wolmar">{{cite book |author = Wolmar, Christian |title = The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever  |publisher = Atlantic Books | year=2005 |isbn = 1-84354-023-1  |page = 268 |author-link = Christian Wolmar }}</ref>

===Local government===
{{maplink|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Upminster (parish) 1931}}|frame=yes|text=Upminster civil parish boundaries before being absorbed into [[Hornchurch Urban District]] in 1934}}
Upminster formed an ancient parish of {{convert|3369|acres}} in the [[Chafford (hundred)|Chafford]] hundred of Essex.<ref name=introduction>{{cite book | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42829 | title=Upminster: Introduction and manors, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 | series= [[Victoria County History]] | publisher=[[British History Online]] | author=Powell, W.R. (Edr.)  | year=1978 | access-date=6 February 2010}}</ref> The [[Administrative vestry|parish vestry]] had meetings in the church until 1798, when they moved to the Bell Inn.<ref name=local_gov>{{cite book | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42830 | title=Upminster: Local government and parliamentary representation, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 | series= [[Victoria County History]] | publisher=[[British History Online]] | author=Powell, W.R. (Edr.) | year=1978 | access-date=6 February 2010}}</ref> The parish was divided into North and South wards by the Hornchurch to Cranham road.<ref name=local_gov/> In 1836 the vestry lost control of poor relief, with Upminster becoming part of the Romford [[Poor Law Union]]<ref name=local_gov/> and in 1875 the parish became part of Romford [[sanitary district|rural sanitary district]]. Following the [[Local Government Act 1894]], the sanitary district became [[Romford Rural District]] and a parish council was formed of nine members, increasing to twelve by 1913 as the population had doubled.<ref name=local_gov/> The parish council acquired the Clock House building on St Mary's Lane for use as offices in 1924.<ref name=local_gov/> The parish formed part of the [[London Traffic Area]] from 1924 and the [[London Passenger Transport Board|London Passenger Transport Area]] from 1933.<ref name=robson>{{cite book |title=The Government and Mis-government of London |last=Robson |first=William |year=1939 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=London }}</ref> In 1934 the parish council was abolished and Upminster was combined with other parishes to form part of [[Hornchurch Urban District]]. In 1965 the urban district was abolished and its former area was combined with that of [[Municipal Borough of Romford]]; and since then has formed part of the [[London Borough of Havering]] in [[Greater London]].<ref name=vob_havering_lb>{{cite vob|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10166913&c_id=10001043 |name=Havering London Borough |access-date=6 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211082200/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10166913&c_id=10001043 |archive-date=11 February 2009 }}</ref> For elections to the Greater London Council, Upminster was part of the [[Havering (electoral division)|Havering]] electoral division until 1973 and then the [[Upminster (electoral division)|Upminster]] electoral division until 1986.

===Urban development===
The parish had three early centres of activity; the village around the church and the settlements of [[Hacton]] and Corbets Tey.<ref name=introduction/> The estates of Gaynes, New Place and [[Upminster Hall]] were purchased during the 17th century by merchants in the [[City of London]].<ref name=introduction/> This caused a significant number of buildings in the town to be constructed or improved.<ref name=introduction/> Upkeep of the three bridges crossing the Ingrebourne were the responsibility of Upminster, as the adjacent Hornchurch parish was in the [[Royal Liberty of Havering|Havering liberty]] and was exempt from responsibility because of its charter. Although the opening of the station was key to the development of the suburb, land was not purchased for development until {{convert|10|acre}} were secured in 1901.<ref name=introduction/>

Electricity was introduced in Upminster in 1926.<ref name=local_gov/> Gas main supply came from [[Romford]] in 1872 and from 1905 there was gas street lighting.<ref name=local_gov/> The area was served by good spring water, with mains supply provided by the [[South Essex Waterworks Company]] from 1836. Works on the sewerage system began in 1899 in Upminster village and Corbets Tey. In 1922 sewage works for Upminster and Cranham were opened in [[Great Warley]].<ref name=local_gov/> Land for Upminster Park was purchased by the parish council in 1929.