Editing West Ham (section)

===Toponymy===
The first known written use of the term, as 'Hamme', is in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 958, in which King Edgar granted the [[London Borough of Newham#Manor of Ham|Manor of Ham]], which was undivided at that time, to Ealdorman Athelstan. A subsequent charter of 1037 describes a transfer of land which has been identified with East Ham, indicating that the division of the territory occurred between 958 and 1037.<ref>The Place Names of Essex, P.H. Reaney, 1969</ref>

The place name derives from [[Old English]] 'hamm' and means 'a dry area of land between rivers or marshland', referring to the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers [[River Lea|Lea]], [[River Thames|Thames]] and [[River Roding|Roding]] and their marshes.<ref name="mills_london">{{cite book|title=Dictionary of London Place Names|year=2001|last=Mills|first=A.D.|publisher=Oxford}}</ref> [[North Woolwich]] seems likely to have been removed from Ham in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.<ref>'Becontree hundred: East Ham', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6, ed. W R Powell (London, 1973), pp. 1–8. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp1-8 [accessed 6 May 2022].</ref>

The earliest recorded use of West Ham, as distinct from Ham or East Ham, was in 1186 as 'Westhamma'. The creation of [[Stratford Langthorne Abbey]] (one of England's larger monasteries), and the building of  [[Bow Bridge (London)|Bow Bridge]], the only dry crossing of the Lea for many miles, are likely to have increased the prosperity of the area.