Editing Romford (section)

===Economic development===
[[File:ECR(1851) p57a - Romford.jpg|thumb|Romford in 1851]]
The town developed in the Middle Ages on the main road to London and the regionally significant [[Romford Market]] was established in 1247.<ref name=bho_economic/> The original site of the town was to the south, in an area still known as Oldchurch. It was moved northwards to the present site in the later [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] to avoid the frequent flooding of the River Rom. The first building on the new site was the 1410 Chapel of St&nbsp;Edward<ref name="london encyclopaedia">{{cite book|author1=Weinreb, Ben |author2=[[Christopher Hibbert|Hibbert, Christopher]] |title=The London Encyclopaedia |edition=reprint |year=1992 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |page=675|title-link=The London Encyclopaedia }}</ref> (since replaced by the 1850 [[Church of St Edward the Confessor, Romford|Parish&nbsp;Church of St&nbsp;Edward the&nbsp;Confessor]]. The early history of Romford and the immediate area is agricultural and it is recorded as being the location of a [[List of windmills in Greater London|number of mills]] used to grind corn.<ref name=bho_economic/> The area was a focus of the leather industry from the 15th to the early 19th centuries and there is record of a wide range of industries such as cloth making, weaving, charcoal burning, metal working and brewing.<ref name=bho_economic/> Communications played an important part in its development; the main road to London was maintained by the Middlesex and Essex [[turnpike trust|Turnpike Trust]] from 1721 and Romford became a coaching town in the 18th century.<ref name=bho_introduction>{{ cite book | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42815 | title=Romford: Introduction, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 | author=Powell, W.R. (Edr.) | series= [[Victoria County History]] | publisher=[[British History Online]] | access-date=6 August 2009 | year=1978 }}</ref>

{{anchor|Romford Canal|Romford Canal Act 1880}}
Several failed attempts were made in the early 19th century to connect the town to the Thames via a Romford Canal.<ref>{{cite news |last1=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Navigable cut from Rainham to Romford |work=[[The London Gazette]] |issue=16409 |date=2 October 1810 |page=1539}}</ref> It was initially intended to terminate at a basin near to the [[Star Brewery]], to transport agricultural products to London and, eventually, to serve growing industrial sites in Romford. A later proposal included an extension to [[Collier Row]], whereby timber from [[Hainault, London#Development|Hainault Forest]] could be transported to the [[Thames]] for use in the [[Royal Navy Dockyard|Royal Dockyards]]. Only two miles of canal were constructed and the canal company were unable to reach the town.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Jonathan |title=The Romford Canal Essex |url=https://docslib.org/doc/5772453/the-romford-cai-al-essex |publisher=[[Oxford Archaeology|Oxford Archaeology Unit]] |access-date=18 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The development of the town was accelerated by the opening of the railway station in 1839 which stimulated the local economy and was key to the development of the Star Brewery. Initially [[Eastern Counties Railway]] services operated between [[Mile End]] and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840. A second station was opened on South Street in 1892 by the [[London, Tilbury and Southend Railway]] on the line to Upminster and Grays, giving Romford a rail connection to [[Port of Tilbury|Tilbury Docks]]. The two stations were combined into one in 1934.<ref name=bho_introduction/> Light industry slowly developed, reaching a peak in the 1970s with a number of factories on the edge of town, such as the Roneo Vickers office machinery company, [[AB Electronic|Colvern]] manufacturers of wireless components, May's Sheet Metal Works and brush manufacturers [[Betterware]].<ref name=bho_economic/> Suburban expansion increased the population and reinforced Romford's position as a significant regional town centre. The [[Liberty Shopping Centre]] was constructed in the 1960s, and has been modernised and supplemented with further shopping centres throughout the town, including [[The Mall (Romford)|The Mall]], opened in 1990 (as 'Liberty 2'); and [[The Brewery (shopping centre)|The Brewery]], opened in 2000 on the site of the old Star Brewery.<ref name=havering_romford>{{cite web | url=http://www.havering.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2402 | author=Havering London Borough Council | title=Romford Town Centre | access-date=6 August 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021237/http://www.havering.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2402 | archive-date=27 September 2007 | df=dmy-all }}</ref>