Editing West Ham United F.C. (section)

==Crest==
[[File:WestHamPreviousLogo.png|200px|thumb|right|Club crest (1987–1998)]]
[[File:West Ham United FC.svg|200px|thumb|right|Club crest (1998–2016)]]

===Thames Ironworks FC===
The Thames Ironworks Team (1895–1900) used the [[Union Flag]] as its badge.

===Rivet Hammers===
The principal element of the badge is the crossed pair of [[rivet]] hammers, tools that were used in the shipbuilding industry. The [[Blackwall, London|Blackwall]] and [[Canning Town]] neighbourhoods surrounding the [[Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company|Thames Ironworks]] echoed to the sound of hammers; [[steam hammer]]s, sledge hammers and rivet hammers.<ref>The shipbuilding description that follows comes from Brian Belton's book 'The Thames Ironworks' Chapter 5</ref>

Seven large mechanical steam hammers would punch small holes near the edges of the iron plates which would be joined to build the ships. The plates would be put in place and fixed together with rivets by teams of five, three inside the emerging vessel and two outside.

Inside the ship one member of the team would heat the rivets till they were white hot and, using ''Iron Fingers'' ([[blacksmith]]'s [[tongs]]), throw them to a second person, known as a "catch-boy" or "putter-in", who would pick the rivet up and place it the hole, also using tongs. The third person was known as the "holder-on" and he would then smash the rivet home with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer and then use his sledgehammer to hold the rivet in place while the men on the other side flattened the other end of the rivet.

Outside the ship, exposed to the elements, two men with rivet hammers – one right-handed, one left-handed – would hammer the protruding and still glowing rivet flat, so securing one of the many points necessary to link each of the ship's large plates.

The crossed hammers were also incorporated into the coat of arms of the [[County Borough of West Ham]] and those of its successor, the modern [[London Borough of Newham]].<ref>Archived material from LB of Newham website, description of each element of the coat of arms https://web.archive.org/web/20130602073325/http://apps.newham.gov.uk/democracy/civicamb/carms.htm</ref> The Thames Ironworks lay partly within what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. However, the blacksmith's tongs in [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets#Coat of arms|that Borough's coat of arms]] represent the local saint, [[Dunstan]], the patron saint of [[Stepney]] and metalworkers,<ref>Met Borough of Stepney Official Guide, p29, 1961, Ed J Burrow and Co</ref> rather than the Ironworks.

===Tower===
A yellow or white tower was added, intermittently, from the 1950s onwards.<ref>website shows much of the evolution of the badge http://theyflysohigh.co.uk/club-crest/4548286338</ref> The primary reason for this seems to be to represent ''Anne Boleyn's Tower'', the most notable feature of [[Green Street House]], an originally Tudor group of buildings which stood next to the [[Boleyn Ground]] until demolished in 1955. [[Green Street House]] was also known as ''Boleyn Castle'' through an association with [[Anne Boleyn]]. The manor was reputedly one of the sites at which [[Henry VIII]] courted his second queen, though there is no documentary evidence to support the tradition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Various |title=East Ham: Manors and estates |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42741 |access-date=15 August 2009 |publisher=University of London & History of Parliament Trust}}</ref>

There are a number of other factors which may have influenced the inclusion of the stylised castle feature, for instance:
* to reflect the contribution made to the club by players of [[Old Castle Swifts]]
* The imposing towers, roofs and doorway of the Engineering Department of the [[Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company|Thames Ironworks]] bore a strong resemblance<ref>link to external image https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/0/02/Im1895EnV80-p567.jpg</ref> to the castle feature in earlier iterations of the badge.
* The first verse of the club's anthem [[I'm forever blowing bubbles]] begins "I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high".
* The [[White Tower (Tower of London)|White Tower]] of the [[Tower of London]] as emblematic of [[East London]]. For hundreds of years, up until 1900, inner [[East London]] had been known as the [[Tower division|Tower Division]],<ref>The London Encyclopaedia, 1983, by Weinreb and Hibbert. The Encyclopaedia describes how the creation of the Tower Division, aka Tower Hamlets, made East London a distinct military unit</ref> an area which owed military service to the [[Tower of London]]. The (originally whitewashed) [[White Tower (Tower of London)|White Tower]] was used as insignia for the area, for instance on cap badges of local units of the army.
* In recognition of the [[West Ham#First World War – West Ham Pals|'West Ham Pals', the 13th Battalion]] of the [[Essex Regiment]] which was raised in [[Stratford, London|Stratford]] in 1915 and saw extensive action and heavy losses on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in the [[World War I]]. The Battalion was formed from volunteers from [[West Ham]] and [[East London]] generally. Their [[battle cry|war cry]] was "Up the Hammers". The cap badge of the [[Essex Regiment]] was the castle and key of Gibraltar, though the unit made an unsuccessful request to the [[War Office]] that crossed hammers could be used instead.<ref>"Up the Hammers" The West Ham Battalion in the Great War 1914–1918, by Elliot Taylor andBarney Alston.</ref>
* The adoption (in 1904) of Boleyn Castle FC<ref>{{Cite book |last=Colm Kerrigan |url=http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/hilsdon.htm |title="Gatling Gun" George Hildson |publisher=Football Lives |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-9530718-0-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013213249/http://eastlondonhistory.com/hilsdon.htm |archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref> as the club's reserve side when they took over their grounds on the site.

===Shield===
A shield has been used in many iterations of the club badge, and the shape of the 2016 version matches the cross-section on the hull of [[HMS Warrior (1860)|HMS Warrior]], the most famous ship built by the Thames Ironworks.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hopps |first=Kat |date=14 December 2015 |title=How a new West Ham United crest is keeping strong links between the football club and HMS Warrior |url=https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/heritage/how-a-new-west-ham-united-crest-is-keeping-strong-links-between-the-football-club-and-hms-warrior-1-4346169 |access-date=19 July 2020 |website=Newham Recorder |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022211020/https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/heritage/how-a-new-west-ham-united-crest-is-keeping-strong-links-between-the-football-club-and-hms-warrior-1-4346169 }}</ref>

===Iterations===
The crest was redesigned and updated in the late 1990s, featuring a wider yellow castle with fewer cruciform "windows" along with the peaked roofs being removed; the tops of the towers had previously made the castle appear more akin to [[Disneyland Park (Anaheim)|Disneyland]]'s Sleeping Beauty's Castle than a functioning fortress. The designer also altered other details to give a more substantial feel to the iconography.<ref>{{Cite web |title=West Ham |url=http://premierskills.britishcouncil.org/the-clubs/west-ham |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405014018/http://premierskills.britishcouncil.org/the-clubs/west-ham |archive-date=5 April 2010 |access-date=3 October 2013 |publisher=premierskills}}</ref>

When the club rebuilt the west stand of the [[Boleyn Ground]] (construction finished 2001–02) the "castle" from the redesigned badge was incorporated into the structure at the main entrance to the ground. A pair of towers were prominent features of the ground's appearance, both bearing large club badges.<ref>{{Cite web |title=West Ham |url=http://www.footballbadgesguide.com/West%20Ham.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004212837/http://www.footballbadgesguide.com/West%20Ham.html |archive-date=4 October 2013 |access-date=3 October 2013 |publisher=Footballbadgesguide}}</ref>

A new badge was introduced following the end of the [[2015–16 West Ham United F.C. season|2015–16 season]], when the club moved into the [[London Stadium|Olympic Stadium]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 July 2014 |title=West Ham: Hammers fans vote in favour of new club crest |work=BBC Sport |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28261889 |access-date=17 July 2014}}</ref> It removes the Boleyn Castle due to the club moving away, leaving just the crossed hammers, which the club says is inspired by the crest before and during the career of [[Bobby Moore]]. The word "London" was introduced below to "establish the club firmly on the international stage", and the more minimalist approach is to give a "strong statement that is instantly West Ham United". The shape of the crest is that of the [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]] of {{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}}, the first [[ironclad warship]] in the [[Royal Navy]], which was built by [[Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company|Thames Ironworks]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=We will always be West Ham United |url=http://www.whufc.com/staticFiles/c2/c2/0,,12562~180930,00.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726193724/http://www.whufc.com/staticFiles/c2/c2/0%2C%2C12562~180930%2C00.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2014 |access-date=19 July 2014 |publisher=West Ham United F.C.}}</ref>