User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɑː(r)kɪŋ
Verb
barking- present participle of bark
Derived terms
Adjective
barking- Who or that barks or bark.
- barking dogs
- (British slang) Short for barking mad.
- He's going to run the marathon in this hot weather dressed as Donald Duck – he must be barking!
Noun
- The action of the verb to bark.
- Loud barking could be heard from the dog pound.
Proper noun
- A town in London.
See also
Extensive Definition
Barking is a suburban town in east London, England and the
main district of the
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is a retail and
commercial centre situated in the west of the borough and east of
Charing
Cross.
History
The manor of Barking was the site of Barking Abbey, a nunnery founded in 666 by Eorcenwald, bishop of London, destroyed by the Danes and reconstructed about a hundred years later in 970 by King Edgar. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, Barking Abbey was demolished: the parish church, St Margaret's stands upon its site, where some walling and foundations are all that otherwise remain. The Norman church of St Margaret was where Captain James Cook married Elizabeth Batts of Shadwell in 1762.Barking was an urban
district from 1894 and became a
municipal
borough in 1931. The
Municipal Borough of Barking was abolished in 1965 along with
the
Municipal Borough of Dagenham and the area became part of the
London Borough of Barking (renamed Barking and Dagenham in
1980).
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".
Barking is sometimes cited as the origin of the
phrase "barking mad", meaning "insane" or "intensely mad". This
is attributed to the alleged existence of a medieval insane
asylum attached to Barking Abbey. However, the phrase is not
medieval, and first appeared only in the 20th century. A more
likely derivation is from comparing an insane person to a mad
dog.
Fishing
Fishing was the most important industry in Barking from the 14th century, until the mid-19th. Salt water fishing from Barking began before 1320, when too fine nets were seized by City authorities, but expanded greatly from the 16th century. Fisher Street was named after the fishing community there. From about 1775 welled and dry smacks were used, mostly as cod boats. Fishermen sailed as far as Iceland in the summer. They served Billingsgate Fish Market in the City of London, and moored up at home in Barking Pool. Samuel Hewett, born on 7 December 1797, founded the Short Blue Fleet (England's biggest fishing fleet) based in Barking, and using smacks out of Barking and east coast ports. This fleet used gaff ketches which stayed out at sea for months, using ice for preservation of fish. This ice was produced by flooding local fields in winter. Fleeting involved fish being ferried from fishing smacks to steamer-carriers by little wooden ferry-boats. The rowers had to stand as the boats were piled high with fish-boxes. Rowers refused to wear their bulky cork lifejackets because it slowed down their rowing. At first the fast fifty-foot gaff cutters with great booms projecting beyond the sterns were employed to race the fish to port to get the best prices.There was also a trade in live fish, using the
welled smacks in which the central section of the hull, between two
watertight bulkheads, was pierced to create a 'well' in which
seawater could circulate. Cod caught live were lowered into this
well, with their swim bladders pierced, and remained alive until
the vessel returned to port, when they were transferred to
semi-submerged 'chests,' effectively cages, which kept them alive
until they were ready for sale. At this point they were pulled out
and killed with a blow on the head before being despatched to
market, where because of their freshness they commanded a high
price. People who practised this method of fishing were known as
'codbangers.'
By 1850, there some 220 smacks, employing some
1,370 men and boys. The Barking boats of this period were typically
75 feet long carrying up to 50 tons. During the wars of the 17th
and 18th century they were often used as fleet auxiliaries by the
navy, based at nearby Chatham
Dockyard. The opening of direct rail links between the North
Sea ports and London meant it was quicker to transport fish by
train from these ports straight to the capital rather than waiting
for ships to take the longer route down the east coast and up the
River
Thames to Barking. In addition, by the 1850s the Thames was so
severely polluted that fish kept in chests quickly died.
Consequently, the Barking fishery slipped into decline in the
second half of the nineteenth century. The decline was hastened by
a storm in December 1863, off the Dutch coast, which caused the
deaths of 60 men, and damage estimated at £6-7000. Many of its
leading figures, including Hewett & Co, moved to Great
Yarmouth and to Grimsby. By 1900,
Barking had ceased to exist as a working fishing port, leaving only
a few street and pub names as a reminder of its former importance
to the town.
Other industries
Boat building has a long history at Barking, being used for the repair of some royal ships of Henry VIII. In 1848, 5 shipwrights, 4 rope- and line-makers, 6 sail-makers and 4 mast-, pump-, and block-makers are listed in a local trade directory. Hewett & Co continued in boat building and repair until 1899.Other industries replaced the nautical trades,
including jute spinning, paint and chemicals manufacture. By 1878
Daniel de Pass had opened the Barking Guano Works (later de
Pass Fertilisers Ltd, part of Fisons) at Creekmouth.
Creekmouth was also the site of the major Barking
Power Station from 1925 until the 1970s, burning coal shipped
in by river; the current station known as Barking is further east
near Dagenham
Dock. In the 20th century new industrial estates were
established, and many local residents came to be employed in the
car plant at Dagenham.
Thames disaster
On September 3rd, 1878 the iron ship Bywell Castle ran into the pleasure steamer in Galleons Reach, downstream of Barking Creek. The paddle steamer was returning from the coast, via Sheerness and Gravesend with nearly 800 day trippers on board. She broke in two and sank immediately, with the loss of over 600 lives, the highest ever single loss of civilian lives in UK territorial waters.At this time there was no official body
responsible for marine safety in the Thames, the subsequent enquiry
resolved that the Marine
Police Force, based at Wapping be equipped
with steam launches, to replace their rowing boats and be better
able to perform rescues.
London Riverside development
The London Riverside is a new development area in East London, and part of the larger Thames Gateway redevelopment zone.Barking Riverside
The Barking Riverside development is part of the larger London Riverside development, which aims to regenerate the riverside area of East London through providing new homes, jobs, and services. Barking Riverside is a 350 acre brownfield land and therefore needs site clearance and the removal of overhead power lines before it can go ahead. Construction is due to begin in 2008, and the development is due to be completed around 2025. It will construct 10,000 new homes in the area, which will house around 25,000 people. New transport links will also be provided, including as the East London Transit and the extension to the Docklands Light Railway at Barking Riverside DLR station. The development will also provide new public facilities, creating "a variety of living, working, leisure and cultural amenities". Two new primary schools and one secondary school will also be built. Residents of Barking and Dagenham will also gain access to use of 2 kilometres Thames river front for the first time.The current Barking Town Centre development has
an overall strategy and several aims. The regeneration intends to
achieve a more sustainable economy for Barking Town Centre by
investing in new quality retail outlets and by creating a business
centre. The regeneration aims to enable people to widen their
employment prospects, mainly through creating new "retail and
business accommodation" which will provide employment and increase
the income for both existing and new residents. The regeneration
also aims to improve people's skills. This is mainly achieved
through the Barking Learning Centre; which aims to improve
literacy, numeracy and other basic skills people may be lacking due
to a previous lack of educational development. It currently acts as
a borough-based learning facility.
The Barking Town Centre development also intends
to improve the quality and range of housing within the area. The
regeneration will aim to create 4,000 new homes in the Town Centre.
25% of these homes will be classed as intermediate housing, and
will therefore be affordable for local residents to buy. The will
also be 4,000 socially rented homes, making it easier for first
time buyers and people with low incomes to rent a property. To help
make the development more sustainable, all private sector homes are
to meet the Government’s decency standards by 2010.
Plans for the new town square were unveiled in
September 2007. The development is part of the Mayor of
London's 100 Public Spaces and includes an 80-metre long arcade
of chequerboard terrazzo, lit by 13 oversize
gold coloured "chandeliers" created by Tom Dixon, former Head of
Design at Habitat. There is also a fake ancient wall built by
bricklayers Supervised by Shane moss,steve johnson and paul moss of
excel brickwork using old bricks, crumbling white marble columns
and battered sculptures, reclaimed from architectural salvage
yards. The wall or "folly", known as the "Secret Garden", was
unveiled on 11th September 2007.