A history of Dagenham written in Edwardian times, when the parish was a rural Essex landscape of farms, fields and cottages stretching northwards as far as Hainault Forest. Industrial development was then confined to Dagenham Dock on the bank of the Thames. Yet the arrival of the railways and associated house building led the author to foresee a changed future: "In a few years Dagenham will lose its rural individuality, and be drawn into the relentless vortex of Greater London, and the fields, lanes, woodlands and green swards will disappear never to return."

The illustrations...