Carpenters Road, Stratford

 
The origins of the Carpenters Road area go back to 1767, when the Worshipful Company of Carpenters purchased "a freehold farm consisting of 63 acres of marsh land lying in the parish of West Ham".  Stratford was a tiny village in Essex, and the farm sold vegetables and milk in London's markets.  The construction of a railway line through the area saw revenues from agricultural lands fall, prompting the Company to lease the land for industrial and residential use. In 1861 the first leases were taken, and trades such as matchmaking, linen manufacture, chemical processing and distilling developed on the estate.

 

Factories before and after the war included Clarnico’s; the timber firm Glixtens; Yardleys; the Fish Mill; Boake Roberts; Excel Pies; Jenson’s and Nicholsons and, tucked just into Warton Road, Rice’s the furriers.

 

As with so many of London's factories, most if not all these are no more.  The area itself is set to be subsumed into the Olympic Park by 2012.