BARKING, a parish in the hundred of BECONTREE,
county of ESSEX, comprising the market-town
of Barking, and the wards of Chadwell, Ilford, and Ripple,
and containing 6374 inhabitants, of which number,
2580 are in the town of Barking, 23 miles (S. W.) from
Chelmsford, and 7 (N. E.) from London. The name
of this place, formerly written Barking, is by some considered
to be derived from the Saxon words Beorce, a
birch tree, and Ing, a meadow; by others from Berg-
Ing, signifying a fortification in the meadows, probably
from an ancient intrenchment, at the distance of about
a quarter of a mile, on the road to Ilford, of which
there are still considerable vestiges. It appears to have
been of an irregular quadrilateral form, enclosing an
area of more than forty-eight acres, defended on the
north, south, and east sides by a single, and on the
west side by a double, intrenchment, and having on
the north-west an outlet to a spring of fine water, protected
by a high mound of earth. The town derived
its ancient importance from a very extensive abbey,
founded in 670, by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, for
nuns of the Benedictine order, and dedicated to the
Virgin Mary, which was governed by a long succession
of abbesses, of whom many were of noble, and
some of royal, descent. In 870, Barking was burnt
by the Danes, the abbey destroyed, and the nuns (many
of whom were massacred) dispersed. The abbey was
afterwards rebuilt, about the year 970, by Edgar, whose
queen Elfrida presided over it after his decease: at the
dissolution its revenue amounted to £1084. 6. 2. Of
the conventual buildings there remains only the gateway,
over which is the chapel of the Holy Rood: the
arch is finely pointed, and enriched with deeply receding
mouldings; above is a canopied niche under a fine window
of three lights, the whole forming a square embattled
tower, with an octagonal turret at one of the
angles. It is called the Fire-bell gate, from its having
anciently contained the curfew. Among the ruins of
the abbey were found a fibula and a gold ring, on which
were engraved the Salutation of the Virgin and the
letters I. M. Soon after the Conquest, William retired
to this town, till the completion of the Tower of London,
which he was then building, to keep the citizens
in subjection; and here he was visited, during the preparation
for his coronation, by Earl Edwin of Mercia,
and Earl Morca of Northumberland, with many of the
English nobles, who swore fealty to him on the restoration
of their estates. The town is situated on the
small river Roding, which, after flowing in two branches,
unites with the Thames about two miles below. The
inhabitants are principally occupied in the fishery,
having a number of vessels which they send to the
Dutch and Scotch coasts, and, on their return, the fish
is sent to Billingsgate in smaller vessels. There is a
convenient wharf at Barking creek, which is navigable
to Ilford for ships of eighty tons' burden, by which
-the neighbourhood is supplied with coal and timber;
and near it is a large flour-mill, formerly belonging to
the abbey. Many hundred acres of land in the vicinity
are appropriated to the cultivation of potatoes for
the London market. The market is on Saturday: a
fair is held on October 22nd. Constables and other
officers for the town are appointed at a court leet, and
a court under the lord of the manor is held every third
Saturday, for the recovery of debts under 40*. The
town hall is over the market-house, an ancient building,
xihiefly of wood, erected in the -reign of Elizabeth, to
which a small prison is attached. The living is a vicarage,
in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of
London, rated in the king's books at £19. 8. II ., and
in the patronage of the Warden and Fellows of All
Souls' College, Oxford. The church is dedicated to
St. Margaret. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan
Methodists. Sir James Campbell, in 1641, bequeathed
£666. 13. 4. for founding and endowing a free school,
which sum was invested in the purchase of a rent-charge
of £20, on lands in the county of York. The schoolhouse,
having become ruinous, was taken down, and a
workhouse erected on its site, in which the children of
the poor are taught by a master and mistress, to whom
the rent-charge is paid. In 1686, John Fowke, Esq.
bequeathed certain estates for the maintenance of eight
boys in Christ's Hospital, London, two of whom are to
be chosen from this parish. National schools, for boys
and girls, are supported by subscription, and a few of
each sex are also clothed. An infant school, in which
there are one hundred children, has been recently established.
There are two unendowed almshouses, one
containing four tenements, the other six.