HAM (EAST), a parish in the hundred of BECONTREE,
county of ESSEX, 6 miles (E.) from London, containing
1424 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in
the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated
in the king's books at & 14. 3. 9., and in the patronage
of the Bishop of London. The church, dedicated to
St. Mary Magdalene, is partly of Norman architecture.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.
The river Thames bounds the parish on the south-east,
and Bow creek separates the counties of Essex and
Middlesex on the west. An almshouse for three poor
men was erected and endowed with £40 per annum,
by Giles Breme, in 1621; besides which considerable
benefactions have been made, for various charitable
purposes, by the Latimer family and others -. There
is an old brick tower, fifty feet high, in the garden of
Greensted house, said to have been built by Henry VIII.,
for Anna Boleyn. Dr. Stukeley, the celebrated antiquary,
who died in 1765, is buried in the church-yard.