Editing Cranham (section)

==History==
===Toponymy===
{| class="wikitable" align="right" style=font-size:85%;margin-left:10px;
|+'''Cranham (parish) population'''
|-
!align="center"| 1881
|align="center"| 416
|-
!align="center"| 1891
|align="center"| 465
|-
!align="center"| 1901
|align="center"| 397
|-
!align="center"| 1911
|align="center"| 489
|-
!align="center"| 1921
|align="center"| 519
|-
!align="center"| 1931
|align="center"| 1,240
|-
!align="center"| 1941
|align="center"| war #
|-
!align="center"| 1951
|align="center"| 2,836
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2|# no census was held due to war
|-
|style="font-size:smaller" colspan=2 align=center|source: [[Census#United Kingdom|UK census]]<ref name="vision pop">{{cite vob | population=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10237919&c_id=10001043&add=N | area=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_AREA_ACRES&u_id=10237919&c_id=10001043&add=Y | density=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_rate_page.jsp?u_id=10237919&c_id=10001043&data_theme=T_POP&id=0 | name=Cranham | access-date=23 February 2010 }}</ref>
|}
Cranham is recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as comprising two manors.  The smaller was in the north of the parish, and called ''Craohv'' and in 1201 as ''Craweno''.<ref name="mills">{{ cite book | surname=Mills | first=D. | title=Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names | year=2000 | publisher=Oxford}}</ref> It means 'spur of land frequented by crows' and is formed from the [[Old English]] 'crāwe' and 'hōh'.<ref name="mills"/> The larger was the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] manor of Ockendon (''Wochenduna'')<ref name="parishes cranham"/> During the Middle Ages, and until around the 15th century, it was also known as '''Bishop's Ockendon''' because a large part of its area was owned by the [[Bishop of London]].<ref name="parishes cranham"/>

===Economic development===
The parish is recorded in 1086 as being heavily wooded, supporting an agrarian way of life.<ref name="parishes cranham"/> Forest clearance was well advanced by the 15th century, with an increase in population and arable land; and there was a mill in Cranham.<ref name="parishes cranham"/> Cranham lay on [[brick earth]] and this gave rise to the Cranham Brick and Tile Company which was in operation from 1900 to 1920.<ref name="parishes cranham"/> Drury has suggested that early trade was with the nearby settlements of [[Romford]] and [[Hornchurch]] and with London via the [[River Thames]] at [[Rainham, London|Rainham]].<ref name="conservation drury"/>

===Local government===
[[File:Romford rural 1931.PNG|thumb|left|1931: Cranham (5) within [[Romford Rural District]], adjoining Upminster (4) and Great Warley (3)]]
Cranham formed an ancient parish of {{convert|1879|acres|sqkm}} in the [[Chafford (hundred)|Chafford]] hundred of [[Essex]].<ref name="vision pop"/> The vestry met in the church until 1829 and then at the parish workhouse.<ref name="parishes cranham"/> In 1836 the parish was grouped for poor relief into the Romford [[Poor Law Union]] and for sanitary provision in 1875 into Romford [[Sanitary district|rural sanitary district]].<ref name="vision parish">{{cite vob | url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10237919&c_id=10001043 | name= Cranham parish | map=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/boundary_map_page.jsp?u_id=10237919&c_id=10001043 | access-date=23 February 2010}}</ref> The sanitary district became [[Romford Rural District]] from 1894 and a parish council was formed to replace the vestry.

The parish formed part of the [[London Traffic Area]] from 1924 and the [[London Passenger Transport Board|London Passenger Transport Area]] from 1933.<ref name=robson>{{Cite book|title=The Government and Mis-government of London |last=Robson |first=William |year=1939 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=London }}</ref> To reflect the significantly increased population in the area, Romford Rural District was abolished in 1934 and Cranham was amalgamated with neighbouring parishes into [[Hornchurch Urban District]].<ref name="hornchurch economic">{{Cite book| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42811 | publisher=[[British History Online]] | title=Hornchurch: Economic history and local government, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 |series= [[Victoria County History]] | year=1978 | author=Powell, W.R. (Edr.)  | access-date=23 February 2010}}</ref> The parish council was abolished and Hornchurch Urban District Council became the local authority. There was a revision of boundaries with [[North Ockendon]], which had been part of [[Orsett Rural District]], absorbed into Cranham and a small area to the north, near [[Great Warley]], transferred to [[Brentwood Urban District]].<ref name="vision parish"/>

In 1965 Hornchurch Urban District was abolished and its former area was transferred from Essex to [[Greater London]], to be combined with that of the [[Municipal Borough of Romford]] in order to form the present-day [[London Borough of Havering]].<ref name=vob_havering_lb>{{cite vob |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10166913&c_id=10001043 |name=Havering London Borough |access-date=23 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211082200/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10166913&c_id=10001043 |archive-date=11 February 2009 }} </ref> In 1993 the [[List of Greater London boundary changes|Greater London boundary]], to the east of Cranham and north of the railway line, was locally realigned to the [[M25 motorway]], returning some mostly unpopulated areas of open land to Essex and leaving [[North Ockendon]] as the only part of Greater London outside the bounds of the motorway.<ref name="opsi">{{Cite web| url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1993/Uksi_19931218_en_1.htm | title=Essex and Greater London (County and London Borough Boundaries) (No.2) Order 1993 | publisher=Office of Public Sector Information |year=1993 | access-date= 23 February 2010 }}</ref>

===Urban development===
[[File:Osm cranham map.png|thumb|Map of Cranham]]
In the 17th and 18th centuries manorial homes, including [[Cranham Hall]], became attractive properties for merchants from the [[City of London]].<ref name="conservation drury">{{Cite web|url=http://www.havering.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=7554 |title=Cranham Conservation Area: Character Appraisal and Management Proposals |publisher=Havering London Borough Council |author=The Paul Drury Partnership |date=February 2007 |access-date=23 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608192030/http://www.havering.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=7554 |archive-date=8 June 2011 }}</ref> Initial attempts to expand the suburban estates from Upminster in the early 20th century ran into problems because of the lack of water supply.<ref name="parishes cranham"/> In 1922 sewage works for Upminster and Cranham were opened in Great Warley.<ref name="local upminster">{{Cite book| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42830 | title=Upminster: Local government and parliamentary representation, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 | series= [[Victoria County History]] | publisher=[[British History Online]] | author=Powell, W.R. (Edr.) | year=1978 | access-date=23 February 2010}}</ref> In the 1930s land was used to develop some council housing and following the sale of the Benyon estate the pace of new building quickened. Cranham's location on the very edge of London's urban sprawl is explained by the halting effect on suburban house building of the introduction of the [[Metropolitan Green Belt]] and [[World War II]].<ref name="conservation drury"/><ref name="parishes cranham"/> Thereafter building took place within the area bounded by the Southend Arterial Road in the north and St Mary's Lane in the south; and there were 615 council houses built by 1971.<ref name="parishes cranham"/>