Upminster Bridge

Upminster Bridge, Havering

The penultimate eastbound station on the District line, situated in the border country between Upminster and Hornchurch

The station’s name refers to the road bridge over the River Ingre­bourne at the foot of Upminster Hill. In 1782 the vestry board proposed a stone-built replace­ment for the old wooden bridge, but the plan was rejected. This proved a false economy because subse­quent timber repairs cost as much as the stone bridge would have done.

Construc­tion of a sturdier crossing had to wait until 1891, following heavy rain and disas­trous floods three years earlier in which the Bridge House Inn (now the Windmill, shown in the photo­graph above*) had been badly damaged. The new bridge was twice the width of its prede­cessor and had a time capsule of local documents and publi­ca­tions sealed into the foun­da­tions, seven feet below the road surface.

Nearby, spec­u­la­tive house-building began before the First World War and the area was fully developed by around 1930, with the station opening in December 1934. Replace­ments, ‘improve­ments’ and ongoing infilling have had a messy effect on the area’s domestic archi­tec­ture. The local shops, also a mixed bag, are mainly of the low rent variety.

Hornchurch stadium, on Bridge Avenue, was built in 1952. The stadium has athletics facil­i­ties and is home to Hornchurch FC.

Postcode areas: Hornchurch, RM11 and Upminster, RM14
Station: District line (zone 6)

* The picture entitled Passing The Windmill on this page is adapted from an original photograph, copyright Martin Addison, at Geograph Britain and Ireland, made available under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence. Any subsequent reuse is freely permitted under the terms of that licence.