Voters decide on new mural design for Barking!

More than 160 people voted on artist Jake Attewell's designs for a heritage wall in Short Blue Place, Barking.

All three designs were popular but just over half of the voters preferred his first mural design (see above). Jake said, 'I’m really pleased that so many voted and that the design was a crowd favourite. I’m really looking forward to getting started on the painting. Feel free to come down and say hello and to follow the project's progress on the Instagram page.

https://instagram.com/barkingheritagemuralandmosaic?igshid=1bxvd4c5229o1

Ninety years after the John H King draper's in East Street displayed landmark buildings and trades from Barking's heritage to celebrate the Barking Town Charter of 1931, Jake Attewell will create a contemporary 2021 take on Barking's heritage - much of it lost, but still valued by residents past and present.

At the apex of the wall there will be an illustration of early twentieth century East Street, including a tram which Jake hopes to illuminate and animate when the mural is launched in September. Below he has incorporated the Bascule Bridge which carried the trams over the Roding to Beckton Gas Works, once a vital transport link for many Barking people employed there. The Curfew Tower represents the only remaining part of Barking's once formidable Abbey - soon to be recreated as a bronze model in front of the Curfew Tower. To the left is Wellington Windmill (1815-1926) which once stood close to the London Road Bridge between the River Roding and Back River. The Roding flows through the design (as it does through Barking) to the quay, where fishing boats abounded when it was the country's busiest fishing port with the world's largest fleet. After the last of the Short Blue smacks, as they were known, and cutters had departed the quay, it remained important to the industries along the riverside and continues to be an attractive focal point for Barking today.

These elements were all part of the brief informed by the research undertaken by the project's Heritage Volunteers and a public survey on Barking's heritage, which took place last summer.

Alongside Jake's street-style mural, mosaic artist Tamara Fround will be creating a heritage trail leading from Abbey Green to Short Blue Place, depicting other lost heritage, such as the Tudor Market Hall/Leet House, maybe the jute weavers and spinners, classic high street stores and more.

A digital Barking Heritage Trail produced for the borough's Street Tag app is also due to launch this Spring to provide more information and photographs from the local archives at Valence House, an exciting update for walkers in the area who have access the app.

We are grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for funding this project, with support from Be First. We will keep you updated here, on the progress of the heritage wall and trail and launch event later in the year. If you would like to get involved, you can sign up on the Guest Book section of this web page.