Marks Gate. At the northern tip of the borough, a municipal late 1950's dream.
The area is named after an historical entrance to Hainault Forest, found near the Manor of Mark. Around 600bc a fortified hilltop village was
established here, of which almost nothing remains but the hill itself. The medieval manor of Marks was one of Barking’s oldest free tenements (an estate held for life or longer), with its own manor court from the fourteenth century and special rights in Hainault Forest.
The estate is now, as it was then, mostly surrounded by fields of varying crops and the A12 road. Formal planning, spacious layouts and plenty of open space make this estate a real delight.
Officially opened by the Mayor, 1960.
The Mobile Museum will be visiting Marks Gate Estate on a number of days, including Tuesday 21st July. More finalised dates to be confirmed so watch this space, the calendar and upcoming eventbrite links.
Full details of these two events can be found here at the eventbrite page or in the calendar.
TUESDAY 21ST JULY 10 - 4 pm
THE MARKS GATE ARCHIVE
CREATIVE CAFE ARTIST TAKEOVER DAY
We will be making the beginnings of The Marks Gate Archive.People are invited to bring in any object, found or owned that they think best represents the estate or where they live. These could be a piece of tile, a leaf, a photograph, a piece of wallpaper from your home, rent books, picture frames, wedding ring, a momento and so on.
++ There is no right or wrong object ++
These will then be photographed in our make shift studio and collated alongside stories and experiences of living on the estate and objects that have been made in a fanzine for Marks Gate which you will be able to take home at the end of the day.
There will be a variety of materials available so that we can make our own objects as well, these will have been collected from the local area by Verity.
At the end of the day, the objects made will be either accessioned to the wider Mobile Museum borough wide collection or taken home with the participants.
Archive films of the borough will be shown on rotation throughout the course of the day.