Place Name
Takes its name from two Old English words mearc and dīc meaning the boundary ditch. It was the original name of the River Beam, which was the boundary between the parishes of Dagenham and Hornchurch. Although the road name itself comes from Mardyke Farm, that originally stood in the northern section of this street. Mardyke was first recorded sometime around 1270 as Markediche and as Mardiche in 1589. According to the The Victoria County History of Essex: “The manor of Mardyke lay on the edge of the marsh about a half a mile south of Dagenham Bridge. It originated in a half a virgate of land which, early in the 13thCentury, Gillian, daughter of Ellis, carried in marriage to William of Mardyke. Much of what became Mardyke Farm has since been dug for gravel or used for housing. The tower blocks of the Mardyke housing estate built in the 1960s occupy part of the farm land.”
