Place Name
Takes its name from what was once the site of Becontree Archery, a 19thCentury archery ground with lodge, also know as Beaconsfield, where Charles Dickens is reputed to have given readings. In 1870 the lodge together with nearly 2 1/2 acres of land on the edge of Wanstead Park was bought by the Friends of Plaistow to establish a Quaker meeting house and burial ground using money donated by Joseph Gurney Barclay. Wanstead had a long held connection with the Quakers, who first acquired a meeting house somewhere in the area in 1673 but sold it in 1714, presumably when numbers of members fell. The Lodge was demolished in 1967 and the current Quaker Meeting House was built in 1968. Beacontrees were not uncommon, in times before big public buildings, they were convenient meeting points for large assemblies.
