Place Name
Named after the family of John le White, farmers in Aldborough Hatch in the 13thCentury, who were mentioned in documents dating from 1285. In medieval times this land formed part of Barking Abbey’s property holdings, though following its dissolution, the Crown conveyed it into private ownership. A Whites Farm in Oaks lane was built in 1860 and was known about 1901 to be selling its produce at Southwark market. By the late 19th and early 20th century, large areas of land, once part of private estates, were being sold for development. Whites Avenue, at the opposite end of Oaks Lane, was laid out after 1898.
