In our regular focus on monuments in the Borough, Julia Omari visits the Memorial Recreation Ground

The riveting history of the Hammers

West Ham United Football Club evolved from an earlier football team called Thames Ironworks Football Club, which was formed in 1895 and made up from members of staff working at the Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company in Canning Town.

The company originated from Ditchburn and Mare Shipbuilding Co in Deptford but moved east in 1837 then expanded to Canning Town. It became one of the most important shipyards of the 1800s, employing some 7000 workers at its height.

The work involved creating and shaping steel, building vessels and warships, including the HMS Warrior and HMS Albion, the latter of which sadly resulted in the death of 38 casualties at its launch in June 1898.

The constant sound of clanging could be heard coming from the shipyard as the riveting gangs banged away on the iron with their hammers, and it is from this action that West Ham takes its famous chant “Come on you Irons!”

The site that the Thames Ironworks FC played on from 1897 – and continued to play on under their new name of West Ham FC until 1904 when they moved to the Boleyn – is today a public park called Memorial Recreation Ground.

The park is home to eleven steel posts, titled The Hammers which are laid out to take the deck shape of the HMS Albion, in memory of those who died at her Bow Creek launch and also in memory of the skilled workers and the historical contribution they made to what was an important industry.

The steel posts are interactive and allow you to recreate the sound of the riveting gangs by pressing the hammer to the iron for yourself.

The work was created by Theresa Smith-Mooch and is funded by West Ham and Plaistow New Deal for Communities.

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