Dagenham is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred 11+1⁄2 miles east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest in the north to the River Thames in the south. Dagenham remained mostly undeveloped until 1921, when the London County Council began construction of the large Becontree housing estate.