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Harold Hill takes its name after Harold Godwinson. Also known as Harold II, he was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. He ruled at the beginning of the 11th century. This RM3 area formed from Harold Wood and Noak Hill. Dagnam Park in Harold Hill sits on the former Dagnam estate. The present-day park is what remains of the grounds of the manor of Dagnams. The park is now a local nature reserve. In 1947, 850 acres of land from the estate were bought by the London City Council to build the Harold Hill estate. Central Park is another green space in this area.
Carter’s Brook and Paine’s Brook are tributaries of the River Ingrebourne. They run through the middle of this East London area. Harold Hill does not have a railway station. Residents use the nearby station at Harold Wood. This is one of the stations on the Elizabeth Line Crossrail. The nearest tube station is at Upminster. Several London buses serve Harold Hill. There are several educational facilities in the area. Many were built in the 1960s due to the baby boom that followed World War II. Some of the schools merged.
Drapers’ Academy in Harold Hill is the first academy in the borough of Havering. It sits on the site of the King’s Wood School. Drapers’ Academy opened in 2010 and it is one of England’s fastest-improving schools. When the Queen visited this area in 2012 for the first time, the school was among the visit’s objectives. Harold Hill Festival is held each year in July. The festival was mentioned by singer Ian Dury in This Is What We Find song. Radio Harold Hill was established in 2013. This local radio has also online and mobile broadcasts. The local football club takes the name of the area. It plays in the Mid-Essex Premier Division. The club was founded in 1947. Its home ground is Henderson Sports.