Langdon Park

From the mid C19th the site of Langdon Park was occupied by terraced housing (Wellington Street, Cobden Street), built after the opening of the North London Railway in 1852. Open land remained to the east of St Leonard's Road with St Michael and All Angels Church at that time set in partially rural surroundings. St Michael's was built in 1864–5 to serve the growing population and could accommodate 1,000 people, and its prominent tower with four illuminated clock faces was a local landmark. By the turn of the century housing covered the surrounding area and after WWII the Teviot Estate was built by Poplar Borough Council with a number of 9-storey blocks added in the mid-1950s. In 1959 the Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road was constructed, effectively bisecting this part of Poplar and cutting it off from the River Lea. Housing in the area had already suffered damage in the Blitz and large areas were now cleared. The OS Map of 1965 (surveyed 1963) shows the future site of the park partially empty of housing, although the existence of the park is not indicated. It appears to have been created as public recreational space in stages, Surrounded by suburban housing, Langdon Park provides important public open space for local residents and although not a historic park, it makes a valuable contribution to the area. 

The name for the park may have been chosen in honour of Father CG Langdon, who was Vicar of St Michael in the early 1920s. A pacifist and Socialist, Father Langdon may have been involved with George Lansbury and the Poplar Rates Rebels, although it was his two Curates John Groser and Jack Bucknell, who were the more radical. In 1971 the parish was united to that of All Saints, Poplar in the Poplar Team Ministry and the church remained in regular use until it was declared redundant in 1978. The church buildings were converted into residential use in c.1986, now named St Michael's Court. The nearby Langdon Park School originated as St Michael and All Angels’ Boys’ School and was established here by 1870. By 1882 the school had been renamed Byron School and, following rebuilding in 1907, it was renamed Hay Currie School in honour of Sir Edmund Hay Currie, a generous benefactor of the local church who had raised much of the funding needed to build St Michael's in 1864. The school was eventually re-named Langdon Park School in 1965 when it was amalgamated with Sir Humphrey Gilbert School in Limehouse.  

A bronze sculpture entitled 'The Pride of Poplar' was unveiled in the south-west corner of the park in 2014. Sculpted by Carl Payne, the bronze figure set on a stone plinth depicts Teddy Baldock, who was crowned World Bantamweight Boxing Champion when he defeated American boxer Archie Bell at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 May1927. Only 19 at the time he became the youngest world boxing champion to that date.

Langdon Park DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station opened in 2007.