Asbestosis
diamond geezer Monday, October 20, 2025 This monument popped up in the middle of Barking recently. I thought it was very recently but it was actually unveiled in April 2022 and I’m just not very observant. It says “In Memory of those who lost their lives because of exposure to asbestos”. And it’s here because Barking has one of the highest rates of asbestos-related deaths in the country. In 1913 the Cape Asbestos Company built a huge asbestos factory beside the River Roding in Barking. The company mined asbestos-bearing rock at several sites in South Africa, then shipped them in sacks to a private quay in Barking for processing. Hundreds of people were employed to mill the ore into usable fibres and then process these into lagging, packaging, pipes, resins, boards and…
