HAVERING Council has been awarded a £20,000 to digitise historic exhibits from Rainham.
The authority has been given the money by Veolia Havering Riverside Trust to make exhibits that tell the colourful story of the settlement's history more accessible to the public by putting them online.
The project, titled Rainham: a village near the Thames, will tell the history of Rainham, as well as the surrounding areas of South Hornchurch and Wennington.
It will specifically focus on its agricultural past and relationship with the River Thames.
It will also examine the story of the Church of Saint Helen and Saint Giles, the oldest building in Havering, established by the monks at Lesnes Abbey in Bexley.
It charts the development of the village in the 18th and 19th centuries and the growth of the district through the industries on the Thames and 20th-century suburban developments.
The digitised collection is expected to be available online before spring 2014, in line with the opening of the new Rainham Library.