Maudslay Son and Field

November 5, 2019, 9:58 pm

MAUDSLAY SONS AND FIELD – ENGINEERING PIONEERS

Notice of Conference held in 2001

Thursday July 26th 2001 10.30am-4.30pm

Seminar: Maudslay, Sons & Field and the first Kew Engine

A seminar exploring the Lambeth based engineering firm Maudslay, Sons and Field. Best known for their marine engines and the founder, Henry Maudslay's reputation as the father of modern engineering, the seminar will also examine to complex history of the museum's 1838 beam engine, which is believed to be the only non-rotative Maudslay beam engine remaining.

Speakers confirmed to date include Richard Maudslay (great, great grandson of Henry Maudslay), Dr Denis Smith, Dr Mary Mills and John Porter. Papers will embrace a number of themes including the Maudslay family; a history of the company and its impact on the British manufacturing industry; Maudslays shipyard in Greenwich and a historical study of the museum's 1838 Maudslay beam engine probably the last surviving Cornish engine built by the company. This engine will be operated under steam for delegates during the seminar.

Cost including lunch £45, £40 seniors & members of the Kew Bridge Engines Trust.

Places limited, early booking recommended

Fee includes delegate pack, morning coffee, buffet lunch and afternoon tea. In addition all delegates will be able to view the museum and attend an early evening private view of the museum's exhibition

Henry Maudslay has been called the father of the machine tool And was widely respected by many prominent engineers of his time such as Brunel and Telford. Although he died in 1831, his sons continued his successful engineering business and in 1838 supplied the first pumping engine for the Grand Junction Water Works' new Kew Bridge pumping station, now the Kew Bridge ,Steam Museum.

However Maudslay is one of the 'forgotten' engineers, his reputation eclipsed by the more flambuoyant Brunel.

This exhibition will examine Henry's life and work and his continuing legacy and its impact on many aspects of life which we take fro granted today.

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Nichols Lime Kilns/ Crown Fuel

November 5, 2019, 10:12 pm

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A UNIQUE SITE AT CHARLTON

Nichols's Lime Kilns, later the Crown Fuel Company

and Greenwich Pottery

by Barbara Ludlow

For hundreds of years, chalk was dug at Greenwich_,Charlton, and Woolwich to be burnt in lime kilns. There were many kilns on the lower slopes of Blackheath Hill and until the beginning of the nineteenth century Greenwich South Street was known as Limekiln Lane. Two other notable sites were Charlton Church Lane and the part of Woolwich, which was later to become Frances Street.

Lime was essential to the brick and tile making industries. It was also used when making mortar and manure, however, when Thomas Nichols left Dartmouth, Devon to settle in New Charlton in the late 1840s much of the local chalk was built over or worked out_.Even so he established himself as a carpenter and lime merchant in Hardens Manorway. Nichols' business prospered and in the mid-1860s, he moved to a site between the North Kent Railway line and Woolwich Road.

Here_,on the eastern side of Charlton Church Lane and close to the fairly new Charlton Station he concentrated on lime burning. Thomas moved his family into 444 Woolwich Road, promptly named the house 'Lime Villa' and had two Staffordshire style bottle kilns built. The Business could not rely on local quarries so he brought in limestone from Riddlesdown Quarry, near Whyteleafe in Surrey. The 1871 Census shows Nichols employed thirteen men and that they also lived close to the works_.

Eventually the business passed to Fred Nichols, and in the early 1920s, the then owner Eric Nichols sold the premises. Lime burning was finished in Charlton but the buildings and bottle kilns, with a chalk capital ^'N' set in the neck of both, were purchased by the Crown Fuel Company to produce heating elements for gas fires. In 1950, the Festival of Britain seems to have inspired the Company to branch out into pottery and use the kilns for making decorated ware and small figures of animals, mostly dogs. These goods marked ^'Greenwich Pottery' were for export only but they were advertised in the 1951 Greenwich Festival Guide.

Towards the end of the 1950s production ceased but a bottle kiln of c1868 and buildings of about the same date were left. Everything was demolished in 1965 and Barney Close, Charlton, was built over the site. Before the buildings were demolished an Industrial Archaeologist surveyed the site and a photograph of c1872 was discovered. Nichols is seated and behind him stand five of his workers.A photograph was taken of the attractive mid-Victorian bottle kiln before it was demolished.

This article appeared in the May 2001 GIHS Newslettre

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Reviews and snippets May 2001

November 5, 2019, 10:22 pm

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Reviews and snippets May 2001

THE SPREAD EAGLE AT GREENWICH

By Richard F.Moy

This booklet, by one of our members, Dick Moy, traces the history of his business premises – the Spread Eagle on the corner of Stockwell and Nevada Streets.

There are many remarkable illustrations from Dick's collection – in particular posters of Dan Leno, who lived on site for a while. The building as a pub on this site dates from the seventeenth century – and Dick has traced the Eagle Tavern on this site back to the end of the Tudor era. It closed in 1922 and Dick bought it in 1964 – since when he has uncovered many relics of the building's past.

GLIAS NEWSLETTER APRIL 2001

The back page of the current GLIAS Newsletter contains an article by Jack Vaughan about the demise of the cranes on Lovell's Wharf (hopefully we all know about that already!). Inside is an article about the new Waltham Abbey site and a review of the book about Stanley's Instruments.

THE GUIDE MAGAZINE

The April 2001 issue contains an article in Peter Kent's inimitable style on family history on the river. This means in effect that Peter has illustrated and described the families of those who run the river launches between Greenwich and the rest of the world. The Thames has always operated on family networks – here is your chance to find out more about them.

The May 2001 Guide contains a particularly interesting and important article by Peter Kent. This is about riverside cranes – he points out their value as landmarks as well as useful pieces of machinery. He notes the disappearance of the Lovell's Wharf cranes, and reminds us that they were used relatively recently in the building of the Jubilee Line. He also notes the disappearance of Samson and Delilah – floating cranes – and reminds us of the continued importance of the still-working Stotherd and Pitt crane at Deptford Creek.

The issue also has an extremely interesting article by Neil Rhind on the Post Office in Blackheath. This has some fascinating details, like the mid-nineteenth century illiterate post mistress in Dartmouth Row!

CROSSNESS RECORD

The Spring 2001 Crossness Record is now with us. The issue contains an obituary to Arthur Green – a long time supporter of the project (who at the age of 94 sailed in the last voyage of MV Hounslow to the Black Deep). News of work on the engines continues – the parallel linkage mechanism for the HP/IP cylinder on Prince Consort are in place but there have been some problems. The work needed now is to the replace the counterbalance weights. Work continues on the steam pipes and the boiler room which now only needs its doors. Painting continues and it is hoped to install a pump in the octagon basement.

There is also an article on the communities which once lived at Crossness and an article on 'Pumping Engines for Draining Purposes' published in 1883.

THE MERCURY

Surprisingly Tony Lord took a hint from us and decided to write an article about Merryweathers – the Greenwich Fire Engine manufacturers. He says that he found Merryweather engines in Lisbon – but we know that they were in lots and lots of other places too.

BYGONE KENT

Vol 22.No.4. Includes an article about the Ravensbourne and Deptford Creek – but in its country walks mode rather than as an industrial river.

NEW CROSS NEWS

Although this publication is fundamentally Lewisham based it contains several articles of interest to Greenwich people. There are notes on planning battles with reference to the Gala Bingo Hall at New Cross in the ex-Southern Railway Engineering Yard, on the Seager Site at Deptford Bridge (right on the Greenwich border) and on Convoys Wharf (also on the borders).

There is also a review of a book on the slave trade 'Longest Journey. A History of Black Lewisham. The article is by Jess Steele and pulls out some of the items in the book which are particularly relevant to Deptford. Much of the wealth which England enjoyed was based on slavery and many of those beautiful ships which left London River were actually slavers – something we must never forget!

SOUTH EASTERN RAMBLER

Carries a front-page article on the riverside walk from Woolwich to Crossness (plus a picture of the closed bit through the Arsenal – hopefully to opened in early May). It is to be called 'The Thames Path Extension' (does that mean that the Thames below Woolwich doesn't count as 'real' Thames). Inside there is more detail – round the Arsenal site and then along the 'boring concrete promenade' to Crossness where they describe the pathway as 'unfortunate' and on to Erith.

GREENWICH YACHT CLUB

It is understood that a new history of Greenwich Yacht Club has now been published – any one with any details is encouraged to write a review.

ROYAL ARSENAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARTEFACTS PASSED TO THE BOROUGH

At the Greenwich Council meeting on 25^thApril it was agreed to accept the collection of artefacts a collection of items saved from the Royal Arsenal on its closure. Although only a tiny fraction of what the Arsenal contained they are hopefully an interesting selection.

GREENWICH BOROUGH HONOURS THE DEAD IN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

Workers' Memorial Day in Greenwich

On Monday 30th April a ceremony was held to mark Workers' Memorial Day at the Town Hall in Woolwich. The main theme for this year is asbestos and the event comprised a Health & Safety Exhibition, with stalls provided by the Central Occupational Health and Safety Unit, GMB, T&G and Unison trade unions, and the Health & Safety Executive.

There was also a short ceremony to dedicate a plaque to commemorate those who have died in accidents at work. Speakers were the Mayor of Greenwich, the Leader of the Council, Clive Efford MP, and Cllr. Jim Gillman.

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Letters May 2001

November 5, 2019, 10:30 pm

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Letters May 2001

LETTERS

From Barbara Ludlow

I see that Ted Barr (March issue) has put Fry's Tool Makers in his list of engineering firms. There was also Fry Bros Ltd., Norman Road, Greenwich, S.E. Body Builders, Motor Engineers, and General Engineering. They made private bodies, bus bodies, trailers and Char-a-bancs. They were probably part of the Fry's in Catherine Grove but I have not checked this out. The advert I have is c.1934.

Also worth adding to the list would be Grafton's Engineering Factory, Footscray Road, and Eltham. They made spools for typewriter ribbons, adding machines, zip fasteners and radio valve pins. All made in a factory hidden by a façade purpose built to look like a large country house. In front of the building was a large garden with a tennis court to create the impression of 'gracious living'. Built in 1919 it was demolished in 1988 to make way for a B&Q store. This must have been a fairly unique piece of architecture.

From David Riddle.

Are you aware that an aluminium information board has finally been placed on the refurbished wharf downstream from the Amylum silos? Very interesting reading... but sad to say it has already has graffiti painted over the middle section.

The Victoria Deep Water Terminal has been completely tidied up. Especially of note is the clearance of the first part as you do the left turn off the old 'alley'. The old fence/concrete slabs have been taken down and there is now a clear view across the A102 to the Dome.

Huge activity at the Sand and Gravel works. Two large boats being off-loaded, and one smaller one at a new conveyor at the eastern end of the site (making three now) just before you get to Cory's. Perhaps a mention of this 'revival' of the wharves in the next Newsletter? I note that the East Greenwich Framework new draft shows the great need for further gravel and road stone wharves in the area.

From Richard Cook

Re: the article in the previous newsletter about the Stanley Works at Eltham.

I have a Fullers No.2. calculator made by Stanley and found your article when researching its history. The article has hopefully given me a starting point for the research and would be grateful for any information/photos of the works at New Eltham.

From Denis H McClusky

I linked to your excellent and informative site from the Greenwich Council website. I've been to one of your interesting meetings last year and then unfortunately lost touch. There's a reference to Bob Jeffries River Thames Guide on your website and you wanted to know about obtaining copies.

From John Bowles

I am enclosing the latest leaflet fro the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey. Sadly, the opening has had to be postponed due to the foot and mouth restrictions – because of the large number of deer at the north end of the site. I will let you know when the new opening date is decided. We'll probably follow the Lea Valley Park's re-opening date.

From Jack Vaughan

AREAS OF CONCERN

Two areas of concern to all those who care for local history both industrial and domestic – re. The item by John Bowles in our last issue. 'There is a proposal to set up a museum at the Ministry of Defence Depot at Glascoed near Usk (p.5 of newsletter March 2001, Vol.4., No.2.) with items from 'other sites'– like Woolwich and Waltham Abbey.'

We must be prepared to fight for Arsenal History!

The other concern is that new procedures for listed buildings are being introduced. A very dangerous aspect is that permission to demolish listed buildings other than Grade One and Grade Two-Star will be in local authority hands. The indifference of Greenwich Council to preservation attempts by local societies such as ours could result in the destruction of things which we might like to see kept. Increased vigilance is imperative.

Lovells Wharf – readers may have followed either in the local press or our newsletters the scandalous destruction of two cranes on the above site. In the News Shopper a Council spokesman said "The Council expressed disappointment about the demolition of the cranes." We now have to hand a copy of the Greenwich Peninsula Planning Statement March 2001. Thus para 2.15. "Within the East Greenwich Riverside there are a number of proposals that have been prepared and are or will be the subject of further consideration. These include the development of Lovell's Wharf for an hotel and retail leisure based uses" .

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Armoury Mill

November 5, 2019, 10:36 pm

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MORE ABOUT THE ARMOURY MILLS AT LEWISHAM

BY BERYL WILLIAMS

(This article is reproduced from the Spring 2001 edition of 'Industrial Heritage' with their permission and appeared om the GIHS Newsletter May 2001)

The note from Peter Jenkins (GIHS Newsletter) was taken from Board of Ordnance records made at the time of the Napoleonic Wars [1793 to 1815]. By 1802, there had been a huge increase in the number of our fighting men and a subsequent increase in the number of muskets required to arm them. For hundreds of years the Board of Ordnance, from its HQ in the Tower of London, had been responsible for procuring high quality weapons for the Army, and a system had evolved whereby the muskets were usually obtained by contract from independent armourers. In both London and Birmingham, there were large numbers of small arms manufactories; some providing complete muskets hut many making individual components to be assembled elsewhere, as and when required. Rigorous inspection schedules maintained quality, but in times of shortage, extra muskets and other small arms had to be 'bought in' from merchants and, on occasions, the Board of Ordnance had had to send out Officers to procure large numbers from abroad.

The small arms situation became quite desperate. Not only was there a shortage of muskets, but there had been a steady decline in quality, due to the piecemeal nature of their procurement. The Board of Ordnance decided to take more control over both the quantity and quality, and took steps to set up its own manufacturing capabilities. In 1802, a suitable site, in Northamptonshire was found and land was purchased with the intention of building a small arms manufactory to provide 50,000 muskets annually this was not built but the plan was not abandoned until 1807. In the meantime, in 1804, the Tower of London workshops began assembling parts which had been manufactured elsewhere, some of this work being undertaken outside the walls on the premises of a Mr. Fullard, a gunsmith. In the same year, a new quality control department was created in Birmingham, consisting of eight civilian staff, headed by an Inspector of Small Arms (Major James Miller RA, salary £440 per annum).

The site.

Standing in an acre of land alongside the Ravensbourne River, in Lewisham, there was a recently vacated armoury mill, already under control of the Board of Ordnance. Records show it was an armoury mill, as early as 1371. When, in 1530 King Henry VIII gained possession of the Manor of Lewisham, this mill became Crown Property and did the grinding for the armoury workshops at nearby Greenwich Palace, where high quality suits of armour for Henry's famous Tilt Yard there, were made. By 1637, it had fallen into disrepair but was taken over by potters who used two sets of stones to grind colours for their earthenware. As a result of a reorganisation of responsibilities in 1671, the mill passed to the Office of Ordnance and by 1695, it was a working armoury mill again the lessee being an armourer called Bolden. During the next hundred years, it continued to be leased to a number of independent armourers who were contracted to the Board, including Robert Parker [1707 to 1712], Thomas Hollier [1716 to 1753], Richard Hornbuckle [1756 to 1784] and Jonathon Hennem [1784 to 1805]. These lessees adapted to making different patterns of muskets and other arms, as demand required, and also undertook some refurbishment work and repairs. The 21 year-lease of the last lessee Jonathon Hennem terminated in 1805.

In 1807, Capt. Mulcaster, a Royal Engineer based at the Royal Powder Mills at Faversham, was put in charge of converting this old Armoury Mill in Lewisham into the Board of Ordnance small arms manufactory which became known as the Royal Armoury Mills. He brought with him from Faversham a Clerk of Works (Mr. Borden), an Overseer (Mr. Creed), and a Foreman of Bricklayers (Mr. Barnes). As well as grinding-mills, workshops and storehouses, the building programme included a proof house, roads and a bridge, two houses for foremen and six cottages. Manufacturing started in March 1808, but the building work was not all completed until the following year, when Mr. Tull, the Principal Clerk of Works at the Tower of London, took over responsibility for the site and Capt. Mulcaster and his team returned to their duties at Faversham Powder Mills.

Grinding mills and machines to produce the parts for up to, 50,000 muskets a year were installed. Power to grind these 50,000 barrels and make the 50,000 locks, rammers and bayonets, was supplied by waterwheels set up in the Ravensbourne and by a steam engine bought from Messrs Lloyd & Ostell at a cost of £2,400. The civilian Superintendent of the works was a very experienced Ordnance Officer, Mr J Colegate, who had been one of the Officers sent into Europe to procure arms in 1779.

By 1810, besides salaried Civil Officers concerned with administration, there were 156 man working in the mill - 3 foremen viewers, 24 artificers, 82 lock filers, 4 barrel filers, 4 barrel borers, 7 barrel grinders, 10 barrel forgers, 13 others and 9 labourers. The daily rates were 7/- for foremen and viewers, from 3/- to 4/6 for artificers and from 2/-- to 2/6 for all the rest. In 1811, the capacity was increased when the Tower of London facility' [mainly assembling 'Brown Bess' muskets] was moved here and in the following year, additional lathes were installed to further increase output.

Post Waterloo

Following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo on June 18th 1815, the demand for muskets evaporated with an immediate effect on the Armoury Mills at Lewisham within a month the output was halved, and by the following year over 100 workers had been discharged. A barrel grinding department was transferred to the recently erected Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock on the River Lea and Mr Colegate was transferred there to become its first superintendent. The rest of the work soon followed and the Lewisham manufactory was reduced to a repair depot, soon to he abandoned as a Board of Ordnance establishment and sold in 1819

The Sell Off

On passing into private hands, there was a complete change of use. The complex became known as the 'Silk Mills', but this name belied the specialist nature of the textile work undertaken there. Behind the massive gates and high walls [built to provide security for the former Ordnance workshops], gold and silver lace for Officers' uniforms, and gold cloth and brocades were being manufactured. There were many changes over the ensuing years, but the production of textiles, of one sort or another, continued on the site, although the old mill buildings ceased to be used and were completely derelict when the whole area was flattened by bombs, during the Second World War,

Sources

Board of Ordnance Papers WO 46/2596, WO 47/44, WO 4712600, WO 47/2658.

O.F.G.Hogg. The Royal Arsenal. 1963.

De Witt Bailey. 1999. British Board of Ordnance Small Arms Contractors 1689 to 1840.

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Thames Street Gas Works

November 6, 2019, 2:13 am

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THAMES STREET GAS WORKS,

GREENWICH

(This article is reproduced from the March 2001 edition of GasLight with their permission, and appeared in the May 2001 GIHS Newsletter)

East Greenwich Gas Works is well known, not just as the site of the Dome but also as the major gasworks, initially of the South Metropolitan Gas Company and later of the South Eastern Gas Board. Opened in 1887 it was to rival the Gas Light and Coke Company's Beckton works across the River Thames but hidden in its shadow is the original Greenwich gasworks sometimes known as West Greenwich but more correctly styled Thames Street.

Two Journal articles from 1944 reveal details not only of the works but, again, of those family connections which was such a feature of the old gas industry.

THAMES STREET - Another Link with the Past Broken

In 1938 the Company disposed of Bankside the original works of the old Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas works to be constructed in London south of the Thames, We have now to record that another of the Phoenix works, that at Thames Street has been sold.

These works have served their purpose and the demands of a modern gas industry have outgrown them, and can be better served by the extensive works at East Greenwich where there is ample room for development.

The conveyance of the property to the Phoenix Company is dated the 12th October, 1824, in which it is described as market garden, osier bed and wet dock, situated on the mouth of the River Ravensbourne (Deptford Creek). One hundred and twenty years ago George IV was on the throne; Charles Dickens was at a private school in Hampstead, after having spent two years working in a blacking warehouse while his father was in Marshalsea Prison for debt; and Napoleon had been dead three years.

On the 1st January 1880, the Phoenix Company was absorbed by the South Metropolitan Gas Company and with it came the works at Bankside, Vauxhall and Thames Street

Gas making at Thames Street was ended on 8th January, 1926, and following that, the works were used for the storage of gas-purifying material, and as a district sub-stores. The Company is retaining the sub-stores for a time.

CoPartnership Journal August/October 1944

RECOLLECTIONS OF THAMES STREET

It is not without regret that I read in the last issue of the CO-PARTNERSHIP Journal that another link with the past had been broken. Thinking that what I can recollect of Thames Street Works may interest a few I am putting on paper some matters brought to mind by the breaking of the link. In January, 1864, I was born at Thames Street, my grandfather, David Hunter, then having the management of the works and my father being foreman.

My grandfather's house was near to the Meter House, and my father lived in the house occupied until recently by Mr. King. My grandfather had a nice garden (also a grazing ground for goats) between his house and No.4 gasholder. An early recollection, perhaps the earliest, is that of seeing work being done in the meter house, and wondering what it meant. It was the installing of governor - Until then the pressure in the district mains had been regulated by a man watching a gauge and adjusting a valve to counteract the changes shown by the gauge.

The Coal Lift was a rather primitive piece of wooden plant. Its form was that of sheer legs. The skip could be lowered into the hold of the ship when the legs were horizontal, and its contents could be tipped into a truck when they were vertical. The peculiarity of this lift was that it had no engine. It was driven, by means Of rather complicated gearing, by an engine connected with the exhausters. The Stage Retort House was built but not brought into use. Ground at Norman Road had been acquired (about half the present area) and what was then considered a large gasholder (No.8) had been erected. Such was Thames Street when I was a small boy.

In October, 1887, my father went to Woolwich as Engineer to the Consumers Company, but I did not lose touch with the old works until (I Think) 1872, when my grandfather retired.

I was in the service of the Woolwich Company when it was absorbed by the South Metropolitan Company in 1885. Late in that year I was moved to Thames Street, and the changes I found there were very marked. The old Coal Lift was gone, and in its place hydraulic cranes formed what was considered one of the best lifts on the Thames. Steamers of 800 tons, or more, could be unloaded in less time than vessels of 200 tons with the old lift.

Purifiers stood where my grandfather's house had been, and what was once a nice garden had become a place for revivifying purifying material. Two small gasholders had disappeared from the works, but the loss of them was more than met by a second holder (larger than No.8) at Norman Road The daily make of gas had increased from under a million cubic feet to three times that quantity.

The late Mr Braidwood was the Engineer, and while I was there he made a number of changes. Perhaps the most noticeable of them was a revolution of the carbonising plant through his keen interest in the development of inclined retort. He invented and patented a catch for Morton's retort doors. It was an excellent little gadget, for, as all adjustment could be made by it, the unsatisfactory, eccentric bolt in the centre of the crossbar was done away with.

For about thirty years Thames Street was the home of the Lighterage Department. That department had its beginning in 1887, when the Company's first tug, the "George Livesey" was launched. The Company owned only a few barges then, but their number increased so rapidly that a second tug was soon needed. This was the "T.B.Hawthorn," and it was not very long before it was followed by the "Partnership."

Much could be written about the strike of 1889 - I will only say that it was a time of intense anxiety and very hard work.

The old works was the place where several engineers who made their mark in the industry received their training. Among them were two nephews of my grandfather, John Somerville (Maidstone, Dublin and Bank side) and Robert Hunter (Stalybridge and Chester), while under the late Mr Wates, who preceded Mr. Braidwood, our late President, Dr. Carpenter, was a pupil.

J.D.C.Hunter, CoPartnership Journal November/December 1944

(J.D.C.Hunter was to be the Chief Clerk at West Greenwich and went on to become An Employees director under the SMGC Co-partnership scheme.)

Gaslight was published by the North West Gas Historical Society,

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Billingsgate Dock

November 6, 2019, 3:00 am

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BILLINGSGATE DOCK

by Richard Cheffins

Reg Barter, in his article on Billingsgate Dock in Greenwich industrial history, Vol. 4, No. 2, asks for comments on its current legal status. I can help to some extent though my conclusions are in part based on inference rather than on documentary evidence. I can, at least, clarify the status of the ‘strange and obscure Act of Parliament’ that he mentions.

The Greenwich Hospital act 1850 (13&14 Vic., cap. 24) is, in law, a ‘public act’ – the final section (§ 21) states ‘This act shall be deemed a public act and shall be judicially taken notice of as such …’. The text can therefore be found in the sessional volumes of Public general acts (Vol. for 13&14 Victoria [1850], pp.237-52). It is not referred to in the Index to the London government act 1963 and orders made thereunder as it doesn’t qualify for inclusion, and it is omitted from Halsbury’s Statutes as the latter is not comprehensive (‘There are, however, … certain minor acts deliberately excluded …’ Preface). In fact, exclusions are more numerous than this might suggest and public acts of a local character are exclude as being ‘of limited interest’ (‘local acts’ as such are excluded altogether – the scope being ‘statutes’, i.e. public acts). It is unlisted in the Chronological table of local Legislation because it is not ‘local legislation’. This requires some explanation.

Plainly, in reality, the act is very local but it was not issued in the series ‘Local and personal acts’. There are only two types of bills – public (introduced within Parliament and seeking to define or alter the general law of the land) and private (introduced by petition from outside Parliament and seeking privileges or exemptions for the petitioner from the general law without altering the generality). Originally, public bills, if passed became public acts and were published while private bills became private acts and remained unpublished. As the Industrial Revolution developed, it became increasingly inconvenient for a wide range of private acts (canal, turnpike, harbour and railway acts and others) to remain unpublished. Moreover, in a court of law such acts were only ‘evidence’ and had to be proved by providing the court with a certificate from the Clerk of the Parliaments stating that the transcript provided was a true and accurate copy of the Original Act in his possession. To avoid this and to ensure publication, it became the practice during the 18th century to insert a clause in such bills deeming the resulting acts to be public. Such ‘pretend’ public acts began to out-number real ones and, in 1797, they were formed into an entirely separate class of acts known as ‘Local and personal acts’.

Even then, not all acts of a local character and originating as private bills were issued as Local and personal acts. Some, of course, remained private but others were public general acts and the reason for this (if we ignore simple error) is various. ‘Local’ acts with major financial implications (e.g. the Cardiff Bay barrage act 1993) or likely to affect most of us (e.g. the Channel tunnel act 1987) will be public and many London-wide acts are also public but the act concerned is ‘public’ for a different reason. Greenwich Hospital is a royal (i.e. state) charity and legislation concerning it is considered ‘national’ and therefore qualifies as public and general. There are numerous Greenwich Hospital acts and all are public.

The 1850 act is therefore indexed in the Index to the statutes, under ‘Greenwich Hospital’ (proving it to be still in force) and listed in the Chronological table of the statutes under ‘13&14 Vic., cap 24’. It is listed there in bold, indicating again that it is considered in force but this is followed by an asterisk (*), signifying that it considered ‘of limited [NB. Not ‘local’] application’. In the Preface acts so qualified are defined as either of a local character (as here) or for colonies that have since become independent. In either case, no ‘effects’ (amendments or partial repeals) are noted. This is a stumbling block for those seeking to establish the current status of the act or of any of its provisions and the legal presumption that an act remains in force (and unamended) unless proved otherwise does not help in establishing the truth.

There are two aspects of the current status of the Billingsgate Dock that are at issue – the ownership of the Dock and public rights in connection with its use. The 1850 act authorised the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital to acquire the Dock and properties adjacent (set out in the schedule to the act) in order to enlarge it and improve landward access to it (seaward access was the responsibility as we shall see of the Thames Conservators). The act required this work as a condition for the Commissioners to take possession of Ship Dock, extinguish public rights there and stop up Fisher Lane. As Ship Dock and Fisher Lane were closed and incorporated into the Greenwich Hospital estates, it must be presumed that Billingsgate Dock was enlarged (it must have been very small before) and consequently it and the surrounding properties were acquired by Greenwich Hospital.

Ownership of the Dock before that was obscure – the Schedule of the 1850 act states the ‘Owners or reputed owners’ to be the Admiralty (now the Ministry of Defence), the Commissioners of Woods (now the DETR), the City of London, the Parish (now London Borough) of Greenwich, and Morden College ‘or some or one of them’ - which sounds as if nobody was sure! Subsequently the 1850 act was amended in this respect by the Greenwich Hospital act 1865 (28&29 Vic., cap. 89 §22) which states ‘All lands which … are … settled on or vested in or are held by or in trust for the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital shall henceforth, by virtue of this act, remain and be settled on and vested in the Admiralty …’.

On 1 April 1964, the role of the First Lord of the Admiralty as sole trustee for the Greenwich Hospital was transferred to the Secretary of State for Defence for the time being. And this remains the position.

It is possible that the Greenwich Hospital estates could have disposed of Billingsgate Dock by private conveyance, without recourse to legislation but this seems improbable in the extreme (the Hospital’s archives would confirm this or not). Otherwise, the 1850 act as amended by that of 1865 remains in force and Billingsgate Dock is owned by the Secretary of State for Defence as trustee for the Greenwich Hospital. Certainly there is no reason to believe the Greenwich Pier Company ever had ownership rights in Billingsgate Dock (in any case Greenwich Hospital is a joint (or is it part?) owner of the Pier as came to light in the recent negotiations for its redevelopment).

Public rights in connection with Billingsgate Dock were not created by the 1850 act. §17 merely states that the rights and privileges (as well as the ‘restrictions, dues and payments’) enjoyed by the public in the original Billingsgate Dock were to continue with respect to the new and enlarged dock and the provisions (unspecified) for keeping it in repair should continue. Control of the Thames and Thames-side activities including its dockings was traditionally the responsibility of Thames Conservators who, since 1157, though not without challenge from time to time, had been the City of London. Around 1840 this had finally been challenged by the Crown and the dispute was still unsettled by 1850 which is why among others the Commissioners of Woods (representing the Crown) and the City of London were both reputed owners of Billingsgate Dock.

The 1850 act (§20) saved the City’s rights but in 1857 the dispute was resolved by the Thames conservancy act 1857 (20&21 Vic., cap. cxlvii), a local act - not all London-wide acts are public. This transferred responsibility for dockings in the tidal Thames to a Board of Conservancy, reconstituted a few years later as the Thames Conservancy Board on which both the Crown and the City were represented. Though the Board continued, it shed its responsibility for docks in the tidal Thames in 1908. This was transferred to the Port of London Authority by the Port of London act 1908 (8 Edw. 7, cap.68). Insofar as the rights of the public in Billingsgate Dock are concerned with amenities, recreation or the environment, responsibility was transferred yet again in 1989 by the Water act 1989 (1989 cap.15) to the Thames Water Authority.

Provision concerning public rights confirmed by the 1850 act will be found, if any amendments have been made, in the various acts establishing these public bodies or any acts amending the same or any orders made under the authority of any of the foregoing. As if this wasn’t complicated enough, two further factors should be born in mind. It may be that the 1850 act has not in fact been amended in this respect. In which case it would probably take litigation to determine whether the rights had fallen into desuetude or not. If amendments have been made, they will almost certainly not have specifically referred to Billingsgate Dock. Rather they will have referred to ‘docks’ generally or to certain classes of them and any such generic amendments might be found in any relevant act or in any orders made by virtue of powers conferred by these acts. Given that the 1850 act confirms the public’s rights and privileges but does not say precisely what they are, given that there is undisputed free access landward to the Dock as part of Cutty Sark Gardens, and given that there is not, so far as I am aware, any pressing demand for docking facilities there, the task of searching legislation to establish theoretical rights is disproportionate to any result achievable. But if anyone would like to do it, I hope that the above provides a starting point.

This article appeared in the May 2000 GIHS Newsletter

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Engineering firms in the Borough

November 6, 2019, 3:05 am

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SMALLER ENGINEERING

FIRMS OF THE BOROUGH

By Ted Barr

This, the second part of the list, is offered with the idea that others may have further knowledge or can help in other ways. Please add and amend it as you think fit.

GENERAL MANUFACTURERS

Moss Wire Mills Ltd. 123 South Street – wire manufacturers

Kent Wireworks– Wireworkers, 18 King William Street

Stevenson and Davies– paint manufacturers, somewhere in the area of Tunnel Avenue and Dreadnought Street.

Southern Manufacturing Co. – 26-34 Blissett Street, Sheet Metal and Motor Works.

Harrison Barber & Co. Blackwall Lane. Animal Slaughterers and Pet Food Makers (referred to locally as 'down the knackers yard on the marshes'–not be it noted 'down the Peninsula').

Royal Manufacturing Co. Tinsmiths, 48 Royal Hill.

Case Development Co. Engineers. 1 South Street. I never knew what they did but No.1. was at one time occupied by Thompson of Emdyne Works and later Hudson the opticians and optical instruments.

W.A.Wilson 22 Eastney Street, Mineral Water Manufacturers.

Lee Cooperage-Coopers Eastney Street,

Vigzol Oil Co. Oil Refiners. 14 Eastney Street. This was, of course, the former Roan Boys School. We have on the North York Moors Railway a collection of old cabin trunks, heavy leather suitcases, etc. as a reminder of travel in the old days. Among this lot is a 5-gallon Vigzol oil drum which always takes my mind back 70 years to schooldays at Roan.

OK Electrodes later Esab Ltd. Anchor and Hope Lane. Makes of welding consumables. After World War II they moved, I believe, to Gillingham, Kent. The Managing Director was a Mr. Gaughan who was one of the lecturers on my City and Guilds Welding Course at the South East London Tech. during World War II days.

Adams Door Spring Works. Anchor and Hope Lane. The name's enough!

Antifouling Composition Works. Anchor and Hope Lane. Again, the name tells it all!

British Ropes. Anchor and Hope Lane – rope walks.

Stones Bronze Propellers. Anchor and Hope Lane. I suspect that the products of this Charlton site have turned up the waters of every sea and ocean on the face of the globe. Stone's propellers were fitted to most of the old transatlantic liners both British and foreign. The bigger products were regularly seen from the United Glass Blowers works on the opposite side of the lane at the end of the day awaiting night time haulage to avoid disruption to traffic. There was sometimes damage to items of street furniture and the Council's Finance Department has a special expenditure code titled 'Escorting heavy loads through the Borough'. This reminds me of another, somewhat macabre, expenditure code heading for the 5/- (25p) fee payable to anyone fining a corpse washed up on the riverbank (not'Thames Path').

British Oxygen Co. (formerly Brin's Oxygen Co. Our Science Master at Invicta always used the old name). Like Stone's they were among the 'lesser big boys' but employed many people, of whom I knew quite a few. One in particular, a chap named Bill Faulkner, an area technical engineer, was my workshop tutor at the South East London Tech. I remember one evening he arrived a bit hot and bothered because he had spent all day in Ashford Loco Works showing the locals how to repair cracked cylinder castings of up to 3 tons apiece. He reckoned he had been chased all the way home up the A20 by flying bombs! This would have been 1944.

Penn's Ironworks Blackheath Road. This must have been a big establishment, once reputed to be the largest marine engine builders in the world.

Merryweathers Greenwich High Road. This also must have been a big business, their products very widely known. The tradition of boiler making is still alive (just) today on the site in the form of a firm making scale model boilers for the model engineering fraternity. I knew only one man who worked there as a fitter/turner. He never spoke about the place because he was unceremoniously kicked out after 35 years of service,

Francis Tin box makers on Penn's old site.

Cook, Troughton and Sims. Troughton Road, Instrument makers.

The Optical Works. Garland Road, Plumstead

Hugh Baird. Spread Eagle Yard, Nevada Street/ maltsters. Presumably they supplied Lovibonds, just down the road.

Workshop for the Blind of Kent. :London Street. Now called Greenwich High Road. I seem to have a recollection that they were at one time in Eastney Street, makers of basketwork.

Warnes of Greenwich High Road. Makers of constructional kits for modellers

Matchless Motor Cycles. The name tells you! They used to employ 1,000 people at Burrage Grove. One of the original Collier Bros.,. Believed to be the sole survivor of the Collier family was known to be living during World War II at a house next door to Tree Tops on the Kent side of Shooters Hill.

This article appeared in the May 2001 Newsletter

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Firepower

November 6, 2019, 3:20 am

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FIREPOWER OPENS IN WOOLWICH

this post dates from May 2001 - Firepower had a troubled existence with low visitor numbers and constant funding crises They closed (I forget exactly when) in 2017-18ish

So:-

FIREPOWER takes a challenging, dramatic and emotional look at the role of the “Gunner” in peacetime and war. It provides an innovative glimpse of the story of artillery, and in particular the Royal Regiment of Artillery that was founded nearly 300 years ago. It takes visitors from slingshot to supergun, from Crécy to Iraq, and is undoubtedly London’s most explosive day out!

Using the unique collections of the regiment, mostly unseen by the public before, this is the first time that the fascinating story of artillery can be told properly. Comprising cannons, mortars, guns, medals, artefacts and library and archive collection, this will not be a standard regimental museum but a modern family attraction. The emphasis is very much on lively and engaging displays for the whole family, with many interactive elements and simulator experiences that recreate the duties of a Gunner.

The centrepiece will be the ground-shaking “Field of Fire”, a major multi-media presentation that puts the viewer in the centre of the action. This spectacular bombardment of the senses will captivate and provoke visitors into realising what life as a 20^th-century Gunner has been like, through war and peace. The Gunnery Hall and History Gallery give a more traditional approach to the collection and tell the story from Roman times to modern day. Everyone can muck in at “The Real Weapon” gallery, which shows the functions of ammunition and the principles of hitting the target - very much a ‘hands-on’ area.

Come to the free Firepower Extravaganza on 27 and 28 May to celebrate the opening of this brand new visitor attraction for South-East London. With displays by the Kings Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery, the Royal Artillery Bands and the Pipes and Drums, live firings of artillery through the ages, spectacular parachute drops, paint ball for the kids, a tribute to the ‘animals of the artillery’, fun fair and lots more, Extravaganza promises to be an explosive day out for all the family. Gates are open from 10am to 6pm.

Firepower, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich

10am to 5pm Daily. Admission: Adult £6.50 Child £4.50 Concessions £5.50

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Firepower opening

November 6, 2019, 3:51 am

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FIREPOWER

A REPORT BY JACK VAUGHAN

This expressive title stands for the new Museum of the Royal Regiment of Artillery which opened with a considerable bang on May 27^th and 28^th. It is located within the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.

It is important to differentiate between the Museum and the Royal Arsenal site. The latter, until 1967, housed the Royal Ordnance factories, namely the Royal Gun Factory, 1716, the Royal Laboratories, 1696, The Royal Carriage Department, 1805, The Royal Filling Factories and the Mechanical Engineering Dept., responsible for all machinery on site. At its maximum the site extended from Woolwich Town Centre eastward to the present site of the Crossness Sewage Treatment works with a greatest width of a mile. The much emaciated remains are now open to the public but are mainly enclosed in dreadful blue hoardings behind which a leading property developer seems to be reducing most of the remaining buildings to what seems to be rubble for what some would see as charmless residences.

The Museum will eventually occupy four or five listed buildings of which one is in full occupation and open having in its past been a paper cartridge factory, a bomb shop and a metallurgical laboratory.

The founding of the Museum had its origins in 1985 when concern was expressed within the Regiment, the first two companies of which were raised around 1716, about the conditions of the guns, medals, books, archival records and artefacts, of which deterioration was somewhat advanced.

A study was organised; the outcome of which was the suggestion of a large new Museum to cover the above items, these being then held at the Royal Military Academy and the Rotunda Buildings at Woolwich Common. The suggested site was, near Stonehenge, at the School of Artillery in Larkhill.

At that time Greenwich Borough Council has published a Development Brief for the Royal Arsenal site including seventeen listed buildings, plus others of some interest. The potential cost of putting a suitable building on a green field site ruled out Larkhill and the local sentimental links with the Royal Regiment and the Royal Arsenal resulted in the earmarking of certain listed building therein. This seems to the writer to have been a logical outcome from the start.

Thus arrived opening day. It was even to my jaundiced eye a remarkable turnout. Just for the two days the Museum was part open free and the site proper was open for strolling, including the river path. Fairground equipment, bouncy castle, coconut shies, beer tens etc etc abounded. Military band marching was superb as were the firing displays. Re-enactment displays, pikemen, musketeers, etc. were exceptionally interesting and appropriate, echoing the 17^th century Civil War.

Inside the Museum’s principal building we witnessed by eye and ear a quite incredible display of Firepower. I shall not try to describe it – members should try if for themselves. Four film screens showed 20 minutes of artillery actions of various dates, and the accompanying explosive noises were loud enough and smoked realistically. Nostalgic background music is used also but I noted two ommissions on that front. Dame Vera Lynn’s voice should be heard and the marching song of the Afrika Corps. Adopted by the Eighth Army - need I say its name?

I hope this scant report will persuade you to visit. Further buildings will be opened in due course- and the Medal Collection is of course, a must.

Cheap it isn’t. Adults £6.50, concessions £5.50, Children £4.50 (I think)

This report appeared in the July 2001 GIHS Newsletter

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Reviews and snippets July 2001

November 6, 2019, 4:07 am

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Reviews and snippets July 2001

Gaslight

The May 2001 issue contains an article by Mary Mills about the goings on at the first Greenwich gas works and the Greenwich vestry in the early 1820s. (This is in effect a rehash of her previous article for Bygone Kent). Also in the same issue is a letter from Brian Sturt about ‘SEGAS musings’. This includes comments on the first Greenwich Gas works and the Phoenix Gas Company, ending ‘How many gas companies had a lighterage department? The South Met with five riverside and one canalside works operated a fleet of five tugs and about eighty barges to transfer most materials to and from their works’.

Industrial Archaeology News

The summer 2001 edition has printed a letter from our Chairman, Jack Vaughan; on the removal and destruction of the Lovell’s Wharf cranes

Bygone Kent

Vol. 22 No.6. Includes an article by Mary Mills on the copperas industry in Deptford and Greenwich – this is just the first of four articles and covers the industry in the late seventeenth century,

Blackheath Guide

In the June 2001 issue Neil Rhind talks about our rural past – this may not seem particularly industrial, but the farming itself was industrial enough for anyone! Neil describes William Morris who farmed ‘vast acreages’ south of Eltham Road and in 1813 described himself as a ‘milkman’. In Kidbrooke, he had 1,000 acres of dairy farming. By 1931, the farms had been taken over by the Express Dairy, which had opened its first branch at 22 Montpelier Vale in June 1880. The cattle plaque of 1865 led to a cull of every cow in London and the Home Counties and in the Second World War previously dairy farms at Kidbrooke became part of the Air Ministry Depot.

In the same issue, Peter Kent describes riverside parks ‘parks with their feet in the water’. He notes that north of the river McDougall Park was given by a ‘flour king’ and Lyle Park by sugar interests.

GLAAS Review

The newsletter of the Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service gives some information on dirt digs in Greenwich

‘.. Site of the Cutty Sark … investigation found evidence of land consolidation on the edge of marsh land to reclaim land and built in the 12/13^th centuries’.

.. The site of the nation’s munitions factory at Woolwich Arsenal which has been subject to an intense regeneration programme revealed an extensive ditched late ‘Roman cemetery …. In 1688 the Prince Rupert Fort was built. It was a triangular earthwork built to defend London against the Dutch invasion. …. There was significant archaeological evidence for the munitions process. … including a gun barrel set in the ground and used as a pivot socket for other machines. It must have been miscast but too valuable to waste. On the site of the Royal Laboratories built in 1696-7 was a double flued tile pottery kiln dated to the 14^thcentury. The kiln was probably producing vessels made of a fabric known as ‘London ware’. This find is very significant as no production sites of London ware have yet been found and indeed no medieval pottery kilns have been previously discovered so close to the City.

BRENTFORD WAKS

We have been sent two walks in the Brentford area of west London. Both are written are by Diana Willment and take in the fascinating areas of riverside and industrial Brentford. These walks are very much recommended and will give Greenwich historians a view of a very different part of London’s once-industrial riverside.

Information from Kew Bridge Engines Trust.

GREENWICH TIME AND TIDES

A new book of paintings by Anne Christopherson shows the changing scenes of Greenwich and the River Thames since the 1960s – ‘cranes, jetties, mooring lines, frayed ropes , nails and rivets, rust and paint .. pattern of paving bricks, the sandy mud’…

MERSEY FERRY MV ROYAL IRIS

Some of you may have noticed that the ex Mersey Ferry Royal Iris has been in London for some time. She is presently at or near the berth where the Russian submarine Foxtrot U475 used to be open to the public before she went to Folkestone Harbour. The berth is just east of the Thames Barrier. Royal Iris is in a rather decrepit condition with peeling blue paint but hopefully a silver repaint will take place soon. The intention is to restore her for use for parties, nightclubs and similar uses.

With diesel engine twin-screw propulsion she had a speed of 13 knots and is 159 feet long with a beam of 50 feet. The other Mersey Ferries were of about half the tonnage and all straight diesel. By the mid 1970s Royal Iris was not in regular ferry use by reserved for dining and cruising. With a streamlined styling, she was an odd vessel.

ENGLISH HERITAGE CHIEF TIGHTENS THE BOLT ON HISTORIC BEAM ENGINE

Sir Neil Cossons, English Heritage Chairman took part in an historic milestone event on 29^th May for the restoration of the beam steam engines to achieve full steam at the Crossness Engines at Abbey Wood. He tightened the bolt on the Prince Consort engine so guests at the Champagne reception could see the great wheel of the engine turn for the first time in over fifty years. Whilst not in steam yet – this stage of restoration is putting the reality of steam driven one step nearer. Other guests celebrating this event included broadcaster Lucinda Lambton, Bill Alexander, Thames Water Chief and local Bexley Mayor Mrs Aileen Beckwith.

Trust Chairman Peter Bazalgette celebrated the event with Sir Neil. Peter is the great, great grandson of the Victorian chief engineer responsible for the building Crossness, and creator of the popular TV ‘Changing Rooms’ programmes.

Trust spokesperson Alison Miller said: “ This is a real success story for a small band of volunteer enthusiasts who have been working over many years to restore these magnificent engines. The volunteers are all looking forward to this historic event and delighted to have their work acknowledged by English Heritage, the Government's lead body for the historic environment in England”.

CROWN WOODS INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE FAIR

Greenwich Industrial History Society has got itself involved in the above even at Crown Woods School, Eltham. Although our prime function is to raise the profile of industrial history and this looks like a logical effort to support, your Chairman is without experience in the field. Bearing in mind the need to arrange and interesting and possibly relevant exhibit, anyone who can help with the task of helping with this ……. setting up, transporting, manning the stall – suggestions would be welcome.

HENRY MAUDSLAY

Members may already be aware of an event related to the above, important and locally born, engineer. This is actually a day long seminar (July 26^th ) and our own Mary is giving a paper.Venue is the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.

There is, I understand, a supporting exhibition, but for how long that is ‘open’ I don’t know.

Maudslay’s importance in Engineering Heritage cannot be overstated.

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Letters July 2001

November 6, 2019, 4:25 am

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Letters July 2001

THE ‘CYCLOPEAN WALL’

From Stephen Schwarz

Stephen’s first letter:

I am interested in building materials and particularly re-used building materials. Here in Suffolk this tends to be limited to Rio and brick and stone material re-used in churches, or monastic stone reused in garden walls

My father lives in, knows Greenwich, and yesterday showed me Ballast Wharf and the extraordinary wall along the alleyway between the riverside path and Banning Street running on from Derwent Street. This wall looks more like recent demolition material than ballast. I wonder whether the wall is made of wasted material from Mowlem’s Granite Wharf or another demolition or stone working yard or wharf. N My father has also noticed other similar walls in the borough which may or may not be related – or indeed recorded.

Stephen then contacted geologist Eric Robinson via the journal Geology Today – who sent him the following letter:

I was interested to have your enquiry about the ‘Cyclopean’ wall at Greenwich, which, I know quite well. The history is unlocked by the link the name Mowlem. The contemporary firm trace their origins back to the 18^th century at least, when they were directly involved in the shipping of Portland Stone and Purbeck Stone from the Dorset Coastal quarries up the Channel and into the Thames at Greenwich.

From their stockyard in Greenwich, barges took the stone upriver to wharves at Blackfriars, Westminster, and Pimlico whence the stone was carted to the sites. So rather than recycled stock, those walls are primary supply of the range of limestones from Dorset to which was added some Bath Stone and dressed granite from S.W.England for kerbs and sills.

Still more exotic are the ballasts from the tea clippers, which also found their way into the Greenwich foreshore. Some limestones hold up the cutting to Blackheath. Michael Kearney and I, - yes - 30 years ago identified some as limestone from the coast near Adelaide thanks to the boring bivalves still within their drill holes.

Do you know my Holiday Geology Series - fold card on Greenwich? BGS published my Trafalgar Square, Westminster, St.Paul’s, the Tower and finally Greenwich in 1995-96 at £1.95 each.

Stephen comments:

I hope the wall is listed Grade I.!

From: David Riddle

I went to the Firepower! event on Sunday afternoon. Good show, but not very crowded. I came to it by bike from the 'Waterfront end' and found them doing 'costume' firings of half a dozen pieces pointed out over the River towards North Woolwich. The River Path was open (at both ends) with little sign that the Royal Arsenal Gardens end was going to be closed again. There is no gate whatever at that end. Although the Thamesmead end has a decent gate on it and could, potentially, be locked up again.

Most of the Arsenal site is now 'blue-boarded' and secure, so I assume it could be left open from now on. There is certainly no way access through to Beresford Square can be prevented assuming the Path is left open.

Having arrived 'by road' from back as far as the Barrier, on returning I followed the signs, and was pleasantly surprised to find 'the Path' signed round the back of the Waterfront and the Ferry Offices, then across a new stretch of tarmac laid across Mast Pond Wharf. A bit odd this? Some expense has gone in to it, yet I thought that there was supposed to be a hotel and housing on that site. Already approved? This carried on through the Woolwich Dockyard Estate and on to the new estate next door. I carried on right to the end of this new stretch, to arrive within a stone's throw of Sergeants at the Barrier, at the eastern edge of the Westminster Industrial Estate. Any news on what is happening across the river frontage of this site? It looks like they may be making a pathway, but there is some new build going on right alongside Sergeants that could block any route at that end (unless the path goes underneath it?). I would have thought there must be something in the wind here, since all the signs say 'Interim Route' for that missing section that currently goes via the Woolwich Road.

P.S. Was in the Park yesterday PM and saw the 'Europa' leave around 4.45pm. Pretty impressive, at nearly 29,000 tons. The Barrier seems to have survived!

From Diana Rimel

The Mercury of 9^th May contains a large article giving details about re-opening the path round the Dome, called Regeneration Game, and explaining why the path was shut. This is probably in response to a complaint by me on 4^th April, in the Mercury, in an article The lost millennium, (which the Council replied to by letter in the Mercury following) and in which I complained about it being closed just when I had been planning to take Greenwich Society members round. I pointed out that I thought it was part of the Thames Path and therefore should legally have been open.

In the same Article I also complained about the loss of the cranes at Lovell’s Wharf, who was responsible for their removal (edited out by the Mercury) and the amount of aggregates on the path just past the former Victoria Deep Water Terminal. The Mercury also edited out the state of the latter. I do hope GIH members will walk along there and add their voice to mine to Greenwich Council to complain a) if the aggregate firms continue to leave the path in such a state, and b) if the Dome path doesn’t reopen – in spite of all the promises.

London Borough of Greenwich says:

There has been considerable public interest in when this Riverside walkway around the Dome site will reopen following closure of the Dome on 1^stJanuary 2001. The planning condition required English Partnerships and New Millennium Experience Company to open the footpath for public access within six months and we have been pursuing English Partnerships to meet this commitment.

They have now set up a Works Programme to separate the Dome site from the Riverwalk and this should take will take around three months to complete. The works will include new fencing, lighting, remedial works to the surfacing and completion of the link to Drawdock Road.

Whilst this delay is disappointing and regrettable it is essential that the Dome site is properly secured and the Riverwalk is safe for public use.

We will be monitoring English Partnership’s progress to ensure they meet their commitment to open this essential public access.

From Bob Patterson

I am trying to ascertain a few details of the HOLBROOK Lathe Company in Stratford. I am interested to know where the factory was - does anything remain or was it all bulldozed? When did it open and when was it closed. Are there any published reminiscences of people who worked there?

From: Jane Nicholson

Could you advise me where I might find information on the theatre that was built by the gas company? My grandmother was an employee and an amateur opera singer and performed there.

From: Mark Butler

My name is Mark Butler and I am currently undergoing my final year project (2002) at Kingston University. My project is based around four parks in the Thamesmead area of which two are owned by Gallions Housing Association - Birchmere and Gallions; the remaining two are in the Borough of Bexley. I am hoping that you could assist me or help me in some way for my project. Any historical or present data of the land or ideas for the project itself. I am hoping for some kind of help even if it is just being pointed in the right direction.

From: Beth Piepenburg

My great-grandfather, Henry Mabbett, was a principal foreman of the Cartridge Factory in the Royal Arsenal (chief foreman of the cartridge-making department of the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal). How could I find any information about the subject and about Mr. Mabbett?

From an anonymous correspondent

I would like to know more about the horse ferry at Greenwich – I wonder if you could tell me where to get information?

From Stephen Turner

I was just reading the Greenwich Industrial History Society Newsletter Issue 9 and was interested to hear that someone had a picture of HMS Thunderer, the last battleship built on the Thames at Bow Creek. I would like very much to see this as I am working on an art and heritage project about the Creek leading to an exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf in September.

An important part of this will be a ‘log book of the river’ recording aspects of the Creek ‘s history, geology, geography, natural history and memories of local people showing how the place has changed over time.

Indeed if you know of any more interesting source material on Bow Creek I would be most grateful to know about it.

From Richard Hodgson,

Could you point me towards someone who might know the family history of Sir Adam Newton of Charlton House?

From Dennis Grubb

I have just dug up the article mentioned in Vol.2. Issue 1 February 1999 referring to the Wickham Lane Chalk Mines, which I presume to be related to the Wickham Lane Brickyards run by my ancestors. Can anyone give me more information?

From Brian Iddenden

I wonder if you can help me. My name is Iddenden and I see there are Iddenden Cottages somewhere in Greenwich. Could you please give me some information or at least an indication as to their whereabouts? I would be very grateful. Thanks very much.

From David Bridgewater

I am researching the Vanderwall family who were Quakers and who owned property and the copperas works at Greenwich in the mid Eighteenth Century. Is there anyone who can help with further information on the family and this industry?

From Philip Peart

I do hope you do not find it an imposition to be approached by a stranger for information. Can you help with any of this?

Lucas and Aird – My main interest is the Victorian contractors and in particular client/contractor, architect, engineer interface and how contracts were managed. Lucas and Aird who by 1890 were a very large international contractor are of particular interest to me due to the way they harshly treated clients, which finally resulted in their bankruptcy and total demise, when they finally met a client tougher than them.

Lucas was originally a builder from East Anglia they built Charing Cross Station Hotel etc.

Aird, I understand, was brought up in Greenwich after his father died while constructing the Regents Canal. He was apprenticed to a Greenwich gas works and I believe by the 1840s was chief engineer. He then set up his own building gas works and associated distribution systems. By the 1850s he was doing the same in Paris, Berlin, Budapest and possibly Moscow.

Renishaw Iron Company. I rescued a large amount of documents relating to this company. It was a typical ironworks and foundry on the north Derbyshire Sheffield boundary formed in 1783 and in production until 1968ish.

The main owners were the Appleby family. There was in their papers one reference (a catalogue) that they had a London Company. Appleby Bros. who in 1867 were in Southwark manufacturing cranes and other dockside equipment. They moved to Greenwich to the premises of Bessemer. They left before 1889 and went into partnership with a firm, Jessops of Leicester. I am interested in when they broke away from the Renishaw Iron Co. Can you give any information?

From Matt Weston

I have recently moved into Deptford High Street into a 200-year-old house and I am trying to research its history. I would be grateful if you could recommend a resource.

From Michelle Tonkin

I am interested as my Grandfathers’ father; Arthur Edward Knight, was Inspector of Munitions at the Woolwich Arsenal from 1890 onwards. The only information I have is as follows: He lived in married quarters in Hythe. 1890 presentation from sergeants of the 4^th Volunteer Battalion Surrey Regiment leaving for Woolwich Arsenal. He was Inspector of Munitions after returning from America at Woolwich Arsenal. Probably he had left the army by then. He also went to Coventry and Waltham Abbey. I am trying to find out if he only served in the 4^th Volunteer Battalion Surrey Regiment or if he served in another regiment also.

From Roger Hough

We went on a trip from Tower Bridge last Sunday on Balmoral and after popping into Southend we went out into the Estuary and looked at the Thames Forts. I had never heard of them, the author of a booklet about them was on board and gave a commentary about their installation, use during and after the war and as a pirate radio station, hippies etc. The author is Frank Turner and he lists booklets about Gravesend Airport and the forts built at various places along the Thames, Dam Buster trials at Reculver and many similar subjects.

From Iris Bryce

With reference to the smaller engineering firms of the borough, listed by Ted Barr. I don’t think he has mentioned KORKN’SEAL (hope I’ve spelt it right!) that was in Anchor and Hope Lane, Charlton. My sister worked there from 1930 until she went to Siemens in 1935 – as far as a know the factory made bottle tops of various kinds, especially crown caps. My mother worked full time as a rope maker at British Ropes from 1928 until she retired through illness in 1938 - her stomach muscles collapsed through the strenuous hauling of the heavy ropes – not too much machinery round in those days.

News of the boat trips on the River Lea brings back memories of my life living aboard my narrow boat and we cruised the Rivers Lee and Stort many times. On one occasion entering the Lee from the Thames at Bow Locks – quite an adventure for a nitro boat. I have many photos and transparencies of the area and would be pleased to show then at some time if of interest to members.

I have just discovered a 1915 Merryweather fire pump made in Greenwich. It is part of a Bygones Museum. Claydon, Banbury - a note of interest is that they advertise it as a ‘Merry Weather fire pump’.

The Museum has several traction engines and steam engines and they are in steam on the first Sunday of the month and Bank Holiday Sundays and Mondays April-Sept. they take parties at discounted prices and are open Tuesday-Sunday 10 am to 5 pm.

** There is also a Merryweather valve cover plate in the pavement outside the nurses homes in Vanburgh Hill – this site is due to be redeveloped any minute and it may not be there long. Does anyone know what was the use of a pavement installation like this? **

From Lorna Barter

Well .. things are really moving for the Swiftstone Trust now. After what seemed like waiting forever – talking, meeting, negotiating, waiting, paperwork and more waiting - at last, the Swiftstone officially belongs to the Trust and we have ‘hand-on’ her to begin the preservation work – Wonderful!

Sadly we weren’t able to get a full qualified crew together at relatively short notice to assist on Barge Race Day but we have plans to be actively involved in the Sponsored Barge Driving (in aid of the Dreadnought Unit) on August 4^th and 5^th from Erith to Gravesend.

Swiftstone is now sitting on the foreshore at the (still doomed by not yet lost) Wood Wharf.

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Whaling Captain from Greenwich

November 6, 2019, 4:50 am

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A WHALING CAPTAIN FROM GREENWICH

who gained more in six days than others in seven.

by Graham Whyte

This article has been sent to us by a reader in Australia and appeared in the July 2001 GIHS Newsletter

There once was a Captain of a Pacific sperm whaler and a long-time Greenwich resident, whose name was Robert Clark Morgan. When he was a young man, just appointed to his first command, about ten days before sailing he happened to enter a chapel where a revival service was being held, and the result to him was eventful.

That Greenwich revival service was led by a baker and lay preacher named Mr. Isaac English. It was his habit when he had set his dough overnight to make ‘a Bethel of his bake house’ - while the process of rising was going on, he lifted up his soul. One night Robert Clark Morgan, overheard his devotion - paused to listen and was deeply impressed. The result was that Morgan was happily converted to God and became a devout member of the Wesleyan society in Greenwich.

He had hitherto been a reckless, boisterous profligate, living without a thought of God, except to blaspheme – but Divine grace now wrought so wondrous a change in him, that when he once more went to sea the old hands could scarcely recognise him for the same man.

Captain Morgan had sailed for the fishing grounds, when the question of lowering his boats on the Sabbath, should a whale appear all at once started up in his mind. He regretted that he had not thought of this before, and told the ship owner, Daniel Bennet, how he would act. He resolved to follow the Divine command implicitly - but, the crew, were like himself, "on the lay " - that is, they were not paid by wages, but by proportionate shares of the oil captured – so he felt anxious that they might mutiny if prevented from catching whales on a Sunday.

Many weeks passed without a whale sight but at last, one Sunday afternoon "There she spouts! - There again!" reached the deck from the look-out at the mast-head, and instantly all was activity and bustle. For one brief moment the young captain hesitated; for the excitement was contagious – but it was only for a moment, and he heard clearly and distinctly the words, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy!" and his own voice rang through the ship, declaring that not a boat could leave her that day.

The scene, which ensued, may be imagined. But the captain was unmoved, and his courageous demeanour at last quelled the riot; but not until he had promised that he would give up to the crew his own shares in future catches an equivalent to their loss.

“The owner will think nothing of losing his share, of course!" said his mate, “This will be the first and last vessel you'll ever command of his, at any rate! Morgan felt the truth of what his mate had said, and that no owner would ever give him a ship to command again. The mate continued: "You see, Captain Morgan, I have a wife and five children to keep; and if Providence sends us a whale on Sunday, I take it as Providence means us to catch that whale - leastways that's my -“ …… the words were arrested on his lips, and he stood still and motionless .. "Captain Morgan! Come here quick, sir, please! Look!" An expression of alarm, mingled with astonishment and incredulity, overspread his features as he saw the mercury of the barometer rapidly falling lower and lower as he stood. Morgan jumped up and both bounded on to the deck to summon the crew. Well was it for that crew that none of them had left the ship in her boats! Well was it for the ship that all her hands were on board! For in half an hour all were engaged in a desperate life and death struggle, which taxed every energy, and demanded the utmost efforts of every individual on board.

For three days they scudded before the hurricane; and when it had passed by they found that they had been driven some hundreds of miles beyond the bounds they had set to their cruising ground; but to their intense delight, they discovered that part of the ocean, which the mate had hitherto declared to be one of the poorest, to be in reality one of the best fishing grounds possible.

Scarcely had the weather moderated, when they found themselves in the midst of a whole “school” of sperm whale and two were secured. Hardly had these been "tried out”, i.e., rendered into oil, when more were seen; and, in short, so fortunate were they, that instead of two, or even three years (the usual time taken to fill a good - sized ship), Captain Morgan's vessel returned to Sydney in ten months!

Captain Morgan invariably adhered to his rule of never lowering on Sunday; and yet (with one exception) no captain in the whole port, on an average of years, brought more oil to his owners than he did. This exception was an individual who was always extraordinarily fortunate in his cruises. His name was Harris; and he often jeered Morgan upon the Quaker-like proceedings and Methodistical humbug (as he termed it) of himself and his ship's crew; and in particular he derided the teetotal principles which, after much difficulty and persuasion, Morgan had at last induced his men to adopt.

Captain Morgan stood first on the list of the men who had brought most money to his owners, even though be had lost many a whale by not lowering on Sunday.

Graham Whyte is from Melbourne, Australia and has a keen interest in Greenwich Industrial History, in particular, whaling activities from Greenwich. He developed this through family history

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Engineering firms in the Borough

November 6, 2019, 4:55 am

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ENGINEERING FIRMS IN THE BOROUGH

By Ted Barr

Seager Evans Cooperage – Blackheath Road, near Merritt and Hatcher. They made barrels for the gin industry.

Merritt and Hatcher– printers, and in particular, at one time they printed the Kentish Mercury.

S.E.C.R. (later Southern) Signal Works Siebert Road. There must have been a lot of work done there and I remember in the ‘20s at Invicta School doing our lessons to the sounds of the heavy working of metal, probably steam hammers. Has anyone else managed to get onto the site after my own abortive attempts a year ago?

CYCLE MAKERS

A.F.Romboy – Gordon Cycle Works c/o Sun Lane and Old Dover Road. Makers of the ‘Gordon’ cycle. These cycles were based on B.S.A. fitting, bottom brackets, fork crowns etc. brazed up from steel tubing and finished off with whatever accessories the customer specified. (This reminds me that Dellow No.10 was at one time a frame make and brazier at Matchless No.39).

F.J.Wells  - ‘Climber Cycle Works’ Russell Place (now Reynolds Place). According to local hearsay, Fred Wells was a well-known member of the Catford Cycling Club and winner of some of their annual competed for trophies, including the Westerham Hill Climb – hence the name.

? Allen. – traded from a room in a house in Charlton Road between Hassendean and Furzefield Roads.

In my family they all did work for us and were very well known – Romboy especially who employed a number of men.

BLACKSMITHS AND FARRIERS

Apart from shoeing they had to make all the bits and pieces.

C.E.Thomas– 34 Blisset Street, not known to me.

Jas McKechnie. Sunfields Place (formerly Bedford Place like Old Dover Road, formerly Standard Lane). Both names were often used by locals in my childhood).

I knew McKechnie very well. A German V2 rocket fell outside the smithy, flattening the place, his home and the rest of Sunfields Place. Because of this, and the shortage of raw materials he finished up as a general smith in the Council’s Tunnel Avenue Depot -Working on general iron work for carts and motors. Tool sharpening etc.

H. & W. Williams Ltd. Osborne House, Osborne Terrace, Lee. Glass bottle manufacturers. I don’t know anything about them.

Electric Cable Works. Somewhere in the angle between King George Street and Luton Place.

Anchor Brewery. I have a recollection of seeing this on an old map. Could it have been in Charlton, near the Anchor and Hope PH?

My Word! How the memories come flooding back! It also shows how heavily industrialised Thameside used to be.

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Nicholls Limeburners of Charlton and Whyteleafe

November 6, 2019, 6:45 am

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THE NICHOLS/NICHOLLS FAMILY

LIMEBURNERS OF CHARLTON
AND WHYTELEAFE.

By Paul W. Sowan

Barbara Ludlow’s short item (A unique site at Charlton: Nichols's lime kilns, later the Crown Fuel Company and Greenwich Pottery) in Greenwich Industrial History 4(3), May 2001, page 1, is of considerable interest to me, as in 1997 I collected some information on E.G. (Fred) Nicholls' two limeworks in east Surrey. This was summarised in a short article (E.G. Nicholls' Whyteleafe limeworks) published in the Bourne Society Bulletin 170 (November 1997). pp. 15 - 17. The Bourne Society concerns itself with the local history of a number of east Surrey parishes centred on Caterham and Coulsdon. I had also identified the Crown Fuel Company as being involved with the Riddlesdown or Rose and Crown limeworks. Barbara Ludlow's note tells me much more about the Nicholls family (despite the variant spellings,they are evidently all the same family) and the Crown Fuel Company.

Charlton and Greenwich readers may like to have the following east Surrey details to complete their picture.

The two Surrey limeworks with which the family were concerned were the Riddlesdown (or Rose and Crown) limeworks, of which the large chalk pit remains a conspicuous feature on the east side of the A22 at Whyteleafe; it is best seen from trains crossing the viaduct on the 'Oxted line' between Riddlesdown and Upper Warlingham stations. This pit appears to have been commenced in or about 1824 (a date taken from some 20th century company letterhead), and was already a major obstacle to the construction of the railway from 1865 onwards, hence the viaduct. The part of the pit east of the viaduct is now operated as a closed nature reserve by the City of London, although I recall visiting the limeworks when they were still a going concern in the 1960s. The much smaller and shorter-lived Whiteleafe (or Whyteleafe) limeworks was also on the east side of the main road and railway line, about a mile further south, south of Upper Warlingham station. The Whyteleafe works are not shewn on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey large scale maps and plans, surveyed in 1867; but they do appear on the contract plans and sections for the railway, dated 1880 (the railway was commenced as the Surrey & Sussex Junction Railway, but failed, and was completed later as the Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway which opened in 1884). The site is now occupied by modern houses and a small recreation ground off Hillside Road. The latter pit had a standard gauge rail link, but such a link was impossible from the viaduct high above the kilns at the larger pit.

As a result of the Quarries Act, 1894, all open pits for mineral working over 20 feet deep were subject to inspection and regulation. Both pits fell into this category. The Act came into effect on 1 January 1895, but it took HM Inspector of Mines and Quarries for the North Wales & Isle of Man District (which district included Surrey.) a few years to identify, list and visit the large number of open pits added to his workload. Data for the two pits is published from 1897 onwards, and I have ready access to figures for this and the three following years. Nicholls' local manager was one A.E. Mead, and the men employed 'inside' and 'outside' the two pits averaged 15 and 4 for the smaller pit and 11 and 2 for the much larger one. No accidents or prosecutions are on record for either pit for the period 1897-1900 (Clement Le Neve Foster was an enthusiastic prosecutor of quarry operators who failed to observe the requirements of the Quarries Act and of the Factory Acts (he was also Inspector of Factories). As far as limeworks are concerned Surrey directories show Nicholls still in possession of both pits up to 1924 but that for 1927 represents him only as a coal merchant. By the 1930 directory neither Nicholls nor the Whyteleafe limeworks are listed. Clearly reading as wide a range as possible of local society newsletters might well lead to a lot of jigsaw puzzle pieces being fitted together.

this article appeared in the September 2001 GIHS Newsletter

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Reviews and snippets September2001

November 6, 2019, 6:57 am

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Reviews and snippets September 2001

Exhibition on MAUDSLAY SON AND FIELD, ENGINEERING PIONEERS at Kew Bridge Engines, Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex TW8. – will run until 30^th September. It features not only Maudslay but also a photo of our own Jack Vaughan, and Alan Pearsall – plus some very complimentary things about Jack.

TIDE MARKS Exhibition The Electrical Store, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, London E14. Stephen Turner has created a work by tracing the tide along Bow Creek onto a series of large canvases totalling over thirty metres in length. Placed along the riverbed at low tide, they record an interval of twelve hours in the life of the creek

The Woodlands Farm Trust Newsletter

Woodland’s Farm Newsletter for summer 2001 gives bad news about the effect of both constant rain and foot and mouth disease on work at the farm. Things are improving though and sheep shearing has gone on regardless. They continue to call for volunteers – particularly to pull ragwort!

GLIAS Newsletter

The August 2001 edition contains notes about the Crossness Open Day and the opening of Firepower (already reported by us!). And information about the Royal Iris, berthed at the Thames Barrier,

Industrial Archaeology News

Autumn 2001 edition gives information about the Royal Iris – berthed at the Thames Barrier – in a letter from Bob Carr.

Newcomen Society Bulletin

Has been asking for information about the Great Wheel at Earls Court – which some have claimed was built by Maudslay Son and Field in Greenwich. The replies given in this issue (August 2001) suggest otherwise. Robert Bossing writes to say that the axle only was made by Maudslay (but not at which of their works). The ironwork was made by William Arrol and the carriages by Brown Marshall of Birmingham. Paul Calvocoressi repeats this information – and since he is one of our members – perhaps he could comment on which Maudslay works was likely to be the site of the axle manufacture, and if Arrol might have had anything to do with the Greenwich based Appleby Works (next door to Maudslay in this period, and associated with Arrol).

Bygone Kent

The July 2001 issue contains an article of interest to Greenwich historians. This is Part 2 of Mary Mills’ series for Bygone Kent on copperas manufacture in Deptford and Greenwich. This describes work at the Deptford works in the mid-17^th century and the founding of the Deptford Works by Nicholas Crispe. It goes on to discuss the possible ownership and operation of sites on the Greenwich bank of Deptford Creek and on the Peninsula.

The August 2001 issue contains several articles of interest to Greenwich historians – one by R.B.Parish details ‘Some Follies of the Weald, Central and South Kent’. In this he mentions the Rotunda on Woolwich Common ‘remarkable’ and asks the whereabouts of ‘the tower of an underground church – a shaft constructed for a sewer’ which was somewhere in Eltham.

An article by Bernard Brown is ‘All Change at Greenwich. Or the 'Blackheath Omnibus’. This is about Stephen Scudds, coach and fly proprietor of Eltham who initiated a coach service from the new Greenwich Railway Station to St.Mary Cray via Eltham and Foots Cray in 1838. This was extended over the year to other local services based on meeting travellers by train from London who wished to continue into suburbs yet not served by train. Eventually the business failed and Tilling became the predominant omnibus provider in the district.

Finally, Mary Mills has contributed the third in her series of articles about Greenwich and Deptford Copperas. This article is based on the diary of Elizabeth Pearson, sister of the owner of the Deptford and Greenwich copperas works in the early nineteenth century. It describes some of the entries in her diary with relation to copperas works in the area and to her life in Greenwich before 1820.

Redriff Chronicle

The Summer 2001 issue contains several articles of interest to Greenwich industrial historians. First, there is a resume of the talk given to the Society by Peter Gurnett on Stones. Peter has also given this talk to GIHS in the past and, as Redriffe Chronicle points out, those wishing to read more should look at Peter’s account in the Lewisham History Society Journal for 1986/7 pps 6-46. Another article by Mary Mills is about the previous history of the old Molins Site in Deptford and describes the Torr family factory which stood on the site previously (Torr were animal charcoal makers). An article by Peter Gurnett and Malcolm Meachen describes Captain Taylor and his Museum in Amersham Grove.

Historic Gas Times

The September 2001 edition contains a letter about East Greenwich Gas Works (reproduced below) and also another article from Mary Mills on ‘A Phantasmagoria and Mount Etna – on stage'. If you want to know what it is about you will have to ask me. There is also a response to a previous article from Brian Sturt which details some buildings built on local gas works. He gives particular details of the amazing sulphate store at Phoenix Wharf Greenwich, completed in 1955 ‘This was designed to protect 10,000 tons of ammonium sulphate and has a near parabolic concrete roof of 60 foot span and rise of 66 feet. The building was demolished just as the world outside was beginning to realise its architectural significance.

Biography of Stephen Lawrence

While not being industrial this little book is of great local importance. It is by Verna Allette Wilkins,

Lewisham Local Studies and Archives Newsletter.

This gives details of ‘Ideal Homes – Suburbia in Focus’ – a website funded by the New Opportunities Fund which will chart suburban development in South East London. It will include detailed studies of Blackheath and Deptford New Town.

Lewisham Local History Society Newsletter

Gives details of ‘Lewisham Voices’ a project set up with the Museum of London and Lewisham Libraries. This will use digital technology to produced instance images of people and places and leave an interactive record of thoughts, feelings and life experiences of a cross section of the community.

Holiday Geology Guide - Greenwich

This glossy fold out leaflet is one of the most exciting things to turn up for a long time. It is basically a discussion of the stone work and its relevance in the World Heritage Site area of Greenwich. This is a geologist’s look at the tourist quarter! It tells us for instance that the Bellot Memorial is made of ‘Peterhead Granite with paler granite (aplige) veins and small darker patches of hethensof included Highland Rock. It illustrates ‘shrimp burrows’ on the Wolf Statue and shows us how in the Royal Naval College Chapel is ‘remarkable for its geological deception’ Portland Stone and Cornish Granite are only used where they show – the statues are all cheaper Coade Stone and the Sienna Marble columns are paintings on a papier mache base (you can tell the fake bits by tapping). This wonderful little leaflet is available from the British Geological Survey

The Magic of Hot Water.

The latest illustrated guide to come from Andrews Water Heaters – in reality extracts from Paul Yunnie’s collection of pictures and leaflets about his favourite subject – hot water. At £5 this is terrific value for 138 pages and a great picture on every one.

Kent Underground Research Group Newsletter

The newsletter features the following story about Abbey Wood – ‘Sand Mine, Abbey Wood’ by Nesta Caiger …. On Friday 8^thJune 1001 KURG investigated a small sand mine in the back garden of 18 Old Park Road. A short adit had been dug into the sand and it seemed clear that there was another short adit close by which was inaccessible. This was due to a vast collapse of walls and rock – garden debris from a landscaped part of the garden. The adit had been driven straight into the sand level and measured about 8 ft by 6 ins in length, 4ft 6ins wide. Pick marks were seen on the walls but the original floor level was unknown, due to the fill of earth – so the roof level above the investigators was only about 4 ft. A probe with a pole was made to try and estimatge where the second small mine could have been and a somewhat limited void was found. The owner of the house which had been built in the 1930s on land known to have been part of ‘Cook’s Farm’ was a Mr. John Davis.

AGE EXCHANGE

Has set up a scheme for legacies and donations. Age Exchange was founded in 1983 as a professional theatre company mounting original productions based on older people’s local reminiscences. The Reminiscence Centre in Blackheath Village opened in 1987 and has 30,000 visitors a year.

ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Dr. Mary Mills has been elected to the Council of the Association of Industrial Archaeology – a national organisation based in Ironbridge.

GREENWICH RIVERSIDE PATH

Rumour has it that the path round the Dome is to open to the public on 17^thSeptember.

THAMES AND WATERWAYS STAKEHOLDERS FORUM

This new organisation began with a flourish

LIFE AT EAST GREENWICH GAS WORKS

This article is from Tony Coles, Grange over Sands and is reprinted from Historic Gas Times, with their permission

I am writing this sat at a leather topped oak desk made by the Chippies at East Greenwich Gas Works pre-1958 and bought for £1.50!

I started in 1956 at Old Kent Road Gas Works, then went to Sydenham Gas Works and then East Greenwich Gas Works. Nothing much had changed! I do miss the characters. The Station Engineer at East Greenwich - not a Colonel, but ‘God' was referred to as ‘Kipper’. I was told not to let him hear you say it, as it was 'gutless and two faced’.

Some time in 1963 I was a Gas Engineering Assistant at East Greenwich, after graduating. I was relief Shift Controller (paid at the rate of £1,200 when acting!) £870 basic salary. Early on, I had to do a couple of shifts on my own as my mentor Fred Page had a car accident and was off.

First, round the works - I went to no 1 CWG plant - a great cavernous building containing eight Humpheries and Glasgow CWG units. These were set up for naphtha (petrol in effect) reforming. I wandered up to the first floor where the foreman's office was located - one Ernie Low an ex-serviceman in his forties. He said ‘Tony do you want tea?' - dare I refuse! I said that I had seen in the Shift Log that the naphtha control valve was faulty on No 1 unit and that it was shut down on standby.(Replacement ofthe valve required that it was isolated, steamed out to remove all traces of naphtha with a full permit to work issued by an authorised person.) I said ‘I think we had better get the shift process fitter and instrument technician to replace the control valve’ and that I would give a permit. Ernie said ‘Can you do this Mr. Coles?’ I said ‘We can't let the plant stay out of action’. Ernie then said ‘Can you give a permit, sir?’ I said ‘Well I will have to. I can't leave the unit off.’ Ernie then said ‘You had better put a note in my book, SIR! You are the Engineer - on your head be it!’ I then said ‘You may be right we will leave it for the next shift!’ Ernie then said ‘How about that cup of tea Tony’.

The postscript is that on the Tuesday (it was a Bank Holiday) I came in on days and was instructed to see the Deputy Station Engineer, Fred Cope. After the regular wait of ten minutes in the corridor outside his office - I was summoned in and was asked in no uncertain way why I had left a CWG plant unavailable on a Saturday Night? This plant was important! I answered that I could not issue a permit since I was not yet authorised so to do.

Fred Cope then reached into his drawer and ceremoniously gave me a completed form of authorisation to issue work permits. Had I issued a fudged permit then I would have been dressed down and left under supervision for several more weeks! I did thank Ernie!

Angerstein Railway

By Andrew Turner

The Angerstein branch has always operated as a freight only line, but occasionally enthusiasts' passenger trains have ventured onto the line. One such ran in July and I took the opportunity to join it and see the area from a different angle.

The tour first visited two other branches once associated with Thames river traffic - the truncated former GWR line to Brentford and the line to Thames Haven in Essex. From the latter, it made a leisurely run to Charlton, where we turned off onto the Angerstein branch. After curving past the former signal works and passing under the Greenwich line, the train paused for a few minutes before continuing along the embankment and crossing over the Woolwich Road. Just before Bugsby Way, the line splits with the section straight ahead now forming part of a run round loop. The train took the other line, passing a WW2 pillbox and crossing Bugsby Way on the eastern bridge. Beyond this is a largely vacant area, once presumably covered by sidings. We continued across this and finally came to a halt about 250m from the River, just short of the covered discharge shed used by Aggregate Industries. This receives incoming stone by train from Leicestershire for local distribution. To the east, another siding runs to Tarmac's loading point, where dredged gravel and sand are loaded for distribution by rail to several locations in the London area. The various items of plant and machinery on the site restricted the view forward and made it difficult to understand the overall layout of the various works. After a stay of a few minutes, the train set off back along the branch and returned to central London.

SciTech 2001

11 am to 4 p.m. at Crown Woods School, Riefield Road, Eltham SE9

A unique event designed to celebrate the role of science and technology in society - past, present and future. A fantastic day out that will include lectures, exhibits, and demonstrations, with a few extras (crafts, entertainment and refreshments) to make sure there will be something to appeal to everyone in the family. Incorporates 9th Annual Car and Vehicle Show. Free parking at Avery Hill campus.

Greenwich Industrial History Society will need help on our stall. .

__________________

SWIFTSTONE

LATEST REPORT AND ADVENTURES of a newly preserved tug

June - Nothing happens for ages and then suddenly it all comes at once!! The Swiftstone finally transferred to us officially on June 1st 2001. She was close to the action though on barge race day, moored on the roads off Wood Wharf at Greenwich... and we have since moved her onto the foreshore and started to really get to know 'the old girl'. It was an amazing manoeuvre, repositioning the roads' anchor, getting her up on the foreshore (without crashing into the wharf!) and securing her with a web of ropes & chains. A wonderful day and thanks go to everyone involved

Ian Hale wrote – ‘ privileged, here I am standing on the ex-Cory motor tug Swiftstone taking in the sights and sounds of a large turbo-charged diesel engine. This is Swifty's first trip in private preservation and favours will be done today for the barge owners and ex-Tilbury Ferry The Edith – moored near Wood Wharf. We admire the shape of Swifty’s hull, enthuse over the machinery, and generally run out of superlatives! After copious amounts of tea and coffee are imbibed, Reg is presented with a special flag, which now adorns the masthead. .

Greenwich Industrial History Society would like to add our names to the many people who expressed their sadness at the death of Kay Murch. Kay had worked on the East Greenwich Gas Works site from the time it was a gas works – starting off as a copy typist in the 1960s and ending up as the only person left on site. She went on to become English Partnership’s site manager – looking after the site with the eyes of the world on it through Millennium Year. Kay was a member of GIHS from its earliest meetings – and indeed her support made early organisation much easier than it would otherwise have been – Thanks Kay – and our condolences to Brian.

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Letters September 2001

November 6, 2019, 7:05 am

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Letters September 2001

From Barbara Ludlow

Do you know anything about the Welsbach Incandescent GasLight Co? They sound Welsh or German – I have something about their mantles?

I take it that the passage which runs from Crowley/Anchor Iron Wharf and Ballast Quay is a right of way. Often I have hurried along it hoping the scrap would not fall on my head. The Robinsons (who had the original scrap yard there) who used to live in Mycenae Road told me that their father was not happy about the pathway. Dorothy Robinson told me that they lived at 63 Foyle Road for a time and found papers in the attic about the Brocklebank (shipbuilding family) because Thomas Brocklebank’s grandson lived there until 1919. I think Dorothy said that they threw the Brocklebank stuff in the dustbin.

From Tom Ridge

I am interested in a building in Greenwich, which has stanchions and cranes similar to one I am investigating on the Regent’s Canal.

From Mark Ladley

Could you put the following request for information to your members to help solve a long running puzzle: The subject is an entry in a will dated 1727 referring to "a duty and profit arising from the Chains in the River Thames.” A copy of the will had been entered in the local Parish Register (Barnby Dun, Doncaster, S Yorks) and my father and some friends had been transcribing it when they came across this item, and they have been unable to find any information about it since. The will is that of Francis, Duchess of Sunderland. Thanks,

From Brockelbank family

I came across this site via a search engine, searching for General Steam Navigation. I am trying to find information on. My great-great great grandfather, Thomas Brockelbank (1774-1843), was managing director of the company prior to his death in 1843.

From Colin Read

Can you give me any information, or advise me as to where I can get information about the scientific instrument makers, Troughton & Sims. My grandfather was apprenticed to the firm around 1880.

From Dave Warren

Have just stumbled across your very interesting and informative website. I don't know if you are the right person to ask this question, but here goes anyway. Do you happen to know if Cade’s cavern underneath the Point, Blackheath is planned to be opened for public entry in the not too distant future?

From Valda Low

I found your Greenwich Industrial History site. This is a long shot but I am wondering if you can help me. My great grandfather, William Reynolds, was an iron moulders here in Australia. Among other things, he worked on the design of lacework for some of Brisbane's prominent buildings. Before arriving in Australia he is listed in Greenwich, Kent in 1881 and as working as an iron founder at "the Works.” Can you tell me if there was an iron works or foundry there and if so, could you point me in the right direction to find further information on it?

From Linda Scott

My husband's grandfather Francis Scott was working as a carman for Pickfords and was the second person to use the Blackwall Tunnel. When it opened he was given a silver or gold topped whip. Are there any photographs of the opening event available or any other relevant information about the opening of the tunnel? Many thanks

From A.D.D.Jenkins

I should be grateful if you could provide any information on the identity of the factory manufacturing Kampultican in the Creek Road area of Greenwich and shown on the large scale OS maps of the area.

From An Engineer

The riveted wrought iron roof of the former Neptune Hall of the National Maritime Museum was dismantled about three years ago. The metalwork was put in store with the expectation that it would be re-erected within a reasonable period. Has it been re-erected and if so where?

Via email

I am interested in Ballast Quay. These were small, humble dwellings and I presume that they belonged to dock workers, rope-makers etc. when built. I would like to know more about them. I understand they were on the site of the Green Man Public House which was rebuilt around 1800 and it would appear that some of the properties date from that time. The buildings of ‘Union Wharf’ are curious - the symmetrical terrace with the prominent central block has been altered over time and the individual houses have difference external details. I have been unable to trace when the building at number 11 was demolished. There is a rumour that the building dates from C.1840, but this does not seem to accord with the physical evidence.

From Geoff Knight

Henry Maudslay's sister Ann married a g-g-g grandfather of mine - a William Hartshorn, who was I believe, employed by Maudslay as a engineer and worked with him on the block making machinery at Portsmouth. This is supposition based on the fact that one of their children - Ann Joanna Hartshorn was born in Portsea in 1803 - the time when the work was underway on the machinery. Do you have any records, or for that matter, any information about Henry Maudslay, or his firm Maudlsay, Sons & Field Ltd?

From Terry Tomlin

Request information on the ship Maulesden built by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Dundee in 1875, to complete an historical painting. The Maulesden sailed from Greenock to Maryborough Queensland Australia with immigrants in 70 Days, a record that still stands. I need a description of the Maulesdens Figurehead and if possible details of the ribbon carving on the trail boards. Can you HELP?

From Lorna Barter

Greetings! Well, things are really moving for The Swiftstone Trust now... after what seemed like forever - talking, meeting, negotiating, waiting, paperwork and more waiting... at last The Swiftstone officially belongs to the Trust and we have 'hands-on' her to begin the preservation work. Wonderful!!

Sadly, we were not able to get a full qualified crew together at relatively short notice to assist on Barge Race Day - but we have plans to be actively involved in the Sponsored Barge Driving (in aid of the Dreadnought Unit) in August from Erith to Gravesend.

Swifty is now sitting on the foreshore at the (still doomed but not lost) Wood Wharf. There is a lovely report on the day she was moved, written by Ian Hale, on the Updates page at the site. Pop over and have a look when you have a chance www.thames.org.uk/news.htm. Full results and a few pix of the Barge Race are also up now.

From James Sargeant

Please would you be so good as to inform Mrs Ward that indeed the Anchor and Hope public House is indeed still in existence... I must to admit to having a certain fascination for this pub as it was owned and operated by my family for 99 years.... My Father and his brothers were all born in the pub... and they worked as waterman and lighterman on the Thames.... Kind Regards

From Iris Bryce

Re: Ted Barr’s series on ‘Small Engineering Firms’ –here’s some more he might like to include:

Merrett’s Coal Yard – The Merrett family lived in Woodlands Grove and their yard was in the alleyway that ran behind the shops in Trafalgar Road between David Greig (on the corner of Woodland Walk – called Woodland Street until the 1930s) and Woolworths. By the coal yard was a wheelwright’s business owned by Mr. David Baker who lived next door to my grandmother in Woodland Grove. His son, also named Dave, lived next door to me in 22 Woodland Walk. Another son, Tim Baker, lived in a small house in that alleyway.

There was a blacksmith – sorry, I don’t know the name – situated at the top of Mell Street – this street was known as Miles Street when I lived in Greenwich and there was a three or four storey tenement block opposite the blacksmith, known as Miles Buildings.

From Colin Evans, The Maudslay Society

I am referring to the recent seminar on Maudslay held at Kew Bridge Engines Trust. It was very nice to attend this seminar despite the heat in the lecture room! We also talked about the new museum, which is being set up in the old Royal Arsenal to house some of the exhibits from the Artillery Museum on Woolwich Common. In view of Maudslay’s early association with the Arsenal and then with Greenwich some space in the new museum should be reserved for a section on Maudslay and his work.

From Howard Slight

Further information on Ted Barr’s ‘Smaller Engineering Firms’: The premises of Haybeard, a manufacturer of small electrical transformers, was situated in the building that forms the corner of Blackheath Road and Lewisham Road.

The electric cable manufacturer whose factory was situated in Georgette Place (not Luton Place) and extended along behind King George Street was, in the mid 1920s, the Croydon Cable Works Ltd. In the early 1930s the premises was taken over by the Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co., later LEB, who used it as a store. In the 1960s the land was compulsory purchased by the GLC. In the 1970s, part of the main building was used by the Greenwich Theatre to build stage scenery and later the whole building became artists’ studios. The land is now partly school property and partly private housing.

Henry Sykes the pump manufacturer still exists and has premises in Gallions Road, Charlton.

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Harland and Wolfe

November 6, 2019, 7:50 am

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MY JOYFUL ADVENTURES

AT MESSRS. HARLAND AND WOLFE.

A SHIP REPAIRING FIRM AT NORTH WOOLWICH

ByJOHN FOX

Some time ago there appeared in the Society’s Newsletter, an account of a chap’s apprenticeship - he had served in the Woolwich Arsenal. I wonder if it would be of interest if I gave an account of mine, completed at Messrs. Harland and Wolfe, a ship-repairing firm in North Woolwich.

Leaving my Plumstead school on Wednesday at the age of fourteen, I knew that Mum intended to take me on Monday to the Arsenal for job nailing ammunition boxes together. However, I had a different opinion, for I didn’t care what I did as long as it wasn’t nailing ammunition boxes together in the Woolwich Arsenal. My father, sensing that I held a deep apathy toward ammunition boxes quietly suggested, when mother wasn’t present, that engineering was a good trade and I might like to serve an apprenticeship as one, suggesting I applied at Harland & Wolfe’s. So, on Friday, two days after leaving school I went on my own to the works in North Woolwich buoyed up with the thoughts of starting an apprenticeship. Presenting myself at the Gatehouse I asked the fellow in the office when they would like me to begin. My hopes nose-dived when he pointed out that I couldn’t start an apprenticeship until I was sixteen. My sad look may have softened his heart, for he held out a glimmer of hope, “We do need a lad in this office, in this gatehouse, you can work here if you like. The job will mean running around the works, offices and the ships in the dock we’re working on delivering messages, you can work here for the two years until you are old enough to start an apprenticeship.”

To my young mind, anything was better than nailing ammunition boxes together in the Arsenal and so I eagerly said ‘yes’. The next move was to be taken to the office of the timekeeper, who asked me further questions, glanced at the certificate which told the world that I had left school and being apparently satisfied, gave me a brass tag with a number stamped on it and told me to start on Monday morning. That’s all it took in 1944 to get a job, a chat with whoever was in charge of the section, an interview in what then passed as the personnel department and you started work, as simple as that.

As one may imagine this all caused a hectic row at home, nevertheless on Monday I began my duties in the gatehouse of Messrs Harland and Wolfe’s North Woolwich site. The job didn’t require any great intelligence. Sorting and delivering the mail that had been dropped of in the office by the Royal Mail and the runners, men whose job it was ‘run’ around the docks. Operating a stand-by telephone switchboard before the telephone girls upstairs started their day. Given a moment of glory perhaps two or three times a week, when waving a red flag, I stopped the road traffic to let a train run into the works on the railway line from the King George Fifth dock. My main duty, however, was cycling around the docks to deliver those messages to offices, works and the many ships, both merchant and naval we were repairing in the Royal Group of Docks.

No, it didn’t need the brains of Einstein to carry out my duties, but to a fourteen-year-old it was bloody fascinating and I have most certainly done a lot more borings jobs since. Why, once I even went to the “Thames Iron Works”, at the mouth of Bow Creek, the then largest steam warship in the British Navy, HMS Dreadnought, had been built there in the 1900’s and, incidentally, West Ham United Football Club was started. Thames Iron Works was about 3 miles in the west; the other end of my sphere of influence was Fords at Dagenham, about 3 miles in the east. Though I think my trips to Dagenham were made up trips, for my boss, Eric Dawson, was a great womaniser and every time I had to cycle to Dagenham, on my way back, I had to go to his house and give his wife a note explaining to her that poor Eric had to work late that night. For going to these distant places I was expected to use my own bicycle, receiving a cycle allowance of 2½ p a week, thus making my take home pay to the grand sum of 92½ p a week, (it sounds even less in new money doesn’t it).

Harland’s was the London division of the famous Belfast shipbuilding firm, the London branch was mainly engaged in ship repair, but there were other strings to our bow. Making large body casting for the presses at Ford’s of Dagenham, maintaining the Port of London Authority’s railway stock, casting the iron brake blocks used on the trains and, at the end of the war, the joiners shop putting together the wooden parts of the prefabs that were being erected all over the country.

It takes but a moments thought to realise how many different trades are employed in the building and maintaining a ship. Carpenters, upholsterers, painters, tinsmiths, electricians, shipwrights, riggers, caulkers, blacksmiths, all these with their ancillary trades moulders, boilermakers, platers, pattern makers, coppersmiths and of course, the cream of them all, the fitters. Without the fitters, the workmen of Harland and Wolfe’s would be nothing more than a working class rabble. Amid all these I would roam, why even today the scent of the sail making loft still lingers. There were a lot of tarpaulin covers used then and the inviting tang of a thousand jumbled odours as you climbed up the stairs into their sail making shop is still with me, like walking into another age. Yet another relic of bygone life was the general office, there banks of clerks still sat on tall stools working on chest-high wooden sloping desks, dipping their pens into ink encrusted inkwells, (ink encrusted inkwells might not be strictly accurate, but it does sound very romantic, this was before the days of ball point pens - remember).

Many of these dignified old men were badly injured when a V2 rocket fell on the lock gate of the King George Dock, 20 to 30 yards from the general office. They, and many of the draughtsmen on the top floor, were badly cut by the shards of glass that were blown in by the explosion.

I had two years of this rather carefree life cycling around the docks at the tail end of the war, a sort of Wells Fargo of E16, I suppose. On one occasion a German buzz bomb droned overhead as I cycled peacefully up the King George V dock, without a care in the world, then the buzz bomb’s engine stopped… A docker yelled at me to take cover with him under some railway wagons. All he kept saying was ‘Jesus‘, when, the bomb having exploded some distance of, the pair of us climbed out from under the trucks and saw they were loaded with HE shells bound for France. If the same thing happened to a fourteen-year-old today, he’d be smothered by a hoard of trauma counsellors. I didn’t suffer from the effects of a traumatic shock however, mainly because I don’t think anybody had invented the malady then.

this article appeared in the GIHS Newsletter for November 2001

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Reviews and Snmippets November 2001

November 6, 2019, 7:59 am

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Reviews and Snmippets November 2001

British Deaf History Society - recently took part in an exhibition at The Forum, Greenwich (Christ Church). They have a range of publications – not industrial but interesting, nevertheless.

The Woolwich Ferry – John Burns – is named after the south London politician. One of our members has pointed out that there is a talk about John Burns at the Wandsworth Borough Museum

MERRYWEATHER’S CATALOGUE

Ted Barr has been kind enough to send us a photocopy of a Merryweather’s catalogue from the 1880s - over 100 pages and its difficult to know where to start. It describes many of their fire and steam engines, who bought them and what they were used for – this is going to have to be another serial! Must be careful too since on the front it says ‘Proceedings will be taken against any person pirating this catalogue’.

Merryweather's were fire engine manufacturers based in Greenwich High Road – the factory is still there, used as a trading estate – behind an art deco frontage. But it is likely soon to be the subject of a planning application for demolition. The Company had originally been in business in Long Acre in London – and claimed in the 1880s to have been established ‘upwards of 200 years ‘, So, clearly they didn’t start with making steam fire engines!

So – leaving the formalities for now – let us take an engine at random. On page 18 is illustrated ‘The Conqueror’ ‘Admiralty Pattern Patent Double Cylinder Steam Fire Engine. The first of this class of engine won first prize at Crystal Palace in 1863. One such engine was the largest Steam Fire Engine in the world ‘La Belle France’ purchased by the Austro Hungarian Government in 1878 along with another. Conquerors were also bought by the Dockyards at Portsmouth (3), Gosport, Woolwich, Deptford, Devonport (4), Keyham, Chatham (2), Kiel, Wilmershaven, Don Pedro, Rio de Janiero and Dantzig. Wigan Corporation bought ‘Le Empereur’ in 1868, and others went to Dacca Twist Mills, Tomsk, Valparaiso, and a Russian Mill.

And what did these magnificent engines cost? The smallest which pumped 900 gallons per minute, to a height of 200 feet would set you back £990.50 but should you want 2,000 gallons a minute to 300 feet you would have to find £2,000. Plus, of course, in both cases numerous extras.

What was thrown in for the price included the feed pumps, lamps, water bags, engine hose, oil cans and – oh yes – sway bars for the horses. You pumped your water by steam power, but you took the equipment to the fire by more traditional methods!

The Guide Magazine

The November 2001 contains an edition of Peter Kent’s ‘River Watch’ but (shame on you, Peter) he has abandoned Greenwich for an article on the Pool of London. All good stuff, though. In the same edition, Neil Rhind writes on ‘Lost Horizons’. . About an older, greener, Blackheath.

Crossness Record

(Autumn 2001 Vol.7.No.5.) More ‘News from the Octagon’ – our local steam museum. ‘Prince Consort’ now has most of his ‘topworks’ finished and work is now concentrated around the cylinder. All six sets of valves are being refitted to the ports – having been refurbished at Crossness’s own workshop. The barring engine is undergoing its second restoration. The chimney erection is now completed and much of the ancillary equipment in the new boiler room, has been installed and steel pipework fitted. The concrete bunded area to the east of the Triple Expansion House will be the cooling pond for the new steam system. The final section of engine house arcade next to Prince Consort is almost finished and the cast iron floor panels and been returned. Some windows to the west have been unboarded and there is now much more light coming in. The old steam and machine tools display space has now been converted to a new lecture theatre – to a very high standard and looks magnificent. The whole visitor centre is now undergoing reorganisation.

Woolwich Antiquarian Society Newsletter

October 2001 gives details of a ceremony to mark the opening of the newly refurbished gatehouse of the Cambridge Barracks in Francis Street. Views from it are said to be ‘glorious’ and the rooms are to be for community use.

Henry Maudslay 1771-1831 & Maudslay Sons and Field Ltd.

We have been very kindly sent a copy of this booklet published by the Maudslay Society in 1949 to mark the establishment of the Maudslay Scholarship. This gives so much information it is difficult to know where to start – extracts will be included in future editions of this work.

Bygone Kent.

Vol. 22, No.9. Contains an article by Mary Mills on ‘Greenwich and Deptford Copperas –The Final Years’. This concerns extracts from the diary of Elizabeth Pearson, sister of the works owner. It speculates on relationships with the Millington family in Greenwich and goes on to describe the eventual failure of the Deptford copperas works after 200 years in production.

Vol. 22. No.10. has a letter asking for details about Ye Olde Sheer Hulk pub which was opposite the main gate of the Royal Dockyard in Woolwich. The writer is a Mrs. Lingham from Ashford who says that she was brought up next door to this pub and it was believed that it was built of timbers taken from the old prison hulks.

Opening of the Riverside Path

As a local resident, a councillor and a historian I was particularly happy on 17^thSeptember. This was a great day for Greenwich because - at last - the riverside path was opened around the Dome site, and the route between Deptford Creek and Thames Barrier completed.

This section of riverside path has been closed to the public for 120 years, ever since the gas works was built in the 1880s. Before that, in the 1870s, Greenwich Vestry (Greenwich Council’s predecessor) had fought a long, hard battle in the High Court to keep it open. Nothing changes - it is only because Greenwich Council went back to the High Court in the 1990s that so much of the path is open today – and thanks to hard work by English Partnerships, it is now open right round the tip of the Peninsula.

Some really exciting new vistas will be opened up to us – across the River is the whole of Blackwall Reach with tales of the days when ‘Blackwall fashion’ were the most important words in world shipbuilding. We will be able to see where HMS Warrior – now preserved in dry dock at Portsmouth – was built, as well as the monument to the departure of the Virginia Settlers as they went off to found America, and London’s only real lighthouse – today an art gallery. The path was formally opened by the Mayor – but the real ceremony was performed by the children of the Millennium School who lined up on their bicycles to be the first through the new section. They were followed by stream of guests on foot – walking, chatting, and looking at the river. It has taken a lot of hard work to get this path open – the community groups who have kept on reminding us all about it, the council staff who have done such a lot of hard work as well as English Partnerships, who were ultimately responsible for opening it up. Thank you to everyone – the best thanks though will be to see visitors and locals using the path, seeing the river.

GEOLOGICAL REFERENCES

Paul Sowan has been kind enough to send us a list of references to local geological features. They include:

Report of the Committee for the Exploration of subsidences on Blackheath. Thomas Vincent Holmes. Blackheath & Lewisham Scientific Assoc. July 1881.

Excursion to Westcombe Park, Greenwich and Loampit Hill, Lewisham April 7^th1883. Thomas Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 8 (3) 112-113

The new section in Westcombe Park, Greenwich Thomas Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 8 (1) 59-64

Excursion to Loampit Hill, Lewisham and West Coombe Park, Greenwich, July 7^th1888. Thomas Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 10 (9) 501-503.

Excursion along the new railway from Blackheath to Bexley Heath. Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 13 (5) 152-157

Excursion to Charlton and Plumstead Sat. April 17^th 1901. Thomas Vincent Holmes & William Whitaker, Proceedings Geological Association 17 (4) 182-184

Convoys Wharf

The site now referred to as CONVOYS WHARF is of great historical importance. It was Henry V111's Royal Naval Dockyard, later the Royal Naval Victualling yard, and then the Foreign Cattle Market before its recent use for import of newsprint for the Wapping printing works of News International

Last year planning permission was sought for site redevelopment, predominantly as an up-market housing estate. It was opposed by Deptford residents, amenity societies, and the Mayor of London as not meeting local needs, and refused by Lewisham Council.

A new proposal, the outline description of which sounds much more appropriate, has now been submitted.

Tom Sheppard

THE CROWN WOODS AFFAIR

By Jack Vaughan

On October 14^th, the annual exhibition of vintage vehicles was expanded to include a miscellaneous collection of sub-exhibitions. From our point of view the most important was advertised as an ‘Industrial Fair’. Since this could offer an opportunity to raise the profile of Industrial History in our area, we undertook to offer a small display.

We chose a relevant theme based on famous engineers who had some connection with our district. The space allocation imposed a limit on the number that could be included and this meant that some worthy individuals could not be used.

I shall not give details here other than the names – as I may offer a series of talks on them in small groups.

The names: Henry Maudslay, James Nasmyth, William Armstrong, William Fairbairn, Joseph Bramah, Marc Brunel, Joseph Whitworth, The Collier family [Matchless Motor Cycles], Charles (General) Gordon, Frederick Abel, John Rennie, Michael Faraday.

On the whole, it was a worthwhile under taking although it took two months from first to last.

EDITORIAL NOTE

We really should thank Jack for the time and effort he put in to setting this exhibition up – we should also thank his long-suffering daughter who provided a vast amount of help and support.

** Jack has provided a list of 13 scientists and engineers who were associated with Greenwich industry and scientific advance. Clearly there were many more – for example, the Greenwich based engineer, John Penn, and all the astronomers at the Royal Observatory, for a start. Please send in names of others– and if you can provide mini-biographies so much the better. Let’s see how many names we can get, and amaze everyone! We might even be able to publish a book …. or a series of books

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Letters November 2001

November 6, 2019, 11:58 pm

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Letters November 2001

From Richard Cheffins

In answer to A.D.D.Jenkins query in our last issue (4 - Sept 2001) on ‘Kamtulicon’. (NB not Kampultican) is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘Floor cloth composed of a mixture of India-rubber, gutta percha [the thickened juice of a Malay gum tree] and corn mounted on canvas’. According to the dictionary, the term, in mock Greek, was first used in 1844, presumably when the product was first manufactured and put on sale. It must have had a relatively short life as a product since linoleum, which largely replaced it, was patented in 1860.

I have a copy of Mason’s Greenwich and Blackheath shilling directory … for 1852 (Greenwich’s first street directory and not held in the Local History Library). No Kamptulicon works are listed in Bridge Street, as Creek Road, Greenwich, was then known, but in Greenwich Road (now Greenwich High Road) there is the entry ‘Walter and Gouch, Kamptulicon Floorcloth Works’. Mason omits house numbers from all streets with irregular numbering (most of them) but the Kamptulicon works were two down from Mumford’s Flour Mill in the direction of Greenwich town centre with a timber yard in between. There may have been other Kamptulicon works, perhaps in Creek Road, in Deptford, or perhaps later on in Bridge Street (the first large scale Ordnance Survey map for the area dates from 1869, surveyed c. 1867).

From Stuart Smith, The Trevithick Trust

I was pleased to see your display at the Cambridge Conference of the Association for Industrial Archaeology. I wondered if any of your members are interested in or have knowledge of cable making operations in or around the Greenwich area, particularly at Silvertown.

From Paul Calvocoressi

The Great Wheel at Earl’s Court

The September 2001 issue of the Newsletter mentioned the piece in the Newcomen Society Bulletin about the Great Wheel at Earl’s Court whose axle and bearings were made by Maudslay, Son, and Field and for which steelwork was supplied by the Arrol Bridge and Roof Co. It asked whether I could comment on which of Maudslay’s yards carried out the work and whether Arrol might have had any connection with the Appleby Works, which was next door to Maudslay’s site on the East Greenwich peninsula.

My source for the information was the account in Vol.42 of the Survey of London– Southern Kensington: Kensington Square to Earl’s Court, at page 335. I spoke to my colleagues in the Survey of London team, asking whether their notes for the volume, which was published in 1986, shed any light on these questions.

I am afraid that they do not. The published information was based on a piece in The Builder, but specialist engineering magazines do not seem to have been consulted.

From Gail Brocklebank Smith

I came across this site via a search engine, while searching for General Steam Navigation, which I am trying to find information on. My great-great great grandfather, Thomas Brockelbank (1774-1843), was managing director of the company prior to his death in 1843. I know that the National Maritime Museum holds manuscripts of the company, but living in the United States, I do not have access to them, except to hire a researcher. Any help in locating information would be greatly appreciated, even a recommended researcher who is knowledgeable of the material.

I have a picture--actually a picture of a picture right now--of Thomas Brocklebank. My cousin in Liverpool has the original, a print; I think it is a black and white sketch. He has promised to send it to me. But the photo came out good and can email it, if you like.

Gail

From John Sofield

Your web site came up, while I was searching for information, and I was wondering if there is anyone in your group that would have any information on Mr and Mrs Arthur and Jessie Sofield, who lived at 181, Creek Road, Deptford. They were married on the 25th December 1910 at St Nicholas Parish, then migrated to Western Australia.

From Mike Crutchley

Please forgive me for this intrusion, but I am looking for an expert on the history of Maudslay, Son, & Field.

I am currently researching the total loss of the Neapolitan paddle steamer The ERCOLANO on 24th April 1854. Most on board were lost including Charlotte Knight and her two infant children. The Ercolano collided with the iron screw steamer SICILIA (Glasgow built) in a storm at night and went down quickly in deep water south of the Bay of Antibes, off the coast of France. Much is known about the event - but very little is known about the Ercolano. This is all I have so far: The Mediterranean Steamship Navigation Company commissioned five new steamers from 1825, one of which was known as the ERCALANO (may be a spelling mistake). Although The Ercolano is described in 1842 by the engineer JAMES NASMYTH (who I believe worked for Maudslay) as "...a fine new steamer of the Messageries Imperiales line.” Although there is no evidence of her in the M.I. records. It is more likely that she worked for the Neapolitan Line out of Naples. Her standard route was coastal from Palermo in Sicily to Marseilles via Naples, Civitavecchia, Leghorn and Genoa.

I believe she would have been designed very similar to ships such as JAMES WATT or SOPHIA JANE. Possibly 200 to 300 tons, schooner rigged with single funnel and twin paddles. She was known to carry 50 passengers on the night, but had in the past carried 250 passengers on deck. But what I do know is that her engine was by Maudslay, Son, & Field. This gives me hope in finding evidence of her existence.

Was Maudslay building ships at that time i.e. 1825 or 1842? Would there be any record of Maudslay supplying a marine engine to another shipbuilder either on the Thames or perhaps in Glasgow? I don't think she was built in Italy, but would Maudslay have contracted to supply engines in the construction of the five MSNC steamers, CAPRI, VESUVIO, MONGIBELLO, ERCO(A)LANO, or MARIA CHRISTINA between 1825 and 1830? To find out about her engine design and drive would be fascinating.

I am writing a detailed piece on the event for an American/Canadian family history society. Later I have to give a talk in London Ontario (not directly on the event, but the Ercolano will play a small part). And I know little about paddle steamers and steam engines, hence my cry for help! Pictorial evidence of the Ercolano would be a positive bonus! The SICILIA had 300hp engines and I wonder whether Maudslay would have supplied them in 1854. Ironically, she later sank before her second 'maiden' voyage, north of Palermo.

Any clues?

From Elsa Meier

While surfing the net for an elusive relative I came across your wonderfully informative newsletter. It was nearly as good as being there. I am chasing a ggg grandfather James Bond (I am not kidding!) Who is said to have died in 1896 at or in or on St. Olaf/Olave. He was in the merchant navy. Is there a person there who would look up information for me on the off chance that I might hit pay dirt as us Aussies say? If not it was still interesting to read your page.

From: Paul

Do you know of any web cams looking at the barrier - the search facility on ‘google’ looked like you had some

on the history site.

From Jane Cox

I have just come across your site, I am wondering if you may be able to help me - my gr gr grandfather Edward James Amos was at Woolwich arsenal as a writer/painter. His father, Edward, was also painter at Royal Woolwich Arsenal. One of them had something to do with designing the statue of Florence Nightingale. I would Interested to know if you know anything about this statue. I have little to go on I would welcome any advice on books on the history of the Woolwich Arsenal or addresses I can write to.

From Liz O’Connel

A web search landed me at your site. My mother was a Bilbe and her family were shipbuilders in your area. Is there any information on them available?

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