More Engineering in Greenwich

By Ted Barr

May I start with a word or two of appreciation for all those members and others who have either written directly about my small contributions, or commented via the newsletter. All very pleasing and make the effort worthwhile.

An aspect of the subject which I had completely overlooked was the workshops in the gas and electricity generating stations. Taking, gas first, because of the large amount of heat available from benches of retorts and processes, etc. Waste heat boilers were frequently used and all the processes requiring mechanical power were steam engine driven. Obviously all this plant needed regular maintenance and overhaul. According to my History of the South Met. Their general workshops at Grenfell Street site had about 350 skilled men covering most of the recognised branches – one of my old deceased friends was a blacksmith/welder there.

Now, electricity generating – a mix of public and private.

Old Borough of Woolwich

1. White Hart Road

2. Arsenal (help – please! Chairman Jack)

3. By the Ferry

Old Borough of Greenwich

1. The Tramway Station, Old Woolwich Road

2. South Metropolitan Electricity, Blackwall Point

3. Deptford B

4. Angerstein SECR – a ‘might have been’.

General Comments

1. White Hart Road. The Chamberlain inspired Act of 1882 gave private companies and public authorities powers to design, build, and operate plant to supply local networks. It appears that Woolwich was very early in the field at White Hart Road.

2. Tramway Station – built by the former London County Council to supply the trams. The only one left and operating by gas turbines remotely controlled as a booster for peak loads.

3. Deptford B. despite its’ name, within the old Greenwich boundary. Built by Ferranti it was the first public supply station in the world and later supplied a wide area of Southern Electric through a row of heavy underground cables to the familiar red-brick sub-station outside Lewisham Junction.

4. Angerstein – ‘might have been’ had SELR pursued their electrification plans for post World War One.

All these sites would have needed back-ups. Another of my old friends was in the machine shops at Battersea all through World War Two.

Deptford

5. The United Glass works at Anchor and Hope Lane were considering having their own gas works in the mid 1930s. But dropped the idea on negotiating more favourable terms from South Metropolitan Gas.

6. Public Authorities:

Baths, wash houses and laundries – Greenwich new baths, Trafalgar Road, had an engineering workshop driven by our old friends line-shafting, belts and pullies.

There was a similar shop at Tunnel Avenue Depot and in my days at the Town Hall the engineer in charge was named Jim Taylor who lived in Ruthin Road. I never knew what went on there.

South Metropolitan Gas had a generation plant at Ordnance Wharf by-products works, presumably because gas light wasn’t suitable for plant making highly volatile inflammable products. They also ran a fleet of steam powered tankers for tar-spraying activities on the roads. These obviously had to be maintained in the general workshops.

7. The Woolwich Free Ferry vessels. No electricity was available in mid-stream and those familiar with ‘Squire’, ‘Duncan’ and the rest may remember that behind the engineer in charge who stood with his controls facing the engine room telegraphs, there was a smallish generator driven by a single cylinder steam engine, running all the time the ferry was in service.

As always, corrections, comments and additions will be welcome.

Ted Barr

Alcatel

by David Riddle

It struck me recently that there are aspects of our 'Industrial History' that remain active even today. I am referring to the fact that at least one of the London Borough of Greenwich's main employers has roots going back a very long way, with the achievements of its predecessors, both company-wise and personnel-wise frequently the subject of discussion in this Newsletter. The particular organisation I am thinking of is Alcatel.

Alcatel took space to run quite a large corporate stand at October's Crown Wood's School Vintage Car Fair, which this year incorporated an Industrial Heritage Fair and an event called Sci'Tech 2001. Alcatel have an active education unit that supports the teaching of science in schools, and their stand incorporated large-scale maps of their current cable network as well as computer systems demonstrating cable manufacture. Heat-sensitive cameras provided instant colour print-outs of all the hot-spots in your brain or other parts of one's anatomy that you thought were properly out of sight and out of reach!

In the same week, Alcatel, a French-owned multi-national, had announced significant job losses at its Christchurch Way plant, previously known as STC Submarine Systems. This was surprising as, indeed, has been the recent apparent general downturn in the telecommunications market, so I took the opportunity to ask one of the staff on duty for some inside information on his views of the reason for the current problems. What I learnt was quite an eye-opener.

One might think from all the hype that the vast majority of telephone and data traffic these days, especially Internet traffic, goes by satellite? This is not true. Some 85% of all inter-continental traffic uses cable, not satellite. One of the reasons for this can be witnessed on the current nightly TV News videophone links from inland Afghanistan. There is a significant, and sometimes very annoying, delay in the reception of data when transmitted by satellite. In contrast there is no such delay with cable. Voice data takes a mere 0.003 sec. to travel from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Satellite is a much more important and significant carrier from locations within continents, but even this dominance is being challenged by huge investment in terrestrial cable.

An interesting fact revealed by Alcatel's maps was that submarine cables no longer just link continent 'A' to continent 'B'. There is now a major infrastructure of cables that circumnavigate the major continental landmasses. As examples, cable now go right around Africa and South America, with nodal points offshore that provide links to the major cities around the coast.

When the first long-distance cables were manufactured and laid in the mid-19th century, there were numerous problems to be overcome. The cables themselves were made of copper and extremely heavy. The ships that carried them were still often made of wood and subject to severe weather conditions for which they were much less well equipped to deal with than their iron and steel successors. Cables were often lost overboard in storms, involving huge project delays and weeks of painstaking work with grappling irons to find the lost 'end' in thousands of feet of water, work that was not always successful.

Also, remember what's down there on the seabed. It's an exact equivalent of what there is above water level. Plateaus, hills, huge mountain ranges, everything in fact that you can think of terrain-wise. Where do the cables get laid? Do they always follow exactly the same path, or does each one follow a well-surveyed route? It seems that similar, but not identical paths are followed, but it is neither technically possible, nor advisable to lay one cable exactly parallel to another. Most modern systems are actually designed as loops. Two shore base stations on either continent are linked by a continuous loop of cable that also links the shore stations. The sections of submarine cable may be separated by several hundred kilometres. If some kind of disturbance of either a man-made or natural variety were to affect one cable it would not affect the other arm of the loop, so services would only suffer a break of a few tens of milli-seconds while switching of traffic to the undamaged cable occurs. Cables apparently also end up following the lie of the land. If one were to imagine trying to lay a fairly rigid chunk of cable over even a modest set of mountains such as in the Lake District, it should be obvious that this cannot always occur, so there will always be short lengths of 'suspension', although the geologists involved aim to keep these to a minimum, otherwise they would thrash around too much in the underground currents and possibly snap.

Cables have always required insulation to avoid the nasty effects of the potential mix of salt water and signal-carrying metal. One of the first innovations to come out of the Enderby Works was that of the use of a material called gutta-persha, a far superior insulator to anything that had gone before it. Nowadays this has been superseded by the use of polythene, which is virtually non-degradable. Furthermore, you will no longer find data cables made of copper manufactured for the long-distance transmission of voice and data traffic.

All cables laid prior to 1988 were copper co-axial and carried analogue signals. In that year the first trans-Atlantic digital optical fibre cable, called TAT-8, came into operation. This cable consisted of a pair of optical fibres, one for transmission in each direction, along which signal-carrying beams of light travel. These light beams carry the voice/data 'channels'. Early cables required powered 'regenerating repeaters' at regular intervals along their length. As much as 10KVolts was needed to supply a constant 1 amp of current to the 100 or so repeaters on a typical 7500km trans-Atlantic cable. This power was carried along a copper sheath which lay outside the fibres and inside any protective armour that may have been required to provide additional protection for the cable in the particular environment it was designed for.

These repeaters convert weak incoming optical signals to electrical signals, amplify that signal, and then convert it back into optical form for transmission along the next section of cable. It was not until 1996 that the first systems using full optical amplification came in to use.

However, whereas with copper, it was fundamentally only possible for a single strand of copper to carry a single voice channel, although this could be improved by a process called multiplexing, with optical fibres the same fibre can be made to carry multiple channels through the use of different laser light wavelengths. This results in a huge increase in the overall capacity of the cable. Only five years ago the standard number of wavelengths in use in submarine cables was 4, with 40 being deployed on some terrestrial cable systems. Today it is 16 with 100 coming on stream, and at higher transmission speeds, another developing factor. The result is that the same original cable can potentially carry at least 100 times more data. Some estimates are that it may be possible to increase this number to 1000 within the next few years, and there are also options to increase the number of fibre pairs from the common standard of only 4 in trans-Atlantic cables to 16. This would require a consequent increase in the size of optical repeaters, and this might in turn require prohibitively expensive modifications to the 30 or so cable-laying ships that currently provide the laying and repair capability for the world's submarine cable network.

Perhaps you are beginning to understand the nature of Alcatel's current problem? Although demand for more and more capacity in optical cables has been existence for many years, there come points in time when demand is temporarily met, yet the technology marches on. This is driven by business competition which, ironically, starts to become contrary to the interests of those same businesses. Optical cable doesn't need replacing as frequently as copper, so once laid, a cable will function quite happily for its planned operational life of 25 years. Capacity is met, cable become ever more capable, and sales start to drop off. This is the problem Alcatel currently face.

As the man said, the telecomms industry is a bit like a roller coaster. At this point in time Alcatel appear to have simply become almost too good at their own game! If you are interested to learn more at a fairly high, but still remarkably readable level, try; An Oversimplified Overview of Undersea Cable Systems. David O. Williams. Information Technology Division. European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN)

INDUSTRY IN DEPTFORD

- FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM CHRISTOPHER PHILPOTT’S STUDY

To the south of Copperas Lane were potteries operated by Thomas Slade and Isaac Parry in 1770 and to the east another pottery on the Creek shore. This had been established in 1701, run by the Willsons until 1751, and taken over by the Parrys in 1755. It became their ‘Lower Pottery’ and appears on drawings of 1841 as ‘Deptford Stone Pottery’ and ‘Lime Kilns’ . In the eighteenth century it made Deptford Ware including crucibles, and later chemical and sanitary wares, and moulded spirit flasks. It was empty by 1862.

Two small potteries operated at the former Slaughterhouse site on Harold’s Wharf until 1761 and 1800. One was probably run by John Hall in 1680. There were other potteries in Deptford to the west of Church Street c.1730-1800, on Tanners’ Hill 1804-40 and on Counter Hill c.1810-49. There was also a clay pipe factory on the west side of Watergate Street – and excavation of its dumps of wasters found mostly nineteenth century material, but also some pipes from 1650-1750.

There were tan houses and tan yards on the west side of the Creek in 1589-90. These were probably associated with the King’s Slaughterhouse, making use of its by-products and waste products. This is like the tanneries, with their distinctive pits lined with horn-cones, clustered around the slaughter yards of the Naval Victualling Yard on Tower Hill. In the nineteenth century there were tanneries on the east side of the Creek extending from the south part of the Pumping Station site to the Skillion Business Centre and the adjacent van hire yard.

Other early industries in the area include brick, tile, and lime manufacture. There were brickfields in Deptford in the 1570s and a bricklayers’ premises lay to the west of Deptford Green in 1716. There was a tile factory on both sides of Copperas Lane in c.1733-70. In 1753 it consisted of a mill house and a plain tile house on the north side of the lane and a tile kiln house, a pantile house and a lathing house on the south side. Other eighteenth century tile kilns lay on the west side of Church Street. Limekilns were attached to Parry’s Lower Pottery by 1840.

There was a brewhouse attached to the White Lion in Deptford in 1565 and two brewhouses in Deptford Town (ie. the Broadway area) in 1608. One of these was attached to the George Inn There were small brewhouses on the west side of Deptford Green in 1751 and on the Stowage in 1756-1760. Norfolk’s Deptford Brewery was first established at the end of the eighteenth century on the east corner of Brookmill Road and the Broadway on the site of a former timber yard, and continued until 1905. Some original foundations are thought to survive beneath the present building. There was also a Gloucester Brewery at Deptford Bridge from 1823-1914. Between the Norfolk Brewery and Deptford Bridge, adjacent to the Ravensbourne was the distillery of Holland and Company. This was established in 1779 and extended c.1880. This was one of the great gin factories of London, The lower central blocks built of brick and tile with an archway is listed grade 2. It is also possible that there was distilling on the power station site – by a Joseph Hales, identified as a distiller and who held land in that vicinity.

The tide mill was acquired by Christ’s Hospital in 1576 by the terms of the will of Roger Knot. In the 1570s-1590s the mill pond caused continual problems of flooding over 11 or 12 acres of meadow land, because the millers kept raising the height of the flood gates. It was especially dangerous when there was a strong flow of water down the Ravensbourne and it was necessary to co-ordinate the opening of the sluices with the Brook Mill further upstream to avoid flooding. The mill continued to operate on the same site until it was destroyed by flooding in 1824. It was re-built and taken over by J.H.Robinson who turned it into a steam-powered flour mill. In 1855 it took over the business of making ships’ biscuits from the Steam Bakery in Brookmill Road. The floodgates were still causing flooding in the late 1850s when they were described as ‘miserably deficient’. Later the mill buildings expanded towards Deptford Bridge and also covered the former osier ground on the east side (the Skillion site). The mill closed in the 1960s and was demolished after a fire in 1970. To its east Mumford’s Mill was founded in 1790. The present building was erected in 1897 and is grade 2 listed. There was also a windmill on the east side of the Creek until at least 1840 – approximately on the site of the Skillion Business Centre.

Brook Mill on the west bank of the Ravensbourne is documented from at least 1586. It was purchased from the Beecher family by John Evelyn in 1668. It was later taken over by the Kent Waterworks and rebuilt both to grind corn and to raise water from wells. It was demolished in the 1850s.

A large part of Deptford, however, remained pastoral or was used for market gardening from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. There were still market gardens in the Norman Road area and along the banks of the Creek were meadows

In Search of Lost Robert Dudley Watercolours

June next year will mark the 150^th anniversary of the opening of the first submarine telegraph cable between England and India. The cable was built and operated by three companies founded by John Pender (1816-96), the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Co Ltd (1868); the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Co Ltd (1869); and the Falmouth. Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Co Ltd (1869). The system ran from Porthcurno via Lisbon and Gibraltar to Alexandria, then across Egypt to Suez and on to Bombay (now Mumbai) via Aden. The cable station at Porthcurno would become the most important communications centre in the British Empire and is now a world class museum https://telegraphmuseum.org/. The Museumis planning a series of events to mark this ground-breaking achievement, and as part of this they are hoping to track down the whereabouts of two watercolours.

The shore end of the cable to Lisbon was landed by the SS Investigator on 6 June 1870, and the final splice was made two days later, completing the link to Lisbon. With the line in operation, on 8 June John Pender was in the cable hut at Porthcurno to dictate the first test message sent over his system to Bombay. Both these events were captured by the artist Robert Charles Dudley (1826-1909).https://atlantic-cable.com/CablePioneers/Dudley/index.htmDudley presented both of these watercolours to John Pender shortly afterwards, and they became two of his most treasured possession.

In 1894, John Pender had a 316-page catalogue of his art collection printed by Bradbury, Agnew & Coand published by Whitefriars Press of London. The catalogue was entitled Pictures, Drawings and Sculptures forming the Collection of Sir John Pender GCMG, MP. A copy is held in the Paul Getty Museum in California,and it can be viewed on line here: https://archive.org/stream/picturesdrawings00unse#page/n181/mode/2up/

The two watercolours are listed in the Arlington Street collection as shown here in the catalogue:

After the death of Sir John Pender GCMG MP, on 7 July 1896, the vast majority of his art collection was sold at auction by Messrs Christie, Manson & Woods in their auction rooms at 8 King Street, St James Square London.

From Pender’s collection as listed in the Bradbury & Agnew catalogue, 66 paintings were held back by the family, among which was the sepia wash of John Pender in the cable hut. Christie’s records indicate that the Investigator painting, Lot 147, was purchased for ten guineas by ‘D.G.’;unfortunately Christie’s cannot confirm who D.G. was. This ends the established history of this painting. Regrettably, no images of it have been found to date, but it is almost certain that it was the basis of the engraving that that was published in the Illustrated London News,on 25 June 1870, for whom Dudley was a Special Artist.

The Cable Hut watercolour was retained by John Pender’s son, John Denison Denison-Pender (1855-1929), and an image of it appears in the Jubilee Edition of the Eastern Telegraph Co Ltd in-house magazine Zodiac in August 1922. This company was founded by John Pender and his son John Denison was then its chairman.

After the death of Sir John Denison Denison-Pender GBE KCMG on 6 March 1929, the contents of his London residence, 6 Grosvenor Crescent, were sold at auction by Hampton & Sons of 20, St James’ Square, London S.W.1

The contents were sold off room by room and Lots 300 & 301are catalogued as paintings by Robert Dudley:

Again, no images were included in the sale catalogue, and the descriptions are too vague to be sure what these paintings were. It is possible that Lot 300 is the Investigator, although the description is ‘Ships’ and there is only one ship (but several boats) in the Investigator painting. This would mean that John Denison-Pender bought the painting back from D.G. or that D.G purchased it on his behalf. It is also likely that the cable hut painting is one of the seven in Lot 301.

The Telegraph Museum Porthcurno would be keen to hear from anyone who can assist in the current location(s) of these two important Robert Dudley watercolours. If you can assist in any way please contact the Museum’s Director Julia Twomlow julia.twomlow@telegraphmuseum.org

THE OLD SHEER NONSENSE

By Jack Vaughan

On page 5 of the November newsletter a small item caught my eye under “Bygone Kent” Vol. 22. An Ashford Lady recalls being raised next door to an old public house, which she refers to as ‘Ye Olde Sheer Hulk’. I remember it (just about) and I looked it up in Volume 1 of Vincent’s’ "Records of the Woolwich District". An excellent ‘Plan of West Woolwich in 1748 is on page 41. It covers the streets and alleys adjacent to the Royal dockyard main gate in one of which the pub stood. It appears on the map as ‘New Alley’ but at the time that Vincent was writing his two volumes this name had been changed to "Martyrs Passage".

In recent years the area, has, needless to say, been destroyed. I have a map of Woolwich Pubs drawn in 1950, which shows the pub but not the passage. I would welcome knowledge of the survival of Martyr’s passage.

Perhaps the name of the pub is of interest. ‘Sheers’ (or Shears) were a special type of lifting structure used in dockyards for inserting or removing masts in wooden vessels. The word 'hulk' is famously used to describe cut down obsolete battleships for accommodating convicts for deportation- the practice ended with the American War of Independence.

It is likely that some shears were carried in hulks to form a type of floating crane. I recall that the pub was said to have been built using timber from the Royal Dockyard, which closed in 1869.

I have found further information on the pub in a booklet on ‘Woolwich, Plumstead and Neighbourhood’ – the date is unknown by certainly no later than 1890. Some of this is reproduced below.

The " Old Sheer Hulk," Church Street, Woolwich -

The " Old Sheer Hulk," another of the branch establishments, (of the Woolwich Distillery and the Old Shakespeare’s Head) is a house with many associations, having been one of the institutions of Woolwich for many years. In the porch of the house attention is attracted by a painting of the " Old Ship," and the words of the song, "Tom Bowling," by Dibdin, appear below. Many of our readers may regret that the "Old Sheer Hulk" has been restored and improved under Mr. G. H. Campbell's proprietorship. It has, however, now been brought into line with modern requirements, and it is fitted up in the very latest and. most effective style. The house stands opposite to the Royal Dockyard gates, and has always been well patronised by the navy, this patronage still being extended to it, even in its rejuvenescent form. The hotel is singularly well conducted, being under the personal management of Mr. Walter Campbell, the brother of the proprietor. We should also mention that this is the head quarters of, the West Woolwich Cycle Club.

MERRYWEATHER & SONS', GREENWICH

PATENT DOUBLE-CYLINDER STEAM FIRE ENGINE "GANGES”.

This class of Engine is made in one size only. It is the lightest of the double-cylinder Engines of our make, and is constructed to be drawn either by men or horses. One of these Engines was supplied to the Municipality of Calcutta some years since, and has given every satisfaction; since then orders for similar Engines have been er &Sons sent six Steam Fire Engines to Paris for its protection. One of these engines was of the above class, executed for the same municipality. The wheels .are made of wrought iron, as shown in the illustration, these being found to suit the climate of India better than wood wheels. During the Franco-Prussian war Merryweath and, although it left their works unfinished, having to go into Paris by the last train previous to the closing of the city gates, it was selected to supply the street mains with water, as the waterworks had stopped, being outside the city, and the work was accomplished very successfully. This Engine was also employed to supply enormous reservoirs placed at an elevation of two hundred feet from the ground. It has, therefore, been amply proved that this Engine is not only a most excellent Fire Engine, but also a powerful portable Pumping Engine. The other .Steam Fire Engines were, according to the Engineer's report, instrumental in extinguishing very extensive fires during the bombardment. This size of Engine is in use in the Moscow Fire Brigade (made to burn wood). Her Majesty’s Government, also adopts it for the Colonies. Another Engine of this class was taken by the makers to Stockport, where it was shown off in the presence of the Town Council. The Town Council met specially, and purchased the Engine at once, although it was on its way to another part, having been lent only to the Corporation of Manchester, about eight miles distant, during the building of a more powerful Engine to their special order.

This account taken from Merryweather’s catalogue.

LETTERS

From Nicholas Hall, Curator Fort Nelson Museum

I am just revising my article on Blakely, the gun founder who had a works on the Greenwich Peninsula. This will be for this year’s yearbook.. I cannot remember if I told you that I had acquired a wonderful Blakely mountain gun earlier this year – the very same gun is shown in the album. I also have a report of a Blakely gun in Wales.

From Steve Foster

I was researching the name Molassine and found your site. I have a tin Matchbox approx 3" x 1 1/2" which has the Molassine Trade mark to the front which consists of a bulls head and on the horns it says Molassine Horse Food on one and Molassine Cattle food on the other with a rearing horse and bull either side. On the reverse it has a reclining naked lady holding a tray or plate with one elbow resting on a Pig. Down one side it says 'THE MOLASSINE CO Ltd. 36 Mark Lane, LONDON. E.C. and on the other it says Telegrams:-"SPHAGNUM, LONDON." Telephone 1970 AVENUE, This Item is for sale if any of your members are interested.

from Lisa Milord,

I am searching for information about some ancestors who worked as firework makers and foremen at the Royal Laboratory and Arsenal. The family name was Cook; my great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Cook worked at the Royal Arsenal and invented a flare that was used as a distress signal by ships at sea. His father, John Cook, was listed on an 1813 christening record as a foreman at the Royal Laboratory. Thomas Cook's son Thomas (John's grandson) appears on the 1891 census in Oare, Kent as "chief artist in fireworks" at the Green Cotton Factory there. Do you know where I could get more information about John Cook and his four sons (James, John, Thomas and William), who lived and worked in the Woolwich/Plumstead area, or at least more information about British firework makers in the 18th and 19th centuries? We even have a family story about Thomas Cook's wife Mary hiding gunpowder under her skirts, pretending she had a bad leg and couldn't walk, when government inspectors came one time to their home when gunpowder was being strictly rationed or otherwise controlled by the government.

You do have a marvellous website; it brings the area to life. Thanks for any help you can provide.

From Barbara Ludlow

I had a really pleasant surprise on Thursday when the Postie delivered a book to me. It came from Canada and at first I thought it had come to the wrong place. However not so. In May 2000 I sent a load of information on women workers in the Royal Arsenal to Prince Rupert Library. It was needed by a man writing a book. I also sent information on Cliffe in Kent. They thanked me and I literally forgot all about the author ant the book. It is a novel - a rather adult children’s book - is set in 1914. France, Cliffe and Woolwich come into the story. The author is Iain Lawrence and the book’s title is ‘Lord of the Nutcracker Men’. Published by Delacorte Press, New York, 2001. $15.95. ISBN 0-385-72924-3 (trade). Hard back with a very attractive dust cover. Personally I would not call it a children’s book. Kathleen Larkin of Prince Rupert Library told me that the book has had very positive reviews and Iain has received expressions of interest for turning it into a film. He has written prize-winning books before. I really did not do that much for them and what I did I did for love of the subject. Iain wrote on the title page "thank you for your help - I hope I did justice to Woolwich and the munitions women’. He also listed me in his acknowledgements. So strange to see thanks to ‘Barbara Ludlow of Hawkinge, Kent’. I suppose I am now!

From Lesley Bossine, Kew Bridge Steam Museum

We have now produced the CD Rom of the Maudslay Seminar and Exhibition held in this Museum in July 2001. Further copies can be purchased from the Museum Shop (Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 DEN 020 8568 4757 http://www.kbsm.org) for £7 plus post and packing. You may be interested to know that we are working with the Maudslay Society to re-print and update their commemorative brochure on Maudslay Sons and Field again on CD Rom format. The publication date is not fixed yet but we will notify you when it become available should you be interested in purchasing a copy.

From John Milner

This summer I was in a pub in Killarney, Ireland when I saw a ship model with the following inscription ‘Clementia. Bult 1873, for Sir John Tadman. Blackwall. Marylebone’ – any information please?

From Bob Aspinall

Please note that the Museum of London’s Docklands Library and Archive has now been transferred on a loan basis to the new Museum in Docklands. I have been seconded by the Museum of London to the Museum in Docklands as Librarian. My new contact details are: Museum in Docklands, Library and Archive, No.1. Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road. London, E14.

From Ted Barr

Thank you for the latest newsletter (November issue) I see you have given me a whole page! Ho! Ho! I had hoped to get in the following notes for Bob Patterson (re item in No.4. Vol.4. July issue). Here it is: Holbrook Lathes – I have no personal knowledge or experience of this make of machine but our Chairman, Jack, may be able to help. A recent contact tells me that he has a 4½” Hollbrook tool room machine guaranteed by the makers to be accurate to 1/10,000 inch (more comments, please Jack). Apparently of massive design and built with great rigidity, weighing over 1½ tons. In capacity similar to a Boxford AUD,CUD etc 4½”. The owner has given me some contacts if anyone is interested.

There was also a former member of Dockland and East London Model Engineering Society who had been a time served machine tool maker at Holbrook’s and might be of assistance. He had built a ⅛” scale model of a Holbrook which has been on show at National Exhibitions at Wembley and Castle Donington.

AND BOOK REVIEWS

Subbrit Web site – for Nick Catford’s write up of the Greenwich Borough Control – Southwood Road, New Eltham SE9. Nick describes how this blockhouse was built in 1954 as the Woolwich Borough Control Centre but became the Greenwich Centre in 1965. It goes on to say that in 1980 the GLC said it was not fit for use – the website also gives Nick’s photographs of the premises.

GLIAS NEWSLETTER. Includes an article by Bob Carr about the new riverside path now open around the Dome site. He mentions the slice of ship, which is still moored alongside the path. ‘There are still a few small ships to be seen at the Tideway. Bob mentions SSVic 56 (which can be seen across the river and also a diesel trawler, Ross Leopard (Bob does not mention the extremely opulent private cruise vessel which was around at the same time).

MY JOYFUL ADVENTURES

AT MESSRS.HARLAND AND WOLFE. Part II

this article first appeared in the GIHS Newletter January 2002

By John Fox

Harland’s works occupied about nine acres of land on the riverside of the road from North Woolwich to East Ham. The works was all under one roof, with a large open foundry occupying perhaps a quarter of the site. For safety purposes, a brick wall enclosed the area where wood and other inflammables were worked on. In this bricked off area toiled the joiners, upholsterers, sail makers, pattern makers and laying out loft for the platers. The rest of the works housed the stores and the workshops of all the other trades needed to keep ships repaired. Behind the works, next to the river was a large open space criss-crossed by a railway system for the storage of boiler plates and other rubbish a ship repairing firm generates. In the corner of this yard was a slipway where LCM’s (Landing Craft, Men) had been built during the war. During my apprenticeship, for a couple of weeks I worked on this slipway with an Australian fitter; we were overhauling the steam engines of a German tug taken as reparations.

In the main part of the works were the boiler makers and the fitters- over these shops beneath the corrugated iron roof ran overhead cranes, operated by the crane ‘drivers’ in their cabs above ground whose contact with the mortals below was via the ‘slingers’, who, not unnaturally ‘slung’ whatever was to be lifted. Many of us have seen the old photograph of William Penn’s engine works taken in the 1870’s; except for the machinery, being connected by lay-shafts Harland and Wolfe’s fitting shop was just like that. I was, literally, thrust into this world when I reached sixteen.

After signing my indentures as a Fitter and Turner in the works manager’s office, I was turned over to the tender mercies of the fitting shop foreman, Mr Haines. That’s if Mr Haines had any mercy, tender or otherwise. For in my five years with him I never saw any sign that either was any part in his make up. Incidentally, you could always recognize the foreman in any London ship-repairing firm then, they were the ones who wore a bowler hat. The foremen wore them as a status symbol and also protection, (a forerunner of the safety helmets worn to enhance the macho appearance of building workers I suppose). The symbolism of being entitled to wear a bowler hat was such that legend had it that many years ago a mere boilermaker had come to work wearing a bowler hat. He was taken to one side by the foreman and told, politely but very firmly, that on no account was he to come to work wearing that kind of headgear again.

Mr Haines gave me his welcoming speech. “Don’t give anyone any lip and do everything you’re told.” He took me down the short flight of stairs; his office was on stilts of course so that he could keep an eye on the workers below, to the brass finishers shop. Putting me under Bert, a brass turner, to spend nine months or so learning this aspect of the trade. Bert was one of the last four remaining members of the Brass Finishers Union and, bearing in mind that we are working in the London docks, a remarkably well-spoken man. There were two of us lads working under his watchful eye, learning brass turning by making cones, to be brazed by the coppersmiths onto pipes, valve spindles, re-cutting valve seats, fancy brass handles and a handy sideline for us lads was making plumb bobs for whoever was willing to buy one for a six pence or so. Much brass turning was done using hand tools, something like wood turning, a lot of screw cutting was done by scratching a cut on the job you were doing at the pitch of the thread (a brass lathe’s feeds were the usual brass and pipe threads pitches) and then finishing off with hand held thread chasers.

The skill of being able to use hand turning tools never left me, many years later I was in Green and Silley Weir’s, another London ship repairing firm, it was about the time that their apprentices were refurbishing the Cutty Sark before it went into its final resting place at Greenwich. I was in Green’s machine shop watching the fitting apprentices making a big meal out of turning some brass handles for the tea clippers cabin cupboards, when my big head got the better of me. “Come here”, I told them, “I’ll show you how it’s done”. Borrowing a couple of hand scrapers, I produced a rather good effort. Today somewhere in the bowels of the old tea clipper stands a brass handle on a cupboard, that is gazed at daily by a thousand tourist marvelling at the long ago craftsmanship that went into the intricate brass work, not realizing they are looking at one of my efforts.

There was no apprentice training school at Harland’s; the skilled men with whom we worked did our training. They were entrusted to teach us what they knew of the trade and, looking back, they did a damned good job, regarding it as their duty to pass their knowledge on. Recently there was an item on the television news about the education Minister intending to run more trade oriented tuition and a lad was shown using a round file on some sheet metal. Yes, he was using a file, he certainly wasn’t filing, it was obvious the poor lad had never been taught how to hold a file, let alone use one. I was told to stand erect as you file, put pressure on the forward stroke and ease off on the return, not rub the file back and forward as he was. Any passing fitter in the shop would regard it as part of his job to give my elbow a sharp rap if he saw me copying the antics of the boy on TV. Yet, going back to the lad rubbing a file on an inoffensive piece of metal, I expect he was the best in the class to have been selected to appear on TV, how bad was the worst in the class I wonder. There was no works based training school but you could take a day off to go to the Polytechnic, this was unpaid of course and as my weeks wage, as a first year apprentice, was 90p I certainly couldn't afford that luxury, so evening classes it had to be.

The craftsmen under whom you were working not only taught you how to handle the tools but also how to do any basic mathematics that was necessary for the job you were doing. Thus when I worked with Bert he taught me how to use trig tables to find any angles required and later in the machine shop I was shown how to use log tables to ease any calculations. The calculations we did were was mainly to convert metric sizes to imperial, for sizes in marine engineering were millimetres, but metric micrometers are so awkward to read, as compared to imperial, we would invariable convert the millimetres into inches and work in those. Incidentally, a part of any lathe was always kept clear so that, with a damned great lump of chalk, you could do these calculations.

ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN THE BOROUGH

THE TRAMSHED AND THE ARSENAL

By Jack Vaughan

Ted Barr’s survey of electrical generation in the area in the last Newsletter (November 2001 Vol.4. No.6. p.8) is comprehensive. I would only add one item – the so-called Woolwich Tramshed in Woolwich New Road. In fact it never had a tram inside it but was part of the London Tramway support system. I recall it having large machines, presumably generators, or alternators and transformers and a balcony full of meters and control gear.

With the disappearance of the trams the building became redundant and a prime target for destruction by the Borough. A ’Tramshed supporters club’ was set up in 1978 to protect the shed which by then housed a theatre of some note. It’s bar became a popular lunchtime rendezvous, presided over by no less a person than the present Mayor of Greenwich, Councillor Malone. The bar offered two famous ales Fullers ESB and Everard's Tiger. In 1981 the council; approved demolition of the tramshed as part of a comprehensive development of the whole town centre. A petition of 17,000 signatures was organised without avail and a protest movement was assembled under the name of ‘Save Woolwich Now’. Battle was joined.

To cut this long story short - in the end the property company in question wilted under the local objections and pulled out. The present popular park square was the final somewhat desperate alternative, but the future of the Tramshed can never be taken for granted. Returning to Ted’s quest for information on the generation of Electrical Power in the Royal Arsenal: - The Arsenal comprised four factories

Royal Gun Factory (1716)

Royal Laboratories (1696)

Royal Carriage Depot (since 1895)

MED (Mechanical Engineering Depot)

Each of them had its own generation plant until 1888, when responsibility passed to the Building Works Dept. For maintenance no doubt the four relied on the workshops of the MED.

Installation of overall electrical power came in 1891. Extensive changes were needed to all types of machinery and the new central power station was completed in 1908. From then until 1938 is a story of constant expansion. Basic energy source was coal gas from the Arsenal’s own gas factory feeding a group of boilers which in turn supplied steam to three turbines. The early output was 300 volts DC later raised to 500 volts. A three-wire system was adopted, enabling lighting to use 250 volts DC and 500 volts DC for machine power. Alternating current was not supplied until after the Second World War.

THE ARSENAL

By John Day

Ted Barr is asking about the electricity supplies in the Arsenal. I have an idea that I have already written that up for somebody, I can’t remember who but I can remember more than was in my apprentice screed. So here goes: -

The Central Power Station was situated on the south side of the road running along the river front roughly just east of the present Arsenal boundary. I had a fair bit to do with it; in the early thirties my father was one of the five station engineers who looked after it on shift work. When my father was on Sunday shift, I took him a hot dinner in a basket and spent the rest of the afternoon, till we both went home, investigating the building and its contents. Later, as an engineering apprentice, I spent a month, or so, as the station engineers assistant see Vol.1 No.5 of the Newsletter. The building comprised, from north to south, the Electrical Shop (headquarters for all electrical maintenance), the Pump House (supplying hydraulic pressure around the manufacturing area), the Power Generating hall and, finally, the boiler house. Along the north wall of the electrical shop were two smaller shops, for magneto repairs and for accumulator repair and charging, the foreman's office and the stores. The magneto repair was for all the Arsenal vehicles and the accumulators were mainly for the Shelvoke & Drewery electric trucks (known as 'dillies'). The south side had the door into the pump house, an armature store and a rudimentary test area. The centre was taken up by benches, two lathes and a Drummond hand shaper.

The pump house, from west to east, housed a triple expansion, scotch crank, Worthington-Simpson pump (very rusty and obviously not steamed since WW1), two - or was it three?- electrically driven, three throw, single acting, horizontal pumps, the door into the generating hall and a couple of electric centrifugal pumps for odd duties and supplying the boiler feed water softening plant. The latter was in a tower at the eastern end of the pump house and, at times, saw apprentices swimming in the clear cool water.

The generating hall, again from west to east, had a space where heavy electrical things were dumped on delivery, the 6,000 KVA Metropolitan-Vickers turbine generating set, two triple expansion, Corliss valve, 1,450 HP engines direct coupled to DC generators and a Vickers-Howden, triple expansion engine with piston valves for HP and IP and slide valve for the LP, also coupled to a DC generator. The gantry crane serving these was the slowest ever seen, wonderful for erecting steam plant but irritating when one just wanted to move some delivered goods. To the north of the Vickers-Howden were two rotary converters, essential since the western part of the Arsenal was still DC powered while the eastern part, probably from the Plumstead gate, was AC. On a balcony, jutting from the south wall, was the black slate switchboard and, at the west end, the shift engineer's office. Going through the door by the turbine, on the right were two Babcock & Willcox boilers and on the left were four John Thompson boilers, all with chain grate stoking. Above them were the hoppers containing the pea size coal, feeding by gravity to the chain grates. The ash from below the boilers was taken out in long narrow trucks on the 18 inch gauge railway - that narrow gauge railway had to stay operative all the time the CPS was in use, since there was only room for the narrow trucks under the boiler house. They were towed by standard gauge engines, which could back up to the outside of the boiler house. Electrical transmission from the CPS, or, in shut down and peak times, from Warren Lane substation (connected to the power station between the Arsenal and the Ferry), was by 6,600 volt buried cables to the various substation which contained transformers and switch gear and, apart from sub 4, were unmanned. Sub 4 had a workshop and restroom attached, since it acted as an outstation of the Electrical Shop providing trouble-shooting service for the AC area that included the woodworking shops, stores and the explosives pier.

If there are errors in this please let me know, after all I am trying to remember how it was nearly seventy years ago.

SPERATI, WESTCOMBE HILL

By Jo Hadland

Cornelio Ambrosio Sperati founded the button wholesale business which stands on Westcombe Hill and was one of the oldest enterprises of the area.

The company was founded in 1856 when Cornelio recognised the importance of imported Italian silks and trimmings to the burgeoning textile industry in England. His base was Tooley Street and then Milk Street before, in 1961, the company moved to Westcombe Park to beat rising costs in central London. Managing Director, John Atkinson, has been with the company for 35 years and remembers Westcombe Hill before the motorway was built, with its clusters of shops.

The stock in trade of Sperati’s has not changed much for 100 years -they still sell buttons, sewing thread and trimmings, mostly to British manufacturers, the armed forces and the police. The firm is one of the main six button wholesalers in England and employs nine people.

(reproduced with kind permission of the Westcombe News)

BEXLEY TRAM LETTER BOX

By Peter Bathe

Peter has also asked us to point to all his old friends in Greenwich that he now lives in France

Between 1910 and 1935, a special letter box was attached to the last tram each night from Bexley to Woolwich to give a later collection of letters than was then being made from the street letter boxes.

the history of the trams in the area was outlined by E. F. E. Jefferson in “Woolwich and the Trams”, an article in Woolwich & District Antiquarian Society Proceedings of 1954, two years after the last London trams had run to Woolwich. In it he says that Bexley Urban District Council began to operate its own tram service in October 1903, starting at Gravel Hill and going towards Woolwich, at first terminating just inside the old LCC area at The Plume of Feathers, Plumstead, but, from 26 July 1908, running to Beresford Square, Woolwich, very near the Woolwich District Post Office, at that time in Greens End. The route from Gravel Hill was via Bexleyheath Clock Tower and Bexleyheath Broadway to Welling High Street, then at Welling Corner it turned along Upper Wickham Lane and Wickham Lane to Plumstead High Street, where it turned again towards Woolwich via the High Street and Plumstead Road to Beresford Square.

In her book “The Letter Box” (1969), Jean Farrugia says the idea of putting letter boxes on trams and buses in Britain was first mooted in 1889, after such a service had been established in the USA a few years earlier. The system was in use in Paris before 1891, but the Postmaster General did not like the idea of a similar scheme in London, although he did agree to tram and bus letter boxes being used in provincial towns. The first was in Huddersfield (20 March 1893) on its trams. By the outbreak of World War I, 20 towns and cities had tried letterboxes on corporation transport, including Bexley, which started in 1910. A lot of the schemes were short-lived, but the Bexley service survived into the 1930s.

Farrugia, who shows a Manchester Corporation tramcar post box of 1935, says: “Tramcar and omnibus letter boxes were never of any standard pattern, the majority being manufactured locally at the expense of the Post Office. Some boxes were fixed at the rear of the tram or bus; others were hung on the side, or even placed on the conductor’s platform. Normally, the boxes were intended for use only after the last collection from ordinary street letter boxes had been made, and on services coming into the centre of the town from outlying parts.”

Jefferson in “The Woolwich Story” (1965) says: “It was at this time [just prior to World War I] that arrangements were made for the posting of letters up to 11pm in a special box fitted on the Bexley tram arriving in Woolwich at that hour. Only the usual 1d stamp was required if the posting was done while the tram was at a stop, but persons desiring to post between stops had to pay 1d extra.”

According to the Bexleyheath & District Local Handbook for 1932, the last tram then left the Market Place at 10.26pm.

The charges appear to be no different from those applied to the first tram letter boxes in Huddersfield. Farrugia says: “A special charge of one penny was levied by the Council if a would-be poster stopped the tram merely for the purpose of posting his letter – the penny being dropped into the tramcar guard’s fare box.”

The original Bexley tramcars produced in 1903 “… had very large copper cased oil head lamps with parabolic reflectors which were hooked on to the dash at whichever end of the car was leading, the intention being that these would continue to give illumination even if the power supply failed,” according to The Light Railway Transport League& Tramway & Light Railway Society’s 1962 publication “The Tramways of Woolwich & South East London, Southeastern” (edited by G. E. Baddeley). This book continues: “Before these cars has been in service many years, certain modifications were carried out, for example, the ungainly oil head lamps were replaced by conventional electric ones set high on the dash with the car number painted beneath them…

“In 1924, the metal catches which had formerly supported the oil head lamps were refitted to a number of cars, but to the left of their former position and used to support the letter posting box carried on the last car at night. Presumably one of the open topped cars so fitted had always to perform the last journey.”

This book also has an illustration that “shows clearly…catches for the letter box”. As the letter box was only put on the last tram at night, it is unlikely any photographs exist of the box in situ, although, of course, if anyone has one, the author would be very interested in a copy!

That the tram letterbox was put on the late-night car from Bexley to Woolwich when it was established in 1910 is not surprising: in 1875, Woolwich had been created the head post office of a district that included Bexley, Bexleyheath, Erith and Welling as well as Charlton, Plumstead and Eltham. That it should continue long after 1913, when Woolwich had been returned to London control, and Bexley put under Dartford, is much more interesting, especially after 1917 when a fire destroyed Dartford’s trams in their depot and Bexley and Dartford started to operate their trams under a joint committee. It would have been logical then, in both postal and tram-operation terms, for the Bexley late-night letters to have gone to Dartford by tram, rather than to Woolwich.

It would appear that there were a large number of nocturnal letter writers in the area and it is reported in the August 1929 issue of “Record”, the Bexley Chamber of Commerce’s journal, that a later collection had been introduced for ordinary street letter boxes. “It is thought that the later collection from pillar-boxes will reduce the posting in the tram letter box to an amount within the capacity of the box.”

The Bexley letter box service ceased on 23 November 1935, when the London Passenger Transport Board, which had taken over the Bexley trams two years earlier, replaced them with trolleybuses. At the outbreak of World War II, any remaining posting boxes on buses and trams elsewhere in the UK were also withdrawn.

This article appeared in the March 2002 GIHS Newsletter

Reviews and snippets

Friends of Age Exchange

Age Exchange Theatre Trust has set up a Friends Organisation. Age Exchange was founded in 1983 by Pam Schweitzer. It began as a reminiscence theatre company mounting original productions based on people’s memories. The Centre in Blackheath Village is visited by 30,000 people a year and is the base for national and European networks of reminiscence practitioners. The centre also produces valuable advice and a service to carers of elderly and people with dementia. GIHS is very grateful to Age Exchange for use of their meeting facilities. The friends organisation will help ensure the future of the organisation and also provide a focus for those interested in the work undertaken by the organisation but not able to participate in it.

Lowne Instruments Ltd - Visit to a closing family business

Sue Hayton writes: Members of the GLIAS Recording Group had been surveying and recording the small factory unit of Lowne Instruments Ltd, Boone Street near the junction with Lee High Road for some weeks. John West, Sylvia MacCartney. and I were grateful to Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS) - and in particular to David Perrett - for an invitation to join a small group on a visit to this industrial premises in Boone Street, Lee. The visit was on Saturday, 8 December, a matter of weeks before the business was due to close down.

An industrial activity in Boone Street? We think this will surprise many members and it certainly did. It was fortuitous that one of the staff, George Arthur. is also a GLIAS member - George may be known to some members as he has from time to time attended our meetings.

The business has been essentially a family one. It was founded by Robert Mann Lowne in Finchley. In about 1894 he transferred operations to Ravenscroft, Bromley Road, Catford. The firm became known as the Lowne Electric Clock and Appliance Company in about 1910. It moved to Lee in 1927. Over the years it produced a small range of specialist equipment, which in recent times has focussed almost exclusively on anemometers, which are used for measuring airflow in mines and air conditioning. The customers have been various and have included the National Coal Board, British Rail Engineering, Casella, Sainsbury, the Public Health Laboratory Service, and Griffith & George.

During the last war there were about forty staff, but by 1973 there were fifteen, and at the time of our visit there were only three. We understand that the business closes at the end of January.

As a result of our interest, a Lowne synchronous electric clock made at the beginning of the 1950s in Boone Street was presented to GLIAS for the museum collection. There are already examples of the Lowne slave clock and master at work in the Science Museum, as well as examples of the Lowne patent barometer and spirometer.

This article is taken from the Lewisham Local History Society Newsletter.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Bygone Kent – Vol. 23, No.2. includes the second part of Mary Mills’ article on Maudslay Son and Field and their Greenwich shipyard,

AGE EXCHANGE – THE STORY SO FAR. This is a twenty year retrospective of this local organisation by Pam Schweitzer, the Artistic Director.

Subterranea Britannica – Secretary’s Newsletter. All good stuff, but not much (if anything) about Greenwich.

Siren – the newsletter of RSG – this is cold war bunker studies. All good stuff – and edited by our member, Nick Catford. Nothing about Greenwich – come on, Nick, put something in the next issue! Contact through Sub Brit

Industrial Heritage – the current issue, Winter 2001 contains an oddly familiar article about the Tramshed in Woolwich by a Jack Vaughan ………… nice to know Yorkshire cares about Woolwich.

London and the Thames Valley ed. Denis Smith. We have not seen this book but an advertisement has been sent by the publishers: Thomas Telford Publishing (Institution of Civil Engineers). Members will remember that Denis was our keynote speaker at this years’ AGM. his is a new guide dealing with the works which keep a large city running.

Crossness Engines Record. The Winter issue includes news of the David Evans Engine – which was in the now closed silk works at Crayford. It is a small Stewart (Glasgow) diagonal duplex. Crossness Engines have negotiated with David Evans for it and it will soon be at the Museum and on display.

The Record also contains an article by Leslie Tucker on the Original Crossness Building in their architectural context and the usual ‘News from the Octagon’ on current work and progress. Crossness Engines always require volunteer help

Letters March 2002

From Sean Creighton

Agenda Services Book Clearance Sale. Nights drawing in, Why not read a book instead of watching TV?

[Agenda Services specialise in political history – with an emphasis on local history in South London].

From Barry Taylor & Marcelo Olmedo, English Heritage.

As some of you already know the Greater London Sites and Monuments Record (GLSMR) is a database of over 70,000 sites of historic and archaeological interest across London's 33 boroughs. The last year saw some changes to the office as new staff joined the team. Barry Taylor is the new manager and Marcela Olmedo the assistant, and both are working hard towards the objectives set for this year.

It is our aim to make the GLSMR, not only a powerful tool for research and planning but also a way to encourage and develop a greater understanding of the historic environment for everyone.

Our most important goal is to make the GLSMR more accessible for our existing users and to encourage more people to make use of the information we hold. We now use email to disseminate our data. To receive information in this way please contact us at smr@English-heritage.org.uk. In partnership with other heritage organisations in London We have begun the first stages of a project to put our database online. We are also looking into other ways of delivering information using non-paper media such as CD-Rom. Finally we are considering distributing the entire database to a number of organisations across Greater London and would appreciate your comments on this. We are also planning to increase the both the depth and scope of the GLSMR through a rolling strategy of data enhancement projects. For this we invite you to propose areas where our data needs enhancing, from which key areas for improvement will be highlighted and subsequent projects designed. The first call for suggestions is now open and we have set a deadline of March

We hope to have a close working relationship with your organisation and will keep you updated of all the latest changes and improvements. We will also have a new information leaflet ready by the summer. We would, therefore, be grateful for any suggestions you may have on the targeting of the GLSMR in your area and any ways in which we can improve our service to you.

If the person who deals with these matters or your address has changed then please let us know.

This will help us to keep our records up to date.

I look forward to receiving your reply and would like to thank you in advance for your co- operation. Please feel free to contact us at anytime on the number below.

We have replied pointing out that their officer met our committee some two years ago promising a scheme for us to record industrial buildings in Greenwich – he never came up with the further information and we have heard nothing since – what has happened?

From Barry Bowdidge

Perhaps the Greenwich Industrial History Society could provide or have some information on my family who were a group of prolific carpenter/joiners in the Deptford Greenwich Borough in 1881. There were seven members who appear in the 1881 census as carpenter/joiners.

181 Church Street, Deptford – father William, and three sons Richard (21), John (16) William (23)

15 Eaton Street, Deptford – Joseph Bowdidge (30)

11 Royal Naval Place, Deptford – Walter Bowdidge (28)

70 Watergate, Deptford – John Bowdidge (30)

In addition my mothers maiden name was Brome and we are descended from Lieutenant General Joseph Brome, Royal Artillery, Woolwich. He started as a drummer boy and his career spanned from 1751-1793. He died at Woolwich in 1796.

From Lesley Bossine (Kew Bridge Engines Trust)

Thanks to the support of a private benefactor we are currently restoring a horse gin used to lift well water on a farm near Basingstoke. The main frame of the horse gin bears the inscription ‘J.Stone & Co. Engineers, Deptford’ – can anyone supply any information about this company and it’s products, we are particularly keen to know whether the manufacture of horse gins was a speciality.

We are also calling for papers for a seminar to be held next year on Richard Trevithick.

From Myles Dove

RACHEL MCMILLAN COLLEGE SITE, CREEK ROAD, DEPTFOED SE8.

I am writing about the proposed destruction of most of the buildings on the Rachel McMillan.College site in Creek Road. The College was founded by Margaret McMillan as a memorial to her sister Rachel for the work they did together for the health and education of poor children in Deptford. Queen Mary, great-grandmother of Prince Charles, formally opened the college building in 1950 and it happens to have a porch with classical columns of which he might approve. The halls of residence added at the eastern end of the site by ILEA architects were more carefully detailed.

From Tim Smith,

I came across this yesterday in Nicholas Owen’s Book ‘History of the British Trolleybus, (1974). In 4^th September 1897 a most intriguing reference had appeared in the Autocar to an electric omnibus supplied with current from an overhead wire. The surprising element is that the trials were apparently being made on a quarter mile run in Greenwich, south London, but all records of such an event have disappeared;’ – any ideas???

From Mike Neill, Project Officer, Greenwich Heritage Centre.

The Woolwich Kiln will soon need to be moved from its present site to an area of the site adjacent to the proposed Greenwich Heritage Centre. We will need to have a look to ensure no damage has occurred, so this may be a good opportunity to see what the state of things are.

On a slightly different issue, we opened up the undercroft and roof of the Charlton House summerhouse yesterday to check for condition etc. before the imminent paving works. I've posted photos and a few notes at

Editorial Note: this really is a super web site about the underground workings and architecture of the ‘Inigo Jones public toilets’ at Charlton House.

From Jeremy Shearmur, Parks & Open Spaces Dept

Your web site contains somewhere reference to the "convicts flower" or red dead nettle. Can you give any information on this as I am trying to make a botanical identification of this plant. This is part of the research for the new park Royal Arsenal Gardens.

From: J G Walker

My name is Jim Walker, I am a widower living in Yanakie which is at the southern most point of Victoria, Australia.In 1943 I started work as an apprentice with a company named Robison Brothers & Company Pty Ltd of Melbourne. Robison Bros commenced business in 1854 and closed for business in 1973 and were pioneers in the engineering history of Australia. In my old age I am attempting to compile a history of this great company which may be of future use to some industrial archaeologists. At this time I am researching the following: In 1878 a contract for the supply of a steam launch between Robison Brothers & Company and The Melbourne Harbor Trust Commissioners was initiated. The launch was to be 50' long x 10'6" breadth x 5'6" deep. In general terms the launch was to be used as work boat around Melbourne's harbor facilities. Included in the specifications was for Robison Brothers to install for fire protection purposes a Merryweather & Sons Improved patent single cylinder steam fire engine No (b-h-6) ( Stationary engine for launch). Reference to the pump is shown in Merryweather & Sons - Book 1874 - page 11. ( I hope the No ( b-h-6 ) is correct) I am hoping Mary that your Society or some person or organization may have a copy of the Merryweather & Sons - Book, from which a photocopy could be taken, if I could obtain a copy I would be very grateful, the added information would enhance my notes and give those that view the notes an indication of the quality of fire protection equipment that was available over 120 years ago.

From Sue

My family are all ex-Woolwichies and my parents are currently living in a Somerset village called Woolavington. This is close to a Royal Ordnance Factory site. During recent clearance of the village hall (which was once the ROF social club) a large photo was found of some policemen posing in front of a rather grand building, it has a Woolwich photographer's stamp on the back. Woolavington have put a copy of this photo on their website and asked for help in tracing its history. My parents think the building could be the old town hall but there the connection seems to end. Can you cast any light on this please?

Many thanks for any help you can give on this, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your website and will join up

I am also passing your details to a friend who owns one of the very first Merryweathers (it's in his garden shed!!), I'm sure he'll be most interested.

From Richard Menari

Whilst researching my family tree, I came across a reference to a public house called The Railway Tavern in Hamilton Street Deptford. Apparently one of my ancestors namely a Mr Duncan Jenkins was the publican of this establishment in the 1880s, I believe the pub has long since gone but was once a regular meeting place for the dockers who worked in the area. I would be grateful for any information regarding the above, would particularly like to obtain a photo of this public house if

anyone has one.

From: Annerley

I am wondering if you can help me. My husband's Great Grandfather is believed to have had a timberyard/sawmill on the Thames at Deptford. His name was James Coppell/Copple (m Emma Gidley). His dates are b 1850c, married at Wandsworth 1884, d 1900c. Apparently his funeral procession went down the Thames. With these basic details I am having problems confirming where his business premises were. I was just wondering if you may have come across his name in your historical studies. I have found your site very interesting.

MY JOYFUL ADVENTURES

AT MESSRS.HARLAND AND WOLFE – part III

By John Fox

It was part of the apprenticeship given by the firm that you learnt a little of other trades by working for a spell in other departments, in my case after being ten months in the brass finishers I was sent to the blacksmiths’ shop. The foreman blacksmith I thought a smashing chap, named Smith if I remember right. I could never understand why the blacksmiths, after their Christmas Eve drinking spree successfully set fire to his office, maybe they held a much different opinion of him than I had. This spell in the blacksmiths’ shop I look back as the highlight of my apprenticeship, for I did enjoy the four months or so spent there. Its so pleasing forming a length of red hot iron into the shape you require by knocking hell out of it, giving one a feeling of power I suppose.

After this spell I returned to the fitting shop proper to work under Ernie Hayman, he was as deaf as a post and, as can be expected, called Deafy, but never to his face. I forgot myself and did, but only once, he took me to one side and said, “If I were blind you'd give me sympathy wouldn't you, don't you think I still deserve that even though my affliction is something that is not so obvious?” Even after fifty-five years, I can still remember my embarrassment as he said this, for, of course, he was right. Old Ernie was one of the ‘stars’ of the fitting shop; he was a ‘steam’ man and rather looked down on the glorified ‘motor mechanics’ he had to work alongside.

He was given all the steam pumps, shuttle valves, rotary pumps, white metal bearings, etc. that came in for repair. When I say he had all the steam pumps to repair, not always, Harry Palmer, who usually spent his day fitting rings onto pistons, a very low position in the strict hierarchy of the fitting shop, was given one to overhaul once. Looking back, I am sure it was part of a deep nefarious plot laid by the charge hand, but I'm afraid Ernie took this as a mortal insult. His eyes followed poor Harry wherever he went, while his lips muttered soundless curses. Rumour spread throughout the shop that Ernie spent his evenings sticking pins into a waxen image of Harry, but I personally think this a slight exaggeration.

A big part of our work was the white metal bearings that came into the shop for re-metalling. Firstly we would take a sketch of the layout and size of the oil groves, then when the bearing had been re-metalled we’d insert pipes through the bolt holes to line both halves of the bearing, insert spacers to represent the brass shims that would be used to adjust them on site and present them to the borer.

When he’d finished his part, we would chisel the oil ways, as they had been when the bearing first came in. Perhaps give the bearing a scrape on its horns to ensure that contact was only made at the butt and cap, and that would have been another job done.

Repairing steam shuttle valves, a device driven directly by linkage from the pump or engine that directed the live or exhaust steam to the correct part of the cylinder, called upon a lot of the skills of a fitter. Most of the shuttle valves we dealt with were Weir’s, overhauling one would involve; marking out the port layout of the shuttle and the D-valve and when new ones had been machined marking out the position of the slide face. When that face had been cut on the shaper, chiselling in the steam ports as our original layout and then making the face between the shuttle and the D-valve perfectly flat by the use of a flat scraper.

As well as working with a fitter, us apprentices were encouraged to make their own tools, the stores held a supply of castings which they would hand out to us and if we wanted some machining done the machine shop charge hand would quite happily arrange it. Until a few years ago I still had the scribing blocks, face plates, centre square, scrapers, chisels and other tools I had made. Making chisels and scrapers was a seasonal task; the winter was the season for making these tools. For this was when the fitting shop would be heated with coke fired oil drums and while these drums may have only kept the part of your body facing the fire, they did make a very useful furnace. The chisels we made were from valve springs, no nothing like watch spring, but ones made out of 5/8 of an inch diameter spring steel and bloody good they were too. These chisels were of a special shape needed to cut oil groves in white metal bearings; the oil groves of diesel engines were simply four arrow headed cuts at the horns to spread the oil across the whole width of the bearing. Whilst those of a steam engine were truly works of art, I am sure they were cut to any fanciful pattern that satisfied the first fitter’s artistic endeavours, if he had a drink inside him when he cut the groves, why, then the sky was the limit.

DEPTFORD POWER AND PRIDE

Dedicated to the memory of Roy Bourne, IEE

Article by Mari Taylor.

The story of a unique archive retrieval from a skip on Deptford Creek

During 1991 and 1992 the remaining abandoned structures on a square mile site at Deptford Creek were dynamited in a series of dramatic demolitions. Deptford West station had long since gone. What remained to be cleared were Deptford East’s chimney stack, boiler house, its “ Alhambran Arches” and outlying administrative offices and buildings. The Deptford power plants, which together had formed London’s biggest power station, had employed thousands; played an important social and economic role locally and marked the beginning of a technological revolution that has changed for ever the nature of electrical production across the globe.

The first Deptford Power station, later known as Deptford East, was the brain-child of electrical engineering genius Sebastian de Ferranti.

Exactly a hundred years after a defeated Ferranti had left the station, (defeated by investors’ nervousness and a biased government inquiry), I was making video recordings of the remaining buildings; and of the stages of their demolition. I also interviewed ex-shop-floor workers to record for posterity what life had been like at “The Light”, as the power station was affectionately known locally. More extraordinarily, I found myself retrieving archive material about the running of the power station from industrial skips.

I have had this archive material, which I have been told is an important collection, and, because of difficulties placing it in the “right” place, it has been in my cellar ever since !!

I certainly knew very little about coal powered stations when I embarked on my mission to preserve a video record of a disappearing generation of people and industry that had contributed so much to my local area. My regular hectic job schedule then included teaching video in community projects.

Whatever spare time, cash and energy I had I put into getting the Power Station story down on tape. Time and resources were pressurized. Attempts to get grant aid for the undertaking were not successful. I had to beg, borrow or buy tape and equipment myself. I videoed first and did the research piecemeal as I went along. I was constantly frustrated by lack of proper resources and how much more I could achieve if I had had them. As a consequence of having to use whatever I could get hold of the recordings span three separate format – Hi-8, Super VHS and Betacam. An obvious choice now is to digitalize all, but that would incur considerable costs.

I recorded before, after and during the dynamiting of Deptford East (including the archeological dig on the East India Company and medieval site under the power station) and made fast friends with Jim Rice who was photographing the site to a similar schedule. Jim tipped me off about skips full of archive material which was about to be cleared off the site after demolition. I traced the owners and got their permission to remove some of this after I assured them nothing mentioning asbestos appeared to be there. They gave me 48 hours. I frantically tried to contact local history groups and libraries – but it was a Friday afternoon and the people I spoke to have procedures and conventions that take much longer than the required “immediate response team” would.

Which is why my friends Helen, Alison and myself did our best alone and retrieved what, in our self conscious ignorance, might be of importance. At one stage we were in the huge industrial skip shoveling “archives” with spades that the workmen had lent us. The workmen were highly amused by our efforts but they did more than laugh. They actually emptied one skip of paperwork into another to make it easier for us to shovel through !!

A small article about it in the South London Press brought retired engineer and researcher Roy Bourne to my aid. Roy was a committee member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers with a special interest in Deptford Power Station. He looked at the archive collection and was very excited about it. His efforts to help me place this material in exchange for resources to continue with my videoing work were also frustrated. Unfortunately in 1995 I fell seriously ill for several years and when I was well enough to try and pick up the quest Roy himself had become ill. Sadly he died and I lost a valuable mentor and friend. My own continuing ill health has to date thwarted finding a satisfactory resolution to placing of the archives to my satisfaction.

As Roy was an authority on electrical engineering I quote his description in a letter to Colin Hampstead of the Institute of Electrical Engineering regarding placing my archive.

Extracts of letter from Roy Bourne to Colin Hampstead of the Institute of Electrical Engineers 1^st July 1998

“Mari Taylor had achieved a remarkable rescue of a selection from the whole of Deptford power station documentation which was on the point of being dumped and lost for ever. Any decision made about the documents needs to be an informed one and I believe that I am the only engineer to have looked at them. We will be harshly judged by our successors if we make the wrong decision. …… There seem to be two issues to be resolved relating to the documents. One is the importance of Deptford power station post-Ferranti and the other is the historic value of the documents themselves. On the first issue we would all agree that anybody following Ferranti was bound to be somewhat overshadowed in the popular view, but from the informed technical view Deptford was fortunate in having outstanding engineers and their actual achievements provided some historic landmarks…..Ferranti’s immediate successor was D’Alton who had the job of making the plant run efficiently to supply the load then on offer. He installed smaller direct-coupled triple-expansion engine/alternator sets for the day-time load and got the whole of the condensing plant in use.

D’Alton’s successor was G.W. Partridge, acknowledged to be one of the outstanding engineers of the day. He ended his career as technical director of the London Power Company (LPC). The pioneering work on switching surges was done at Deptford by Partridge and continued by Duddell. Partridge was widely consulted on switchgear and switching problems. He remained at Deptford until the LPC was formed when Leonard Pearce took over as engineer-in-chief to the new company which acquired the power stations of the ten constituent companies.

Pearce’s first design for the LPC was Deptford West power station which first sent out power in 1929. It was designed to supply the whole of central London (in parallel with selected local stations) so Ferranti’s plan for Deptford was fulfilled within his lifetime by Pearce. More plant was added until 1936, by which time flue-gas desulphurisation plant had been installed. From then onwards Deptford (East and West together) became London’s largest power station (despite the popular view that Battersea held this position).

Some of the notable historic achievements were: continuous generation on one site for 94 years; simultaneous generation and dispatch of power at three different frequencies; use of the largest frequency changer and the largest single-phase machines in the country; the first power station to supply the LCC tramways (in 1904); the first power station to supply a main-line railway in southern England (the LB&SCR in 1909); the first (1920) and subsequently principal power source of the SE&CR railway electrification which expanded to become the largest suburban electric railway system.

On the issue of the importance of the documents themselves and how they compare with the existing IEE archive, particularly Croydon, the following points should be made. One obvious difference is that the Croydon archive relates to post-nationalisation while the Deptford archive relates to pre-nationalisation.

The material in the two archives is completely different. The Croydon collection contains some control-room log books but mainly comprises manufacturers’ manuals for the plant they supplied. The dates of these documents are such that their contents are familiar to power-station engineers of my generation, hence they are unlikely to be looked at for another generation.

The Deptford archive is a mixture of technical, social and economic material. Employee records and stores purchases would be of interest to the social and economic historian. …………There is a random selection of log books of readings which would have been taken on the turbine-room and boiler-house floors by hand (before the days of automatic data logging). By good fortune one of the years preserved is 1947 when the industry went through its greatest crisis in its whole history. This crisis has not been adequately covered by any historian and I myself am keen to study these logs for London’s largest power station with the prospect of writing a paper. I have looked at all power-station documents I could find in any archives in the country and have never found any like these Deptford documents showing the actual performance of the plant………………………

On the historic value of videos of power station employees it is relevant that when Bill Aspray visited this country the S7 committee was enthusiastic about making sound recordings of eminent retired electrical engineers. I believe this is very important work but you may not get the information you expect from a chief engineer………………….

I believe that video recordings of shop floor personnel who actually ran the plant can be as significant as anything the chief engineer might say. Your own investigation into retired engineers’ careers showed that shop-floor experience was valuable…………………..

It is almost certain that the Deptford videos are unique…………………………

Further details of Mari’s story of Deptford Power Station in a future issue.

Blackheath Hill - Steers family

The Steer family can be held personally accountable for the hole in Blackheath Hill. William Steer was fined several times for his part in causing the hole - a total of £95! This was probably a great deal of money in 1666.

The Blackheath Hill area was already being mined by the Steers, who were lime- workers when the Great Fire of London destroyed the City. This was the nearest area of chalk to the City and despite its poor quality, the chalk, processed into lime and used for mortar and building foundations, was in great demand. Sir Christopher Wren, how ever, refused to use it in his building works, which may explain the durability of his buildings when so little else from the time exists.

The mine workings must have been extensive because the family were still mining it in 1677 with their lime kilns situated on Greenwich South Street, formerly known as Limekiln Lane, when they fell foul of the law and William Steers was given his initial fine for “filling up, supporting and making good, safe and secure the King’s Highway there against his lime kilns leading from Deptford to Blackheath which said highway he hath undermined by digging, taking and carrying from thence great quantities of chalk, whereby the said common highway is become very unsafe, and very dangerous for all the King's

Liege and over the said highway". He was fined again for the same offence and £5 for not putting up a fence against his Lime Kilns. Mining ceased around 1725 and the entrance in Maidenstone Hill was blocked up. By 1780 the mines were opened once again, and became the Blackheath Caves - a tourist attraction. A guided tour cost 6d. The main cavern was used for concerts and dances, and was a very fashionable venue to be seen at, but by the 1850s it was once again considered dangerous, and sealed.

And so to the question of "Can it happen in Westcombe Park?" - Frances Ward says no - Westcombe Park is built on the Blackheath pebble beds, while the area of Blackheath Hill is built on a remote out- crop of chalk. Our area was "open-mined" for its gravel and while small subsidences may occasionally occur, no caves exist beneath us. Engineers have recently researched the archives in the Local History Library relating to the caves to ascertain its extent. It seems eventually they will all be filled in, thus ending more than 300 years of existence.

Rachel Smith

this article dates from May 2002

Review and snippets May p2002

David Riddle points out to us a letter on the google groups web site rec.subterrenea which asks if the subsidence is really the old plague pits after which some people claim that Blackheath is named.

SECOND SYMPOSIUM

SHIPBUILDING ON THE THAMES AND THAMES BUILT SHIPS

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH –

SATURDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2003

This will be the successor to the first symposium, which was held at Nelson Dock House, Rotherhithe, in September 2000. Papers offered to date include: William Evans, shipbuilder of Rotherhithe and his steamships - Stuart Rankin Thames built ships of the Orient Line and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company - Peter Newall The General Steam Navigation Company Yard at Deptford - Peter Gurnett Early steamship machinery installation and repairs on the City Canal, Isle of Dogs - Roger Owen Coastal shipping and the Thames - John Armstrong Convicts to Australia. The story of HMS Glatton and her sister ship HMS Calcutta, former East Indiamen, 1802-3 - Brian Swann An aspect of warship building on the Thames – Rif Winfield Further offers of papers are invited, to Dr. Roger Owen, the Organising Secretary, by 30 September 2002. Dr. J.R. Owen, 8, The Drive, West Wickham, Kent, BR4 OEP, Tel. 020 8777 7013 E-mail:- jr_owen100@hotmail.com

Professors Sarah Palmer and Andrew Lambert will co-chair the Symposium, The fee will be £10. Further details will be issued towards the end of the year.

EXHIBITOINS

ISLAND HISTORY OPEN DAYS Dockland Settlement, 197 East Ferry Road, E14 3BA – walk there from Greenwich!

On open display, 5,000 photographs of the Isle of Dogs 1870-1970 schools, families, workplaces, streets, pubs churches. For more information contact Eve on 020 7987 6041

Making Memories Matter – will be the title of the June exhibition at the Age Exchange Theatre Trust at 11 Blackheath Village. For details ring 020 8318 9105

FIREPOWER – have Royal Salutes in the Arsenal on 3^rd, 10^th, 15^th June, and 5^thAugust at 12 pm. They have tours of the Arsenal in July and August in Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays 11.30 a, and 2.30. They advertise Paintball activities at £1 for 10 shots.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

The Isle of Dogs: A Brief History - Volume 1: 1066-1918 By Eve Hostettler,

Published by the Island History Trust, December 2000.

Available direct from the publisher at Dockland Settlement, 197 East Ferry Road, London E14 3BA, at £10 (£12.00 by post).

This book by the Trust's curator Eve Hostettler is based on archive research and draws extensively on the Trust's collection of reminiscence and ephemera put together by Islanders themselves over the past 20 years. It includes many photographs from the Trust's own collection and

from the Museum of London PLA Collection. The story of the Isle of Dogs from medieval times to the opening of the docks is explored in the context of the expansion of London as an international port and the development of Britain's trading relationship with the rest of the world. Industrial growth on the Isle of Dogs is shown as linked to ship-building in the first six decades of the 19th century, with a new population converging on the area from all over the British Isles. This population growth continued until 1900, by which time the character of the local economy had become much more varied, with engineering and food processing as dominant activities. A settled community was developing with all its associated features of extended families and shared pursuits, only to be shattered by the impact of World

War One, illustrated here through the recollections of one individual Islander who served in the trenches.

'A Fisherman of Greenwich' by Julie Tadman.

Published 2002 in Brisbane, Australia.

Those who believe that "doing family history” is

Self-indulgent and without historical merit will find that

Julie's book proves them wrong. Her interest in the history of her English ancestors was sparked off when a memorial card came to light in New Zealand. Modern technology came to Julie's aid and an e-mail asking for help in her search for details about the Bracegirdle family, Greenwich and its fishing industry appeared in a Greenwich Industrial History Society journal. I contacted Julie Tadman, not because I knew anything about William Bracegirdle of Ballast Quay "but because I knew a little about his grandson Frederick Bracegirdle. Frederick sailed to the Auckland Islands with

Charles Enderby in 1849. He stayed in the Antipodes and eventually became Assistant Harbour Master in Sydney. William Bracegirdle was not born in Greenwich but he came to the town in about 1795 as a young fisherman apprentice. He became a successful master Fisherman and set himself up in Crowley Wharf and Ballast Quay.

By 1840 Greenwich fishermen were trying to compete with the new fishing ports on the East Coast and William/although still fishing, began to look for a new enterprise to secure his future. Unfortunately he became embroiled in a legal case with the trustees of Morden College. William’s dream of opening a new East Greenwich Steam boat Pier, in partnership with the wealthy developer Coles Child, came to nothing. Arguments with Morden College and the court case brought against William in 1844 are the core of the book. He lost everything and by 1861 he and his wife were living in Queen Elizabeth College, West Greenwich. They both died there in 1863.

This book can be obtained in the UK from M.Price, Thorwood Cottage, Knoll Road, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2EL. Price £13.75 -

Please make cheque payable to M.Price.

Barbara Ludlow, April 2002

A Tree in the Quad. Life in Woolwich 1940s- to 70s. Iris Bryce.

Iris Bryce’s latest book of reminiscences is a fascinating read for anyone interested in Woolwich Local history and in particular with the history of British Jazz. Her husband, Owen, was one of the pioneers of the British Revivalist Movement and a member of George Webb’s Dixelanders in the 1940s.

‘Industrial’ history is not neglected with an account of the embarrassing unveiling of the infamous Woolwich Autostacker. Iris also captures well a period of rapid change with the sharp decline in the small retail and service sector in the mid 20^th century.

Most of all her writing is witty and human. Highly recommended.

(No details or price at the moment)

Alan Mills

(Editorial Note – for those less familiar with the history of British Jazz than our reviewer – basically, British Jazz was invented by George Webb and his chums at the Red Barn pub in Bexleyheath. The chums included not only Owen Bryce but also such luminaries as Humphrey Lyttleton and Woolwich’s then Museum curator, Reg Rigden!)

Bygone Kent - Vol 20, No3. Contains part 3 of Mary Mills’ seminal articles on the Maudslay Son and Field shipyard on the Greenwich Peninsula.

Mary would also like to thank the anonymous person who sent her, via Bygone Kent, a list of vessels, which may have been built at the yard. These are:

Grappler - 1866 Iron, 30 hp screw for Richard Cory, Commercial Road, Lambeth Surrey.

Tigress1870 Iron 30 hp screw for William Yeoman, 19 Caervarvon Road, Stratford Essex,

Star - 1867 (registered Preston 1880). Iron screw, steam yacht. For Thomas Townley-Parker, Cuerdon Hall, Preston.

Thyra. 1876 (SGMB formerly Elsbeth, registered London 1881). Iron screw, for Delabore O, Blaine, 2 Suffolk Lane, Cannon Street, City, London.

Hebe. Steam yacht 1856, Maudslay annular piston engine 244 indicated HP.

In addition – from other sources – it is now clear that the Thames Ferries, Jessie May and Pearl, were not built by Maudslay.

Sorry to learn from the Lewisham Local History Newsletter of the death of Lewisham Archivist Jean Waite. Jean had been a supporter of GIHS from the start – but her death will be a real blow to historians in Lewisham.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel’s Centenary

Greenwich Foot Tunnel opened on 4 August 1902. (Exactly 2 years after the late Queen Mother was born). It was not only a major engineering achievement by Alexander Binnie (later made Sir), it also provided for the first time an alternative to the expensive ferry across the river. The Foot Tunnel allowed many people from Greenwich and the isolated Isle of Dogs to cross the Thames very easily for the first time.

So, the Foot Tunnel is 100 years old on Sunday 4 August this year. Oddly, neither Greenwich nor Tower Hamlets Councils had any plans to mark the occasion, and so Greenwich Cyclists have decided to create a suitable event on the day. Tower Hamlets Wheelers are in on the plan too.

Plans are evolving quickly and Greenwich Council is now becoming interested. At the very least there will be a human chain linking Cutty Sark Gardens and Island Gardens and events on both. Alcatel, the largest private sector employer in the borough, have been invited to supply one of their submarine cables to pull through and so link the 2 communities. Binnie, Black and Veatch – the firm started by Alexander Binnie is now a UK-based multi-national partnership of consulting engineers are delighted to get involved, and at the very least, want to mount an exhibition about the tunnel project in, probably, the adjacent World Heritage site interpretative area. www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk (under Rides and Events) will be updated as the event evolves.

So, diary the date. If you’re interested in helping out with the event in any way, do contact: Barry Mason Coordinator Greenwich Cyclists masonb@supanet.com020 7232 0444 07905 889005

LETTERS

From Dennis Grubb

I am related to the Grubb families who ran the Cemetery Brickyard next to the Woolwich Cemetery and the Wickham Lane Brickyard and lived at Southland Road, Plumstead. I am wondering if you know of a publication, articles or source which can give me more information on the manufacturing process of bricks at the yards form about 1850 to early 1900s. My family of brickmakers were first at Crayford (Barnes Cray) then /Deptford and then Plumstead,

From Denise

I am trying to gather some information on the Royal Ordnance Factory in Woolwich. I need to do a local history assignment for my course work and the title I have been given is ‘Cause and Effect’ which I need to tie in with how the ROF came into being and what it did for Woolwich as a whole (need to base this project on a 50 year period – up to the First World War).

From China Hamilton

I am most interested in all the material I can find on Crossness Pumping Station there is no mention of the Architect of the building, Charles Henry Driver. Driver was a major Victorian architect, especially in the area of railway stations, his work on the Thames Embankment and one wing of the Crystal Palace etc. You will find his design contribution to the Crossness pumping station in the listed buildings details.

From Mark Landergan

I see you refer on your web site to an article written by my father titled ‘Eltham Park. The Story of A station’. Can I get a copy of this?

[Sorry Mark, the article was actually in Bygone Kent! – editor]

From John Grieg

I would like some information about Grieg’s Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula. James Robert Greig, with his brother, inherited an estate in the south of Trinidad that was mainly concerned with sugar production in the early days. On various certificates he is described as a sugar merchant or retired ditto. However, those of his children who took on the estate [incorporated in Trinidad as: Greig (Cedros) Estates Limited] are variously described, with 'planter' being one designation (my grandfather was in Trinidad but died young and my father was born there).

Various family tales suggest that there was a search for alternative products and indeed, in the 1891 census James Robert is described as 'West India Merchant (Oil Miller)' whereas he had just been 'West India Merchant' in the 1881 census). At his death in 1915 he had shares in Cedros Oil Company Limited, though, since I learnt this from the inventory, S have no idea whether it referred to vegetable or mineral oils (with Trinidad both are possible). I will be trying to trace down this Cedros Oil Company but am not at the moment able to be more specific about the nature e of his trade at Greenwich. Much will depend on when he took over the lease of the wharf, I assume from the wording of the inventory that it was not necessarily at the start of the 80- year lease.

With regard to this, the start of the lease was about a fortnight before he was married to a Jessie Rodger in Belfast. Jessie's father James was a sea captain (as was James Robert's father) and there is a family tale, which I have not yet been able to confirm but for which there is quite good circumstantial evidence, that one of Jessie's uncles was Alexander Rodger the owner of several tea clippers including the Taeping. This may all turn out to be coincidence but I will have to keep it in mind.

From Dan Byrnes

I have just placed on the internet a new website book titled 'The Business of Slavery' which is actually to be a predecessor to the main production 'The Blackheath Connection' already on the net and getting a regular 370 hits on average per week.

It presents a new theory ranged around four main themes. Attention is also given to successive expressions of interest that England had, or thought it had, in what we now call Australia. I have some facts, which have not been seen in print before so I’ll be glad to have any reactions people think I should have at this stage of writing.

From June Baker-Dobson

I am interested in the Thames Soap Works, Greenwich, situated on the peninsula during the 1800s and hope that you may be able to help me. My husband’s father was born at the works, but we have been unable to find out anything.

From Stuart Rankin

I have been asked if anyone might have more information on the Joyce Greenwich Ironworks – can you suggest someone.

From Judy Jenkins

I am wondering if any of your members are at all knowledgeable about tenants of Charlton House in the 1970s. I understand that Charles Davies Cortoys leased part of Charlton House from the Maryon Wilson family and also leased part of Shooters Hill Road. I would be stunned if anyone can help me with information on this man.

From Catherine Brigden

My great-grandfather Charles Brigden was from Woolwich and was a gunner with the Royal Horse Artillery, serving during the Crimean War. I have come across a reference stating that he was among several men presented with a cannon by Queen Victoria and that these cannons were placed on Woolwich Common. I am wondering if there are any remaining on the common.

From Paul Harcombe

I am wondering if you could possibly help me. I lived in married quarters with my parents (my dad with in the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team) for three years up to 1979 at which point history and military history in particular became of great interest. My dad always encouraged this especially as being in Woolwich he was really proud of being at Regimental HQ, as it were. These days I work in HM Land Registry and as a result have access to the up to date map of the UK and some computerised versions of old maps. This point of all this meandering is that I noted on the old maps of the Royal Artillery buildings in Woolwich, a building called the Magnetic Office, just south of the Rotunda. I couldn’t find out what it was – and it has been bugging us as to what it might have been for. If you could possibly help me I would be very grateful.

From Chris Mansfield

It’s Chris, from Readysnacks cafe.... I was just having a look at your web site and spotted the link to my own (re Tom Cribb)

The site address has now changed and fairly soon this link will not find me.

Also, if you are interested, you got his date of birth listed

Incorrectly.. He was born on the 2nd July 1781 and Christened on the 8th. I have got copies of both his birth cert' and christening cert'. A lot of Tom Cribb devotees got this bit wrong. How goes it with your book of people at work??

Byeeee Chris

From David Riddle

Do you have, or do you know anyone who is interested in Joseph Paxton? The guy who contacted me about the Dome and Wellcome's plan has just set up a Society to celebrate his bicentennial... Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) is probably the unsung hero of the Victorian age - but in many ways he is a remarkably contemporary figure. In 1851 (the year of the Great Exhibition) he was quite well known, a reputation equivalent to that of Stephenson or Brunei. He was first and foremost a 'horticulturist' - head gardener to the 6th Duke of Devonshire. His contributions to horticulture are many, from his groundbreaking publications to the giant 'Victoria Regia' lily and the 'Cavendish' banana. He was also a railway entrepreneur. He is probably best' known for his pioneering work in Iron and Glass structures – the exposition buildings and greenhouses of the age. Similar techniques in steel led to skyscrapers. The 'Crystal Palace' was widely imitated, and it was the world's first 'International Exposition' building. Sydenham was probably the World's first Theme Park'. And, as many have observed, the 'Dome' owes part of its existence to this legacy- so marking his Bicentennial in the Dome seems particularly apt.

A NEW ENGINE AT CROSSNESS

The following article describes the removal of a steam engine to a new home at Crossness Engines Trust. The article appears in the Spring 2002 edition of Crossness Engines Record and in the April 2002 edition of the GLIAS Newsletter (from which this version is scanned)

Crossness Engines has recently earned out a rescue mission on a Stewart engine from David Evans of Crayford, Kent. I doubt whether many of the staff of David Evans were aware of the existence of the small steam engine tucked away in one of their smaller print shops. When I made enquiries whilst on a conducted tour of the silk printing works some years ago, the official guide had to seek advice from an older member of staff before the engine was located and I was allowed to see it.

When members of the Crossness Engines Trust (CET) learnt of the intention of David Evans and Co. to close their works at Crayford we were of course concerned for the fate of the engine. Mike Dunmow, Executive Secretary of the Trust, wrote to 'Evans' enquiring as to the disposal of the engine and if there was no better home for it, might Crossness Engines recover it for conservation.

An agreement was reached and an advance party from CET went along to the silk printing works at. Bourne Road, Crayford to assess the work involved in recovery. The team, including Colin Bowden, arrived on 15th November 2001 and photographed and measured the engine and its location within the works. Preliminary marking and engine stripping was then carried out, removing the steam and exhaust pipes and loosening various nuts in preparation for the next visit.

An assessment was also made at this time as to the amount, of lifting tackle and scaffolding required to safely dis-assemble the engine. The next visit was on 23rd November 2.003, when the main cam con-rods and valve con-rods were 'pop marked' and removed from the engine. It was deemed prudent to bring these items back to 'Crossness' for safekeeping. Lack of heavy transport meant that the scaffolding and lifting tackle could not be taken to the works on this visit. On the 8^thNovember 200! The cylinders, valve-boxes and crosshead sliders were removed ready for collection. With heavier transport we arrived at the now closed works on the 20th December 2001 and erected a scaffold frame and lifting tackle. It must be said that although the engine is quite small it was close to a wall and hemmed in by a rather-large tentering machine. With the chain hoist securely slung and web slings attached the camshaft, flywheel and belt-wheel were lifted clear of the 'A' frame and 'tarzaned' to one end of the engine base. The engine’s 'A' frame was then lifted clear of its retaining studs and loaded onto a suitable trolley and removed to the front of the building ready for collection at a later date.

On this visit the smaller parts were removed to 'Crossness', leaving only the heaviest two pieces, the 'A' frame and flywheel, camshaft and belt wheel to collected. On 4th January 2002 the team arrived with. a low truck with a HIAB and the remaining two pieces of engine-were loaded and taken back to Crossness Engines Museum. It is the intention, of the Trust that the engine will eventually be cleaned, conserved and re-assembled and mounted on a mobile base to become a static display.

ENGINE DATA: The engine was built by Stewart of Glasgow and is a diagonal duplex with the cylinders located one on each leg of an 'A' frame. The cam, flywheel and drive-wheel are mounted in hearings at the apex of the frame. The cylinders are five-inch diameter with a ten-inch throw, the piston-rods work through guide-blocks mounted on each leg of the 'A' frame and up to the cranks on the main shaft. The overall size of the engine is fifty-nine inches high by thirty-two inches wide; the 'A' frame is forty inches high, sixty inches long and sixteen inches wide. The flywheel is thirty-six inches diameter by four inches wide. The supplier: T Mitchell & Sons, Bolton, Lancs. Serial No. 9326

THE PROJECT WORK TEAM: Mike Dunmow, Alan Boakes, Harry Collinson, David Dawson, Laurie Dunmow, John Ridley, Peter J. Skilton, David Wilkinson and Martin Wilson.

Research continues about Stewarts of Glasgow and our engine in particular.

LOWNE INSTRUMENTS

Some members may have seen the announcement in the GLIAS Newsletter of the closure of Lowne Instruments in Boone Street in Lee and the sale of its machinery.

GLIAS member, George Arthur, who has worked for the company for nearly 30 years alerted the GLIAS Recording Groupcto the closure of the works at the end of February 2002 after 147 years in business, in Finchiey, Lewisham and finally in Lee.

The Recording Group, with the permission of the owner. Bob Barnard, and with the help of George, was able to make a video, shot by Dan Hayton, of the works before it closed. The video record also showed many of the machines in operation as well as later shots of a nearly empty works. Dave Perrett, ably assisted with the tape measure by his son, Martin, was able to make a measured drawing using a computer design program and in addition Chris Grabham spent two full days photographing the works.

I spent some time in the Local History Library in Lewisham trying to find out any information about the two Lowne sites in the Borough. I was also able to look through what remained of the company's records from the 19th and early 20th century, a random rag bag selection!

Robert Mann Lowne was the son of a doctor, Benjamin Thompson Lowne, who moved to London to train at Baits Medical College in 1842. He later moved to the Farringdon Dispensary in Bartletts Passage in Holborn, now New Fetter Lane. Robert was the second son, bom in 1844. His elder brother, also Benjamin Thompson Lowne, became a noted surgeon and lecturer at the Middlesex Hospital, but iittle is known about Robert's early life. His first patent, taken out in 1865, was for a spirometer, sliowing his knowledge of things medical. From then on a great number of patents were taken out by Robert Mann Lowne and from 1872 he and his family lived in East End, Finchiey where he became known as an inventor and scientific instrument maker. He and his wife, Emily, had four children, two of whom, Robert James Mann Lowne and Benjamin Thomson Lowne (yes, another one!), joined him in the business.

By 1894 the family moved to Lewisharn where they occupied a large house, Ravenscroft, at 108 Bromley Road. All the work was carried out by the three family members which is quite surprising considering the volume of work undertaken by the company in the early years of the 20th century. The Lowne Electric Clock and Appliance Company was set up in 1904 as a.limited company to exploit the patents for electric clocks taken out by the company. Contracts were undertaken to provide the Arsenal with an electric master clock system, with 46 slave clocks needing 6 '/a miles

of cabling and run from Leclanche batteries, as well as the South Metropolitan Gas Works in the Old Kent Road. Both systems are sadly no longer in existence.

A new workshop in the garden was built in 1905 to be able to fulfil these orders.

Sadly the company did not prosper and was for a while taken over in the 1920s by the Magneta Company whose head office was in Carterel Street. The Lownes continued to work at home for Magneta until 1926 when the company reverted to the Lowne family. New premises had to be found as Ravenscroft had been sold to the Magneta Company and the site had been redeveloped.

The company moved to Boone Street off Lee High Road, where a former wheelwright's premises was to be their home until 2002. Robert Mann Lowne died in 1928 and his two sons with R.J.M Lowne's son, Frederick James Mann Lowne, continuing the business. With the advent of the National Grid, mains clocks were possible and so the Lownes made synchronous clocks both for the home and for industry. Daniel remembers a large Lowne clock near the Angel in the 1970s - does anyone else know of one?

After the difficulties of the 1930s, perhaps their most profitable years were in the 1940s when war work kept them occupied, despite the damage caused in 1942 by a nearby bomb. After the retirement of his father and uncle, 'Mr Fred' ran the works and developed new products, in particular, air meters, needed in particular in mines. In turn Fred's step son. Bob Barnard, took over until the decision was made to close.

Sadly Bob died at the beginning of February, only a few days after the sale of the machinery. We were much indebted to him and his family for allowing GLIAS so much access for recording. We were particularly delighted to have the chance of finding more records, including the Minute Books and some accounts, in the office and even in the garage.

Lewisham Local History Museum has had a number of items donated to it including synchronous clocks, stools and work benches, as well as advertising material. We look forward to a Lowne exhibition from them in due course. Many original photographs and glass negatives have. been rescued along with advertisements from the early days and the original Minute Books. The family again has been generous in allowing me to look through them to compile both this article as well as a fuller record for the Recording Group.

Who knows where Lowne instruments are to be found. I know of several in the Science Museum, master and slave clocks as well as spirometers. Are there any others, particularly air meters, in other coUectkms?. And finally does anyone have a Lowne electric clock at home, apparently they are collectable now?

PS The works in Boone Street is to be demolished and a new housing development, 'Lowne Court' will replace it. Apparently no one objected to the demolition of the old building, perhaps because it really has outlived its usefulness'.

Sue Hayton

This article appeared in the May 2002 GIHS Newsletter and was reproduced from the GLIAS Newsletter

Engineering in Greenwich

Alcatel

Deptford Industry

Search for Lost Robert Dudley watercolours

Old Sheer Hulk

Merryweather engine Ganges

Letters and reviews

Harland and Wolfe

Electricity Supplies

Sperati

Tram letter box Bexley

Reviews and snippets March 2002