Repairing the Massey Shaw

November 17, 2019, 2:52 am

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REPAIRING THE MASSEY SHAW

Massey Shaw, the preserved London Fire Brigade Float, was recently the subject of a TV programme. The following review, by our member Richard Buchanan, is taken from the SLAS News, Newsletter of the Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Society, No.93. March 2003. With thanks.

On Channel 4 on Monday 20th January there was a programme featuring the Salvage Squad, who had a go at repairing the 1935 Massey Shaw, the first purpose built Fire Boat in London. Did you see it?

The programme features three expert technicians, Claire Barratt, Alex Cleghorn and Jerry Thurston with a presenter (also technically savvy), and shows in half an hour work which has been carried out sometime in the previous year. They showed the repair of four items: the Rubbing Strakes, the Engine, the Fire Pump Control Valves, and the Engine Room Telegraph.

Rubbing Strakes, Alex Cleghorn. These were badly rotting, and needed to be removed (which was hard work, removing old bolts and even then needing a 6 ft jemmy) and replaced with new oak. The replacement of one strake was shown.

New oak, about 4 x 6 in cross section and the length of the boat, was prepared. To be able to fit it, it was steamed for a couple of hours in a long square sheet metal tube, which was well lagged. It was then carefully taken out and handled (while still hot) using G-clamps, inserting the forward end into a steel socket at the bow, and forming it round the boat.

Engine, Claire Barratt. The Massey Shaw was powered by two large diesel engines. It seemed that both engines needed overhaul, but one had been in worse condition and had had one piston removed. They showed the removal of this engine from one side of the boat, through a central hatchway not much bigger than the engine; it’s stripping down, and the remetalling of the crankshaft bearings with white metal (they had completely worn down to the copper backing). The boat was counterbalanced with large drums filled with water while the engine was removed. After reassembly the engine was put back in and connected up.

As usual on this programme (as in real life), this was being done to a tight schedule, so there was no time to properly test the engine before they wanted to run it, and it didn't. So they ran the other engine - whose exhaust was ghastly.

Pump Control Valves, Jerry Thurston. Water to the main Monitor and other hose outlets are controlled by a valve where a plate is moved across a pipe by a screw. On stripping down all looked well, until it was found that the bronze screw thread had been badly corroded by the river water, and lost its strength. New ones were made (a bad moment on the screw cutting lathe was shown, when knocking a wrong lever spoilt the piece).

Engine Room Telegraph, Jerry Thurston. The Massey Shaw has conventional (for its day) telegraph with dials and brass control handles, one for the engines and an- other for the fire pumps. The repair was not shown in any detail, just the testing afterwards to confirm that the indicators followed the controls from the bridge, and that the response was correctly signalled.

History The Massey Shaw was seen some years ago, left to rot, by the Woolwich Ferry - the principal man in this was featured. It was saved and a trust set up to care for it; the Trust invited the Salvage Squad to help with its upkeep, which was becoming expensive. One of the firemen who had worked on the vessel in World War 2 was also traced, and said how in the blitz at the end of 1941 St Paul's was only saved because the Massey Shaw was able to pump Thames water to hoses on land when the water main was bombed.

The final scene of the programme was to pilot the Massey Shaw through the open bascules of Tower Bridge.

Richard Buchanan

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Shipnbuilding on the Thames and Thames Built ships

November 17, 2019, 2:55 am

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SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON SHIPBUILDING ON THE THAMES AND THAMES-BUILT SHIPS

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This very successful event was held in February and chaired by Professor Andrew Lambert of Kings College, and Professor Sarah Palmer of Greenwich Institute of Maritime History.  There is no space here for a full report on papers – but they included

Royal ships on the Thames before 1450 by  Susan Rose

Susan showed how it was clear from the surviving records of the Clerks of the King's Ships ( from 1344), that until the appointment of William Soper as Clerk in 1421, the administration for royal ships was based in London. Where were the shipyards? Can we locate an early forerunner of the Deptford navy yard? Where did supplies come from, especially the all-important timber? Was the necessary skilled work force available?

Convicts to Australia: HMS Glatton and her sister ship HMS Calcutta, former East Indiamen, 1802-3 - Brian Swann

William Evans, shipbuilder of Rotherhithe and his steamships - Stuart Rankin

Scott Russell and the screw collier: a lost opportunity for Thames shipbuilding? - Roy Fenton

This discussed the technical developments which made the iron screw collier possible.

Some steam warships supplied to the Spanish Navy in the 19th century by Thames shipyards - Edward Sargent. The first iron warship for Spain, a paddle steamer, was built by Ditchbum & Mare in 1845.  Shipbuilding at Deptford and Woolwich in the early eighteenth century - Ann V Coats. This paper focussed on the administration of these two Thames yards, within and without the yard boundaries, without which ships could not be built. Management of these two yards in this period reflected both tradition and innovation, as they were the oldest and most continuously developed of the royal yards, glorying in their traditions, but also nominally under stricter control by the Navy Board than the other yards. This paper looked at continuities of families and practices: labour practices - hours and chips; and management practices - how tightly it had to oversee the quality and quantity of work produced and how responsive it had to be to the needs of the men in order to get them to work. It emphasised the level of management discourse necessary both within and without these yards.  Ann focussed on a six month period revealed through correspondence from the dockyard commissioner based in Deptford to the Navy Board in 1702, to show how varied and all-embracing the management role of the dockyard commissioner was, and how delicate a line he had to tread to maximise productivity and preserve 'the Queen's treasure'. The language takes us into a quite distinctive and earlier world view, when management had to negotiate subtly to try to end restrictive traditional rights and privileges, raising the question: 'How far could management manage labour in the early eighteenth century?'

Volunteer landsmen recruits to the Royal Navy 1795-1811: the case of three Thames-built frigates - Nick Slope. The three fifth rate 36 gun frigates (four commissions) under consideration were HMS Trent, HMS Emerald (two commissions) and HMS Glenmore that were all built and fitted out on the Thames (Trent and Glenmore at Woolwich and Emerald at Northfleet). The careers of 3766 men, marines, volunteers and boys have been put onto the database and the information interrogated.

Marmaduke Stalkartt: a significant 18th century naval architect and shipbuilder - Fred M Walker'. Stalkartt was bom in 1750. On completion of a shipwright apprenticeship at the Royal Dockyard, Deptford, it became apparent that this training had prepared him well for his relatively short, but most distinguished life. His shipbuilding skills came to the fore when he took charge of a shipbuilding yard at Rotherhithe, from where some remarkable, unusual and very fast ships were produced.

Coastal shipping and the Thames - John Armstrong

This paper argued that coastal, estuarial and river traffic were essential to the growth of London during the process of industrialization in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Some Thames and Medway dry-docks - Ian Buxton

The River Thames remained a primary centre for ship repairing longer than for shipbuilding. Although the first proper dry-docks were built in the 17th century, it was not until the mid 19th century that dry-dock numbers expanded rapidly to over forty. The paper traced this growth, concentrating on docks over 300 ft. suitable for iron steamships, excluding naval dockyards, which are better documented

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Shipbuilding

Reviews and snippets March 2003

November 17, 2019, 3:00 am

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Reviews and snippets March 2003

BLACKHEATH SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY

At a recent meeting of the Blackheath Scientific Society, Mr. Cantle brought a piece of Pluto pipeline used in World War Two, and spoke briefly about it. The sample was of 3" bore lead pipe, with double steel tape round it, armoured with galvanised steel wire, and covered in tar impregnated hessian tape. This was designed at Siemens in Woolwich, and derived from lead sheathed power cable without the cable. With the assistance of other cable companies, it was manufactured in lengths of 35 miles for laying between Dungeness and the Pas de Calais (11 pipelines) and 70 miles for laying between the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg (2 pipelines), using specially adapted merchant ships. After the war the pipelines were recovered, because of their hazard and for their scrap value.

THE GREAT STINK.

Channel 5 recently showed a programme, The Great Stink, which featured Crossness Sewage Works – and the Crossness Engines Trust. Here’s what the Winter 2002 edition of Crossness Record, had to say about it:

The 'Great Stink', made for Channel 5 and presented by Peter Bazalgette, the Trust Chainman, was very informative to the layman but 'bread and butter' to the volunteer Trust member, who has a weekly opportunity to become re-acquainted with the consumption of the previous day. It told the story of London's sewage disposal or principally its transportation from one sensitive location to the great Cathedral of sewage - Crossness.

An interesting programme which involves every member of the public, full of facts and well presented . . .although the presenter, after wading in sewage, manure and visiting cess-pits, latrines and public conveniences, complete with illustrations on the wall, managed to keep his shoes so clean. However, he found it necessary to don protective clothing, safety harness and breathing apparatus in order to descend into a main northern sewer, which was large enough to accommodate a single-decker bus, and enthuse over its construction and brick-work built with Portland cement. This must have dulled the olfactory sense as he seemed unaffected by the odour and the sensation of cold, wet sewage flowing past his knees with the fear that his boots would not be high enough to prevent the flow going over the top.

Unfortunately, although Crossness was mentioned it was not a programme which could give credit to Crossness Engines Trust. This would require a separate programme, featuring the original construction by William Webster and the recent restoration, supported by the Trust members. This would be an epic narrative of intrigue, expert knowledge and wonderful workmanship, together with the daily lives of the management and workers: the muscular artisans in their tight moleskin breeches, swigging the velvet brew in the Halfway House, attended by camp followers and buxom wenches from the surrounding hamlets: what was the purpose of the pulley at the top of the column ? Why the bath, large enough for two in the condenser chamber ? Who attended, and took advantage of being screened from the public eye, a riotous party in the candle-lit reservoir ? What was really kept under the stove pipe hats ? All this, including the secret formula for obtaining 90° proof spirit from Brasso …and more can be revealed. GJO

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The Docklands Light Railway.

We welcome the Docklands Light Railway coming to Woolwich, but unfortunately many listed buildings will be demolished during its construction. All the buildings between the Woolwich Equitable Buildings and the "Elephant and Castle" public house, including the Lloyds Bank building will be demolished, at Greens End; and in Woolwich New Road all the buildings from the Station to the corner of Spray Street, including the baker's on the corner will go.

The "Pullman" pub, formerly the "Royal Oak", was of course, where in October 1886 the Dial Square Football team changed its name to "Woolwich Arsenal". This is the team that in 1913 moved to North London and dropped the name of Woolwich. (We believe they still play somewhere in North London!) Ironically the public inquiry into the Docklands Light Railway proposals will be held in the Directors suite at Charlton Football Stadium at the Valley SE7. This started on the 28th January, 2003, and anyone may attend.

Susan Bullivant

(Writing in the Newsletter of the Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society as the Secretary of their Conservation sub-committee)

BYGONE KENT

The latest issue of Bygone Kent (Vol. 24 No.2.) contains an article by Barbara Ludlow on Billingsgate Dock, Greenwich, the Story of an old Draw Dock. This is a very important and interesting article. 

In October GIHS Chair, Jack Vaughan, went to talk to  Rotherhithe and Bermondsey Local History Group on the:- The Royal Arsenal at Woolwich.  Here is what their newsletter, Redriffe Chronicle, reported:

“The history of Woolwich Arsenal as a facility dates back over 300 years, though records show the presence of ordnance facilities as early as 1565. Jack commenced with a map showing the initial area size of the establishment, then known as the Warren, a name which still persists in the town centre of Woolwich today, only changing its name to the Arsenal at the insistence of George the third in 1805. During WW1, at its peak, 80,000 were employed within its extensive boundaries, appropriately described as a Secret City, walled, guarded and self-sufficient, with its own railway system, both narrow and standard gauges, power generation plants, with over 1000 buildings of various sizes, wharves, canals, ships and housing for employees. Over the centuries it evolved and adapted while possessing the capability to research, manufacture and prove a vast range of armaments ranging from earliest forms of cannon and shot, through to massive WW2 naval gunnery and field and tank weaponry. The key feature of Jack’s talk centred on the Verbruggens, Dutch Master Founders of the 1700s . A serious accident while casting barrels from captured French weapons in the year 1716 at a private foundry of Moorfields in North London caused the death of 17 workers. This unfortunate event, lead to the establishment of the Woolwich Arsenal Royal Brass Foundry. By a remarkable coincidence, the Verbruggens were not only Masters of armament, but also accomplished artists, basing his talk on reproductions of the Verbruggens’ water-colours, Jack ran through the manufacturing process of 18th century cannon, from the initial wooden pattern models, the sand moulding, casting in metal then boring, heat treating and final proving (test firing) of the cannon. The Royal Ordnance factory closed in 1967 and the Ministry of Defence scaled down it presence over 12 years ago. A group known as The Royal Arsenal Museum Advisory Group (RAMAG) has worked with the Woolwich local authorities to establish heritage facilities on the site. Jack presented a number of slides showing some of notable buildings such as Dial Square and New Laboratory Square. By the end of the evening. Jack had only reached the end of the 18th century, so we will obviously have to invite him back!

Malcolm Meachen

Letters March 2003

November 17, 2019, 3:06 am

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Letters March 2003

From Jonathan Clarke

I stumbled across an intriguing-sounding article by Mary Mills entitled 'A mystery steel works.’ in Bygone Kent, 20 (1999), 37-42 – about Henry Bessemer’s Greenwich Steel Works.  That Bessemer might have required Thames-side works in London to better serve national and international customers, away from his competitors in the north, seems entirely plausible.

Were the Appleby Bros, also on the Greenwich Peninsula, connected with Lincolnshire firm, The Appleby Iron Company, formed in 1874 (later of Appleby-Frodingham fame)? They were involved with the manufacture of Marine Boilers.

I wonder whether you might be able to help me with another great steelmaster with Greenwich connections - German-born English engineer and inventor Sir William Siemens (1823-1883).  I want to know where his Kentish country house, ''Sherwood', near Tunbridge Wells, was exactly. It may be in institutional use or otherwise absorbed or altered, but do you know whether it survives in any form? According to his biography, he moved there c. 1877. The reason I'm interested is that it made very early use of steel. In 1880, following a discussion about the imminent use of steel in architecture he stated "I had at my house in the country a terrace, and under that terrace I had a billiard-room ... I put steel girders over this billiard-room, which was about 20-ft. span, and by filling in between each girder with cement and tiling and lead, I was able to gain 18 in. in height, and obtained a perfectly dry room, whereas before I had considerable difficulty in keeping the water out. This simply shows how, by the use of this stronger material, advantages in convenience and even in cost may be obtained".

From Dick Moy

I would firstly like to congratulate Jack Vaughan & Mary Mills on producing what I consider to be the most interesting and ongoing record of historical research in Kent and the London area.

Having read with interest Philip Binns' suggestion of saving the 1930's Merryweather factory lettering - a very difficult task I fear - I am reminded of a deal I did with that Company about 40 years ago when they demolished the older of the two buildings fronting onto Greenwich High Road. Some of you may remember the two marvellous three dimensional iron cupid masks each 22" in diameter. Both heads blowing hard at the flames. There was sadly no interest in industrial archaeology at that time and having displayed these for some weeks in my shop in Nelson Road, they ended up somewhere in the United States. Photographs of them must exist however.

As an Antique Dealer of 48 years standing, I have so many memories of buying and selling examples of our industrial and commercial heritage.  I bought virtually everything of interest from Lovibonds, the brewers, including 8 of the most marvellous thin and deep 10 ft high brass bound sherry barrels. Tools from the coopers and wheelwrights sheds. Order and sales ledgers back to the 19th.  A c.1900 painting of a loaded dray by their tame sign writer. From Woolwich the residual stock and tools from a beautiful cl800 pottery kiln, from Deptford Victualling Yard/Dockyard site numerous iron plaques from biscuit ovens and relics from the Masting Pond. I tried at that time to get the London/Guildhall Museums interested in photographically recording the last of these buildings - at least those many which unlike the rum warehouses were demolished and was told that the pressures of recording the constantly re-appearing and certainly very exciting relics of Roman London left them no time to stray beyond the City walls. Even a fascinating Roman to Medieval site in Bishopsgate was left to "treasure hunting" by tipping the building team as it was again outside the "Holy Wall". My small photographs of Deptford Dockyard during demolition are the only ones I know of- I have kept numerous smaller relics from the Barbers/Wigmakers in Stockwell Street.

All the old family and trading records of Hudsons - Greenwich's longest established business, still trading in 1975 - scientific instrument makers, opticians and art material  suppliers whose goodwill, stock and trading name I purchased and continued to trade with until 1980.

The tobacconist in Nelson Road, a smithy in Bardsley Lane, a fabulous fitted 19thc chemist shop on Shooters Hill. The beautiful Regency shopfront in Creek Road that, thank God, we did persuade the Museum of London to keep and barge builders'. shipbreakers' and other memorabilia from local land based, water borne and traveling commercial enterprises. I still have many of the smaller relics and documents in my own collection and quite a lot of other more bulky items somewhere in one or other of my stores. They were kept there waiting in vain for the Borough Museum to make some kind of appearance in the old Greenwich Town Centre rather than remain practically on the borders of Kent.

From Norman Stancel,

I need some help. I have a leather fire bucket that is red in colour with a black stripe around the top and bottom with a leather handle. On the outside it has SAND written on it. The bottom has MERRYWEATHER around the rim and below that it has LONDON. Can you help or do you know who might. Thank you   Alpharetta, Georgia, USA. NORMFIRE@aol.com

From: Joe Brierley

I am a final year student at Ravensbourne College of design and communication, majoring in environment architecture.  For my major project I am interested in the site of 28-30 Wood Wharf and proposing a sympathetic restoration of the site as part of a local historical and cultural centre.  I had chosen the site before researching recent proposals for its redevelopment, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it is such an intrinsic part of the regional maritime history. As it stands, it is a unique time warp into the traditional techniques and processes of the working river.  It is this quality I wish to preserve, and as a student proposing a purely concept scheme, I do not have to worry about the revenue earning potential of the site, a factor commercial and residential developers have to consider.

The aim is to design a working museum complex, demonstrating traditional maritime craftsman techniques, and the training of these lost skills. Because the site was also the Great Greenwich Steam Ferry slipway, and was noted for its deep water and narrow beach, I am keen to link the site into a new river transport scheme. Although the "Reach 2000" site around the Deptford Creek is work in progress I intend to incorporate this into my site, and the whole scheme will be an ideal master plan of how the area could look if the history of the area was more important than its income! I have researched the site at the Woolwich Planning Office and have some information on the site, but if you could help in any way I would greatly appreciate it! 

From Andy Dickson

In researching a vessel seen in Belfast Docks, the Nord Star, I came across your page (Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2000), and a request from a Mr A Ward for photographs of any ships built by the company of Cubows Ltd between 1972 and 1982. The Nord Star that visits Belfast is a small vessel of less than 500 grt, built around 1978-1980 by Cubows Ltd of Woolwich, and apparently now owned by Shearer Shipping, Lerwick, and Shetland.  I have a rather indifferent photograph of this vessel, taken only today (in poor light), but I might be able to get a better picture in the future.  

From: Jan Snowball

I stumbled across your web site this evening. I am starting to investigate my family history, which I believe has very strong links with Bugsby's Reach. Great Great granddad had a wharf there, family run business & changed his name from Bugsby to Bigsby. Also had something to do with manufacturing paint in that area. My father Ernest Victor Bigsby's family business was in the manufacture of paints & it was his grand or great grandad who owned a business [can't think it was still in paints though - how old could the manufacture of paint be?]. Anyway, the story goes that the chap who changed is name used to be a bit of a tyrant & his workers used to call him Bugsby the bugger.... so he changed it to Bigsby. I am led to believe the business    was on this site & maybe I assumed there was a wharf there as the stretch was called Bugsby's reach. Apparently, there is a big family vault somewhere (Rotherhithe?)

Ernest Victor Bigsby was a professional chemist who finished his days at ICI (which has more recently employed my dad & elder brother). so paint is firmly in the blood!! What do you know of the land use along Bugsby's reach, any sign of manufacturing?  

From: Mike Jelliss

I am researching my family history The Jelliss Family who were mainly engineers in the Greenwich, Deptford and Erith areas. My great grandfather Charles James Jelliss. Died in 18/04/1896 aged 54. He accidentally fell to his death from the ladder of his ship the SS Racoon and drowned in the Thames off College View Isle of Dogs I have been unable to locate College View or any information on the SS Racoon. My grandfather is described in 1901 as (Stoker in Electric Lighter?). He later worked as an Electrical Engineer with Vickers Sons and Maxims where he helped develop the Maxim Flying Machine. I have been unable to find any references to electric lighters? 

From Jenny Hammerton

I am the Senior Cataloguer for British Pathe News and I have just been working on a film of the Welsbach Lighting Co factory in the 1910s. Was this in Greenwich? You might be interested in our website at www.britishpathe.com where you can view any film in our collection FREE OF CHARGE thanks to lottery funding - we have films that date from 1896 - 1970 and are still adding to the site. I am sure that there would be some items of interest to your members. Best regards - 

From: Eileen & Rod Rogers

My grandfather was Charles Telford Field and he was the product of the marriage between a Miss Maudslay and a Mr Field. I have the original (I believe) model of the twin cylinder steam engine (Siamese) that was proposed to Isambard Brunel for the SS "Great Western". The consortium later decided to build their own engine when screw was preferred to paddle. The engine went on to power many warships as, I am quite sure, you know. I should be interested in disposing of the model but I believe my children do not want this.

From Paul Sturman

So the Merryweather site is going to be flattened; will they never learn? I have some recent colour photos of the site, including the lettered frontage and the original 1876 building (difficult to shoot) taken with a super wide-angle lens. These are available on CD-rom.

Just a couple of things re the January magazine Jim Arthur wrote to enquire about Merryweather photos and wanted to get in touch with anyone who had any. 

From: Emma Creasey

As a resident of Greenwich I have for a long time admired the industrial riverfront stretching from Deptford down to the Greenwich peninsular. Over the years this area has seen many changes and faces even more in the next few years. Along with many admirers of this area I have periodically photographed the buildings and shore in order to preserve my memory of them. In doing so my interest in photography increased and I am now studying BA Photography at the London College of Printing. For this term we have been asked to explore the theme of history/time; an ideal opportunity form me to further extend my knowledge of the riverfront area and also photograph it more seriously. I am looking for people or organisations, which can provide me with local history and hopefully access to some of the key buildings. Having discovered your newsletters on the Internet I thought that your society might be a good place to start. It would be incredibly useful to me if you could supply me with details regarding your organisation and details of any specialists who might be able to discuss the area with me. I look forward to hearing from you shortly and wish you all the best for the New Year. 

From: John P. Dawson

I am researching a steamer that was built in the mid 1800's with a Penn engine. Do you know if any records of that Greenwich builder are extant? 

From Diana Rimel

Dear Editor

Christopher Phillpott otherwise excellent study of the Creek has reiterated the myth that Captain Cook's old ship the Discovery was moored in the Thames as a convict hulk.   The following is part of a project I put together last year on  ‘Convict Ships and Prison Hulks’

“Old disused ships declared unfit for sea were considered acceptable for housing prisoners and sick and disabled sailors in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  Several of these were moored in the Creek or off it in Greenwich Reach.   In 1824, Discovery, the ship of the explorer, George Vancouver, who had served under Captain James Cook, was used as a convict hulk. Vancouver had charted and sailed to the North-West American coast, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia and New Zealand, and from 1791-95 circumnavigated the world in the converted collier Discovery.    In 1833 Discovery was broken up and replaced by the frigate Thames.  The Seamen’s Hospital Society in Greenwich established a hospital on the hulk of the ship Grampus in 1821. This proved too small so the Society fitted up the Dreadnought with 200 beds in 1831.  It was moored near the east side of the Creek mouth.  The former Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital was named after this ship. Conditions on board these vessels were very bad. The hulks were broken up for their timber when they were no longer of any use.  The practice of using them for prisoners ceased by the 1860s.”

From John Day

Sorry to disagree with Jim Arthur, but the muzzle loading rifled bore goes back to 1498 when Gaspard Zollner used straight rifling in a hand gun to overcome fouling caused by poor powder. A couple of  years later Augustus Kutter used helical rifling and a gun having six  grooves with a helix of one in twenty six was made in Hungary in 1547.  This gun used to be in the Rotunda years ago, but has long disappeared.  R.M.L.s (Rifled Muzzle Loader) were still in use in the earlier part of the last (20th.) century. The early breech loading rifled guns (R.B.L.) were so unreliable that a return was made to R.M.L.s for some years. The Russians used "shunt" rifling having a double groove, a deep groove allowing the studs to slide freely during loading and a groove decreasing towards the muzzle, with which the studs engaged to provide rotation on firing. There is a paper on 'The History of Rifling' in Vol. 12 of the Journal of the Ordnance Society.  The official title of the device shown pages 50 & 51 is ‘Apparatus Lifting Guns, Hurst Pattern, Mk.I L for R.M.L. 38 Tons'  

From Gordon Broughton

I was born in 1915 in Eastcombe Avenue, Charlton, and my wife was born off Blackwall Lane, Greenwich, in 1917.  I was educated at Fossdene Road School and Roan School for Boys, initially in Eastney Street, Greenwich, and then Maze Hill. In 1931 I started my career of 45 years as a Laboratory Attendant in the Research Department in the Arsenal, which at that time was under the War Office.  Eventually, after several name changes, the complex of laboratories became the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment at Fort Halstead, near Sevenoaks, from where I retired in 1976 as a Senior Scientific Officer. Mary Mills’ Book Greenwich and Woolwich at Work, makes brief reference to the Research Department, which, although within the Arsenal Walls off Griffin Manor Way, was not a component of the Royal Arsenal per se which had its own Metallurgical Laboratory. I began and ended my career in the Metallurgical Research Branch, which particularly in the 1930s had several eminent scientists whose basic research papers were published by the Institute of Metals and the Iron and Steel Institute.

One memorable experience of my early days was the firing of 18-inch Naval guns at the proof butts in the Arsenal on Fridays. Residents of Plumstead would have feared for their windows on Fridays. Quite often I was performing the menial task of taking a barrow load of rifle barrels to another proofing range and had to pass very close to the Proof Butts.

I was surprised to see Mary Mills linking the Royal Arsenal in the same chapter with the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society. Their Commonwealth Buildings were of course in the old Royal Dockyard established by Henry VIII. The cobbler shown on page 31 of her book may well be an uncle of mine!  Before leaving Orpington for Cirencester in 2000 I visited the Crossness pumping station where an amazing restoration is being done by keen volunteers.  It was also featured a few months ago in Channel 5 TV’s The great Stink a tribute to the great engineer Bazalgette.  The site is perhaps just outside the Woolwich boundary. 

From John Barratt

I am building a model railway of the old Greenwich Park station that stood where the hotel and cinema now stand. The main station building stood in Stockwell Street and ran between Burney Street and London Street (now Greenwich High Road) and under Royal Hill.

My problem is relatively simple. Whilst I have a plan of the station building and a lot of pictures, I have nothing that has a scale to it. I therefore can not model the station building with any accuracy. I have been everywhere, to Mycenae Road (who were very helpful), bought various books over the years, been to the track mob at Waterloo (who sent me the unsealed station plan) and even to the National Railway Museum (who have station building plans, but apparently not one of Greenwich Park).

Even the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Society, to which I belong, can not think of anything more to do to try to get scaled plans.

So I wondered whether, with your contacts, you could either send me scaled elevation plans of the station or point me in the direction of someone who can. I would, of course, pay reasonable costs. Thanks.

Submarine cables - started in Ireland

November 17, 2019, 3:09 am

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It all started in Ireland……… another story about Greenwich manufactured submarine telegraph cables

by Allan Green

About 20 years ago on a business trip to Ireland I had the good fortune to stay in a very pleasant country hotel in Co Wicklow and there started an interest that has, in the past two years been rekindled. One of the benefits of business travel was sometimes (probably less so today) the opportunity to stay in some very nice hotels where comfort and good food might be found after a hard days work. “Tinakilly House” was, and still is, a luxury hotel and restaurant (See Ref 1) and it has an interesting history which I was unaware of until I arrived there.

Captain Robert Halpin was First Officer and Navigator of the “Great Eastern” when she was purchased to lay the Atlantic Cable and he built “Tinakilly House” at Rathnew near Wicklow town around 1870. In 1868 he was made Captain of the “Great Eastern” and during his service laid many thousands of miles of cable around the world. Almost all that cable had been manufactured by Telcon (Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co Ltd). It is reported that the British Government gave Halpin the money in ”thanks for his great contribution to world communications and trade “ (Ref2)

Arriving at “Tinakilly House” I spotted a cabinet in the entrance hall housing a substantial looking piece of cable and the owner, William Power, later told me the history of the house and the cable which was part of the shore-end of the first French Atlantic cable. See photograph of myself (taken after a very good dinner and a bottle or two of good wine), together with the cable and William Power.

For more than 30 years electrical wires and cables was my business life with the Alcatel Cable Group though quite unconnected with the Greenwich factory or indeed with submarine cables at all. I was based in the UK for most of the time and responsible for the Group’s aerospace and electronics wires and cables, which were manufactured in France. From the point of view of size and weight these miniature, wires were about as far away as one can get from submarine telegraph cables. Both types do, however, have one very important thing in common. That is the need for the highest possible standards of performance and reliability (We do not have to spell-out the consequences of failure in the 100 miles or more of complex wires and cables which go into a large airliner today)

Failure of those 19^th century submarine cables perhaps 2 miles down in mid Atlantic was not likely to have been life-threatening but it would have presented significant loss of revenue for the emerging Telegraph Companies to say nothing of the engineering challenges to locate the fault, haul up the cable and effect repairs. How those early cables were designed and made to meet the needs of the rapidly developing telegraph technology is a fascinating story. They had to withstand the severe rigours of laying, the deep-sea environment, the rocky shores and many other hazards both natural and man-made. Putting together that story has been the object of my studies for the first 2 years of my retirement and is very much an ongoing interest.

To-date those studies have taken me to many places in search of submarine telegraph cables history.

In Greenwich to Alcatel Submarine Networks where unfortunately little remains of their early cable manufacturing days and the National Maritime Museum where in the Caird Library there is much useful material (Including the Telcon archive which is not yet fully catalogued) and many of the early books on telegraphy and cables. The Science Museum in Kensington has a very interesting and well-preserved collection of samples of early cables and telegraph equipment but not on public display. The Science Museum and Imperial College Library has many useful archives related to cables and cable laying as well as an excellent collection of early books.  Also on my quest for information the Archives of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) in London, Special Collections at University of Bristol Library, Tyne & Wear Museums and my “local” Reading University Library have proved fruitful.

However, the “Jewel in the Crown” when it comes to studying the early history of telegraphy, is the Museum of Submarine Telegraphy and Cable & Wireless Archives at Porthcurno near Penzance. From 1870 up to the present day Porthcurno has been the landing point for many submarine telegraph and telephone cables. Covering a period of around 100 years the telegraph cables, all of them no longer in use have run up the beach to the cable-hut and on to the Telegraph Station, which was the hub of the world’s largest communications network.. The Eastern Telegraph Company (“The Eastern”) later to become Cable and Wireless was truly the world’s first “Internet” That station today houses the Museum and archives. During bad storms the beach at Porthcurno is heavily scoured by the waves and sand is displaced, sometimes to a great depth to reveal sections and broken protruding ends of the old cables. Being a public beach and a very pleasant holiday area these old cables can present a safety hazard and are cleared by contractors as and when they become exposed..

The cut lengths of cable dating from around 1870 up to 1950 are retained by the Museum who has kindly allowed me to cut samples for in depth study. This work is on going at the moment on 4 quite different cable samples. All these were certainly made in Greenwich or local area either by Telcon, Henley’s, Johnson & Phillips or The India Rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Company, Limited.  Finding that cable sample in “Tinakilly House” and researching its history, together with the story of the “Great Eastern” was how it all started. The cable was made in Greenwich, the ship that laid it built up the river at Milwall but for me the story began in Ireland and for the past 20 years has been very much on the back burner. For those interested in the story of the “Great Eastern” I recommend a book titled  “ The Great Iron Ship”. (Ref 3.)

Some work has yet to be done before my story of the four “ Porthcurno cables” is complete but I hope that before the end of the year I shall have the opportunity to tell you more about them……the jigsaw is far from complete and I would be delighted to hear from anyone who has information, of any kind about the local cable manufacturers mentioned above and also about cables made by the two other locals, Siemens and Hoopers.

References

1.               “Tinakilly House“, Rathnew, County Wicklow Ireland. Phone 00 353 404 69274.  I am pleased to hear that William Power is still around but understand that the hotel is now managed by his son and daughter-in-law.

2.                Rees. Jim “The Life of Captain Robert Halpin”. Arklow, County Wicklow. Dee-Jay Publications . Also summary information on the hotel web-site : www.tinakilly.ie

3.               Dugan. James. “The Great Iron Ship “ London. 1953. Hamish Hamilton Ltd

Penn's Works remains

November 17, 2019, 3:13 am

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REMAINS OF PENN’S WORKS AT BLACKHEATH HILL

On page 9 Readers will see a letter from the Greenwich Conservation Group about remnants of the walls of the Penn’s Engienering Works on Blackheath Hill (now the Wickes site).   Following this the Group was told that more remains were to be found there – and were recommend to talk to George Arthur. Here is what he has to say:

I am sorry to have to disappoint you about the house on the John Penn site. On further checking I have found that no.10 Lewisham Road was not part of the works. I am attaching a plan of the works from Robert Smiles’ ‘Model Establishments’ with a description of the offices. No.10 is a house with a central entrance similar to that described in Smiles; article, however on checking the site again recently I find there is a gap between No.10 and John Penn Street of about 20 ft (6m) wide which I considered not wide enough to have housed a building as described even though Smiles says ‘This entrance is only a few yards wide’. This is now a car park and unloading bay for the DIY store on the site of the erection shop.

There is a developer’s sign on the area marked Smiths shop. If this area is developed soon, will they retain the existing wall?

Extracts from Great Industries of Great Britain c.1880. Model Establishments, by Robert Smiles -

“A list of the vessels fitted with engines by Messrs. John Penn and Son would occupy more space than can be spared, and would be only dry reading; but the starting-point in their career as renowned engine builders demands a word of reference. In 1836, a number of boats, built on very fine lines by Mr. Ditchbum, were put upon the Thames to ply between London, Greenwich, and Woolwich.  These were- fitted by Messrs. Penn with oscillating engines, that proved themselves in all respects greatly superior to those on the side- lever principle. The royal yacht-tender Fairy wasbuilt on the same pattern; by engines, of the same type, were fitted by Messrs. Penn, who also applied the screw propeller to the Fairy, which was one of the finest vessels in Her Majesty's navy fitted with this kind of machinery. Among .the first of the ships of the navy fitted with their improved oscillating engines, by Messrs. Penn, were —the Black Eagle, the Sphynx, the Banshee, and the royal yacht Victoria and Albert; also the renowned Australian liner Great Britain, and many other ships for the navies and mercantile marine of various countries.

The entrance used by the heads of the firm, managers, clerks, draughtsmen, foremen. etc., is at the junction of John Penn Street with Lewisham Road. This entrance only a few yards wide; from it the natural contour of the ground dips by a rather steep incline. Passing through the outer door and down it a few steps a hall is reached, with on each side a range of well-lit Offices, and counting, model, waiting and other rooms.' Over all these, on a first floor, is large drawing office, admirably lit, partly from the roof.  In this part of the premises, marked o o o o in our sketch, the initiatory steps are taken in connection with every engine or boiler produced by the firm. On the ground floor, the "interviewing" and the correspondence, of a polyglot character, that precede orders or contracts, are conducted. Preliminaries settled, the work is passed upstairs, where complete drawings and specifications are prepared by chiefs of departments, in concert with the heads of the firm. From the finished designs working drawings are made, showing in exact pro- portions the minutest details, down to rivet and bolt holes. These drawings are passed to the head foremen in the different shops, who are responsible for the production of the numerous and varied parts that are to be brought into harmonious combination in a vast and complex machine. With the distribution of the working drawings among the foremen, the actual manufacture of the engine may be said to begin, and will give full scope to watchful over- sight and skilled work. On the inner edge of the office hall other doors and a flight of steps give access to the erecting shop and heavy turnery, and from it to all other parts of the works.

Reverting to our sketch, it should be mentioned that the entrance for the workmen is by a wide gateway (G') in John Penn Street, where the timekeeper has a lodge (6). This is also the principal entrance and exit for raw materials, and for finished work. . A powerful weighing machine (a) is placed within the gate, upon which the loads are weighed when necessary. The gateway referred to, it will be seen, affords ready access for pig iron to the foundry, malleable iron to the smiths' shop, timber to the carpenters', and materials for the different departments.

Museum in Docklands opens

November 18, 2019, 7:19 am

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MUSEUM IN DOCKLANDS

AT LAST !!!

For those of us who have been involved with the Museum in Dockland for so many, many years the fact that it appears to be opening – at last – is an occasion for some amazement and relief. I can’t remember when I first learnt about the Museum – it must have been at some time in the early 1980s – and at that time the project was well under way.  I used to go to the Docklands History Group meetings and hear about how everything was progressing.    Buildings in what we used to call the Gwilt Warehouses on the West India Dock Quay had been identified – in those days they were massive, towering above the empty docks.  Chris, Bob and Alex were in Cannon Workshops and soon they also had a huge warehouse up in the Victoria Dock – and it was quickly filling up with potential exhibits.  As workplace after workplace closed down so a team of lads would be sent out in one of the Museum trucks to get whatever they could. 

One day, sometime in the mid-1980s, I squeezed through a hole in the fence down on the old East Greenwich Gasworks site. I hid in the bushes as juggernauts thundered past. Suddenly I realised that I was beside an old wooden capstan – mounted on a block with a plaque.  It had come from the old dry dock, now under the Dome, built by Stockwell and Lewis in 1871.  South Metropolitan Gas Company had bought the dry dock and preserved the capstan – it had stood as a riverside feature in gas works, carefully preserved, until our generation had forgotten it and abandoned it.  I rang Bob Aspinall right away and the lads and the Museum truck came over.

Then everything started to go wrong.  I was working for Docklands Forum – an organisation which monitored redevelopment and regeneration in Docklands – and we kept a close watch on progress with the Museum.  I can’t go into a lot of detail here – if I can even remember – all the setbacks and heartaches over the next fifteen or so years.  Funding bids came and went, as did potential sites. The office and archive moved to the Poplar Business Park in Prestons Road.  The Victoria Dock warehouse became ‘out of bounds’, Chris had a heart attack, Alex got a new job within the Museum of London – and Andy Topping joined the team, to very good effect.  Some exhibits were dispersed to other museums.

But after all, after all these years – and there has been doubt in the last few months – the Museum is to open.  Back, as originally planned, in the warehouses on the West India Quay  - now tiny buildings among giant office blocks – and everything has a different name to what it used to have in the 1980s.  I went round the Museum last year – it was terrific and everyone must go, and tell their friends. Congratulations, particularly to Chris Elmers and Bob Aspinall – thanks for sticking with it.

--- and the Greenwich capstan  --- it’s one of the main exhibits!

MUSEUM IN DOCKLANDS GRAND OPENING PARTY

 

A FREE DAY OF FAMILY EVENTS TO CELEBRATE LONDON’S NEWEST MUSEUM

Saturday 24 May 2003

On the day of the opening the Museum in Docklands will have free admission.  Annual tickets will be available for purchase. Adult annual ticket £5 Concessions annual ticket £3 Children under 16 FREE   DLR - West India Quay -   Jubilee Line - Canary Wharf  There is a restaurant called 1802, a separate café and a shop.

The twelve galleries of the Museum in Docklands trace 2,000 years of London’s river, port and people -

Thames Highway–from the Roman settlement of AD43 and the Saxon town beneath Covent Garden to the historic ports of Norman and Medieval London excavated at Billingsgate and Lower Thames Street. 

Trade Expansion - As London’s port activities grew new trading companies like the East India Company emerged. Visitors can wander through a recreation of a Legal Quay from the 1790s and the influence of overseas visitors, including Pochohantas and Prince Lee Boo, is explored.

Rhinebeck Panorama -Discovered rolled-up in the attic of a house in Rhinebeck, New York, the Rhinebeck Panorama presents a balloon’s eye view of the upper pool of London c.1810. 

Coming of the Docks -An exploration of the Isle of Dogs (1802), Wapping (1805), Blackwall (1806) and Rotherhithe (1806/12) reveals the vast new trading dock complexes built in the early 1800s to resolve the problems of overcrowding, theft and pilferage in the old river port. Original plans, engineering drawings, pictures and artefacts uncover the engineering and entrepreneurial enterprise in detail.

City and River -Opened for trade in 1803, the warehouse in which the Museum now stands once stored coffee, pimentos, sugar, molasses and rum. A recreated rum vault provides a glimpse into the skills of coopers working in No 1 Warehouse under the watchful eyes of Customs Officers, and the gallery examines the story of sugar.  An 1807 model of the Lord Mayor’s state barge, together with the bright red livery and silver arm badges of the Waterman’s Company, are seen close to engravings of the Thames during the last Frost Fair of 1814. 

Sailortown Set in the early evening, visitors wander along early 19^th century gas-lit alleyways, past a chandler’s shop window and sailor’s lodging houses, glimpsing views of the murky Thames between buildings. 

First Port of Empire & Warehouse of the World - The introduction of hydraulic power and the change from wooden to iron shipbuilding transformed the lives of those who worked in the docks. The struggles of organised labour is explored through the 1889 Dock Strike, and beam scales, garbling knives and tobacco presses, and contemporary film footage from the historic City of Ships (1938) shows working practices that have now vanished forever. 

The capital’s links with the British Empire and the cultural diversity of London’s East End are shown in What in the World, a touch-screen interactive which traces commodities along trade routes and back to their country of origin.

The River Thames Gallery - A number of traditional Thames vessels, including an 1880s double sculling pleasure craft and a 1925 Port of London Authority Waterman’s Skiff, are shown alongside displays exploring the work of sail makers, riggers, ship chandlers, leisure boat operators and divers and reveals some of the skills required for navigation, moorings and salvage operations.  A major extract from City of Ships (1938) shows a lost world.

Docklands at War - Introduced by the Black Saturday film, which incorporatesrarely seen film from the Fire Brigade and captured Nazi extracts show the preparations made in London and Berlin for the first few days of the Blitz. 

New Port New City - Just 20 years ago much of Docklands was an area of decline and dereliction.  Competition and containerisation signalled the end of the up-river port.  As port activities moved downriver the older docks, warehouses and riverside industries closed down.  Although still at the centre of world trade, the area is now unrecognisable as the former port, as new transport infrastructures, the gentrification of riverside warehousing and the architectural spectacle of Canary Wharf create a new and equally dramatic cityscape.

Mudlarks' gallery In this interactive gallery specifically for under elevens. 

Letters May 2003

November 18, 2019, 7:25 am

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Letters May 2003

From Malcolm Tucker

Corrigenda!!

1. The article in “Heritage Today” on gasholders, that you mention on page 5 of GIH Vol.6.No.1.  Was not written by me but a journalist, Jack Watkins. It takes up just a few of the themes in my “London Gasholders Survey” report of September 2000.

2.  My article on a visit to the Royal Arsenal, which you ‘lifted’ from the Gunpowder and Explosives Study Group’s Newsletter, contained a curious rewording on the part of their editor. Therefore I need to explain that the Shrinking Pitts were where gun barrels, expanded by heating in furnaces, were plunged into oil to shrink them onto their liners (like the fitting of iron tyres tightly round cartwheels). This caused a more even distribution of stresses during the firing of a gun.

3. It may have something to do with my handwriting. In my note on page 7 line 5, the word ‘supporting’ should read ‘supposing’. (I disown the punctuation, however, and your citations of GIH issue numbers are confused)

From Pat O’Driscoll

Does anybody know of a firm, which existed at Erith in the 1890s named Easton Anderson & Goolden, Ltd.  They may have been shipbuilders or launch builders. I have been sent a cutting from the Colchester 'Evening Gazette' of 24^th February which mentions that local auctioneers are selling a large ship's wheel with this name on its brass-band around the outer rim.  There is a date, l896, but no name of the vessel. There is a photo of the wheel and I see that the central boss, which covers the wheel retaining nut, is missing. This is where one generally finds a vessel's, name inscribed. The vessel in question was found, presumably derelict, beached in an African mangrove swamp, by a diver.

An intriguing story. Barry Pearce, who sent me the cutting, says that he tried to check the name of the firm in Philip Banbury's "Shipbuilders of the Thames and Medway" but it was not listed there. The cutting does not give any details of the 'ship.' Perhaps a reader in Erith knows the answer.

From Barbara Ludlow

I am looking for information about Isaac Loader, Anchor maker of Deptford in the 18th century.  He formed a partnership with Sir Ambrose Crowley, ironmaster of Crowley Wharf, Highbridge, East Greenwich. If anyone has anything on him, however small, it would be very useful to me. I am also looking for details about Thomas Hall, ship owner and slaver, of the City of London – 18th century again.

From Gordon Broughton

Re. The article on MQAD in the September 2000 Newsletter. The QAD/MATS HQ building was in Griffin Manor Way and had previously been, since before 1931 the HQ of the Research Department, eventually Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, when it moved to Fort Halstead.

Two of QAD/MATS Deputy Directors were ex-RARDE viz Dr.E.Longhurst and Ken Jones. At the outbreak of World War II the Metallurgy Branch was evacuated to a number of locations including Cardiff and Swansea Universities, ROF’s Ruddington (Notts) and Swynerton (Staffs) and Shrewsbury.

In the light of current events the following comes to mind. In 1931 when I joined the RD I noticed a considerable amount of environmental smartening up and on enquiry was told there had been a visit by the King of Afghanistan!

As a keen 16-year-old supporter of Charlton Athletic I was highly delighted and impressed to find that the Chief Storeman in the RD, that I had to deal with, was George Reeves the conductor of the Eltham Brass Band that played on the pitch at The Valley.

From Dennis Plowright

I have some comments to make about Mary Mills’ book on ‘Greenwich and Woolwich at Work’.  There is a picture of workers at sports equipment manufacturer, Gradidge. I had some Gradige bats and the Imperial Driver was very good. I played club cricket for 50 seasons until I was 65.

In the pictures on cable manufacture the rubber cable in the drums to be vulcanised would have been extruded and coiled in French chalk to space and support it. Vulcanisation would have been in large ‘open cure’ vessels, steam at about 90. From 1955 to 1962 I was with the Avon India Rubber Co, finishing as Chief Mechanical Engineer. AIR Co. did not make VIR cable however it did make a lot of extrusions e.g. tubing, seals etc. by the same method.

In 1960 I had a pair of press platens 16’ x 4’ surface from Woolwich Arsenal. They did this by fitting a grinding head on to a large planing machine. I still recall the immense shops and travelling cranes. All gone now, I suppose.  I would like to read more about the Woolwich Arsenal. Is there a book about it?  A good meaty one with details, not a ‘Boys Book of the Woolwich Arsenal’.

From: Chris Mansfield

I wonder if you are aware that for about four or five years I have been hassling “English Heritage” in a bid to get a blue plaque erected in memory of Tom Cribb the famous pugilist.  You may or may not know that he lived in Woolwich for the last ten years of his life in the property that is now occupied by my café (Readysnacks).

Finally my efforts are coming to fruition  (but not quite as I expected). I have been told that Tom Cribb’s plaque is now definitely going ahead, but it may be erected in central London instead of Woolwich. Apparently Tom ran a pub in Piccadilly for ten years just after he retired from boxing.

I have spoken to Julian Watson about this and he agrees with me that Woolwich would be a much more suitable place, apart from the fact that Central London must be bursting at the seams with blue plaques. If you feel as I do that Woolwich is where it should be, perhaps you could find time to email Emily Cole at English Heritage and put in a good word for Woolwich

From Adrian Lochhead

I am based at St Nicholas Church Deptford Green where I am charged with collecting Heritage information on all aspects of Deptford's history.  St Nick's wish to provide information to visitors and local schools.  The church is usually open from 9.30 - 2 on weekdays.

We have a few displays, pictures etc mostly to do with aspects of the church itself i.e. the bomb damage during WW2, Christopher Marlowe, and the shipwrights commemorated on memorials.  Trying to put some of this information into context has of course opened up massive areas of research. For example I decided to see if I could discover the names of ships built at Deptford, to date I have found around 350 ships spanning about 300 years, but they are mostly ships of the Royal dockyards, I have hardly begun to scratch the surface with regard to the private yards and the East India Co.

It is my intention to collate enough imagery and information to produce large display panels with smaller information panels attached.  Subjects currently given panels are things such as the shipyards, war, industry, 'famous' people, culture and more.

I keep coming across GIHS newsletters when I web search for Deptford references.  So I thought it about time I contacted you, to tell you about what I am doing 

From Philip Pearce

It was with interest that I stumbled across your website in connection with information on the Queen Mary liner of which I have a particular interest. I noticed a letter from Len Chapman, and I can possibly add something more. I will have to check my books, but I do definitely know that the original set of props for the Mary were of a poor design which gave (as you are no doubt aware) excessive vibration at the rear of the ship. Off hand I can't recall if J.Stone's supplied the modified design set, the originals, or even both! I might also have some photocopied photos of the propellers.  Here is my home address: -- Philip Pearce, 192 Silver Street, Wythall, and Birmingham, B38 0EA.

From the Maudslay Society

I should like to draw your attention to the book Henry Maudslay and the Pioneers of the Machine Age, co-edited by our member John Cantrell, who also contributed two of the chapters.  The opening chapters describe the career of Henry Maudslay and give an account of the London engineering industry in his time.  The remainder of the book is mainly a collection of biographies of Maudslay's most prominent pupils and associates, describing their pioneering contribution to the machine tool industry.  The book concludes with the history of Maudslay's business after his death.  A list of contents is attached.

From Christopher Lewis

I am the nephew of the late Charles George Lewis. Founder of the Greenwich based Coach Company. "Lewis Greenwich Ltd". Founded in 1919, and first called "Greenwich Belle", then, in 1923, "C. G. Lewis Safety coaches". My Uncle died in 1988. What I have achieved is a complete fleet list of all the coaches ever owned by my late Uncle and the family to the present day - including World War II replacements, to replace his requisitioned vehicles. I have been trying to piece together the company history, from 1919 to 1999. – this has taken 15 years.

Over the past few years been trying to assemble the whole fleet in photographs, this is a formidable task, and the longer I leave it the harder they are to trace.  I am hoping you may be able to assist me in this area, by pointing me in the direction of some of these missing photographs, or people or collections that are not known to myself.

I am unable to trace photographs from the late 1920s, all 1930s & late 1940s. My late uncle always had his new coaches, or I should say Char-a-bancs, photographed. While I have some of these I am unable to find any trace of the vehicles he purchased in 1929 & 1930. The 1930 ones interest me most. This was the first bulk order that he placed, and was for six coaches. I have found the correspondence between my Uncle and Karrier Motors and I have some of the workshop records, but as yet I can't trace a photograph of any description of these six coaches. Have you any idea where I should try to locate them?  Most of the coach bodies were built at Hendon North London, and later in Blackpool.

The company also bought out another Kent operator, Penfold & Brodie of Green St Green Kent, in 1950. This depot was sold in 1961-2, as the motor car started to kill off the coaching trade. On the site now stands a parade of shops and a Waiterose super market. These coaches are as elusive as my late uncle’s. I would regard any assistance that you could render, as a great favour, and you are most

welcome to see any or all the efforts of my labours, if you so desire.

---

Penn site, more thoughts

November 18, 2019, 7:29 am

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Letters May 2003

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE PENN SITE

by Richard Cheffins

 In the March 2003 issue of Greenwich Industrial History (Vol. 6, No. 2), it is twice stated wrongly that the Engine Works of John Penn and Sons were on Blackheath Hill (on p.9 ‘…the old John Penn site (Wickes site Blackheath Hill)…’ and in the heading on the back page (p.12) ‘Remains of Penn’s Works at Blackheath Hill’).  This repeats the error of Peter Trigg in the October 1999 issue (Vol.2, No.5), which I corrected in April 2000 (Vol.3, No.3).  Blackheath Hill would have been far too steep to have been negotiated by horse-drawn wagons, heavy-laden with marine engines, and Blackheath Road is presumably intended.  Indeed, later on p.9, reference is made to the ‘… marine engineering works established in Blackheath Road in 1825 by John Penn.’ Even this is questionable on two counts.

The business was founded in 1799 by John Penn Snr.  John Penn Jnr made his first marine engine in 1825 though it is probable that this did not become the principal work of the firm until he took over from his father in 1843. Until 1861, the Works had no entrance, indeed no frontage at all, on Blackheath Road.  The Works originally occupied land at the rear of properties in Blackheath Road accessed from Bath (or Cold Bath) Street renamed John Penn Street in 1873/75.  This remained the main entrance even after the Works expanded and is clearly shown on the sketch-plan reprinted on p.12.  The Penns originally leased or rented the site of their Works from the Holwell (or Rand) Charity and in 1861 they purchased the whole of its estate in Greenwich for the sum of £21,500.  This enabled them to expand considerably their original Works east of Ditch Alley, to acquire an even larger site west of it, and to acquire frontages on both Blackheath Road and Lewisham Road.

None of this invalidates the point made by the Greenwich Conservation Group about any surviving relics of the Penn Works.  However, I think George Arthur is unwise to dismiss 10 Lewisham Road as not being part of the Penn Works.  The matter is complicated.  Before the expansion of the Engine Works, the Penn family occupied the corner property in Blackheath Road the garden of which ran the whole length of Lewisham Road as far as the present John Penn Street (seemy article in Vol.3, No.3).  At that time there were no houses at all fronting that stretch of Lewisham Road, at least not on that side of the road.  The Simms (Poor Law Commissioners’) map of c. 1838 shows the corner site of Blackheath Road to be vacant; the Tithe map of 1844 and the undated Holwell estate map that I referred to in my previous article both show a building on the Blackheath Road corner, the latter identifying the Penn family as occupiers.  All three show a single property occupying the whole length of that stretch of Lewisham Road and show a couple of out-buildings at the rear (John Penn Street end) which the Holwell estate map identifies as ‘sheds’ and which occupy the site of the future No.10.

There are no further large-scale maps of the area, so far as I know, for over 20 years.  By the time of the Ordnance Survey maps (25’’ and 5”) of 1867, the situation had changed.  The corner house and its garden now occupied only 40% of its former length and the sheds had gone; the rest was taken up by five houses fronting Lewisham Road, four single-fronted houses and a double-fronted one which correspond exactly with the present Nos. 2-8, evens, and No. 10 (the present No. 2a and the so-called Studio 2a are very recent and correspond to the garden plot of the corner house).  The boundaries of the Holwell estate in this area were Blackheath Road and Lewisham Road and so, whether the row of five houses (Nos. 2-10, evens, Lewisham Road) were built before or after 1861 (certainly before 1867), the properties belonged to John Penn and Sons from that date.

But belonging to the firm and being part of the Engine Works are not the same thing and one is hampered in resolving which is the case by the deficiencies of the reprinted sketch-plan.  This is only that - a sketch plan, more than adequate, no doubt, for its purpose but not exactly to scale, especially along Lewisham Road.  By a mixture of pacing the street and using a ruler with the 5” O.S. map, I estimate the total length of that stretch of Lewisham Road to be approximately 63 yds or 189 ft and the frontage of No.10 to be about 32 ft or a shade less (about 1/6th of the whole).  However, as Mr Arthur states, No.10 is not quite on the corner.  I estimate the waste ground between it and John Penn Street to be rather less than he does - perhaps 17 ft.  If this and No.10 are taken together, they occupy a little over a quarter of the street front which corresponds well enough with the sketch plan.  

Certainly the added dotted ‘site of N^o 10’ there has been displaced too far northward, it is shown near enough in the middle of the block whereas the real No. 10 is near the corner with John Penn Street, if not actually on it.

There are further complications.  What I have called the waste ground at the side of No.10 (part of the Wickes loading area) is screened from Lewisham Road by a modern wall set back somewhat and with an angle in it.  This alignment has remained unchanged for at least 165 years.  What is less clear is whether there was ever a building on this constricted site (because John Penn Street forms an obtuse angle with Lewisham Road, such a building would be wedge-shaped with its narrow front facing the latter).  Even the largest Ordnance Survey maps are not entirely clear on this point and I had hoped to clarify the matter by reference to Goad’s Insurance Plans (c.1893) for the area at a splendid 1:480 scale and indicating the number of storeys of buildings and their roofing material.  Sadly though several local industries  are included (the Norfolk Brewery, Holland’s Distillery, Robinson’s and Mumford’s Mills, Trenchard’s Saw mills, Corder & Haycraft’s Maltings, the London Tramway Co’s Granary and Fodder Mill, and Merryweather’s, in Deptford Bridge and Greenwich (High) Road), Penn’s Engine Works and anything in Blackheath Road are conspicuously absent. 

Whether or not there was a building to the south of No.10 and, on the balance of probability, I think there was,  it is reasonably clear that there wasa footpath, with an entrance where the angle of the present wall is, which went down the side of No.10 (or between it and the adjacent building), behind it and then under an arch in a range of buildings at right angle to John Penn Street (fairly obviously the building marked ‘O O O O’ on the sketch plan).  The description of Robert Smiles quoted by Mr Arthur - ‘… from [this entrance] the natural contour of the ground dips by a rather steep incline.  Passing through the outer door and down it a few steps a hall is reached, with on each side a range of well lit offices …’ sounds more like a footpath than a corridor.

That leaves the question was No.10 Lewisham Road part of the offices for the Engine Works?  Houses in both Blackheath Road and Lewisham Road owned by Penn but not part of the Works are not outlined but simply indicated as   ‘shops and houses’.  The inference is that any building that is outlined is part of the Works.  I interpret what is shown in the angle of John Penn Street and Lewisham Road, not as a corridor in the middle of one building, but a footpath between two, both outlined on the plan and therefore, by inference, both part of the Works and the right-hand one of which is No.10.  The evidence is circumstantial and not completely conclusive (the two buildings were in reality more asymmetrical than shown and the path more crooked) but, unlike Mr Arthur, I think No.10 is a surviving part of the Penn Engine Works, though not, perhaps, part of its industrial heritage.

RACS Abbatoir

November 21, 2019, 6:16 am

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THE R.A.C.S./C.W.S. ABATTOIR 1937-1994

By Kathleen Barr

The new R.A.C.S. Abattoir opened in 1937 replacing the old Abattoir, which was in Belvedere.  The new Abattoir was state of the art for its time and the first of its type in Britain. It was based upon an American design which incorporated the idea of housing the Slaughter Hall on an upper level which gave the great advantage of using gravity instead of manpower to move such things as hides, sheepskins, gut, hooves and condemned meat - they were simply dropped down the appropriate chute into waiting bins outside or on to work surfaces in the Gut House below.

THE WAR YEARS

After the outbreak of World War Two the Abattoir was taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture which controlled every aspect of the day to day running of the building. At some point during the war years, probably 1943, killing was ceased and the building was used for storing and distributing foodstuffs. Killing was resumed around 1946 but the Ministry remained in full control of the Abattoir until the end of rationing in 1954. During the war years the Abattoir was in great danger from German bombs not only because of its own logistical importance but also because only a few hundred yards from it, in Garland Road, stood the "Optical Buildings" which was a Ministry of Defence research facility for improving weapon sighting and ranging. However, a battery of anti-aircraft guns, sited on what are now the Golf Links and a barrage balloon unit, sited where the houses in Highgrove now stand, protected the area. One of the Balloon teams suffered a direct hit from a German bomb and not one piece of the team was ever found. An Abattoir worker would be detailed at all times to stand on the flat roof of the building on watch for German aircraft and sound the alarm if any were spotted. One of the older staff, Bill Hills, told me that one afternoon when he was on watch he saw a Messershmit 110 fighter-bomber, which banked around the building at the same height as his position on the roof. He said he could clearly see the both the pilot and navigator and waved to them as he sounded the alarm!

THE 1950's AND 1960's

During the 1950's and 60's the Abattoir was very busy. It employed two slaughter gangs - one for beef and one for "smalls" (Sheep and Pigs). During the busiest periods, around Christmas and during the Lamb Season, killing would start at five in the morning and go on until midnight. The beef gang was known to be the quickest in Britain, being able to kill and fully dress fifteen cattle per hour.

THE 1970'S

In 1970 the "factory" (meat processing plant) was built and opened. The factory produced sausages and beef burgers for the Co-op shops and packing meat for the new "Freezer Centre" which was situated at the Co-op Links store at Plumstead Common. In 1974 another large outside cattle pen was added to the building. However, by the later 1970's work at the Abattoir was starting to slow down. This was largely a result of a decline in the fortunes of the R.A.C.S. Due to the increasing affluence of people throughout this period (and many argued due to the discontinuation of the tin cheque and the later Co-op stamps) the old working class image of the Society was failing to inspire the modern consumer. Many of the small Co-op butchers shops, such as the one on the parade in Swingate Lane, Plumstead, were closed and sold off. Due to this trend, and totally against the ethics of the CO OP at that time, the Abattoir began to take on killing for private butchers in order to keep up the "head rate" of the building. In late July 1979 the killing and distribution operations (the factory was not affected) at the Abattoir were halted for a period of two months for the building to be brought up to the new E.E.C. standard. This work included the plastic cladding of walls as tiles were no longer legal and shot blasting of the roller-rails to remove all rust. The killing was put out to Coveney's at Charing and F.M.C Canterbury and the distribution staff were re-located to the R.A.C.S. Commonwealth Buildings at Woolwich.

THE 1980'S

During the first half of the 1980's the workload of the building continued to drop off. Even though one whole day's work (Tuesdays) was largely taken up with private killing on many Thursdays there was no kill. But the Abattoir was a status symbol for the R.A.C.S. and was kept open despite many rumours of its imminent closure. Indeed, in 1984, a hide-puller system and new trap were added to the beef kill system due to new E.E.C. regulations,  which stated that cattle could no longer be flayed on the ground with the old Pritch-Plate system. However, by the mid-eighties the whole of the R.A.C.S. was in serious financial difficulties and a "merger" was negotiated with the C.W.S. The management of the Abattoir in meetings with the heads of the C.W.S. Meat Group was led to believe that the Abattoir would gain much work when the C.W.S. took control. The "merger" took place in February 1985. On March 15th 1985, on arrival for work, the Slaughtermen, Stockman and Gutmen were told that "this is the last day of killing, come in tomorrow morning at ten to collect your settlements".    From then until its total closure the building was entitled the C.W.S. Meat Depot, Garland Road. Meat was delivered to the depot and then distributed to the Co-op shops. The factory continued to perform its normal function for a further three months until June 1985 when it too was closed down and its staff made redundant. At its busiest the Abattoir had employed about eighty plus people but now the staff numbered only around ten.

On July 9th 1987 the Abattoir made national headlines when an attempted-armed robbery of a security van, which was delivering wages to the building, was ambushed by armed police. Two of the robbers were shot dead and one was seriously wounded but survived. Thus, the Abattoir holds the record not only for the quickest beef gang in Britain but also for the most people killed and wounded by the police on mainland Britain in a non-terrorist related gun battle. The Abattoir continued to function as a meat depot until October 1989 when the decision was taken by the bosses of the C.W.S. Meat group to close the building and put the work out to a private company which operated from a cold store at Riverhead in Kent. The building stood empty but with round-the-clock security officers until its demolition in May and June 1994. A sad end to what had once been a thriving workplace. 

this article appeared in the July 2003 GIHS Newsletter

Letters July 2003

November 21, 2019, 6:21 am

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From Mike Neill

The Greenwich Gallery at the Greenwich Heritage Centre

The Council values the opinions of all stakeholders in the planning of its facilities, and we would be very pleased to receive your comments and suggestions on possible options for the planned new permanent exhibition in the new Greenwich Heritage Centre. A funding application will be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund in the autumn; whilst there is no guarantee that this will succeed, it remains our aspiration to develop an inclusive exhibition that will be of interest to all the people of Greenwich.

Written comments and submissions are very welcome, but me and my colleagues would also be very happy to meet with you to discuss the possible options in further detail. We would like to have concluded this phase of the consultation by the end of July, when questionnaire research will begin, to be undertaken by an external Market Research company. With many thanks in advance for your interest,

From Richard Hartree

John Penn & Son(s). Family history started my interest in this firm.  My great, great, grandfather William Hartree married Charlotte, the daughter of John Penn1, and was a partner.  My industrial management career gave me an interest in industrial history and out of this combination has come a wish to write a history of this family business.  I’ve visited the sites in Greenwich and Deptford, the Cedars, the Almshouses, the church at Lee and Riverdale in Lewisham, also the Hartree vault in Nunhead cemetery.  I’ve read quite extensively and followed up all Penn references in The Engineer, the Newcomen Proceedings and many books on the history of Thameside shipbuilding and marine engineering.  I’ve also explored the Penn file at Woodlands.  I’ve read the articles in this publication about the Penn sites in Greenwich and Deptford and know that amongst GIHS members and others locally there must be much knowledge which it would valuable to be able to include in what I’m doing. I shall give full acknowledgement for anything I use.

I’m hoping for things about the people who worked at Penn’s, especially the engineers and managers who kept the firm going after John Penn 2’s death and in Thames Ironworks times, also any local family or social information. Some specific points:-

Deptford Victualling Yard Bakery/Biscuit factory, when was it built, what did John Penn supply?

History of the growth of the Greenwich site.

The date of John Penn taking over the Deptford site and its development.

Date of the millwright’s strike which caused John Penn1 to introduce self-acting machinery.

Any works descriptions other than Barry, Society of Engineers visit in The Engineer, The Illustrated London News and Robert Smiles “Model Establishment” piece.  I’m seeking descriptions of manufacturing and management methods.  [Note of another local connection. my great grandfather John Penn Hartree married Janet, daughter of Samuel Smiles.]

Relating to the Greenwich site the schedule in the agreement of sale by the partnership to the limited company in 1889 lists the Engine Factory and houses from 82 to 104 Blackheath Road as freehold, 62 and 110 Blackheath Road and 5 Lewisham Road as leasehold, this last let to Dr F R Cox.  This suggests that 10 Lewisham Road was a part of the Engine Factory at that time, or it was in other ownership.  I include this because I’ve now seen a reference to this document - found in the PRO.

My reading suggests that the story in the ICE obituary of John Penn 2 about the Steam Gun and the Duke of Wellington is apocryphal and the friendship of John Penn 1 with William Cobbett is unlikely [there was another John Penn who was a supporter of Cobbett] although his 1832 election address shows he followed Cobbett’s writings. [Finding that was fun!]

I am in touch with Lady Penn in Fife and we share the aim to do something which will give John Penn 2 and the firm the recognition they deserve.  Please help if you can, you will be fully acknowledged.

From Pat O’Driscoll

I was most interested in the piece about John Penn's in the current GIHS publication. In 1957 I became aware of a small ship's figurehead displayed outside No. 20 John Penn Street. I hoped to photograph it in its position but the problem was to get there when the light was on it. In fact I never did manage to get there with my camera at a suitable time. Questions to Greenwich Borough Council and the National Maritime failed failed to identify the figurehead and the circumstances in which it had found its way to 20 John Penn Street.

Eventually, on 12th June, 1966, I managed to photograph the figurehead, by then moved to a house in Blackheath. The figurehead is said to have come from vessel, which spent the last 20 years of her career delivering mail to ships at the Nore. I still do not know her name. Does anybody recognize the figurehead and can anybody tell me more about it?

From Peter McPherson

I have been researching my family background and to date have discovered that my father's family (the McPhersons) were pewterers and bar fitters in the area in the second half of the 19th century (and also owned a few pubs!). My grandmother’s side of the family (Gibbs) were kamptulicon makers (the forerunner of lino). In 1881 there were four of them employed in (I believe) Greenwich Road (now Greenwich High Road). I wondered if either of these subjects had been looked at by your Society.

From Adam Oliver

I have an old relation (who lived behind Park Row in the 1920s until the 1960s) who has asked me to find out if there is a video archive of working ships around Greenwich / Isle of Dogs. Can you help?

From Nat Bocking

I have long held that the water towers surrounding my home in Suffolk are objects of beauty as well as vital utility. They are visually abundant in a landscape that emphasizes their form and they are icons of East Anglia as much as its horses, wherries and steeples. Without water towers the population of East Anglia (and many other areas of Britain) could not have been sustained. My research into the towers in Suffolk leads me to the conclusion that detailed information on their history and use is scarce and practically unobtainable. I have encountered many water tower enthusiasts, some with professional expertise in historic engineering, and I know of many iconic examples, but, to my knowledge, water towers in Britain have not been collectively studied or fully exploited for their cultural or commercial value. This has been done successfully in North America and Europe and I have no doubt that Britain's water towers have similar potential. An opportunity exists to exploit the educational and heritage value of this abundant and under utilized asset to create new employment and new revenue, stimulate growth in the local economy and increase the value of existing resources.

Core proposal:  I am proposing that a body be empowered to investigate the history, aesthetics, cultural significance and development potential of water towers and communicate the findings to the public, business and government. Because of the concentration of a wide range of types in my geographic region, my objective initially would be to publish a guide to towers in East Anglia, scaling up to a national undertaking later.

From: Mary Gregory

I am trying to find out about J Stone & Co (Deptford) Ltd: I came across a letter from Jeremy Bacon about a steam car engine. Indeed this was built in about 1962 by Neil C Gregory, my late husband. He was a Mechanical Engineering Student Apprentice at J Stone & Co (Deptford) from 1958-62, was made Apprentice of the Year in 1962 and then worked for them until 1963. He and a friend, Peter Randall, had intended to build the chassis for the car and run it, but I came into Neil's life, marriage followed, and there was no spare money to finish the project, so the engine was sold. I wish I had come across your site earlier - Neil died on 3 March this year from mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos while working at J Stone. He would have been so flattered that someone was enquiring after his steam car.

Neil built live three steam locomotives - the latest he finished two years ago is 7.25" gauge, quarter scale, based on a loco on the Sandy River and Maine in the USA. He ran it on a track around our croft (we retired to the Western Highlands in 1995) and was working on another loco for the grandchildren to run when he was struck down with this awful illness and died within a year aged 61.

From David Riddle

Do you know what the links are between Batavia and Deptford? Recently there was a TV program on one of the cable channels about a shipwreck in Western Australia.. the 'Batavia'. I thought I recognised the name, either from a GIHS article or from somewhere else. I then remembered that the student accommodation at Goldsmiths College that lies above the shops on New Cross Road opposite Deptford Town Hall is called Batavia Mews. The ship belonged to the Dutch East India Company, and so I don't think has any reason to be linked to Deptford.

From what I have been able to find out on the Net this morning it seems that 'Batavia' is either the old name for Java. or simply an old port in Java. Captain Cook visited there on his voyage of expedition that started in Deptford and included a call in Java before going on to chart New Zealand and Australia. Can anyone think of anything else that could possibly link Deptford and 'Batavia'?

From Jenny Bufton

I have noted with interest the paragraph on the Lennard Tar Still in a recent newsletter. I am researching our family history and have found that some of our ancestors lived In Deptford in the 1870/80s and worked at the tar factories so am interested in any relevant information you may have. I have read that many of the workers in this industry came from Suffolk.  Our Barnes family lived in Deptford in the 1870/1880S at Edale Rd, (which I know no longer exists) next to several Tar works, and according to records worked in them. I was also interested in the name "Lennard" strangely enough for another reason. Our Barnes grandfather changed his surname by deed poll to that of Lennard and we never had any idea why he chose this name until I read your article. So since we knew they all worked at some tar works in Deptford this could be the reason and a connection?

From Peter Hopp

I collect slide rules and have recently come across a slide rule made by G.Fowler of Millwall. I was wondering if any of your readers or other experts may have information on this Mathematical Instrument Maker who must have been working around 1850 from the style of the slide rule.

From David Nelson

Do you have any documentation on an individual who could have labeled a brass hinge ‘Y.Mathis , Greenwich’ in the early 1800s?  It is located on an early 19^thcentury candlestand but I would surmise that the name is that of the metal worker and not the cabinetmaker.

News items July 2003

November 21, 2019, 6:25 am

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NEWS

Tom Cribb — Bare knuckle Fighter.

Tony Robin reported at the last Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society council meeting that English Heritage had turned down an application from Chris Mansfield, proprietor of the Ready Snacks cafe at 111, Woolwich High Street, for a blue plaque to be placed upon his building. This would have commemorated the fact that Tom Cribb had once lived in the house, which was then a

Bakery. English Heritage considered that a plaque would be better placed upon the 'Tom Cribb' public house, in the centre of London, in which dwelling, Tom had spent a greater length of his life, and their application was favourably received. This is understandable, I suppose, because more tourists are likely to see it there. But it is a pity, considering that Tom died in Woolwich and is buried in St. Mary Magdalene's churchyard. Never mind – we still have the magnificent lion in the church gardens, and a road named after him. Tony had been to meet Chris Mansfield, in his cafe and had a cup of tea with him. He found a very pleasant man, busily cooking meals of all kinds for his many customers, but still with time to talk to me. Tony told him that WADAS regretted his failure to acquire the blue plaque, and that we had heard that he was considering having a plaque made privately. Chris told him that he had been thinking about it but that he was also considering selling his very busy cafe, and so it would not be a priority now. He is very interested in local history and had a wonderful collection of photographs of the old and new Ferryboats and of the surrounding area, upon the walls of the cafe. They are fascinating - pay a visit to Chris's cafe, look at the photographs, have a chat with him and enjoy a delicious cup of tea.

Pat Fawcett

(this item appeared in the WADAS Newsletter)

Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark is in a desperate state.  It seems that the stern of the ship will collapse in two years if nothing is done. The Cutty Sark Trust now needs to raise an estimated £10m it is hoped that £3.5m will come from the public. They are selling off every bolt, rivet, and plank. In a sponsorship programme - you can buy a rivet for a fiver, a foot of plank for £20, a bronze bolt for £25, a 'tween          deck plank for £100, a teak deck plank for £500 or one of the ship's side planks for £5,000.

In return you will receive  - A certificate from The Cutty Sark Trust. • A unique, specially commissioned supporter's pin badge • Your name published in the supporter's list in Blackheath Guide  • A twice yearly supporter's newsletter updating you on the ship's progress     a • Invitations to supporter's events, held onboard Cutty Sark • A scale drawing of Cutty Sark, showing you exactly where your plank is  • For Side Planks, your name can be engraved on the plank and you and two guests will be invited to a special naming ceremony on board   Cutty Sark

To become a supporter, contact The Cutty Sark Trust 2 Greenwich Church Street, London SE10 9BG.  020 8858 2698.          

Simon Schofield of the Cutty Sark Trust asks whether  there is anyone in the area who remembers the Cutty Sark coming to Greenwich. Can anyone help?

SOUTH LONDON'S IDEAL HOMES DOWN THE CENTURIES - LAUNCH OF UNIQUE WEBSITE

A unique and innovative website, ideal-homes.org.uk, containing fascinating information about the history of six south London boroughs and their people from the 16th century to the present day, was launched at the University of Greenwich on Tuesday, 20 May.

The site explores how the south London suburbs developed and how, in a short space of time these semi-rural villages became part of the London sprawl. The general public, historians and architects will be able to access, via this website, a wealth of information on housing and public buildings in south London over the last five centuries.

Ideal Homes is a collaboration between the University of Greenwich and the south London councils of Bexley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Bromley, Lewisham and Southwark, who have spent two-and-a-half years pooling their archives and expertise to make ideal-homes.org.uk a reality. Sue McKenzie, Head of Lambeth archive, has coordinated the project.

"The website's launch event will be both a celebration of the creation of the site and also act as an appeal for ideas and material to develop it," says Dr Jane Longmore, Head of the University of Greenwich's School of Humanities.                            "We would like to include reminiscences, personal pictures and ephemera, possibly film. We want Ideal Homes to be a resource for all, that celebrates the diversity and richness in the history of an often overlooked part of London," continued Dr Longmore.

The website will examine what caused the south London suburbs to grow and change.  The construction of bridges across the Thames, the development of rail transport, the building of Crystal Palace, and the two world wars all shaped these suburbs into what they are today.

The site is in its early stages but there are plans to take a closer look at the lives of the people who lived in, or moved to, the suburbs. At present the site has 2000 images and maps, taken from the archive and local history collections of the six boroughs. There will also be essays and studies written by local historians.

"Already, people are using the web site to delve into their past," says Dr Longmore. "I've been contacted by the delighted daughter of a 91-year-old woman who found a photograph of her mother's childhood house in Bermondsey on the site, which has brought part of her family history to life."

The web site was designed and built by Jack Cannon of the University of Greenwich Web Development Team, which will also host the site for the six London boroughs. The cost of putting together the web site has been covered by a significant grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the New Opportunities Fund.

GREENWICH NOTES , GLIAS NEWSLETTER

Hanson plc has secured a relatively long term (10 year) interest in the Victoria Deepwater Terminal, Blackwall Reach, Greenwich for use by ships unloading aggregate and similar products. This maintains the future of this wharf, the last of the large upriver wharves now Convoys has closed.

• When working recently at Steve Leach's boatyard next to Thames Lock in Brentford, I came across a bollard marked 'J.Piper Greenwich,

I assume this was made by the firm of that name, whose yard still exists in Greenwich, under other ownership but still ship repairers

Peter Finch (this note first appeared in the GLIAS Newsletter)

First factory - Greenwich or Woolwich

November 21, 2019, 6:28 am

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THE FIRST FACTORY

WAS IT IN DEPTFORD AND/OR WOOLWICH?

By Professor Ray Riley

There is a case for early naval dockyards to be included among some of the first factories.

What is a factory? If it is a building specifically dedicated to the production of a good, then domestic manufacture - the weaver's cottage for example - must be excluded, although some regard such premises as proto-factories. But clearly mills are factories; they contain power machinery which transforms material into a product, and their architecture is entirely functional. That these examples might have employed only a handful of workers is irrelevant - there are small factories just as there are large ones. It is the characteristics of the enterprise which is the issue.

Roger Shelley justifiably suggests that naval dockyards may be contenders for the title but advances the caveat that the fortunes of the dockyards were determined by war; this is true, but in the search for the date of establishment this is unimportant.  Despite the copious literature on foreign policy, maritime battles, the heroics of naval officers, naval strategies, warships, and to some extent on the dockyards themselves, economic historians and others seem to have focused on textile mills to provide examples of early factories. They have overlooked the dockyards as loci of production and repair of naval vessels from the sixteenth century onwards. It might be argued that a dry dock or building slip is not a factory, but both are buildings specifically dedicated to the production of a good, as I say above.  Furthermore, the docks and slips were always accompanied by adjacent storehouses, smithies, sail lofts, mast houses, seasoning sheds, and sometimes rope houses, all of which are buildings in the conventional sense.

May I offer some chapter and verse?

The first dry dock and associated facilities to be established in a naval dockyard was at Portsmouth in 1495. This was followed by yards at Woolwich in 1505, Deptford in 1515, Chatham in 1575, Harwich and Sheerness in 1665, and Plymouth in 1690. At some yards there was specialisation of the kind at Woolwich where gunfounding was added in 1557, gunpowder manufacturing in 1662 and gun carriage production in 1680. Arguably each of these activities itself constituted an individual factory. Ropehouses at Woolwich (1612), Chatham (1621), Portsmouth (1663 and 1695) and Plymouth (1690) were gigantic structures by the standards of the day and must have been the largest factories ever built in Britain. 


The scale of operations in the yards may be judged from criteria such as the number of ships launched: 18 vessels left the slips at Portsmouth between 1660 and 1674, and by the volume of repairs: no less than 98 warships were worked on at Portsmouth in 1702 alone. At Chatham 259 shipwrights and tradesmen were employed in 1611, a figure which had risen to 1,000 by 1697, when 1,271 were on the payroll at Portsmouth. At the latter yard some 2,100 were employed in 1711. The sophisticated division of labour, the organization of flow-line production, and, often forgotten, of material supplies, and the management of these huge numbers of workers all on one site (apart from material supplies the dockyards were self- sufficient), lend great weight to the proposition  that the industrial revolution began not on the rivers and coalfields, but in naval dockyards

200th anniversary of an industrial accident on the Greenwich Peninsula

November 25, 2019, 6:16 am

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200th Anniversary of an industrial accident on the Greenwich Peninsula

By Mary Mills

On 8th September 2003 is the 200th anniversary of an industrial accident on the Greenwich riverside. There were lots of those but this one had consequences beyond the immediate ones, and it involved one of the heroes of steam technology, Richard Trevithick.

A plaque on the wall of the public house on the Peninsula, reads 'New East Greenwich’ and that may have been what was intended in 1803 -a new development away from the main industrial town of Greenwich. Development on the Peninsula is not something new - in 1800 the developer was George Russell, the site's owner. Russell had made a fortune from soap manufacture, founding the old Barge House Soap works on the west side of Blackfriars Bridge and he died at his home at Longlands, Sidcup,  in 1804. Since developments, including the landscaping of the area, as part of the Dome site it is very difficult to find the area where this incident took place. Most people will remember that the courtyard now in front of the Pilot used to extend to the riverside as Riverway. On the northern side stood the Blackwall Point Potter Station -- and this is roughly the site of the tide mill under construction in 1803. Ceylon Place. The cottages alongside the Pilot were built to house the workers.

This mill was constructed by the leading millwrighting business of John Lloyd. Lloyd was based at Brewers Green in Westminster but within two years had moved to Nelson Square in Southwark as a partner in Lloyd and Ostell. The company were government contractors and were to install the equipment at Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Works and a number of other important sites. They represent a point at which water powered mill wrighting was at a peak; a few years later such a big industrial installation would have chosen steam power with little consideration of any alternative

The mill was apparently also the work of a little known engineer, William Johnson. Johnson seems to have come from Bromley, where he gave his address as Widmore House. He had approached Morden College several times during the previous couple of ' years for a site where he could construct a 'water corn mill ' but exactly what his relationship was with George Russell and John Lloyd is not clear. By 1802 he had moved to Montpelier Row in Blackheath and was asking the City of London Thames Conservators for permission to open the river bank for the mill race and following a visit from their inspector a Mr. Hollingsworth was employed do the work. At the same time George Russell received a licence for the causeway into the river, which people will remember was used by the yacht club until riverbank reconstruction by English Partnerships.

One day in 1802 0linthus Gregory, Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, he walked along the riverside from Woolwich. and chatted to the foreman and recorded what he found on site. It is from him that we have most of the details of this important mill.

 Steam power was available on site: a high-pressure engine built by Richard Trevithick was in use, apparently for building work. Trevithick had recently come to London to advertise his work -- this had included the previous bear the demonstrations of his locomotive on a circular track at Euston.

It had an 8-inch cylinder and worked without an expansive cock. Trevithick himself said that it was 'too light a load to do good dull and 'of a bad construction .. The flywheel was loaded on one side. So as to divide the power of ' The double engine '. It was reported that the fire 'in contact with the cast iron ' had heated the boiler red hot and burnt all the joints. Eels congregated under the mill and on Thursday ', 8th September 1803. an apprentice. left to look after the steam engine. went to catch them. 'Impatient to finish the work he had put a piece of Limber between the top and the safety value and bent it down so that it could not rise to allow the steam 10 escape the boiler blew- up, killing three men on site. At the remote riverside a wherry was called and the injured taken b} river to St. Thomas's Hospital which was there at London Bridge. Despite the efforts of the surgeon. N'lr. Bingham, one man. Thomas Nailor. died a few days later: his head and neck had been covered in boiling water interestingly Nailor had not been a Greenwich resident, but had lived north of the river in Poplar. Another man was deafened. but the boy who was the cause of the trouble. although injured. recovered.

Trevithick feared that Boulton and Watt, as rival engine manufactures. would be quick 10 point out the dangers involved. The Times in reporting the incident said that Mr. Walt's engines would not explode in this way ' and that the accident 'should be a warning to engineers to construct their safety valves so that common workmen cannot stop them at their pleasure. It seems that there was some sort of enquiry after the accident - it is the sort of thing which ought to have happened The only clue to this is found in a register of expenses submitted to the Court of ' Chancery after George Russell's death. One item concerns expenses to 'Daniel Vaux and Mr. Johnson for attending as a witness in a case respecting the steam engine in Greenwich' - what was this case? Was it about insurance? I have been totally ' unable to find out and some knowledge of this case and its proceedings might throw a whole new light on the matter The mill lived on -- it had a number of operators and became part of Frank Hills' chemical works in the 1840s and was still there in 1890. After his death some of the site was used for Blackmail Point Power Station and the rest, including the mill, became The Phoenix Chemical works attached to the gas works. In 1927 the insurance based Goad plan for the area still shows some of the mill ponds with a causeway leading to them from the area of the tidal intake - is there anyone who still remembers those ponds What were they used forte When were they drained? It is almost impossible now, given the landscaping undertaken by English Partnerships to trace the site of the mill or the ponds   

This appeared in the GIHS Newsletter for September 2003

Royal Arsenal and Napoleon's Exile on St Helena

November 25, 2019, 11:04 am

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               The Royal Arsenal and Napoleon's exile on St Helena

By Mike Neil

A comment made to the Council's 'Arsenal ' exhibition designer that 'the Arsenal built Napoleon's house on St Helena ' led the author to follow up with a brief piece of research. If true it would provide a fascinating link between the first Napoleon the son and heir of the third Napoleon and Woolwich. Perhaps disappointingly it proved to be only partly true but demonstrated again the skill and versatility of the Royal Arsenal’s workforce. Whose motto could well have been 'Whatever it is, we can make it'.  The bare facts are these: Napoleon arrived at St Helena on board HMS Northumberland on 15th October 1815 after a voyage that had started in Torbay in early August,

A few days later he visited an old 2-storey stone built farmhouse. Then called simply 'Longwood House' but later called 'Longwood Old House'. This was at the time the residence of the East India Company's Lieutenant Governor. The Nortumberand’s carpenter, at the direction of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, added a timber framed salon de reception and the famous latticed verandah. In December 1815 after a two-month stay as the guest of a neighbouring landholder Napoleon moved into this building, where he was to remain until his death in 1821.

In 1819 the British Government started building a large single storey timber framed building called Longwood New House, intended to house Napoleon in one wing and a key retainer (probably Montholon) in the other. This building was barely completed before Napoleon's death and he was never to live in it.

The evidence for the Arsenal’s involvement (now in the PRO) starts around the middle of August 1815, when Napoleon was already on his way to St Helena.   Col. Chapman of the Office of Ordnance wrote informally to Lt. Gen. Sir H.E. Bunbury, KCB on 15th August:  

Dear Bunbury

I transmit herewith a plan which has been received from Lt General Mann of a house for Napoleon Bonaparte. Together with a letter from that officer containing his observations on the plan enclosed in your letter of the 8th instant and I request you will inform me as soon as Lord Bathurst shall decide on the subject. With respect to Barracks will you have the goodness to ascertain whether it will be necessary for this department to provide them for the detachment of artillery and also the Engineers and sappers and miners which have been ordered out to St Helena? Or whether they will be supplied in the same manner as the troops of the line?

Faithfully, Chapman

The enclosed letter from General Mann was headed from Pall Mall 10^th August 1815

Sir,

I have to observe that the plan enclosed in Sir H Bunbury's letter, transmitted with your note of yesterday's date, does not correspond with the general idea that has been given, namely to have the building compact, with no more openings than are indispensably necessary, and to provide accommodation for Napoleon Bonaparte, three other officers, a surgeon and twelve attendants. But if this principle is not to be adhered to, then the plan enclosed in Sir H Bunbury's letter, considered merely as an accommodation for Bonaparte and one other officer with one of the wings for the attendants will answer that purpose, bating the Inconvenience of the servants being placed at so great a distance. In regard to security, it must be looked for in a surrounding wall which will probably be required whatever the form and dimensions of the building. As soon as a plan is decided upon a table of the scantlings of timber may be made together with a list of all the other materials required.

I am Sir.  Your most obedt servant.

By mid-September 1815 a design had evidently been agreed on and Chapman had also evidently received a positive response to his query 'on whether the materials despatched by the Office of Ordnance should include those intended for their own men’.

Office of Ordinance

Dear Bunbury

I have just learnt that there will be about 2000 tons of materials for Bonaparte's house and the barracks for the Ordinance Corps.  Have not yet received this information officially, but I have no doubt on the accuracy of the information

Chapman

The final piece of evidence is a letter from a Mr Slatters of the Ordnance Office to a W. Griffin Esq. on the 23rd September 1815

Sir

In reply to your letter of the 21" instance enquiring when the stores ordered for St Helena will be ready, I beg leave to acquaint you that two thirds of the Fir timber and one  third of the deals and battins have been forwarded to Woolwich and the remainder will be delivered as fast as the articles can properly be landed at the Royal Arsenal.  I have to report that 23,000 slates are now furnished and that the remaining 52.000 are expected in three weeks or thereabouts. The rest of the slates are ready except the glass, which I trust will be supplied in the course of a few days.

I am, Sir, Your very obedient Humble Servant

However, this letter does not mention whither these stores are intended for Napoleon's new home, the Ordnance Corps barracks, or both. The figures for the slates, though, may give us a clue.

British slates have traditionally come in a range of sizes from the largest (though undoubtedly politically incorrect) "wide duchesses" to the petite "narrow ladies’. Most common however are the 20" x 10""countesses" at around 18 to The square metre and the 18" x 9" viscountesses" at around 23 to the square metre. 75.000 slates using a very rough median of 20 slates per square metre would therefore cover a roof surface of something like 3.750 m2. Logwood New House was described in 1857 as having a floor area of about 23.000 square metres, or about 2.250 m2. Given that roof pitches for this building, from contemporary engravings are not hugely steep 75.000 slates does not seem an unreasonable requirement for this building alone - but certainly not sufficient for both this building and a barracks of any size.

However it seems certain that the materials being collected at the Arsenal in the late autumn of 1815 cannot have reached St Helena until the early months of 1816 at the earliest. While we may be certain that Napoleon never lived his last exile except in a borrowed East India Company house there remain some interesting questions about the Office of Ordnance materials

If these were received during 1816 why was Longwood New House not started until 1819? Were the original materials used to build barracks for the Artillery and Engineers rather than for Bonaparte's new house? Were the materials shipped in their rough state, to be formed into buildings on the island under the supervision of Engineer Officers and local St Helena or ships' carpenters or did the Arsenal create a pre-fabricated structure?

One unhelpful evidential confusion needs to be dismissed. In the summer of 1812 Mr James Wathen Esq. of Hereford spent 'not quite 3 days' on the island of St Helena: making thirteen rather ' good drawings of views around the capital, St James, and just inland to the Governor's house. Two of these drawings were published in his "Journal of a Voyage to Madras and China" in 1821. However, in September 1821, some three or four months alter Napoleon's burial and immediately after the news had reached England of his death. Perhaps in a commendable spirit of recycling eight of the original drawings were published in a volume entitled "A Series of Views Illustrative of the Island of St Helena". Two rather crude and speculative engravings were added to provide topicality; the first of ' Bonaparte's grave’ and the second of Longwood House. Sadly it was the ignorance of Mr. Wathen and his publisher on the latter that has no doubt created some subsequent confusion.

Wathen provided the account below to accompany the engraving of Longwood House. Unfortunately, this garbled mix appeared with an inaccurate engraving of Longwood Old House with its lattice work porch by the Northumberland ‘s carpenter - leading some subsequent researchers to believe that this much older farm building was 'made ' by the Royal Arsenal.

Longwood House, which stands 162.feet above the ocean has since the end of 1815 been appropriated to the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte. For his reception, in the September of that year, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent commanded Earl Bathurst to issue Orders for the preparation of his dwelling and furniture. These were carried into execution upon the most splendid plan and a complete suite of household furniture was made up sufficient for Bonaparte and his establishment for nearly three years. Everything was constructed of British materials and the most delicate attention was paid that no ornament should be used in the decoration which might remind the exile of his former state. 'The appearance of Longwood House will be found in Plate 7 And a more particular account of its magnificent fitting up in the description. [Page 6]

The late residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, where he arrived in the latter part of 1815, and where he died on May 5th, 1821.  The situation and other particulars concerning Longwood have already been given at Page 6 and a very brief description of the building is all that remains to be added. The present erection was formed in timber framework at Woolwich, by the Architect for the Ordnance Department, to be erected at St. Helena. It is designed in the cottage style and contains 24 rooms, the general size of which is 25 feet by 18. The length of the house in front is about 20.feet; and it contains 16 windows with an open corridor. The depth of the building is 100 feet and the back is also ornamented with a corridor. It is two storeys in height And the right and wing was appropriated to Bonaparte. In the centre stands the drawing room coloured of various  shades of  green and arabesque gold panels with curtains of light silk taboret of Pomona green and velvet borders edged with gold coloured silk twist. Above them is a matted gold cornice, to conceal the rings and curtain rod and the top of the room is finished by a cream coloured ceiling. The carpet is of Brussels texture of various shades of brown olive and amber.  the furniture consists of an elegant oak central table, pier table inlaid with a slab of Verd antique Mona marble: splendid pier glass with a frame of Buhl and ebony, chairs of British oak: two Greek sofas and foot stools ornamented with Or Moulu; a pianoforte; and chandeliers and candelabra to light the apartment. The Dining room is next in the suite the fitting up for which are of a lavender tint and the curtains of' silk with a black border and gold coloured silk lace fringe.  The carpet and walls are of the same lilac hue. As well as the coverings .for the chairs. The furniture consists of fine oaken Dining table. capable of accommodating from six to fourteen persons, a side board peculiarly made for holding the Imperial plate with the wine  coolers constructed of Bronze and rich wood. Adjoining the Dining-room is the Library which is furnished in the Etruscan style. With several dwarf book cases: a Library table, with desks and drawers and curtains of a new cotton material, having the appearance of cloth. The Sitting-room is ornamented with an ethereal blue carpet shaded with black. And several ebony cabinets inlaid with brass.   In the bed-room is a high canopy bedstead enclosing a silken mosquito net and hung with furniture of lilac Persian edged with gold coloured fringe. The Bath is lined with marble and made to admit hot or cold water. The other wing of Longwood House contains spacious apartments for Bonaparte’s suite with servant's offices and store-rooms in the rear. The Kitchen is a detached building, yet convenient to the dining room. The materials for this erection, together with the elegant furniture, table services, dresses, and plate presented to Bonaparte, by the noble munificence of the British government amounted to 500 tons in weight, and were contained in 400 packages. A number of artists were also sent with them too fit out the Establishment.

Sadly it seems that the rush of questionable accurate semi-biographical trivia that hits the book-stands following each notable death in our own time is nothing new to British publishing. Two reasonable good engravings exist of Longwood New House:

Mellis (1857) describes the house thus:

A view of Longwood New House (built for Napoleon, but never occupied by him). This building is at the foot of the lawn of the Old House, about one hundred yards distant from it. It is a one-storied building and covers an area of about 23,000 superficial feet. !t contains in all fifty -six rooms of various sizes. The centre contains a billiard- room, library, and dining-room. &c. The right wing, as seen in the view was intended for the Emperor and the left for Montholon and family. In the rear of these are extensive premises, provided for the accommodation of the rest of his suite. The house is pleasantly situated in the Eastern division of the island at an elevation above the sea of about 1760 feet, with a good carriage-road from James Town, near five miles in length.

The products, technology ' and craft skills of Woolwich were instrumental in securing Napoleon ' s final defeat; that he died within sight of a house that came from the same Arsenal is, perhaps, a fitting irony

Bibliography. `Views of St Helena; illustrative of its Scenery and Historical Associations. From Photographs by G.W. Melliss. Esq. Surveyor General of the Island. G.W. Melliss; London, 1857

Extracts from the St Helena Records. H. R. Janisch St Helena. 1 885

A Series of Views illustrative of the Island of St Helena. J Wathen; Clay, London. 1821

A few ' notes on St Helena. B. Grant; St. Helena, 1881

Public Record Office Files:

PRO W0 1/796 - Office of Ordnance letter book

PRO W0 78/2507 Roll of plans containing 2 different Longwood plans amongst others

PRO C0 247/15 St Helena Governor's Letter book (Hudson Lowe)

PRO WO - 60/40. 60/4], 60/42 Accounts relating to the Establishment at Longwood

PRO MPG 1/251 Plan of the House and Grounds at Longwood. 1821

This article appeared in the September 2003 GIHS Newsletter

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LETTERS September 2003

November 26, 2019, 11:07 am

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September 2003

From Ted Barr

I am enclosing a cutting from Engineering News Tuesday, April 30h 1963 - That was the Greenwich that was (and  I knew) Weighs  90 tons - 500 ton press built in London Works

Dished and flanged ends up to 9ft in diameter will be pressed on a 500 ton down stroking press now being built and nearing completion at the Greenwich works of G. A Harvey and  Company London Ltd. The press has a stroke of 3ft 6 ins. with daylight 8ft.  With their extensive facilities for the manufacture of heavy welded structures, Harvey’s were able to fabricate, machine and erect all parts of the press in their own workshops.  Overall height of the machine, which  weighs 90 tons is 25ft 6 ins and the clearance of columns is 11ft 10 in

From Iris Bryce   

I feel I must write to  let  you know that at  last a  long time dream has come true - I have seen the inside of Enderby  House. A few weeks ago I was given a tour of Alcatel, arranged by Steve Hill, Technical Director. However the highlight of the visit was for me to once again go into my old place of work in the 1940s - the Buying Department. This was in the house by the side of Enderby House - The one described in Mary Mills Greenwich Marsh book. with the Gutta Percha Leaves and cable decor above the door and windows. As a lowly filing clerk in 1942. I was not   allowed in Enderby house - that was the Dining Room for the Directors. Managers and Heads of Departments.   My son in law accompanied me on Tuesday and has taken some photos of the hexagonal room with its wonderful glass ceiling -- we were told that a compass is somewhere in the design of it but to date no one seems to have found It. Do you know anything about this? If any of the photos are suitable would you like copies? I was given two books as a memento of my day - one is by Stewart Ash 50th Anniversary, From Elekktron - E Commerce, The 50 Years of Laying Submarine Cables. And the other one is by Steve Hill and Alan Jeal Greenwich, Centre for Global Telecommunications from 1850.  I’ve worked out that my visit was almost 60 years to the day I left the Telcon in 1943 - and found myself in the A.T.S. within the next 6 weeks.   

From Angela Smith. 

I don’t know whether this enquiry will come within the scope of Industrial History. We are trying to trace the history of George Mence Smith. He owned a chain of hardware shops in London and the South East in the mid/late 1800s. He was born in 1819 in Shadwell and died 1895, leaving a considerable fortune. We have recently found that he was resident some time after his 1st marriage in 1846 in Woolwich, possibly Beresford Square, before moving to Bexleyheath. Our interest would be to find out two things firstly where he was living in Woolwich from 1846 to possibly 1860 and also if there were any of his stores in Woolwich. Would this come within your scope?

From Lionhouse. 

I can hardly believe my eyes - a treasure trove of information on your web site. WOW. Wonderful. You say we can add to it .........well! John Bennett was baptized in St Alphage Greenwich in 1786. He was the son of George Bennett. milkman and Susanna (Wicks) who were married in St Pauls Deptford in 1781. John, somehow, became a watch and clockmaker and is recorded in Baillie & Loomis Watch and Clockmakers of the World, along with his widow. His death is recorded as St Alphage. 1828 and his Hill was proved in 1829. Elizabeth Sinnock Bennett, and sons George Weldon Bennett and William Cox Bennett were working in the Greenwich, Woolwich, Blackheath and Lee areas between 1814 and 1866.  In the 1841  Census for Stockwell Road, Elizabeth Bennett, widow, and her two sons William and John are described as Goldsmiths. In 1851 and 186  they lived in 9 Osborne Place, Blackheath I hope this qualifies me, both on an industrial scale and as a descendant of Goldsmiths. To join the society and I have sent  1 0 to Steve Dale at Shooters Hill today. Anyone who can link the above to the earlier watch and clockmaker .Bennetts of Greenwich. I.e. George working 1802 -11 or George working free of the Clockmakers Company  in London in 1702 - 22 I  would love to hear from you

From Kevin Jones. 

I am an archaeologist with the New Zealand Dept of Conservation.  I have been working on the Auckland Islands (south of NZ) where the Enderbys set up a colony under the aegis of the Southem Right Whale Fishery Company. I have been working on mapping the remains of that settlement. At a later date we would be pleased to offer a note for your newsletter. In the meantime  I would be interested to make contact with y Enderby scholars and to visit and photograph some landmarks in Greenwich.

From Corin Mills. 

I have just finished reading Mary Mills book Greenwich and Woolwich at Work  which I found absorbing.  My   great great grandfather was born in Manchester. and eventually settled in Plumstead to work as an iron turner at the Royal Arsenal. On page 56 of your book is a photograph with a mystery. As an ex metalwork teacher I think I can answer some of the questions. I believe this is the area where small castings were broken out of the boxes of sand in which they were cast. You will note that the platform is raised off the ground and I think that the men are standing on a mesh so that the sand is sifted as it falls through. When the casting is clear of the sand the sprues, runners and risers  which carry the molten metal to the cavity in the sand are broken off and these are visible in small heaps. As anybody who has done metal casting will know small pieces of metal put into a large furnace will burn rather than melt so they will be put into a small crucible for melting down and reuse. There are a number of these crucibles at the extreme left edge of the photograph. In the extreme foreground is a pair of  crucible tongs for lifting these out of the furnace and one of the men is holding another pair. The molten metal would then be poured into ingot moulds and these are the four square boxes on the Floor. The ingots would then be added to the main furnace you can see some piles of these ingots. The wheeled implements, I think, might be used for transport of the crucibles from the furnace, but I can’t see the working ends. These might also be used for moving the ingot boxes around. A fining pot is defined as a vessel for refining metal. Fines are small pieces of waste metal and can go down in size to the microscopic  i.e. metal particles in suspension in old motor oil . I hope  you find this useful.   Picture on page 57: These cartridges are being produced by the method of  deep drawing . If  you follow the link you’ll find a fair description of the process. Even though it has been modernised the process uses the same principles that held in 1914. The machines that the men are working are obviously  hydraulic presses and not metal spinning machines. Metal spinning can produce the same shape as deep drawing. I don’t think the cylinders in the foreground are solid -  you can just make out striations along the length of them produced by the process of deep drawing. The closed end is slightly  flared or flanged, so keeping the cartridge casing in the breech of the gun when the shell is expelled. The flat pieces of metal that  you call blanks are, I think, too thick for drawing and might be a  red herring

From Roy  Kipp.  

I would like to research the tools and processes used by The UK to manufacture large ordnance from about 1880 . (i.e. the end of the RML era) into the early 1900s (pre WWl). Your organisation came to my attention when I located Your March 2001 newsletter on the Web, in which Nicholas Hall references an article he prepared for the Royal  Ordnance  Yearbook on Blakeley and  Vavasseur.  The shops associated with Vavasseur. et al in the 1880s would be particularly  interesting.  Could  you offer a recommendation on how I should proceed from across the pond in Texas.    

From Jackie Settle.  

In a previous issue you published an article about Wheen the soap manufacturers based in Deptford Creek. I am interested as Emma Wheen daughter of Richard married Samuel Berger. I am also a Berger descendant and I am researching the Berger family -- Berger were the paint manufacturers based in Hackney Wick.

From David Pitt. 

 Can  you please tell me where to find information regarding the lifts at either end of the Greenwich Foot Tunnels. I want to know how these are operated and whether the current method of propulsion is the same as when thee  were built in 1902. As circular lifts  do they use giant bearings all around

We asked the Greenwich Council Engineers about this and they replied. “The existing lifts were installed in 1992 and are similar to the original lift.  The wood panelling was re-used although the new lifts are slightly smaller, in keeping with the British Standard requirements. They operate in a similar fashion to the originals with new electric motors and wire ropes at the top of the lift shaft. The lifts run up guide rails and do not have circular bearings, the lift cars being restrained at three points. The only major change between new and old  lifts is the replacement of the sliding grille doors for solid doors. This was a safety  requirement.

From Tim  Geyer. 

I am seeking information on Appleby  Bros. What  we know is they had offices at 80 Cannon St, London and Works at Greenwich. Old Bessemer site. And may  have later become Jessop Appleby . We have the only  remaining Steam operated Beam Engine made by Appleby  Bros 1883, left in the southern hemisphere,  possibly wider, and are gathering information as part of the engine’s story . The engine is fully operational and still in its original pump house, on the banks of the Wollondilly River, Holbom NSW. Australia. The site is now a museum, run by  volunteers under the banner of Friends of the Waterworks Museum. Anything  you may be able to assist with would be very helpful

From Lynn Hampson. 

I have only just read Issue 1, Volume 4 in January  2001 where you printed a letter from Angela Pascoe who mentioned that she was related to Robert Simpson. Proprietor of the Ship Hotel. Greenwich.  I am too! My father. Stan Shore grew up in Greenwich (as did my mother Marguerite Longman) and my paternal grandmother was Ann  Simpson, daughter of Robert Simpson. My  parents, now mid 80s, know a lot about Greenwich and would no doubt be delighted to tell  you any of their stories

From Ken Smith. 

I am enquiring into the possibility  of finding any list that may exist of the names of Thames River Pilots during the middle to late 1800s and of any  pilots that may have drowned in the Thames.  

From Roger Bone. 

I read the small article by Ted Barr in the May 2001 issue 3. Volume 4 of the GIHS on the net regarding Harrison  Barbers slaughter house in Blackwall Lane and remembered that my Great Grandfather Robert James Oak was manager at the Blackwall Lane Depot in the 1890s. My Grandfather described to me when I was a boy , what it was like to live on the premises. I believe the house was called Holmesdale . My  Grandfather took me to see the old place in 1960. It was a laundry  then. Sadly  I did not lake any photos. If you have any  more information I would be very  interested

From Justin Dix.  

I have hundreds of old pictures of Woolwich rescued from a skip where my Stepfather had thrown them. One example -- a cinema - pencilled on the back is last night of the Empire Kinema in Woolwich 1st October 1960. Another is of the Woolwich Ferry  in 1961. Don’t know if these Interest you

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NEWS

The latest issue  of The Crossness Engines  Record contains the usual information from our local steam museum along with news and entertaining articles. One - less usual record - is as follows:

OFF TO SEA

In July 1908  a neatly penned note observed that the Main Drainage Committee's Chief Engineer approved an allowance of 1/- per head for refreshments for children from the Outfalls at Barking and Crossness during their excursion. This exciting day out was a journey on one of the new sludge vessels as no doubt it took its cargo out to the Barrow Deep, five miles off Clacton, Essex. A rudimentary calculation of  the number of children at the southern outfall  repeals that about fifty children would have been of an age to make such a trip. Assuming a similar number would be available from the northern outfall, the prospect of the Captain and crew being responsible for about one hundred little souls either running around or throwing-up, beggars belief.  The one hundred plus miles round trip can be very pleasant, but the excitement of the day, sandwiches and pop and maybe an on-shore breeze against an ebbing tide making for unwanted motion, could no doubt turn some of the )youngsters a shade of eau de nil. Whatever the weather conditions or minor discomforts, I am sure that many children would carry memories of that 'day out ' for many years to come.  The thought occurred to me - who was the first person to promote the idea of a sea-going trip for children of the work-force of the two outfalls and when did the practice cease '

GAS LIGHT AFLOAT

A recent issue of 'Historic Gas Times' concerns the use of gaslight on ships in the 19'h century. After discussing its use by  such luminaries as lsambard Kingdom Brunel (on Great Eastern) the article turns to the Royal Navy. The experience of the Royal Navy was also unfavourable.  Following oil gas manufacturing trials at Woolwich in the early 1860s, the battleship HMS Resistance was equipped with an oil gas plant in 1862 and HMS Monarch in 1869.  It was reported that pressure waves from the firing of the ship's heavy guns extinguished the lamps and the prospect of gas air mixtures accumulating in the enclosed spaces of the ships did not encourage the adoption of the system in others

HISTORY OF HIGHBRIDGE

The August issue of Bygone Kent contains an article by Barbara Ludlow on 'Royalists, a Regicide, Paupers and Iron Masters. The colourful past of Highbridge, East Greenwich  -- and this is just part one.   Without revealing all it is perhaps fair to say that this first part is not strictly industrial since the Crowley family of ironmasters, although hinted at. Only take possession by the last paragraph by which time Barbara has only reached 1704.  The preceding two centuries had seen a number of colourful characters. posh houses. Executions for treason and the foundation of Trinity Hospital whose inmates were then not allowed out without permission. and had a weekly correction into those who might have broken some of the rules.

A JOURNEY WITH THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

John Keyes  is s resident of the Charlton area who has just published his biography and this is of particular interests in that it is many ways a history of the post-war labour movement.  John came originally from Ireland vice Liverpool where he worked in the Camel Laird shipyard and then the LMS railway before the war.  As a labour party activists he met and acting as agent for Bill Hamling in a by election at Wavertree.  John then became a full time Labour party employee as agent for Woolwich East and took the step of moving from Liverpool to Dallin Road in Plumstead. He was soon embroiled in a by election following the death of Ernie Bevin and a couple of years later saw Bill Hamling selected as candidate for the Woolwich West constituency.  In the early 1960s John became the Labour Party’s London regional organiser and retired in 1979.  This is a book which is likely to be of great interest to anyone even those who have only a slight knowledge of local politics.  Woolwich was of course a heavily industrialised area and it is inevitable and local politics had a close interaction with local industry and trade unions.  For those with a Labour Movement background it will be exceptionally fascinating.

The Union Wharf weight from Merstham

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The Union Wharf weight from Merstham

The layout of the Merstham terminus of the Croydon Merstham & Godstone Railway has puzzled historians in the past and it was not until the 1970s that evidence started to emerge which enabled a clearer picture to be built up. Recent evidence is debated in "Early Plateways and Firestone Mining in Surrey" (see references). In 1972 the Surrey Archaeological Society organised a rescue dig under the direction of Jim Shenton. The reason for the rescue dig was that the planned M23 motorway, now constructed, was destined to traverse the CMGR terminus site thus possibly obliterating any remaining evidence. During the rescue dig evidence of early plateways was unearthed and this evidence is discussed in the above mentioned publication. Of particular interest was the discovery of evidence which led to the identification of a plateway at Merstham which predated the CMGR by 10 or more years. This plateway, which was in the region of Quarry Dean Farm, led to underground stone workings via a stone barrel vault and cutting. The cutting can still be seen as a surface feature and access to the barrel vault can be gained via a nearby cavers' entrance to the underground stone workings. Quarry Dean Farm was at TQ 2982 5401.

On the line of the plateway in 1972 Jim Shenton excavated a stone-lined pit. This measured approximately 4ft cube and contained a substantial plinth measuring approximately 2ft x 2ft in the centre. The reason for this pit remains unclear, but within it were discovered a number of iron objects. These were removed from the SAS dig site and remained lost until quite recently when I located them in the possession of a local resident. Details of these finds are as follows:

4 circular iron discs of varying sizes
1 iron hook, possibly a coupling pin for plateway waggons
2 plateway spikes similar to others identified as belonging to the earlier plateway
1 large weight made of cast iron

As a result of these finds the pit was interpreted as a weighing station. It is the weight however that is particularly interesting. It weighs approximately 60lb. It is a traditional shape with a large ring on top. It is clearly marked Union Wharf and has a six or nine east in the top. Presumably the latter identified it as a 60lb weight.

The wording Union Wharf deserved further investigation and as a result I have prepared the 

following speculative hypothesis as to how the weight came to be buried at Merstham. First the name Union Wharf suggests a date in the region of 1805 when the union with Ireland took place. Further investigation identifies a Union Wharf on the River Thames, opposite the Isle of Dogs on Greenwich Reach. John Bratby's painting 'Dust before they took the lighters away' illustrates the river from Union Wharf. The wharf is adjacent to the present day Cutty Sark public house at Greenwich. Apparently this public house was originally called "The Union"; and was built in 1805-6 together with some adjacent cottages. It assumed its present name in 1954.

There are and were, certainly other wharves similarly named after the Union, however the Greenwich one is particularly interesting because the date of the development coincides with the dates when stone mining was active in the Quarry Dean Farm area of Merstham and also because of the associations with the Grand Surrey Canal. The Grand Surrey Canal was promoted by an Act of Parliament of 1801. Although intended to run from Rotherhithe to Mitcham it ended up as a dock business and only, reached Camberwell 3 1/8 miles from Rotherhithe, with a much later Peckham branch in 1826. It reached Camberwell in 1810 and eventually became part of the Surrey Docks Company in 1864. Access to the Thames was at Rotherhithe via the Surrey Commercial Docks onto Limehouse Reach which was adjacent to Greenwich Reach and in the same vicinity as the Union Wharf.

Another canal given a Parliamentary Act in 1801 was the Croydon Canal. Like the Grand Surrey, Ralph Dodd was the engineer. This canal ran from Croydon for 9¼ miles to the Grand Surrey Canal at New Cross although originally intended to go to Rotherhithe, The canal closed in 1836 surviving only 27 years following its opening on October 22, 1809. The Croydon Canal linked with the Croydon Merstham and Godstone Railway.

The Croydon Merstham and Godstone Railway history has been well covered in a variety of publications (see references). It is sufficient to say that it connected the Surrey Iron Railway and the Croydon Canal at Croydon with the stone and lime workings at Merstham. The CMGR was opened in 1805, eventually closing in 1939. We are now in a position to speculate on how the Union Wharf weight arrived in Merstham. The Union Wharf development was carried out about 1805/6 and perhaps provided transhipment facilities for inland waterborne traffic from the Grand Surrey Canal in its early days before the dock development took place. The Grand Surrey Canal connected with the Croydon Canal from 1809, but the link was severed in 1836 when the Croydon Canal closed. The CMGR connected with the Croydon Canal throughout the life of the canal thus the weight could have been transported south to Merstham during the period by canal and waggonway.

The fact that the Union Wharf weight is 60lb is another factor which assists in establishing its age. The 120lb hundredweight was discontinued during 1823/4 and therefore establishes that this half hundredweight was made prior to this date. Later half hundredweights were of course 56lb.

The Union Wharf weight, however, was found in conjunction with a plateway that was believed to have been constructed between 1792-5. This pre-dated the CMGR by ten or more years. The dating of the weight and its journey to Merstham, lend support to the belief that this earlier plateway was still operational after 1809 in spite of the fact that the CMGR terminus had been superimposed on top of part of this earlier plateway.

Investigation of the Butterley Furnace ledgers throws up one further clue regarding the origin of the Union Wharf weight. The materials for the CMGR were produced by the Butterley Company of Derbyshire and the furnace ledgers still survive in the Matlock Record Offices. Inspection reveals the following entries:
November 12, 1805 (CMGR account) — Weighing Machine complete
March 15, 1805 Cast iron weights for own wharf (Anderson & Eades account)

Bearing in mind the volume of business that the Butterley Company were doing at this time with the Surrey Iron Railway and the CMGR, could it be that these, references were to the mechanism for the stone-lined pit at Merstham and for the Union Wharf weight for Anderson & Eades, contractors to the CMGR? We shall probably never know for sure, however articulating as the history of this weight provides a fascinating insight into the history of early industrial transport in Surrey.

References:

Early Plateways & Firestone Mining in Surrey by B.E. Osborne, Proceedings Vol. 7, Part 3, February 1962, Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society
Official Handbook of the Port of London Authority, 1961
Canal & River Navigations, Edward Paget Tomlinson, 1977
Retracing the First Public Railway, Derek A. Baylis, 1981

I am grateful to the members of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society for their assistance in identifying numerous Union Wharves. 

Bruce Osborne

This article appeared in the September 2003 GIHS Newsletter

Greenwich Labour Party Office

December 15, 2019, 8:20 am

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Greenwich Industrial History Society picks up on lots of things about our industrial past -  and also often looks at buildings associated with them ..................................

So (post General Election) we ought to mention the great transformation and doing up of the old Greenwich Labour Party Offices at 32 Woolwich Road.  Its been a long time and the neighbours must have had some bad days next door to all that work.  We are told that as nearly 90 years of paint and paper was stripped away inside that all sorts of musty horrors emerged.

Hope to have more to come on the building soon.............

- and - of course - Congratulations to Matt Pennycook - and the next 90 years!

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January 21, 2020, 8:36 am

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THE ATTEMPTED ARMED ROBBERY AT THE ABATTOIR

By Steve Barr

The weather on the morning of Thursday the 9th of July 1987 was simply glorious. The sun shone down from an azure sky. By 4.30am it was shirtsleeve weather. As the porters and drivers made their way to the Abattoir for a 5am start on that beautiful morning noone had a care in the world. But within a few hours all that was to change. Unknown to all except the police who were involved in the operation - P.T 17 tactical firearms unit, number 9 Regional Crime Squad (Flying Squad) and the assistant depot manager Mr. Brian Peake who was, very unluckily, in charge that week as the depot manager was on vacation in Spain, there was going to be an armed robbery at the Abattoir that morning.

Mr. Peake had been visited at work late the previous afternoon by members of the Flying Squad and informed that there was more than probably going to be an attempt to rob the Securicor wages van which was to deliver the wages of the Abattoir workers as usual the next morning at around 8.15am. The Abattoir was only one of the wages drops that the van was to make that day and it was estimated that it would be carrying around 50,000 pounds in cash. Mr. Peake was to keep this information a secret, telling none of the other Abattoir employees what was afoot because it was suspected that the gang may have an "inside man" working there.

The police had their whole operation fully planned. Under the codename Operation Kincraig an elaborate ambush was to be set-up in order to thwart the raiders and all possible escape routes would be covered. The main thrust of the ambush was to be launched from a parked rental Luton van with a team of P.T 17 officers and their dogs secreted inside the cargo box. This box had observation holes drilled into it in order to allow the team full surveillance of the area. Thus when the right moment came the team could heave up the roller-shutter and emerge from the back of the vehicle to intercept the raiders. On that fateful Thursday morning the day's work began at 5 am as usual and continued until around 7.55 am when the manager, Mr. Peake, called a halt for breakfast. All the employees made their way to their rest rooms and the office ladies arrived for their 8am-start time. Also at around this time the Luton van containing the P.T 17 team arrived and reversed into the loading bay. The driver and his assistant (two flying squad officers in white butchery coats and hats exited the van's cab and entered the little (manager's) office which adjoined the main office on the loading bay. The police were now fully deployed in their ambush positions ready and waiting for the arrival of the wages van and the armed raiders.

But in the meantime, unfortunately for the P.T 17 team in their van, a Co-op lorry had pulled up and parked in front of the covert police vehicle blocking any possible view of the raiders initial approach which, it was believed, would come from the woods to the front of the loading-bay.

At about 8.10 am the Securicor wages van arrived followed by the gang's getaway car. a silver Ford Granada Ghia, containing only its 24 year-old wheelman (driver). The wages van reversed into the loading bay and parked about 8 or ten feet away from, and parallel with the covert police van.

By this time the Abattoir employees had reached their rest rooms. The porters had gone to the canteen at the back of the building; the office workers were in the main office on the loading bank - the drivers in their small rest room which was directly in line with the action which was about to take place. Little did they suspect that they were to have ringside seats for the tragic spectacle which was shortly to unfold. Only one person remained working on the loading bay - Mr. Peake the assistant manager. During their visit the previous afternoon the flying squad officers had asked him if he would be willing to continue working after he had sent the other workers to breakfast. This, it was hoped, would make it appear that business was going on as usual and the raiders would not be spooked by a deserted loading bank. Bravely he agreed to do so. He was to move boxes of frozen chickens around in an area near to the door to the little (manager's) office and beat a hasty retreat into the office on the raiders approach. He did not have long to wait as events moved very quickly now.

One of the Securicor guard's, fifty-eight year-old James Anker (whom it was later revealed had been the victim of armed robbers fourteen times before) climbed out of the van to gather the wages bag for the Abattoir from a chute in the body of the vehicle. A guard inside would deposit this to him. At this point three armed raiders charged out from the inside edge of the wood that was directly in front of the loading bay and around forty feet distant from it grabbing and threatening the hapless guard. The raiders were wearing dark blue overalls and Balaclavas. They were equipped with awesome firepower. This consisted of a Franchi SPAS (Special-Purpose Automatic Shotgun) which was used by Italian specialist police units; a Browning self-loading shotgun which had been sawn-off and modified with a pistol grip rather than its original rifle stock and a nickel plated Smith and Wesson 686 .357 Magnum revolver. Meanwhile, the P.T 17 team in their covert Luton van glimpsed the raiders as they dashed past one of the spyholes in the side of their vehicle's cargo box. In an instant the rear roller-shutter of the van was thrown up and the team exited out of sight of the raiders. P.C Anthony Long was the first member of the team to exit the vehicle and glance around the corner of their van. He was armed with a 9mm Browning automatic pistol in one hand and carrying a shield in the other. About ten feet away from him he saw the Securicor guard and the three armed raiders. One of the gang was pointing his weapon at the stomach of the guard whilst the other two were hammering on the side of the wages van screaming for the guard inside to "open the f&emdash;&emdash; door and give us the money". At this point it was stated by the police that one of the P.T 17 officers behind P.C Long shouted, "stop armed police" through a loudhailer. Whether or not this warning was given became the subject of much controversy in the days and weeks that followed. What then occurred was that raider number 1 began to turn his head toward Long who then fired two shots in quick succession with his Browning pistol. Both shots hit the raider in the back and he fell mortally wounded. Alerted by the gunfire, raider number 2 started to turn toward the source of the firing but Long quickly loosed two more shots hitting him in the chest and head. He too dropped to the ground dying. Realising that he was caught in an ambush the third raider started to bolt from the scene in order to save himself but as he did so P.C Long fired another two shots. The first shot missed its mark and the second hit him in the side with the bullet lodging against his spine. As he ran around the van he was confronted by two P.T 17 officers armed with pump-action shotguns and he raised his arms in surrender.

Meanwhile the getaway driver, seeing the carnage unfolding in front of him and being unable to help his fellow gang members, sped-off up the Abattoir road bursting through a police cut-off team in Garland Road but was brought to a halt after being rammed by a police car near The Slade. The fugitive then abandoned the car and ran. Pursuing police officers chased him into the back garden of a house in Timbercroft Lane and brought him down with a well-timed rugby tackle. The garden belonged to seventy-five year-old Mary Peckover. Two officers were sitting on the getaway driver and a third was standing guard with a gun. Mrs. Peckover told reporters that 'The police stayed sitting on this chap and asked me for a cup of tea. I didn't know whether he was dead or alive so I said 'do you want three cups or four?' Still sitting on this chap they said 'Just the three please'.

In less than a minute the whole thing was over. Two raiders lay dead on the ground with their blood running down the yard of the loading bay. An ambulance which was on standby for the police operation quickly arrived and took the wounded raider to Greenwich Hospital where he was kept under armed guard. In the immediate aftermath of the incident police officers appeared from everywhere. There were scores of them all doing then- different tasks. Over the next few hours the shell-shocked Abattoir employees were each interviewed by detectives who took their statements regarding what they had seen and/or heard during the attempted robbery. A helicopter brought in Sir Kenneth Newman the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. He was given a guided tour of the scene and inspected the bodies of the dead raiders which still lay where they had fallen. Both had been turned over onto their fronts and their hands had been-tied-up behind their backs. The bodies were finally removed by the Co-op Funeral Department about three hours after the shootings had occurred. Until around midday no one was permitted to enter or leave the Abattoir grounds. Every possible entrance and exit was cordoned-off by the police. Once the cordon was lifted, however, the media besieged the whole area. This was a huge story. The incident had set a new record on mainland Britain for the number of deaths and woundings in a single incident which did not involve terrorism. On the following morning a twenty-nine year-old Abattoir employee, who was the brother-in-law of the wounded raider, was arrested on the premises and taken to Woolwich Police Station where he was quizzed for eight hours by members of the flying squad. He was released that evening without charge.

The tabloid newspapers that Friday morning were hailing P.C. Long a hero. The Sun newspaper carried the front page headline 'The Equaliser' with a photograph of the 9mm Browning automatic pistol used by the marksman to gun down the gang. On Saturday morning the newspapers were reporting that Long had shot a man before. This had occurred at the culmination of a police siege of a house in Northolt, Middlesex in which a man had been holding a little girl hostage with a knife. However, given that P.C. Long had fired six shots during the incident at the Abattoir, killing two and seriously wounding one of the robbers and not a single shot had been fired in return, questions were now being asked, not least by the families of the gang, as to the legitimacy of the shootings. There were cries of police execution and the demand for a public inquiry into the affair. Had P.C. Long broken the rules of engagement with armed criminals?

The police 'Gunlaw' which laid out the rules, as they then stood, for challenging an armed person, officially called the 'Minimum Force Doctrine' ordered that an officer should always shoot to disable rather than kill - an officer could face a murder charge if s/he kills a suspect when it would have been possible to 'stop' him with a wounding shot. Further, guns may only be fired as a last resort to prevent loss or further loss of life. An officer may never fire a weapon simply to detain an offender or prevent a crime only if they are convinced that the criminal is about to shoot someone. Furthermore, an officer must first shout 'Armed police! Stop or I will fire!' - even if it endangers the officer's own life. Only if this order is ignored can the officer fire his weapon at the criminal. Had P.C. Long followed these rules as far as reasonably possible or had he ignored them? The Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, ordered an independent police investigation into the shooting. This was to be carried out by the Essex police force under its Deputy Chief Constable James Dickinson. The Metropolitan Police were to have no part in the investigation. Every Abattoir employee who had been present during the incident was very thoroughly interviewed by the Essex Detectives and statements were taken noting everything that had been seen and heard during the incident. When complete the Essex police investigation into the shooting cleared P.C. Long of any wrongdoing and the result of the eight-day inquest into the deaths of the two robbers returned a unanimous decision on raider 2 and a seven-to-two majority in favour of 'Lawful Killing' on raider 1.

However P C. Long had become a marked man. Amongst the families and friends of the shot raiders and the South London underworld, feelings were running high. It was rumoured that the underworld had put a ten thousand pound price tag on the Policeman's head and that his home had to be given round-the-clock security. It is also interesting to note that during the interviews with the Essex Police conducting the inquiry into the incident each and every Abattoir employee was very directly asked if they had heard the alleged Police loudhailer warning to the robbers but, of some fifteen employees (around ten of whom were within fifteen feet of the shooting) not one single person heard the loudhailer warning or even a shouted one! For their parts in the attempted robbery the wounded raider was later found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to thirteen years and the getaway driver to eight years imprisonment. Thus ended the saga of the Abattoir robbery. For those Abattoir employees present, and probably for everyone who was involved in whatever capacity on that fateful day, things would never be quite the same again.

this first appeared in the GIHS Newsletter for November 2003