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Reviews and snippets March 2005

February 13, 2020, 1:45 am
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Reviews and snippets March 2005


AN ARSENAL LAD

By Jack Vaughan
In January of this year Jack Vaughan told us that he could not continue as GIHS Chair since ill health had prevented him coming to meetings. Jack has been Chair since the Society began in 1998 and we must all be very grateful to his commitment and hard work. The 2005 AGM in January agreed to elect him as an Emeritus President of the Society for life ‘whether he likes it or not’. Jack has been devoted to the Greenwich’s industrial past and his contributions to the planning process will be sadly missed - although hopefully his clock making skills are still intact! He has asked us to include the following article, which appears in the current Woolwich and District Antiquarians Proceedings (Vol. LVII)
Since this is an apprentice tale, let me say at the outset, that the title "lad" is misleading since the word was applied to a particular type of apprentice, as will be explained in due course.

My story starts as a seven-year-old as Fox Hill School, the family home being at the top of Fox Hill, adjacent to the public house - The Fox and Hounds. Having failed the Scholarship examination my secondary education was undertaken at Woolwich Central School in Sandy Hill Road. I believe all London Boroughs had Central Schools, intellectually somewhere between the Elementary and Grammar Schools. The first two years were the same for all pupils, but at the end of that a choice had to be made between "technical" and "commercial". The latter would lead to the world of economics - banking, money etc., while the former was directed towards science, engineering and industrial activities. Unluckily, my father had died before I was born; he had worked as a turner in the Royal Arsenal. My mother tried to persuade me to choose commerce and a nice clean job in a bank - I said no! Although I had thoughts about marine engineering, I was not academically able enough to try for the Navy. Eventually, I sat examinations for the RAF and the Royal Arsenal. The result of the Arsenal exam arrived first. I had achieved tenth place in a field of over two hundred! In that year (1932) twelve places were available. The family situation was somewhat shaky and I felt it right to take the plunge into starting work. My 'reward' was my first bicycle, a Royal Enfield (built like a gun!) costing three pounds, fifteen shillings, and bought at Blackett's, next to what is now 'The Tramshed', in Woolwich. It served me well for many years - although the front wheel was such a good fit in the Plumstead Road tramlines that I sometimes had visions of ending up in the Abbey Wood Tram depot. In September 1933 I presented myself at the "Main Gate" in Beresford Square, in downtown Woolwich, and was conducted to the Central Office, which still stands as Building 22.

If you want to read the rest of Jack’s biography contact Woolwich Antiquarians , for a copy of Proceedings......


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RAMBLERS ASSOCIATION AND THE THAMES RIVERSIDE WALK

In the latest edition of South East Rambler it says: ‘ if you've completed your 180 mile tramp down the Thames Path and - here you are at the mighty Thames Barrier’ you’ve got to ‘hold on a minute’ because ‘there seems to be another 9 ¾ miles up ahead still’. This is about the extension, created by Greenwich and Bexley Councils to Erith. They start at the Thames Barrier where ‘your first experience is an anti climax - a diversion away from the river’. – as an industrial estate blocks the way.. Eventually at Rustin Road.. . when the new housing ends, an ‘impressive footbridge structure, the Linkbridge, takes you over a flood wall into the former a Woolwich Dockyard”. And “massive cannons on a bastion remind you of the site's past history” and to the left “The Clockhouse of 1784” They warn of building on Mastpond Wharf “ and suggest a walk along Church Street to reach Woolwich Ferry.. “ cross the ferry approach, looking out for vast lorries” Then “a little lane winds down and back to riverside, where you have a grandstand view of the two big ferries trundling back and forth” and next “you are walking beside the grassy humps of Royal Arsenal Gardens, created on the site of a power station demolished back in 1979…. Then a gate leads into Woolwich Arsenal itself, and the broad riverside strip left open to protect the run of listed buildings”. And there you are all the way to Erith! There is no information given as to where more information on this walk can be obtained.

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Severndroog 250

By Sue Bullevant

Saturday April, 2nd 2005 will be the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Severndroog in 1755 and the Severndroog Building Preservation Trust is planning events at Severndroog Castle, Castle Wood on Shooters Hill, SE18 on Sunday 3rd April 2005.
Severndroog (or Suvarnadrug) is an island fortress off the Malabar Coast of India, between Bombay and Goa. Sir William James defeated the Malabar pirates at the battle of Severndoorg, thus clearing the trade and shipping routes of the East India Company and the local Indian rulers.

Bombay has been part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza and consisted of several low-lying islands. Charles II sold it to the East India Company who drained the land and established the port. William James was the son of a miller in Wales and became a ploughboy there. He went to sea when he was 12 years old on a Bristol trader, and was ship wrecked when he was 18 in the West Indies. He became a Captain in the service of the East India Company and later a Commodore. On his retirement he lived at Park Place Farm in Eltham and became a director of the East India Company and an MP.

He died at his house in Gerrard Street Soho in 1783 and in 1784 his wife had Severndroog castle built. The architect was William Jupp (the East India Company’s architect). The Castle featured in the BBC's Restoration programme in 2004 and has statutory listing  Grade 2*.
The building is a triple towered Castle in the Gothic style on 3 floors with a viewing platform, and is built as his memorial. He and his wife are buried at Eltham. The East India Company’s ships were built at Blackwall and had docking facilities there.


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Letters March 2005

February 13, 2020, 1:53 am
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Letters March 2005


From: A resident of the Ashburnham Triangle

I am writing because there is a new planning application in for a development on the site of the old Merryweather Fire Engine Factory in Greenwich High Road. I feel too much is being knocked down, of great historical and aesthetic value. I am concerned that the application fails to recognise the value of the Deptford Creek area for Maritime Greenwich's industrial heritage, and will result in the destruction the Station House, the last direct link with Greenwich's nineteenth century engineering industry anywhere up or down the Creek. In me 19th century, Greenwich became for a brief but glorious period a world leader in maritime engineering, and a pioneer in a number of key 19th century technologies. Within the area that runs from Mumfords Mill down towards Greenwich DLR Station, bounded by Greenwich High Road; the Creek to the new Halfpenny Hatch Bridge, and thence along the railway line to Greenwich Station. There are key survivors of the glory days of Industrial Greenwich - the world's most powerful maritime steam engines were built here, one of the world's first steam navigation companies had its origins here, London's first commuter railway crossed the Creek here to its still surviving Greenwich terminus The Creek is the site of the key pumping station in Bazelgette's pioneering - and still-operating - sewage system for London (another world first). Not to mention the remarkable shift from marine into general engineering that the former Merryweather fire engine works represents. Plus the role the 19' Creekside area played in provisioning London - from Mumfords Mill itself, via Davey's wine cellars, to the old Lovibonds Brewery. The Creekside Triangle encapsulates Greenwich's neglected 19th Century industrial heritage - and what is being proposed for the 43 - 81 Greenwich High Rd. site totally fails to respect that heritage.

We should be working to incorporate key buildings like this in modem developments. We should go further, and make the Creekside Triangle a Conservation Area in its own right, to rescue Maritime Greenwich's industrial past from neglect.

Why not a Creekside Conservation Area to honour Greenwich's remarkable nineteenth century industrial heritage?


From: Jeanette Hardy
I am searching for information on the Eltham Brass Band. A Mr. Frederick Charles Weeks 1877-1957 was in the band and I cannot find out anything about him. Does anyone remember him?


From: Emma Clark
The National Maritime Museum, would like to host a forum to discuss local research that has already been conducted, with particular reference to notable local figures and characters who played a part in the community. Also to explore avenues of potential for building relationships with local historians and local history groups and societies for future collaboration.

Local historians might also be interested in Understanding Slavery, an initiative between the National Maritime Museum, The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, Hull Museums and Art Gallery and the London Regional Hub. It is funded by the DCMS and Dfes, as part of the Strategic Commissioning National/Regional Partnerships programme. The Understanding Slavery Initiative is a major, innovative museums' research and development programme. It seeks to redress the balance in the teaching of the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Museums and classrooms at key stage 2 and 3, within the History and Citizenship curricula. The next stages of the programme will seek to evaluate and modify the new schools resources, establish training support for teachers and build new and further links with community education networks to extend the use of the resources beyond museums and classrooms.
National Maritime Museum


From: Mike Wignall
I'm on the committee that organises the longest standing annual race for the Thames sailing barges in the UK - on the River Thames [est. 1863]. I’m writing a pocket book for the general public which will cover many aspects of Thames barge activity. Its purpose is to raise the awareness of the public to the remaining seaworthy barges [about 35 now survive - out of a population of about 3,000 at the end of the 19th. century] and so get them to join preservation societies or charter barges. Both activities will help this example of "living industrial archaeology" survive longer! One topic I will be including is tide mills I've therefore been searching for information - particularly old photographs/prints of tide mills with sailing barges alongside.



From: Andy Pepper
Do Easton & Anderson still exist in any shape or form? My interest comes from some research I have been doing into William Bicheno. He was a waterworks engineer and I have just come across a letter from him referring to work he did on the Antwerp waterworks. I know E&A held the contract for water supply to the City of Antwerp up until about 1930. I want to find out if he worked for them or was contracted to them etc.


From: John Burr
I am trying to find information about William White who had a boat yards in Greenwich and Dagenham. I have lived in Greenwich for 39 years and am interested to know where the Greenwich Boat Yard was situated. I knew that my father’s family, the Whites, had been ship, barge and lifeboat builders in the past and that they had yards in Kent, Essex and Southampton. The NMM library has some information on the Southampton Whites, J. Samuel White, who built destroyers. Can you help at all?


From: Vic Croft
Benjamin Croft lived at No.1 Pumping Station Houses in Deptford. He was born at Stanningley (York's) in 1837 and was an engineer. He later retired to Walworth in London on a Country Pension.


From: Dave Slocombe
As a resident of the former Rachel McMillan Hall at Creek Road Deptford in the early 1980s I have fond memories of the area’s industrial heritage including of the power station buildings and the Creek Side works. I have revisited twice and observed the remarkable scale of re-development and having learnt of the construction of the new student village I guess the area, whilst having moved forward in any ways, is likely to be almost entirely unrecognisable o me. I have found some 1982 pictures on the London Industrial Heritage website but if our readers have any interesting 20th century pictures of the Creek Road area that could be e-mailed or any information including about the former college and halls I would be most grateful

From: Des
I lived in Blackheath (almost Greenwich!) "before the war" (with Germany!) in a house said to be used by spies in the earlier war (The Great War!) - which was full of secrets and hidden cupboards. There was also a domed brick well hidden deep below the garden with steps and a secret passage to its dry base. My father removed enough bricks to allow him to tunnel into pure sand. This was excellent for his own building works in our garden but he told us he was actually tunnelling a short cut to Blackheath station from where he commuted daily to the BBC. I think we half believed him - and I had visions of startled commuters jumping to one side as he emerged on the platform.

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Green Parks and Open Spaces

February 13, 2020, 2:01 am
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GREEN PARKS AND OPEN SPACES
Historic considerations

By Alan Pett

The present London Borough of Greenwich (joined with that part of Deptford incorporating the Royal Dockyard, now in Lewisham L.B. but previously within Greenwich) was the focus of early industrialisation, before the Industrial Revolution. It was here that the ‘cutting edge’ of naval architecture - epitomised by Peter Pett’s “Sovereign of the Seas” – provided the Royal Navy with the ships to establish and sustain the British Empire by beating their European naval competitors. This was coupled with the output of the Royal Arsenal and the endeavours of the soldiers and sailors of that time. Whatever our views of Empire and colonialism may be today, it was this early industrialisation, joined with Royal patronage, which the led to the importance of the area, then and now.

The early industrial development of the area of Greenwich Borough might be expected to compromise the availability of green space in this inner city area today. Fortunately, this is not the case.

Large land holdings by the powerful and wealthy, including the Royal Park of Greenwich and the Maryon Wilson family estate, represented by Charlton House, Charlton Park, Maryon Park and Maryon Wilson Park were preserved from this development. Today, they provide a substantial green area where otherwise industry or housing might be expected. Other quirks of history account for smaller parcels of land in the otherwise built up area of the Thames valley floor, such as East Greenwich Pleasaunce and Charlotte Turner Gardens. Post-industrial redevelopment has led to the provision of significant areas of open space, including Royal Arsenal Gardens, and especially the green spaces of Thamesmead (though not owned by the Council) on the former Royal Arsenal site. Other sites throughout the borough owe their existence to similar previous ownership, such as Well Hall Pleasaunce (associated with the Royal Palace of Eltham), Shrewsbury Park (once owned by the Earls of Shrewsbury) and Avery Hill Park, once owned by Colonel North, a successful Victorian entrepreneur.

Our cemeteries are the earliest example of municipal open space creation, although their justification stems from public health considerations, the cholera epidemics of the 1830s. The Burial Act 1853 empowered the establishment of civil burial grounds (by Burial Boards), following the enforced closure of churchyards by the Burial of the Dead within the Metropolis Act 1852. Within the Borough, they were established as follows: Charlton (1855), Greenwich (1856), Woolwich (1884), Plumstead (1890), Eltham (1935).
Local government for London as we know it today was established at the end of the 19th Century. The development of civic pride and an awareness of the benefits of green open spaces gave rise to the development of space available to meet the perceived needs of the population of the then Metropolitan Boroughs of Woolwich and Greenwich.

At that time in the early 20th Century, the population included a high proportion of poorly paid industrial workers, working long hours in poor conditions. Families would depend upon public transport for mobility and had little disposable income, if any. Two weeks holiday was the norm. ‘Going away’ was the exception rather than the rule. Consequently, public parks, gardens and open spaces were of huge importance locally.
Public parks and gardens were designed with the perceived needs of the public of that time in mind. The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was particularly active in providing a number of such sites in the mid-Thirties, including Bostall, Plumstead and Rockliffe Gardens, and Well Hall Pleasaunce. These have an element of commonality with a Bowling Green and Pavilion, formal gardens with built structures and an area of grass for informal activity. They were accessible to a population dependent upon walking or a short tram, trolleybus or bus ride.

With increase in personal wealth and disposable income in the late 50s, coupled with greater leisure time, much of the population was able to travel for holidays, first to the British seaside, later to sunnier European destinations and now anywhere! Related to this has been the development of greater professionalism and commercialism in the presentation of other entertainments, such as professional football. At a time when other activities were exploiting and benefiting from the greater wealth of the population, local authorities were experiencing financial constraints. Funds for basic maintenance were limited – little or nothing was available for development. Parks and Open Spaces nationally became shabby at best. (See “The Times” article, 23rd August 2001) Despite a general increase in wealth and disposable income nationally, the poor were still poor. (Documented in the “Breadline Greenwich”, 1995) Wealth is related to employment for most. High unemployment struck Greenwich with the decline of armament production and heavy industry in the area. With this, and other factors, came a situation in which there are contrasting levels of disposable income, aspirations and needs. Additionally, there has been a change in the cultural mix of the population. Finally, 43% of Greenwich households are said not to have a car, so access remains a problem to many families.



This piece first appeared in the March 2005 GIHS Newslettet
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Francis Tin Box Makers

February 13, 2020, 2:13 am
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FRANCIS, TIN BOX MAKERS 
(and Colin Smith)

Colin Smith was (or is) a journalist who worked for the Kentish Mercury for many years. He is very proud of their work in producing articles on with local industries. In particular he masterminded a special supplement in 1969 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Francis Tin Box manufacturers of Greenwich. The supplement consisted of many articles about manufacturing methods, products, but, most of all, Francis’ staff. Here are a couple of extracts:


SMITH WITH AN EYE FOR 2069

Surrounded by bits of wire, transistors, circuit diagrams and photoelectric paraphernalia, a young man called John Smith works in a small office perched high up in the five-gallon drum department. On the fast-moving automatic one-gallon rectangular manufacturing line, a can passes a beam of light and a blob of hot solder spits out to land precisely at the base of the neck, which is to be fitted. In the same split second, flux arrives precisely on the other side of the neck. The device which ensures that the solder and the flux arrive at the right moment thousands of times a day is a simple example of what can be done by the application of electronics in the tin box trade. John Smith, a 31-year-old Eltham man has been electronic engineer for Francis for the past six months. He arrived there from the Associated Electrical Industries factory in Woolwich, which was closing down. John is only the second man to occupy the office, for it has only been in the last five years that electronics - through the inspiration of chairman Mr. R. P. Lang - has begun to play a major part in production. To the layman the things John Smith and his staff of two, a wireman and an electrician, deal in add up to something akin to black magic. The talk is of photoelectric cells, capacitance probes, proximity switches and micro cells. John would rather we didn't talk of magic boxes and magic eyes, because this suggests that there might be something mystical and impractical about the whole business. In fact there is no doubt that electronics, married inextricably to engineering skill, are the promise for the future of Francis.


WHEN HARRY MADE BOMBS

The Francis war effort wasn't confined to making camp kettles and meat tins in 1939-45. They made bombs and torpedoes too. Workers at Trundleys Road used to make large square tins destined to be filled with an incendiary mixture. One of those who remembers what happened in the Second World War is 65-year- old drum shop charge hand, Harry Keeble, who has worked for Francis for 51 years. He said: "We used to make 65lb. bomb cases and aerial torpedoes weighing 250lb. They stood as tall as I was. We made cases for depth charges as well." Harry, one of the characters of the drum shop, actually started working for Francis when he was only 13 years old. "I should have been 14 really, but I was only 13 when 1 came into the business as a lad." When he started work he earned 4d. an hour. Now he's looking forward to retiring later in the year to end a remarkable period of service.

SHE LEARNED THE TRADE THE HARD WAY

As a young woman working for F. Francis and Sons as a solderer, Miss "Lil" Solomons - now a shop clerk - used to call in at Mence Smith's on her way to work to buy a threepenny bamboo cane. When she got to the factory in Trundleys Road the cane would be cut into six-inch lengths and handed around to the girls on the benches around her. The bamboo cane was an essential bit of equipment for any solderer in the old days when everything was done by hand. Today it is done automatically. But in those days no self-respecting solderer would be without her cane. She started work for Francis at 15, following her father into the Deptford business that he served for 30 years as a press operator in the heavy drum shop. Lil. as everyone knows her, is now an office worker. In her earlier days she reckons she did every single job in drum making other than grooving. Today as shop clerk, she collates the information from work sheets and calculates...


BEATING THE DRUM RECORDS EVERY DAY

Five gallon drums - a familiar sight where ever oil is to be found - are turned out by the thousand every day at the Francis factory. Chimeless - they're the ones with a domed top and inset handle - and standard ones with a flat top, are made for a wide variety of customers. Although they may look more or less alike to the outsider, these drums are made to the precise specifications of many different customers. Some have larger openings than others, handles are different, and the type of tinplate used may vary from one customer to another. All this gives Francis an opportunity to display one of their greatest attributes - versatility - although they are well aware of the advantages of standardisation in speeding up production. One of the most modern and efficient machines in the factory is the Soudronic body welder used in the manufacture of five-gallon drums. This can produce bodies at the rate of 20-22 a minute, compared with about half that number by the old hand-welding methods. After leaving the body welder the drums travel by conveyor belt to be flanged, socketed and double seamed….

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Francis’s was their address in the 1960s ‘Thames Ironworks, John Penn Street, London’


This piece first appeared in GIHS Newsletter March 2005
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Letters May 2005

February 13, 2020, 7:55 am
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Letters May 2005

From Lorraine
I am trying to locate an Invention by Captain William Forbes Portarlington, Melbourne who in 1905 went to England to submit his invention The Distance and Course Recorder to the British Admiralty. In 1909 after much testing and discussion with the Navigation Dept of the Admiralty, Hydrographer, Admiral Field and Captain Bacon Director of Naval Ordinance the project was taken over by Elliott Bros. o f Lewisham who altered its design and manufacture. It was alien known as Forbes Patent Log. I believe this equipment was used not only by the British Navy but also by the Cunard Shipping Line.

I have tried to find the Elliot Bros. records of the time plus locate the Admiralty records given that the invention was used on a lot of navy ships. Are you able to assist me or put me in touch with the appropriate organisation? 


From P. Haney
You recently published an enquiry from me about Duresco and the Riverside Works, Charlton. I had one reply, which was extremely useful. Thank you. Could I request a further enquiry through your newsletter? Does anyone have any information on a company called "Griffiths Fletcher Berdoe" operating in the Charlton area pre 1880? Berdoe could possibly have been Walter Berdoe an industrial chemist. Is there any information on vinegar making around Charlton pre 1880? 


From Benjamin Fragner
We are honoured to invite you to the 3rd International Biennial Vestiges of Industry 2005, which will take place n Prague on September 19th - 23th, 2005. The programme of the biennial includes a conference reflecting on examples of European experiences and on the relationship between industrial heritage and culture, a number of exhibitions, excursions and cultural events in Prague and in the nearby industrial town of Kladno. The biennial and its events are organized by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage (VCPD) at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Technical Monuments Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians EKAIT, the Czech Union of Civil Engineers (ESSI) and the City of Kladno, with the direct support of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). 
We look forward to welcoming you to the 3rd International Biennial - Vestige of Industry to share your knowledge and experience with the other participants
Research Centre for Industrial Heritage Czech Technical University in Prague

From Neil Bennett
Congratulations on a brilliant web site.  My interest is in the Merryweather Company which, as well as featuring among my childhood toys and models, l worked for in South Wales after it left Greenwich. I have worn out my printer downloading the Merryweather items from your Newsletter. Didn't know there was so much to Greenwich! I am part of what may or may not be a growing Merryweather nostalgia industry, and I'm researching for a book initiated by Paul Pearson(a fire vehicle restorer) and contributed to by Tony Armstrong (MW chief engineer early 1980s, South Wales) and myself (draughtsman same period). The book is intended to relate the post-W.W.2 history of the company but I collect information on the whole 3+ centuries. I would offer some snippets as follows:
The company left Greenwich apparently because its workforce was aging and perhaps the building was aging although it and the land were worth a vast sum, making mechanical engineering production there unrealistic. Taken over by the Siebe Gorman Group, grants were sought from the Welsh Development Agency and other sources and a modem factory unit taken in Rassau, pronounced Rassa, near Ebbw Vale. South Wales. It did not seem to be very successful and is reported to have had a succession of managing directors. On Friday 13th April 1984 it did a moonlight flit to the Tecalemit Garage Equipment factory in Plymouth. The chairman of Siebe Gorman was interviewed by Roger Cook on Radio 4. The company became T.G.E. Merryweather, where it only produced fire extinguishers. Sometime later Siebe Gorman merged it with a historic but little-known company, John Morris & Sons Ltd to become Morris Merryweather in Hyde near Manchester. have a sales brochure of its fire-fighting products including the Merryweather extinguishers. This company was later reported to have gone into receivership. Recently the Merryweather & Sons Ltd name survived, the name having possibly been taken on by its last managing director in South Wales, Paul Abbot. An address for the company is found in Ashford, Kent or alternatively in Croydon, supplying fire alarms etc.
These facts are however subject to confirmation and further research
I was very interested in the proposition that Eduard Butler built the first British petrol engined car in the Merryweather Greenwich factory. Was there any feedback on this? The website Mysterymotors.com won't come up on my computer, and normally I'd be wary of internet claims unless backed up by evidence. However there does seem to be some evidence as the authors of a book published in 1901 by the Merryweather Company, "A Record of Two Centuries" does refer to a 'petro cycle ' being made (the last in a list of non-fire-related products). At that time apparently nobody saw the potential (or potential threat) of the invention, and it is ranked somewhere after 'tanks for camel transport ' which must have been useful to someone.
In one newsletter Neil Means enquires about fire boats. If they have not yet made contact, l suggest he gets in touch with D.O. Pat Cox at the Fire Service College, Morton in Marsh. He is said to be the authority on fire boats although I have yet to contact him.
Hope some of the above is interesting. Some points I am wondering: is the Greenwich factory building still standing / listed / demolished / would it be described as Art Deco or what architectural style? (I don't live in the area). Was Edward Butler of petrocycle fame continued as a London resident? Interested in MW's wartime products including turntable ladders mounted on amphibious vehicles for the D-Day landings, (mentioned in 'Engineering ' journal 1 1.1. 1 963), and extending ladder vehicle for artillery spotting. Any other interesting stuff about the company or its products, for which I would be grateful or would swap some of my own material.
I am seeking to further enlarge my collection of information on Merryweather. In exchange for new pictures, information etc, I could offer similar, or sincere thanks/modest payment. In Vol I Issue 4 the 'Flexible Metallic Tubing Co ' is mentioned. Around 1980 I worked for Ransomes & Rapier Ltd, Ipswich. They made the NCK Rapier cranes which can still be seen working, mobile (wheeled) cranes, giant walking dragline excavators and among other things the turntable 6or the revolving restaurant in the Post Office Tower. While there my drawings included a piece of flexible exhaust pipe (3 or 4 inches diameter) for a diesel-engined crawler-crane which came from the United Flexible Metallic Tubing Company. lts address was probably not given as Greenwich or l would have remembered it as a neighbour of MW&SL. If it is the same company the addition of the name 'United ' might suggest that it merged with another company at some point and may have moved. Later (1983) I looked them up and they had become T.I. Flexible Tubes, but apparently I did not note their address. The Tube Investments group now has a web-site featuring T.I. Automotive, Their products don't look at all similar, but anyone keen to know more might enquire there. Keen to support industrial heritage but on a tight budget, and unlikely to make it to many of the meetings...but please give some details of what the society offers. 

From Iris Bryce
With reference to last newsletter and the piece on War Memorial Hospital,   'artefacts relating to the Hospital are stored '.. I wonder whether they still include the Roman remains mentioned in THE ROMANS IN THE GREENWICH DISTRICT by Reg Rigden 1974. He mentions finds from the site of the Memorial Hospital, Shooters Hill giving evidence of occupation during the 1st century. The finds included pottery, flint, animal bones and possibly a piece from a thatched roofed hut. The book was published by the Borough of Greenwich. Reg Rigden was a very oId friend. Owen and Reg first met when they were founder members of the first Revival New Orleans Band in England in 1943. Reg became curator of Plumstead Museum. I'm still trying to find a publisher interested in my collection of essays on life in Wrotham, Kent from the early 50's. Any ideas?

From Veronica Hampton
I ran an internet search on "the Old Sheer Hulk" and Jack Vaughan's article 'The Old Sheer Nonsense ' came up Mr. Vaughan, quoted a booklet on 'Woolwich, Plumstead and Neighbourhood ' and reproduced some of the info on the pub in your newsletter. I am interested in any further information contained in this booklet on The Old Sheer Hulk. My interest is family history, and a cousin by marriage was the publican at the Old Sheer Hulk from 3 1 July 1952. I am in the process of transcribing oId Ietters written during his term of tenancy at the pub. To date the letters have been only mostly about family matters and the 'new life indoors' at the pub. It was a Watney's   establishment in 1952 "The trade here is not too bad, but not fortune to be made. I can sum it up by saying I work harder and get about the same money, but can't get out to spend as much. This place is not small. Large public and Saloon Bar, kitchen, scullery, sitting room and 5 bedrooms. I employed a batman at first but found trade hardly merited it and he could only do mornings and not weekends. We have two cleaners. Overheads are pretty heavy but trade is about second best along here. I find things a bit awkward because my predecessor did not leave me any figures as a guide. Still we are managing and now preparing for the Christmas orders. I can't say I'm entirely struck on this trade because you've no time off and you never know whether it’s going to be a busy night or not, but as Tom says, I'll get used to it in time. H.J. STEED, Sunday Nov 2nd 1952"
Now for the pub, it’s quite homely and the people not too bad, but they don't stay long, they go 6 pm one to the other, you see there is about 4 Houses within five minutes walk. L STEED, Sunday Nov 2nd 1952"

From Museum of London
The Postcodes Project website is a new resource aimed adults with an interest in local history. It showcases a wide variety of objects from the Museum's collections, highlighting one for each London postcode area. In addition there are numerous links to local museums, libraries, archives and adult education centres to encourage people to get more involved in local heritage. The really exciting aspect of the site is a system that enables individuals and members o f community groups to submit their own stories about an area. These will gradually build up to create a website which is as rich and diverse as the city it portrays. You are welcome to visit the site online, and submit a story of your own, at www.museumonondon.org.uk/postcodes.

From Bill Sanman
It seems very little information has been preserved on London shipbuilding. In particular I am looking for any information about the ships built in the following yards:
Ditchburn & Mare,
Blackwall John & William Dudgeon, Millwall, London
Green. Blackwall
Thames Ironworks,  Blackwall
Wigram, Blackwall
I have seen no citations whatsoever for Ditchburn & Mare, John & William Dudgeon and Wigram. There is a very limited amount of information about Green and Thames Ironworks. Perhaps you, or some of your colleagues within the society, know of sources relating to these yards. There may be a local or regional library that contains files in their facial collections. Or there may be a local expert who knows of these shipyards. I am interested in a number of ships that later served in the Confederate, Spanish and Japanese navies. I am trying to locate any information that may be available, such as contracts, specifications, and plans: drawings, sketches or other images. They may have all been launched from the same port but they later found themselves in the thick of maritime history around the world.

From contact at the AIA
 What a contrast we are with the Swiss Transport Museum at Lucerne. It has just announced that the paddle steamer Rigi, which has been on display there since 1958, is to be completely refurbished and put back into steam on the lake by 2009. Rigi is about Reliant’s size and, ironically, was built at Greenwich in 1848. So all credit to the Swiss for showing what can be done in a positive way to preserve maritime heritage for future generations.
If anyone could provide a good translation of this German language site -- we would be happy to use it as a future article here

From Richard Budd
I am interested in researching my family tree and my Grandfather, Harold Charles Cleall Budd (1892-1968). He was a long-term  (49years) employee of Messrs Siemens Brothers & Co in Woolwich, Kent, England. I was wondering if you had any information on Siemens and if there any chance that Archive material could be held concerning W J Graham and the work that he performed for the company?   I understand that he had extensive experience in the Power Cables Department. In the 1920s he managed a cable laying expedition in the West Indies on the cable ship CS Faraday.

From Nick Banks
I work for a not-for-profit energy agency based in Southwark. We are interested in the idea of converting old mills and waterwheels on London's rivers to generate electricity. You may have seen that there have been some similar schemes in Devon and Cornwall recently. We would also be particularly interested in getting hold of any maps showing waterwheels and mills in the Greater London Area.

From Rob Fantinatto
Scribble Media is proud to announce the release today of Echoes of Forgotten Places", a DVD about Urban Exploration, Industrial Archaeology and the Aesthetics of Decay.

From Camilla Way
I am trying to find information on the mines and caves under Greenwich

 From Maxine
I understand that there is a picture of Sutherland Champion in the Town Hall at Woolwich. Does anyone know anything about this?

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The Cutler Correspondence

February 13, 2020, 9:42 am
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THE CUTLER CORRESPONDENCE

In our last newsletter we published a letter from a Canadian researcher, Pamela Whit,  enquiring about the East Greenwich gasholder and the gasholder builders, Samuel Cutler.

First of all -- who were Samuel  Cutler & Sons Ltd. The following is an edited version of an article on Cutlers, which appeared in the Gas Journal of October 2nd 1935 - and thanks to Brian Sturt for finding this for us.

''Over  90 years ago, in 1844, two brothers, George and Samuel Cutler, established a factory in City Road. North London for the manufacture of gas-works plant, and the management of the Firm has, during all this long period, been conducted by their lineal descendants, the present Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Samuel Cutler, and the General Manager and Director, Mr. Ernest Cutler, both grandsons of one of the original founders. The business soon outgrew the capacity of the original factory and was transferred to larger premises at Millwall in 1858, and again transferred 10 years later to the present extensive Thames-side premises, Providence Ironworks, Millwall

The Firm remained a partnership until 1911, when it was constituted a private limited liability company. The Chief Offices of the Firm are at Westminster and have recently been considerably extended. Although Messes. Cutler manufacture a large variety of products, they have always been particularly identified with gasholder construction and have a world-wide record and reputation in this important branch of the Gas Industry.  Manufacturing  methods have been revolutionised time and time again during their 90 years of activity, but they have always kept well abreast in all improvements both of design and machinery, and can claim to have at Millwall the most modem and efficient plant of every kind for accurate and economical manufacture.

In their early days steam was the only motive power; machines were driven from countershafts and the manual work of fabrication was heavy and exhausting. Holes were "punched" with resulting deterioration of the metal. and standards of accuracy were necessarily low compared with those now attained. Cast iron entered largely into constructional work of all kinds, and machined surfaces were the exception rather than the rule. By contrast, the present machinery at Millwall comprises for power purposes gas, electricity, oil, hydraulic, and pneumatic services and machinery for stamping, shaping, and drilling with a minimum of manual labour practically every part of the numerous and diverse structures manufactured. Also the use of cast iron is restricted to purposes for which it is especially suited, and machine surfacing is the rule and not the exception.

Gasholders are the largest moving metal structures in the world, and Messrs. Cutler have constructed many of the largest now in use. To convey some idea of the size of these huge constructions, it may be mentioned that the Albert Hall at South Kensington could be comfortably accommodated inside the 8 million cu.ft. gasholders erected by Messrs. Cutler at .the Kensal Green Station of the Gas Light and Coke Company 'and at the Neepsend Works of the Sheffield Gas Company. It is no mean engineering achievement that these giant constructions operate for a 24-hour day, year in and year out, in all weathers for half- a-century almost unattended. The location of Messrs. Cutler's Works on the Thames has assisted them in securing many Important contracts for gasholders in colonial and foreign lands, and, to instance only a few, these Ceylon Bombay Calcutta, Smyrna, Malta, Berlin, Vienna, Home, Hanover, Frankfort, Turin, Milan, Genoa, Pernumbuco,  San Paulo, Townsville, &c. 

Messes. Cutler is, at the present time, erecting new gasholders in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Jamaica.
In the home trade their record secures them a place in the tendering list for practically all gasholder work of every size and kind, and there are few gas-works that do not contain some of their constructions. Recent contracts include large gasholders at Beckton, Hornsey, Watford, North Middlesex, Barnet, Brighton, Worthing, and many reconstructions and repairs.

Although for economic reasons spiral-guided holders have, in recent years, been very generally adopted, there is still much to say in favour of the guide-framed type, and the ‘Cutler’ triangulated guide-frame is claimed to be the most scientifically designed and extensively adopted form of standardised guide-frame ever introduced. In regard to spiral guiding, Messrs. Cutler have to their credit many improvements relating to the reliability of the guide carriages and safe access to them for periodical examination and lubrication, including their patent ‘London’ lubricator which, by a piston and star wheel device operated by the motion of the rollers, forces grease from a container on to the axles and keeps them self- lubricated without manual attention. This useful device can also be applied to the rollers of guide-famed holders.

In addition to gasholder building, Messrs. Cutler have a long record in condensing and purifying plant of all kinds. Their first patent for water tube condensers dates back to 1878, and they were the introducers of deep- filled purifiers on the ‘Jager’ system.

In retort work they were co-introducers with the late Mr. Charles Hunt of the ‘Dessau’ intermittent vertical retort system into this country. Conveying plant, storage bunkers, and telphers are an important branch of their business, and large installations- of plant of this kind have been constructed by them at many British and foreign gas works.

Apart from gas-works plant, Messrs. Cutler have many other manufacturing interests of long standing including refrigeration, oil storage tanks, and every kind of constructional steelwork.  For over 40 years they have manufactured most of the ice making tanks in use at British fish ports, many of 50 to 100 tons ice capacity, and numerous ice making and brine cooling tanks for export to India and the Colonies. Steel tanks of every size and type for oil storage have long been a standing specialty. . 

During the War years 1914-1918, almost their entire manufacturing resources were requisitioned by the Admiralty in the production of submarine mines, depth charge gears, &c., and hydrogen producing plant. Several hundred plants, ranging in capacity from 2,500 to 60.000 cu.ft  of hydrogen per hour, were made at Millwall for airship and kite balloon inflation. It is interesting to note that Messrs. Samuel. Cutler & Sons, Ltd., are the only gasholder makers whose Works are in London. This location might, a few years ago, have been considered rather a handicap, but, having regard to the present trend of industrial movement, their tenacity to the South appears to be fully justified and to place them in a favourable economic position for much future business, especially as, in addition to possessing excellent wharfage on the Thames with 20 ft. depth of tide, they have rail communication into the Millwall Docks and thence on to all trunk railways, also a frontage on the West Ferry Road

Providing equally good facilities for motor transport. It is pleasant to lean that many of this old-established firms employees are the sons or even the grandsons of their former workmen.

Pamela also sent information she had picked up implying that the east Greenwich holder was built by Cutlers.  An extract from Eve Hostettler' s History of the Isle of Dogs

Samuel Cutler and Sons was another Island firm renowned for engineering. Their premises were at Providence Iron Works in West Ferry Road, Cutlers' speciality was gasholder construction. When the Society of Engineers visited Millwall in 1879 for their annual dinner, jointly hosted by Samuel Cutler and Frederick Duckham it was reported that Cutlers "had in hand about a dozen orders for gas holders from various towns. including an immense telescope gas holder for Ipswich which is about 122 feet in diameter and is in two lifts of 32 feet depth". The company's order book expanded to include work overseas.  Cutlers were gas work specialists, but were also builders of all kinds of tanks, oil storage, sewage farms, refrigeration plants, coal conveyors, hangars, mooring masts for the R101 and  Crystal Palace Bit/aerial mast. 

They built the largest gas holders in the United Kingdom - Greenwich No. 2 holder, originally 12,200 cubic feet but reconstructed to 8.9 million cubic feet with a steel tank 303 feet in diameter and a height of 1 84 feet when fully inflated, and No.1 holder with a capacity of 8.6 million cubic feet and a height of 200 feet".

Samuel Cutler was a clever engineer. He developed numerous improvements to gas holder design and was also a keen supporter of the idea of a Channel Tunnel. He wrote a book on the subject, describing the twin tunnels, single tunnels and double track, which he advocated. Cutler's employed hundreds of skilled workers - boilermakers,  riveters, platers, fitters and pattern-makers, as well as labourers and apprentices

And from the Port Cities website

The gasholders on Blackwall Lane in East Greenwich were constructed by Samuel Cutler, whose engineering firm was based on the Isle of Dogs. The holders were built between 1886 and 1888. The larger of the two holders was, for many years, the largest in the world with a capacity of 8 million cubic feet (225,000 cubic metres)

Malcolm Tucker also sent information about Cutlers and the East Greenwich holder to Pamela:

The geography at East Greenwich has changed considerably since the earlier photographs you have seen of the gasholder. That part of Blackmail Lane has been replaced by new roads with an enclave remaining as part of Boord Street. But you will easily find no I gasholder and I think you will be glad to have seen it. However the Port Cities web site is quite wrong in saving that the two holders were built by Cutlers and also wrong in some other details). My research in the gas company's minute books found that No. 1 . was built by Ashmore, Benson Pease and Co., of Stockton onTees and No 2 by Clayton Sons and Co of Leeds.

Brian Sturt whose knowledge of the South Metropolitan Gas Company is much greater than mine confirms that. Brian has contacted the Port Cities web site to point out their error as a result of your alerting us. No 2-gas holder in the background of the photographs was Britain's largest gasholder of 12 million cubic feet and built 1891-2

Cutlers are now little known except by those familiar with the gas industry and it is odd to find such an attribution to them in a lay publication. I think the clue to this may be in the history of the Isle of Dogs compiled, largely from oral sources, by local historian Eve Hosteller which quotes an ex-Cutler employee attributing the east Greenwich holders to Cutler. The respondent was born in the 1890s so will have had no firsthand knowledge of the erection of these holders. It is conceivable that  Cutlers did maintenance work on them in the 20th' century, hence the data he gives (although that itself is not accurate since no.2 had a tank of concrete not of steel). I shall try to trace the original autobiography by Haines.

Best wishes for your trip                          

Following this Pamela White wrote again -.

I thought that I would just update you on the correspondence that I have received both by email and by post regarding the Samuel Cutler and Sons gas holders. For example, Mr. Malcolm Tucker sent to me by post a number of articles from the Gas Journal that describes the firm and its history. This has proved to be very interesting. Again many thanks for asking for those persons who have an interest in the topic to contact me.

Upon reading other material posted on the Internet, I notice that a Samuel Cutler gasholder is located near Ben Jonson Road. While it was standing in 2000, does it still exist? I found out about this gasholder from the February 2000 GLIAS newsletter that is available on the Internet.

The reason for my enquiry is that I will be in London in August. I thought that I would travel out to Greenwich. While I am there l thought that I would attempt to find the gasholders on Blackwall Lane. 

I have never seen a gasholder, though I understand even the city where I lived as a child (Ottawa, Ontario) did have one until the industrial area where it was located was re-developed. Given this, l thought that the gasholder attributed to Samuel Cutler on Blackwall Lane and which still exists (the lattice framework at any rate) would be interesting to see.

Pamela and her husband did come to Greenwich, and we did go down and look at the East Greenwich holders from as many angles as we could manage. Pamela also looked at houses in the Westcombe Park area where Samuel  Cutler lived. I showed her Neil Rhind's 'Blackheath Village and Environs' which has the following information on  Cutlers

George Benjamin Cutler (not mentioned above but one of that family firm) lived 1896-1898 at the White Tower -- one of the Vanbrugh houses in what is now Vanbrugh Fields. Neil also suggests that much of the surrounding land was granted in a development head lease to Cutler. Cutler also lived 1879-1901 and 1914-1918 at 52 Westcombe Park Road. Between 1903-1913 he was at St St.John's Park and then until his death at 38 Hardy Road. Clearly some of these dates overlap but there is probably an explanation.

However-- another letter has now arrived

From Bernard Lehman (in Australia) This week I received a book "Sid's Story" written by my mother's cousin Sidney Rock (1913-2005). Much of it concerns the partnership between Sam Cutler and the Rook brothers, recruited from the Midlands, to work for Cutler building gasholders in UK and Europe. Sid worked for Cutler in Millwall till the 1940's. Sam Cutler was evidently a very kind and highly respected employer. The book has pictures of Sam, gas works and also maps and a social history of the Millwall community. My grandfather, Francis/Frank Rock (1876-1950), worked for Cutler before becoming manager of the gas works in Rye, East Sussex. Please contact me for more details on Millwall and the  Cutlers.

Clearly this story is going to run and run


This article first appeared in the May 2005 GIHS Newsletter

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Federation Road - Tthe Bostall Estate Chalk Mine

February 14, 2020, 12:41 am
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FEDERATION ROAD
THE BOSTALL ESTATE CHALK MINE

A recent planning application in Federation Road has highlighted one of Greenwich's most- difficult-to-see industrial sites. The following text is from an article by Rod LeGear (reproduced with his permission)

In 1899 the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society embarked on a large building project, a venture very different from that of its modern retail activities. A small town/settlement was to be built suitable for 'the industrial classes'. The Bostall Estate was constructed by the R.A.C.S. Works Department which moved from the Society's headquarters in Woolwich to the site, which was to the south-west of Abbey Wood station and north of Bostall Heath. A feature of the building works was the centralisation of the various construction trades in an area of workshops where much of the work could be pre-fabricated. Items such as doors, window names, etc., as well as bricks and other building materials, were transported from the workshops to all parts of the site on light tram lines radiating from the work area which was to the south of the construction site. A total of 4 miles of tram lines were put down and at least 50 tip wagons ran on them.

The temporary site for the works department was chosen for its position on the estate. As the site was uphill from the main building area gravity could be utilised when transporting materials on the tramways. It was also chosen for the natural resources available on site - sand, ballast, chalk, and water

This area of intense activity at the turn of the century is now occupied by the Co-operative Woods camp site on the south side of Federation Road. The only reminders of its industrial past is Federation Hall. which was the works dining hall and, hidden 60 feet below ground, nearly 2,000 ft of manmade caves - the Bostall Estate chalk mine.

The mine was dug to provide chalk for the building operations on the new estate. Most of the chalk was burnt in a kiln to give lime which was suitable for internal plasterwork. Unburnt, the chalk was used as a foundation for the estate roads.

The 8ft diameter shaft was sunk in January 1900 in a corner of the works area near to the mortar mill and lime kiln. Four main headings were driven from the base of the shaft to commence mining operations. The floor of the mine was on or just below the water table as the mine was also used to obtain water for the mixing of mortar in the manufacturing processes

The mine was drained by pumps driven by a 16 h.p. surface engine. This engine, made by Marshal & Sons of Gainsborough, also powered the mine's winding hoist as well as a dynamo which provided electric light in the mine. This was an unusual feature as most mines of this period were lit by candle or oil lamps. The hard worked engine also provided motive power to the workshop machines via a system of shaft drives.

In the first full year of operation four men worked underground cutting out the chalk with picks and wheeling the excavated material to the shaft bottom in barrows. Two men were employed on the surface to unload the chalk from the tub and barrow it to either the lime kiln or to a nearby dump for collection by the road building gangs. By 1902 the workforce had increased to six men underground and four on the surface. From 1903 until 1906 the figures were five below and two above ground. 

After 1906 the mine had ceased operation. For the first two years of its life the mine was recorded in the Inspector of Mines Reports as 'Suffolk Place Mine '. From 1902 it was shown as 'Bostall Estate Mine '. Originally the mine was named after the land on which it was situated - Suffolk Place Farm - one of the two parcels of land that made up the development. The committee of the _ Society however, decided to call the building venture after the original fame bought in 1887. This dual naming of the mine has led to some historians searching in vain for another mine which does exist.

In 1914 the mine was converted into an air raid shelter by the addition of a sloping entrance by the side of Co-operative Hall (now called Federation Hall). The underground tunnels remained accessible up to the 1960's when it was still possible to crawl into the rubbish filled entrance. Harry Pearman of the Chelsea Speleological Society entered by this method in 1960 and produced a quick survey. Some time after the entrance was completely filled following fears that children, who were known to 'explore ' and play in the caves, could become lost or injured.

The next visit to the mine was in 1967 when, with the kind permission of the R.A.C.S. and the local authority, a small group of mining archaeologists, led by the writer, made an examination of the underground galleries. The strong grill sealing the top of the shaft was removed by workmen from the London Borough of Greenwich (the principle lessee of the site) in order to gain access

In the early days of building work on the new estate an al-fresco concert was held each summer in the nearby woods. Visitors were shown around the new houses and workshops, and adventurous souls were lowered down the shaft in the cage/tub and taken on a conducted tour of the mine.  

In 1967 the shaft was descended using strong lightweight flexible wire 'caving ' ladders and associated safety equipment. When the mine was to be converted to a shelter a detailed plan of the underground galleries was made by Howard Humphreys & Sons of Westminster. During the 1967 visit the plan was checked and a new survey was plotted to the same scale. Very few differences were found, the most significant being that the sloping entrance was now filled and inaccessible. Another was the appearance of a small excavation at the end of a side passage off of the main southern gallery. This consisted of two poorly cut upwardly inclined tunnels which joined after a few feet. It is probable that this relatively modern piece of mining had been undertaken by adventurous youths at a time prior to the closure of the sloping entrance.

The mine was found to be in excellent condition with no roof falls or sign of stress in the wall observed. The galleries average 10ft  wide and 18 ft high with an arched roof which gave a mechanically strong cross section. Chalk is fairly easy to mine and is usually quite stable so it is not necessary to use props as long as care is taken on the roof sections. The junctions of galleries are also cut with great care to ensure that the loads are spread correctly. The highest galleries are to the south of the shaft where the main development of the mine took place. The adits are 20ft high in this section. Only three galleries were dug to the north of the shaft and they are only 11ft high. In this part of the mine the depth of the roof below the surface is only about 17ft. The excavators wisely did not extend the mine further in this direction as the surface slopes down to the north and cover would have been decreased to a point when the risk of subsidence would become acute.

The mine proceeded forward in a series of steps or benches, the miners cutting away their working platform as the adit was extended. A number of those benches could be seen in the Bostall Estate mine. Such working benches can be seen in any chalk mine. But their presence in the chalk workings at Chiselhurst have lead to the rather quaint theory that they are 'Druid's Altars' The final layout of the mine developed from the four original galleries radiating from the shaft. From these main driveways other adits were cut at right-angles to be joined by cross passages which created large pillars of chalk to support the ground above. From a careful study of the underground galleries and the pick marks left by the miners tools it is possible to re- construct the probable development sequence of the mine. 

The last section of the mine to be worked was an extension to the south when a farther 1 80ft of passages were excavated in 1906, the last year of operation.

The final addition to the mine was made in 1914 when the drift entrance was dug.at the side of Federation Hall so that underground tunnels could be used as an air-raid shelter. The sloping tunnel from the surface was intercepted by another dug from the main east driveway to create the shelter entrance. Although the water table had dropped since the mine was abandoned, it was found necessary to put boards and gravel on the floor as parts of the mine were wet. Harry Pearman noted several inches of scummy water, over much of floor during his visit in 1960. In 1967 no water was present although a long period of dry weather had proceeded the date of the investigation. By 1939 parts of the entrance drift had fallen in and it was declared unsafe. For this reason, despite vigorous protests from local residents, the mine was not used as a shelter in the Second World War.

Upon completion of the two day investigation of the mine in 1967 the shaft was re-sealed and made safe, the underground galleries once again quiet and dark, and a silent reminder of the busy industry that existed on the surface at the turn of the century.



This piece first appeared in GIHS Newsletter November 2005
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Letters November 2005

February 14, 2020, 11:19 pm
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Letters November 2005

LETTERS.

From Peter Witts
I am trying to trace information on a company supposedly called Roberts and Merryweather of Greenwich. This relates to a mystery locomotive that was photographed in Mackay Queensland Australia, in the early 1920s. I have identified the maker: Hunslets of Leeds but at some time it was noted as having been rebuilt by Roberts & Merryweather, Greenwich, England.  I am aware of famous firm of Merryweather Greenwich but a search of the directories did not mention the name of Roberts. I presume that Roberts was connected with the firm and if so information could point to a date when this locomotive was in England and perhaps its identity. I would be most grateful for any help that I can pass on to my colleagues in .Australia.


From Carole Lyons
I am responding to a letter published by the Society in 2002 written by Len Chapman then living at Locke's Wharf on the Isle of Dogs. He had been told that the propellers for the Queen Mary had been made there. In 1936 my great grandfather was a foreman working at the Manganese Bronze and Brass Company at their works at St David’s Wharf, adjacent to Locke's Wharf which was the site of the Millwall Lead Works. This Manganese Bronze site was concerned solely with propellers. My family have a commemorative ashtray cast by Manganese Bronze, inscribed around the top edge: RMS Queen Mary Maiden Voyage 27th May 1936. It has, as a centre, a 3 inch high silver propeller. On the underside of the base is the following inscription: This is a Model of one of the propellers made by the Manganese Bronze and Brass Co. Ltd. London, England.


From Steph Grieves
Do you have any suggestions as to the origin of the following? My garden backs onto the chapel halfway down Charlton Church Lane. It consists of a steep slope at the bottom of which is material I can best describe as slag/clinker and would appear to be the residue of some industrial process. Many pieces are more than a foot across. Could there have been a limekiln here? Is it dumped industrial waste like that tipped by Harvey's where Coutts House used to stand? The concrete arches which partially contain the 'slag ' were there in 1910 as seen in the background of a family photograph. The house itself was built in 1898. If you have time I would welcome your opinion on what, to me, is a mystery.


From: Emir Roscoe
In the 1901 census for England and Wales my great great grandfather was captain of the SS Faraday. His name was William Roscoe. The ship was in Trafalgar Doc Liverpool and then at Princess Dock, Liverpool on the 1.4. 1901. I would very much like a photo of this vessel.  It states she was a steamer


From Neil Bennett
If you do another list of research interests you could put my name down for 'Merryweather ', seeking to forth enlarge my collection of information. In exchange for new pictures, information etc, I could offer similar, or since thanks/modest payment. Regarding the High Road building, I don't get to see it much but appreciate its history. If it cannot be preserved I think Watford's example might be relevant. When the Scammell Motors works was knocked down for a housing estate, the main access road was called Scammell Way with side-roads named after company products e.g. Crusader Way, Explorer Drive Pioneer Way, and Himalayan Way

In Vol I Issue 4 the 'Flexible Metallic Tubing Co ' mentioned. Around 1980 I worked for Ransome & Rapid Ltd, Ipswich. They made the NCK Rapier cranes which can still be seen working, mobile (wheeled) cranes, giant walking dragline excavators and among other things the turntable for the revolving restaurant in the Post Office Tower. While there my drawings included a piece of flexible exhaust pipe (3 or 4 inches diameter) for a diesel engined crawler-crane which came from the United Flexible Metallic Tubing Company. lts address was probably not given as Greenwich or I would have remembered it as a neighbour of MW&SL. If it is the same company the addition of the name 'United might suggest that it merged with another company at some point and may have moved. Later (1983) I looked them up and the) had become T.I. Flexible Tubes, but apparently I did not note their address. The Tube Investments group now has a web-site featuring T.I. Automotive. Their products don’t look at all similar,


From John Evans
Farrington's guide to East India Company ships refers to the Streatham, the 4th of that name, having been built at Dudman's Yard. Do you or any of your colleagues know anything about the family or shipyards


From Simon Ward
My Dad, who is 93 was  telling me recently about his war experiences. He was called into the army (Royal Army Ordnance Corps) sometime after 1939 and did his basic training at Cambridge Barracks, Woolwich. He remembers that it was surrounded by a large wall like a prison with big gates. He also remembered the large square in the middle of it. No-one was allowed on the square unless they were drilling. He (and I) was wondering what had become of the barracks. Are they still in situ? I would be grateful for any information you have on Cambridge Barracks so I can pass the information on to my Dad.


From Iris Bryce
I'd love to learn more about the East Greenwich History club and perhaps get along to a meeting. One of my great grumbles is the loss of east and west in Greenwich addresses. It was one of the first things we learnt when we went to school. I wonder what Miss Tills my first teacher would think of North Greenwich Station?


From Gerry
Noticed your comments about MV Royal Iris. Have you any information about who owns her and what plans there are for her future
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Sir Frederick Abel - Woolwich based chemist

February 17, 2020, 10:37 am
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SIR FREDERICK AUGUSTUS ABEL - WOOLWICH BASED CHEMIST

The Gunpowder and Explosives Study Group recently looked at the hitherto unknown family papers of Sir Frederick Abel. This nineteenth-century chemist has been unduly neglected, in part because of a dearth of original manuscript material on him.

The career of Frederick Augustus Abel has a three-fold significance for the development of modem British science. As a charter student in the Royal College of Chemistry, Abel was one of the first professionally-trained chemists in England. The Royal College of Chemistry, founded in 1845, was based on the model of research training in chemistry that had recently been developed in German universities. Secondly, Abel was one of the earliest scientists in Britain to spend virtually his entire career in government service, working for the military arm as 'Chemist to the War Department '. And thirdly, he carried out investigations in areas that became particularly prominent in the late nineteenth and twentieth century, such as metallurgy, petroleum chemistry, and electricity. But the focus of his research was unquestionably in military chemistry, particularly explosives and munitions.

His research in these areas falls rather neatly into the three principal decades of his career. In the 1860s, he worked at purifying and stabilising 'gun cotton ' (frinitrocellulose), initially as a military propellant but then for other military uses (mines and torpedoes) and as a blasting agent in civilian mining and construction activities. In the 1870s, Abel carried out the most comprehensive scientific study of gunpowder undertaken up to this time. In the late 1880s, he was appointed president of an Explosives Committee to develop a smokeless propellant. The committee succeeded in developing a double-base powder (nitrocellulose, nitro-glycerine), based on a similar powder of Nobel ('ballistite'), which they patented under the name of 'cordite '. 

Although Abel was never an academic chemist he possessed the prestige of a fully professional scientist, as shown by the numerous offices he held in scientific societies and his publications in the most prestigious scientific journals and he took out patents for a number of results of his scientific investigations. But his attempts to develop some of these patents commercially raised serious issues of conflict of interest since he was a government-employed scientific expert and advisor. These issues were highlighted in two conflicts with Alfred Nobel over dynamite versus gun cotton around 1870, and then, twenty years later, OVCF ballistite versus Cordite. This latter resulted in a patent-infringement suit brought by Nobel's Explosive Company over cordite. 

One of the problems in studying the life of any scientist is establishing the details of his career, especially the early years, which are often poorly documented. In the case of Abel, there has been uncertainty about the precise details of his career before he became Chemist to the War Department in 1855. Documents in the newly discovered archive provide complete clarification and are complemented for the early years by a copy of Abel's letter of 9 February 1852, in which he applied for the position of Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. It also provides an invaluable account of how Abel created a niche for himself as a government military chemist. 

When the chemical establishment of the War Dept (Ordnance) was created in 1854, no special duties were assigned to the chemist, on whom depended the development of the Department. During the first few years they were chiefly connected with the purchase and inspection of stores for the Manufacturing Establishments. Abel went on to delineate in great detail the very complex functions that he and his staff took on. Although space constraints preclude illustrations of them, this and similar documents will afford the researcher information on Abel and, more generally, on the development of government scientific activities in nineteenth century Britain.

As a sign of the success with which Abel established his position as a government scientist, he came to move in the very highest social circles. This was recognised by his quondam opponent, Alfred Nobel. In a letter of Nobel to the General Manager of Nobel's Explosives Company of 19 January 1892, over the impending patent- infringement lawsuit over cordite, Nobel cautioned that 'one of the opponents is on very friendly terms with a powerful Prince '. Nobel was undoubtedly referring to Abel and the Prince of Wales, and this royal friendship is borne out in correspondence.


SURVIVING STRUCTURES ASSOCIATED WITH SIR FREDERICK ABEL
By Wayne Cocroft

Sir Frederick Abel as the War Office chemist was usually based at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. In the early 1860s, while he was carrying out his important work on the manufacture of gun cotton he designed a new chemical laboratory, one of the earliest Purpose-built chemical laboratories in the country. The building comprised offices and a double storey laboratory with a galley walkway at first floor level, such an arrangement both provided a light and airy environment, and a platform that allowed Abel to observe the work going on below. The building is Listed Grade II and has recently been converted into flats.

This piece first appeared in the November 2005 GIHS Newsletter

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Royal Arsenal - English Heritage Archaeological Assessments

February 18, 2020, 12:11 am
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English Heritage Archaeological Assessments

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Building 46 undertaken by Oxford Archaeology

The Grand Store complex at the Royal Arsenal is of national importance comprising a set of Grade II* listed buildings and it is among the architectural highlights of the historic military site. The complex was constructed between 1806 and 1813 due to the high on-going military demands of the Napoleonic Wars and formed part of a wider development at the Arsenal during this period which expanded the site's productive capacity. The Grand Store was constructed to meet the greater storage capacity required and although it was slightly scaled down from the original grandiose designs, the complex was still a magnificent architectural composition facing onto the river. It originally comprised three quadrangles but only the main (central) one survives in anything like its original form. It was designed by James and Lewis Wyatt with a plain Georgian classicism and is described by the list description as 'architecturally one of the most distinguished of the large late 18th and early 19th century warehouses erected in both naval and civil docks'. However, the external grandeur of the complex masked fundamental flaws in the construction of its foundations and in the decades after its completion parts of it suffered greatly from subsidence and much patching and rebuilding work was undertaken to counteract this. The southern range (Building 36) and the east quadrangle were particularly affected by subsidence but Building 46, the subject of the current study, appears to have suffered little.

Building 46 foils the west range of the central quadrangle and although from the exterior it broadly retains its original form and elegant design, the inside has been much more altered the other two main surviving ranges and it retains fewer historic features. The internal structural name of the south half has been substantially rebuilt in the mid 20th century (possibly due to wartime bomb damage) and the surviving primary timber came in the central section has been substantially damaged by a fire, presumably related to rebuilding of the south range. The primary timber frame survives in the north range and it is very similar to the construction throughout the rest of the main Grand Store ranges.

The first floor was converted to offices, possibly in stages from the late 19th century, and most of the ground floor was similarly converted to offices in the 20th century. The ground floor of the north range is the least altered part of the building but even here it retains far fewer historic features than the other ranges of the complex. It does contain some evidence of the former use and layout of the building, particularly in the form of mortices against each post which indicate that there would have been a pair of mezzanines within the current tall ground floor area, either side of a double height central aisle. Similar mezzanines survive in the other Grand Store ranges and mortices show that in Building 46 these would have extended into the central block. 

Evidence within the building suggests that there would have been small stoves at ground and first floor, again similar to evidence in the other ranges, and there are various other minor features of interest. However, there is no surviving evidence of former hydraulic lifts in Building 46 whereas three such hoists survive in-situ in the other ranges and only one of the very impressive primary double doors survives, whereas again many more of these survive in the other ranges. In addition far fewer primary windows survive in Building 46 than in the other ranges. 

Fortunately, as the Grand Store complex is known to have been of such consistent layout and construction, the surviving features and layout in various parts of the other ranges provides a good indication of the historic form of Building 46. In return, there are clues relating to Building 46 which also add to our understanding of the other ranges and among these is a surviving plan and section through part of the building dating to 1856. This details the insertion of the mezzanine through the building (including the now reconstructed South Range) and provides the only concrete date for these features which were also added throughout the other Grand Store ranges and some of which survive in-situ. The insertion of the mezzanines can therefore be seen as part of the massive Crimean-period expansion at the Arsenal when there was a flood of investment at the site due to the chaotic response of the military establishment to the crisis. 

Although the surviving primary structure of Building 46 and the other Grand Store ranges has a monumental grandeur and is still impressive in scale today, it was structurally relatively conservative when compared to other contemporary buildings and can now be seen to represent the end of the building tradition. It was constructed a decade after the first iron-framed, fire-proof textile mills were constructed and although this type of construction was yet to be widely adopted it did spread and develop in the early decades of the 19th century, particularly for large structures such as the Grand Store. In a historical context there is no doubt that the construction of the complex has much more in common with storehouses of the second half of the 18th century (particularly naval storehouses) rather than the commercial warehouses of the first half of the 19" century  which comprised cast iron columns, iron beams and brick jack arches. The contrast is even greater with the light-weight iron roof trusses and open floor spaces of various buildings at the Arsenal dating to the second half of the 19th century.

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich undertaken by Pre- Construct Archaeology. 

The remains of walls relating to the Cartridge Establishment of The Royal Arsenal were found. Evidence was seen for the Pilkington Canal within the excavated trenches.

Royal Arsenal, Woolwich (Zones 17, 21 & 23). Undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology 

A watching brief over Zones 21 and 23 revealed substantial industrial remains of the Royal Arsenal. The natural and made ground sequence was recorded. The remains of the Boiler House and Rolling Mill, and its successors Buildings D71, D72 and D74, were found in the north of the site. In the centre and south of the site expansive remains of the South Boring Mill were recorded including superstructure and machinery. External features associated with the building were found. Other structures included Buildings C33, C47 and D80, and peripheral buildings. The route of Street No 10 was visible across the site, as was the remediated Pilkington Canal.

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich: Greenwich Heritage Centre (Building'41) undertaken by Oxford Archaeology 

Made ground comprised of building rubble associated with the military history of the site. Two iron cannons were recovered from within these deposits. They had iron rings set in their muzzled 6or reuse as mooring points along the Thames.

Docklands Light Railway, Woolwich undertaken by AOC Archaeology (London).  
The extension of the Docklands Light Railway to link with Woolwich Arsenal overland station requires the demolition of two blocks of buildings that largely date from the 19th century. None of the buildings predate 1790. The majority seems to be early or mid 19th century structures which have been modified by the addition of facades. 

Some of these facades are very decorative, notably Lloyds Bank and 21-24a Greens End. There are two buildings which merit no recording i.e. 6 Woolwich New Road and 2-4 Spray Street. Both of these are modern buildings of low architectural and artistic merit. These do not require further recording, but there may be basements of previous properties below. The potential earliest buildings at 4, Woolwich New Road, 8 Woolwich New Road and 21 Greens End all merit further examination to determine their age

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Reviews and snippets June 2005

February 20, 2020, 11:44 pm
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Reviews and snippets June 2005


TAR SPRAYING TESTS IN 1932

Recently Mary Mills collected from Fay Gould a huge bundle of photographs of the South Met Gas Company’s Ordnance Tar Works - where the Dome is now sited. She showed them to Lewisham-based historic gas-guru Brian Sturt who sent the following article to Historic Gas Times:

These photographs show the calibration and testing of road tar sprayers when tar from the larger gaswork's own tar-plants was a major source of the raw material needed to improve roads and fix the limestone or granite chippings to the surface. The South Met Gas Co. tanker shown has been fitted at the rear with a dozen or more channels to collect the spray from the vehicle. The aim was to obtain an even spread of tar and the channels have been fitted for test purposes in order to measure this by directing the run-off into collecting cans. The test equipment appears to be homemade, but no doubt quite adequate for the needs of the day. The channels feed the spray into the cans and the contents are then measured and assessed by the lab. technician, on the right, using the weighing scale. He also has a clock to record the time taken to discharge a particular volume of tar and check and adjust the essential even dispersal to the road surface. Gas works coal tar was also sold to the public who came to the works gate, with perhaps a gallon can and this could be filled for about 2/- in the 1950's. It was used for treating fences and timber garden sheds. However, it was an impure product and as demand for tar increased for the roads, local tar distillers were established and they refined the product collected from perhaps thirty or forty small gasworks, which were too small to have their own distillation facilities. The price paid to the gas companies was about one penny a gallon!

Mary has now deposited the photographs in the Greenwich Heritage Centre at Woolwich – and any more such comments on them are very welcome.


POSTAL MUSEUM FOR WOOLWICH

The following is extracted from The Newsletter of the British Postal Museum and Archive. Thanks to Judith Deschamps for this info.

Our new home: the latest developments
As many of our friends will be aware, the major task for The British Postal Museum & Archive is to find a new home that allows us to be a combined museum and archive service, on one site. At present the collections are divided between The Royal Mail Archive in central London, and our Museum Store on the outskirts of the capital, in Debden, Essex. 

Our future development plans are very much based on the archive and museum collections being equally accessible to as many people as possible. Ideally, we want a unified base from which we can branch out around the country - in partnership with other museums - to ensure our collections are truly a national resource. Following an exhaustive search, we have identified a building in the Royal Woolwich Arsenal redevelopment area, which could suit our needs. Many factors steered us towards Woolwich, but this building has the potential to be a remarkable heritage centre. The building in question is Number 19 in the Royal Arsenal complex. It is nearby to Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum, and the London Borough of Greenwich Heritage Centre. Building 19 is a terrific space, but it needs a great deal of work before it could be used to house our collections. 

We have come to an agreement on cost and reconstruction with Berkeley, the Royal Arsenal developers. This gives us the information we need to make an initial bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It must be stressed that this first bid is for funds to fully explore the practicalities of the project, by hiring architects and heritage centre designers to bring to life our plans for the building. We would then need to use these plans in applying for a far larger grant from the HLF to carry out the physical work, alongside outreach activities in the Woolwich community. As you will appreciate, developing bids of this complexity is no easy task. 

There is also no guarantee that our project will be preferred by the HLF over other worthy proposals. We are therefore looking at other options in order to keep our eyes on the main goal: to let more people than ever before enjoy the wealth of our collections. We hope this will be in Woolwich; outside forces may send us elsewhere! We will keep you informed of the latest news in the Newsletter and online at www.postalheritage.org.uk. We will endeavour to keep the news limited to definitive steps forward. Your encouragement is very welcome.


ROYAL IRIS


We have been sent some information about Royal Iris - berthed just down from the Barrier for a couple of years.

She was built in 1950 by the famous William Denny Bros, Dumbarton as a twin screw, 
diesel electric ship for Wallasey Corporation. She was the largest and most commodious vessel ever built for the all year round service from Liverpool to Seacombe and the summer service to New Brighton. Her gross tonnage was 1,234 tons and she was 160 ft overall in length and 48 ft in breadth. Outwardly she differed from any other ship and carried the Borough coat of arms proudly on the front of her streamlined, unusual and futuristic looking superstructure. Her hull underwater was designed to facilitate instant manoeuvring and control in the often-crowded shipping lanes of the River Mersey. She was also capable of withstanding gales, which regularly sweep the Mersey Estuary, especially during the winter months. 

She had a large area for dining and drinking and a spacious dance floor. A fish and chip cafe was an integral part of original design. Her passenger accommodation had room for over 2000 under cover. The Royal Iris's most distant seaward destination from Liverpool was to the Bar Lightship, 14 miles northwest and she also traversed the Manchester Ship Canal, carrying cruise passengers. In November 1991 she was sold for use as a floating nightclub in Liverpool, and later to the Thames. Today she is laid up in a neglected and derelict condition


MINES IN FEDERATION ROAD

Earlier this year Greenwich Council turned down a planning application on the site of what is now known as the Federation Day Centre. Now we understand that, if the developer gets his way, not only will flats be built on the site, but the mines below are to be filled in.

In 1968 these mines were noted by the Chelsea Spelaeological Society (I guess that was Harry Pearman). The author described how he entered the mines in 1960 ‘by crawling down a silted up adit close the road. There was a long slide down a broken down passage lying some 20ft above its original level'. Once in he found passages ‘average 15ft high and 10ft wide. The cross section is a well-formed Norman arch. Much of the floor was covered by several inches of scummy water’. Eight years later it was said that this entrance ‘lies under a transformer chamber’ and the grating to a 60ft shaft ‘is in the grounds of Federation Hall, owned by the London Borough of Greenwich’.

In 1987 Rod LeGear undertook a proper study of the Mine which appeared in the Kent Underground Research Newsletter.

What were the mines for? In Kent and East Sussex Underground Rod LeGear explains that in 1899 RACS began to build the Abbey Wood Housing estate. The mine was excavated to provide chalk for roads and lime for plasterwork. It was known as Bostall Estate Chalk Mine or Suffolk Place Mine. The 60ft shaft was sunk in January 1900 and the floor of the mine was at the water table, deliberately, so that mortar could be mixed with pumped-out water. The mine was abandoned in 1906 and building work ended in 1914.

On 1st February 2004 the Kent Underground Research Group (KURG) entered the Bostall Estates chalk mine to survey the condition of the mine. At the same time four surveyors from the London Bat Group (LBG) surveyed the mine for hibernating bats.


Crossness Record

The Spring 2005 edition of Crossness Record contains to two articles, which add further to our knowledge of the site.

The Crossness Wells by D.I. Dawson describes the water requirement for Crossness in the 1860's and 70's for boiler and domestic use for which the Kent Water Works Company charged £27 per day. Sources of water existed in the Crossness area - in the Arsenal, at the Manure Manufactory to the east of the site. A report in February 1865 recommended, "the sinking of a well” at an estimated cost of £1,500. 

At least two wells were sunk at Crossness. One known as the Old Well eventually did produce water, but was fraught with difficulties. Suffice to say that the cost rocketed to £6,480 by 1869. Then Joseph Bazalgette reported to the Board. He said that to carry on taking water from the Thames into the settling pond would mean that the boilers would continue to suffer "on account of the salt content” and made a number of suggestions to deal with this. In February 1877 it was decided to contract with Messrs Docwra and Son to sink a new well for a sum of £5,252 15s. A year later the contract depth had been reached "without satisfactory result." but by mid-1879 a contract was issued for the "Construction of Reservoirs, Tanks, Engine and Boiler House in connection with a Water Supply". 

By 1879 the Old Well was also producing water. After some fourteen years of struggle and expense, water had at last been found and in quantities that were going to be useful.

A second article by Ann Fairthorne describes the Ransome and Rapier Super Mobile Mk 3 Crane owned by the Trust. This Came from Turners Asbestos Cement Limited at Erith. Despite extensive searching the trust has been unable to locate any other such cranes and so assume it is a rare example. 

The motors and generator are post-1936 design and from conversations with Laurence Scott & Electromotors Limited they know it was made in Manchester pre-1955 and because of the design of the tyres assume it was built post-1938/9. The quality of the castings are not up to the standard shown on other Ransomes & Rapier mobile cranes seen nor does the crane carry the traditional Ransomes & Rapier markings at the back. It carries a mixture of Bull Motor and Laurence Scott & Electromotors motors which is unusual. So why is it different? Could it have been built during World War 2, when supplies were not always easily available? 

Research in Ransomes & Rapier records have unearthed an order from Turners Asbestos Cement Co for a 2 ton super mobile crane in November 1940. This crane had a special jib designed for it although, there are no details. We do know that Turners Asbestos Cement Co at Erith was bombed on the night of 6th October 1940 and that three buildings and some cutting machines were destroyed. Could they also have had a crane that was destroyed? However the crane has a machine number different to the one ordered in 1940 and one which would make it much later. Did it go back to Ransomes & Rapier for modification or repair and was re-numbered at this point in time?
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Bygone Kent

The April 2005 Edition carries an article by GIHS member, Patricia O'Driscoll on Norton's Barge Yard at East Greenwich.

The site is now near the Ecology Park by the Millennium Village on the Peninsula. Pat says that three sizeable sailing barges were built at Norton's: the 50-ton Scout in 1905, later owned by Cory's; the 64-ton Scud of 1907, which went to Burley's and the much larger Serb, 75 registered tons, built in 1916. When she discovered the yard in 1954-5 the work was mostly repairs and the workforce shrank to Fred, who lived on-site. His quarters had a locker seat from a barge's foc'sle, a pipe cot from another. A coal range for heating and cooking (next door was a coal heap and a water tap, placed there for a steam crane). He had a kitchen table with a white enamelled top, on which stood an oil lamp. There was a 'phone - the one modern feature of the yard. Everything was done with hand tools. Fred was a character straight out of W.W. Jacobs. He had an old barrow, a kind of Super 
Soapbox on small iron wheels, which he used when sent to get paint, tar, galvanised spikes and other small items.

A barge coming on to Norton's for repairs would first lie alongside the end of Dorman Long's Jetty to wait for enough water to put her 'on the blocks'. When the tide ebbed, men could get at her bottom. The yard operated on the foreshore between Dorman Long's Jetty and Pear Tree Wharf. Pat was told how, before the war, craft were also berthed between Greenwich Yacht Club and Redpath Brown's Jetty where there was a steam crane. Dorman's had a steam crane, which moved out to the jetty along rails when needed. 

Dick Norton retired in 1966 but he still went down regularly to bring Fred a newspaper. It was good luck for Fred that he did; otherwise he would have been completely alone at the deserted yard. One day he had a fall, breaking a leg and had to be taken to hospital. He never returned to the riverside as, with nowhere else to go to, he was admitted to an old people's home. Now, walking along the riverbank, there is no sign that the yard ever existed.
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In our last edition we highlighted an article in the Rambler’s Association Newsletter of a riverside walk from the Barrier to Erith. This has now been published jointly by Greenwich and Bexley Councils. Copies from the Tourist Information Centre, Cutty Sark Gardens, SE10
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Several members have drawn attention to a local press story about a project at EastSide in Newham, to record lost industries throughout lower Thameside. This is managed by Dr. John Marriott at the University of East London and we hope John will contribute to future Newsletter and, also, attend a meeting to tell us about the Project.
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In May a meeting was held at the National Maritime Museum between some of their community staff and representatives of the various local history societies – and the membership of GIHS was very well represented. Museum staff wanted to know who we saw as ‘local heroes’ and how we should be working to promote them through walks around the area. Inevitably everyone had their list – which included far more than (non-local) Nelson and Napoleon. All sorts of men and women were mentioned – including politicians like Will Crooks - the hero of Greenwich’s Mayor, Paul Tyler – as well as many inventors, community leaders and others who had contributed in many ways. The museum staff seemed totally amazed – and clearly this is not a subject which will go away. Watch this space!

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In the rooms next to the Greenwich Tourist Information Shop is a small museum and café. These are not part of the Greenwich TIC but are owned and managed by the landlord, The Greenwich Foundation for the Royal Naval College. The Foundation would like to expand this section to tell the story of the World Heritage Site and the area around it. The idea is to offer something about the area, which is more detailed and aimed to encourage local people to attend – not just tourists. They intend to consult groups and societies as widely as possible to ascertain what they would like to see there.


WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SHOOTERS HILL

The Oxleas NHS Trust now has the Greenwich Memorial Hospital (originally the Woolwich & District War Memorial Hospital) within its remit. After many years of minimal maintenance, money is now being spent to refurbish it, restoring many of its original features, and sympathetically inserting modern facilities. 

GIHS Chair, Susan Bullivant, with members Andrew Bullivant and Richard Buchanan were invited to see the Hospital on 7th April 2005 by Martin Lee, the man entrusted with the refurbishment. He showed us around the main building, pointing out many original surviving details: handsome doorways; fenestration (though some woodwork is rotting and away from the frontage there is u-PVC double glazing); good quality flooring, now under carpeting. Some 1930s features, such as asbestos lagging, are going; the plumbing needs updating; more electric sockets are wanted - for which hidden wiring is not always possible; Fire Regulations are tighter now. Lighting improvements saw the universal introduction of fluorescent tubes - though modern lamps make it possible to revert to art deco fittings more in keeping with the building. He also showed us the strong room where artifacts relating to the Hospital are stored, and spoke of the need to make an inventory of them - Susan Bullivant thought Woolwich Antiquarians. There we saw records showing that the War Memorial Hospital was often abbreviated to Memorial Hospital from its inception. The original Laundry, and many of the wards added in the grounds since its foundation, are being demolished, and two new H-shaped ward blocks are being built at the rear.


Deptford Dockyard (Convoys) goes to Lewisham Planning Committee

Lewisham Strategic Planning Committee resolved in late May to approve the current application for the site of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Deptford by 7 votes to 2. They did so despite eloquent representations by William Richards, Julian Kingston and Bill Ellson - local activists concerned at the fate of this most important of local historic sites.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has 14 days from the date of the Committee meeting in which to direct refusal of the proposal. It is unlikely he will do this. He has already indicated he will not oppose the scheme, even though breaches his own London Plan by eliminating most of the safeguarded wharf.

The ultimate guardian of the wharf's protected status is Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. His approval is required for any "reconfiguration" (to use the planners' euphemism). Given his recent support for a new publicly-funded cruise liner terminal in Liverpool we are hopeful we can persuade him to "call in" the Convoys application. It will then be the subject of a public planning enquiry.
Meanwhile the sale of Convoys to a joint venture between two Hong Kong companies, Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchison Whampoa, is presumably going ahead, though it's not clear at what point the sale will be finalised. Both companies are owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing.

Last night's vote was not the end of the matter, just the end of the beginning. With thanks for your interest and support.
JOHN TAYLOR

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Pluto references

February 20, 2020, 11:47 pm
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PLUTO

For our May meeting we were pleased to welcome Allan Green, Research Fellow at Porthcurno Telegraph Museum who spoke to us about the manufacture of PLUTO in local factories.

Allan has been kind enough to send us a copy of some references, which are reproduced here:

1. Searle, Adrian. PLUTO. Pipeline Under the Ocean. Excellent little book published by Shanklin Chine on the Isle of Wight, 1995 (it also contains many other references to published work).

2. National Archives at Kew. All the major files relating to all aspects of Operation PLUTO are held here. It is a great deal of paperwork, much of it relating to Departmental and inter-departmental meetings. Very good photographs and other information is included all held in ref: POWE 45/-

3. Imperial War Museum. Very interesting films which can be viewed at the museum. In particular, their film Ref: WOY314.

4. British Telecom Archives. The Post Office with its expertise in cables and submarine cable laying were an important contributor to the PLUTO programme. The archives contain papers relating to testing work on HAIS cables and these are held under Ref: POST 56/119

5. BICC Archive. This is housed at the Liverpool Maritime Museum and is in a reserve store. Access is by appointment only and at present it is closed for re-furbishment. There is however an excellent little booklet published by Bexley Council, PLUTO World War II's best-kept Secret which gives an account of the project, mainly from a Callender's Erith (later BICC) perspective. It pays particular tribute to the lead-burning skills and major contribution made by the firm of J P Stone.

6. Morgan. R. M.. Callender's 1882 - 1945. A book giving a comprehensive history of the Company and the founding family.

7. Telcon Archive. There are two significant collections; one at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich (ref: TCM) and the other at the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum (not yet fully catalogued) but neither contains anything particularly interesting about PLUTO.

8. The Telcon Story. The history of the Company from 1850 to 1950.

9. W T Henley Archive. This collection is now housed at the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum in Cornwall and is currently being catalogued. Only a few indirect references to PLUTO.

10. Brooks, Colin, The History of Johnson & Philips. (“A romance of 75 years") published 1950.

11. Banks, Sir Donald, Flame Over Britain. A personal narrative of Petroleum Warfare.

12. Combined Operations is a website which also gives a lot of interesting info provided by a Royal Navy Capt. Roughton who was involved in the laying of the pipeline.

13. Clements A. J.. Operation PLUTO. An interesting short paper (unpublished?) by a researcher in South Wales. A copy of the paper is filed at the Porthcurno Museum.

14. Siemens Archives. Some information is housed at the Greenwich Heritage Centre. In particular Engineering Supplement No. 224 (Jan 1946) to the Siemens Brothers Magazine. I would expect that the main archive in Munich might also contain information.

15. Scott J. D.. Siemens Brothers 1858-1958. A book giving 100 years of Siemens history.

16. Engineering. A series of articles published in this magazine June 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29th 1945

17. Yergin, Daniel. The Prize published by Simon & Schuster 1991. A different angle on the project... don't buy the book it has only a few lines about PLUTO

18. Krammer, Arnold. Operation PLUTO: A Wartime Partnership for Petroleum. Article in the proceedings of the Society for the History of Technology 1992.

19. Reekie, Douglas, These were the Nerves. 1946. The story of the electric cable and wire industry of Great Britain during the years of war.

20. Hartley, A. C. Operation PLUTO - in The Engineer at War - A paper presented at a symposium at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1948.

My research work on PLUTO is no longer a priority but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has additional information about the project. Any relevant information will then be added to the Porthcurno library / archive.

Allan Green, Research Fellow, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
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Links to Mary's Weekender articles

February 22, 2020, 3:07 am
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Below is a list of articles by Mary Mills on Greenwich Industrial history published in Greenwich Weekender.  Some links from mid 2019 on wards are not there - I am trying to find them.  Weekender's digital edition is published generally through the 'issue' website, but their 'archive' page stops in June 2019.  I think the other articles are there somewhere but the web site is a nightmare to navigate.  I have retrieved some links and will try and get the others.

Some links take you directly to the article, some to the edition, and some (sorry) only to the month.  I have included publication dates though.  My articles are usually at the back.


Where something fishy went on  https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/glw145  pps 10-11  19th Feb  2020

Dreadnought and Wood Wharf article  February 2020

West Greenwich. The forgotten Gas Works.https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/glw141 22nd January 2020

Four centuries of shipbuilding along the Greenwich Riverside  https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/glw140  15th January 2020

From the Meat Trade to Mills, Mariners and Metal Workers.  12th January 2020

The 90 year old Labour of Love  https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/glw1381st January 2020

Walking the Greenwich riverside.  12th December 2019

A short history of a long riverbank.  ?? December 2019

The Secret City of Woolwich https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/glw132    pps 10-11  12th Nov 2019

Back to the floor for the man of Ideas https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/gw129 30th October 2019

A brief history of Greenwich stations 18thSeptember 2019

The Diary of Elizabeth Pearson.  A glimpse  into the past.  28thAugust 2019

Copperas in Deptford and Greenwich. The final years 21st August 2019

Looming against the sky is the skeleton of the great holder  8th August 2019

The Mollassine Company and its smell to remember  https://www.weekender.co.uk/articles/arts/history-the-molassine-company-and-its-smell-to-remember/ 8th June 2019

The Mills on Creekside https://www.weekender.co.uk/articles/arts/greenwich-history-the-mills-on-the-creekside/  July 2019

Greenwich Ships Travelled Far  https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/gw92  5th  June 2019

The Story Behind the Angerstein Crossing https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/05/  8th May 2019

How I found the dry dock capstan. https://www.weekender.co.uk/articles/arts/history-how-i-found-the-dry-dock-capstan/article23rd April 2019

Industrial  Chimneys. How were they erected. https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/04/  10th April 2019

The Man who built London’s Sewers  https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/04/  3rd April 2019

Power for the People https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/03/  27th March 2019

Kicking up a right stink https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/03/13th March 2019

Our Poor Doomed Gas Holder https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/03/  6th March 2019

Copperas in Deptford https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2019/02/  27th February 2019

The Story of William Joyce https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/gw92   6th February 2019

A world of industrial remains, https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/10/  10thOctober 2018

We made history on an industrial scale September 2018

The explosion at Blackwall Point https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/09/  5thSeptember 2018

Keeping the home fires burning .How women kept the gas works going in the Great War. https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/08/  8thAugust 2018

Going Underground  https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/07/  16thJuly  2018

The Man who laid cables under the Atlantic https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/06/  13th June  2018

The Geenwich Harbour Master https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/05/  16thMay  2018

History of the Holder https://issuu.com/southwark.news/docs/gw5116th April 2018

The Greenwich Bicycle Pioneers https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/03/  21st March 2018

The fascinating George Landmann https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/02/  15th February 2018

The man who built the Railway. https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2018/01/  24thJanuary 2018

The Tragic death of Mary Mahoney killed on her first day at the firework factory  https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2017/12/  6thDecember 2017

Picking up the Strands of our rich history.   https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2017/11/ 1st November 2017

17th Century Woolwich Kiln. Gone but not forgotten https://www.weekender.co.uk/digital-edition/2017/10/   3rdOctober 2017


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Letters June 2005

February 24, 2020, 12:08 am
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Letters June 2005



From: Mrs Betts
Thank you for sending the GIHS Newsletter, etc. to my husband. Jim enjoyed belonging to the Society and would have renewed his membership, but sadly he died in January.



From: Trisha Jaffe
50 years ago, Kidbrooke was opened as the first purpose-built comprehensive in the country. This year, we are celebrating all that comprehensive schooling has achieved in the intervening years. We are also very aware that the challenges to the principle and practice of comprehensive education get greater by the year. We are inviting you to join us in celebrating all that has been gained in education at a conference that the school has arranged. At this we will also be looking at the future of the comprehensive ideal. How do we build on the best of what has been, in order that we have schools for the 21st century that include everyone? We do hope that you will feel that this is a conference that you can both enjoy and one that can challenge thinking about the future. 

While you are at the conference, you will be able to enjoy a lunch, selected from the menu that has been developed by Jamie Oliver as part of his, Jamie's School Dinners programme. Along with our kitchen staff, he has transformed eating in this school, and hopefully, beyond in the LEA. I do hope that you will join us for the day on 1st July, 2005.



From: Brian Middlemiss
The Siemens Brothers Engineering Society has collected, catalogued and formally re-housed almost 1500 items donated by members and friends in an endeavour to record for posterity something about the existence of the Company in Woolwich - its history, products, pioneering design and manufacture in electrical equipment and telecommunications world wide. 

Importantly too, we have many items and photographs depicting the varied work and social activities engaged in, by a site employing around 7000 or so people. We are particularly anxious to bring our archive material to the notice of members of Societies, Associations and Education Departments such as yours, which nurture a continuing interest in specific aspects of times past. Much of the enthusiasm and impetus shown, by our now ageing members, for the archive project stems from thoughts that 37 years have elapsed since the works closed and thus we are among the last engineers really able to leave a knowledgeable record of how world telecommunications grew and functioned before our present day electronic environment arrived! On behalf of the Engineering Society I would therefore welcome any help which you could give by generally 'spreading the word' regarding the various locations of our Archive Catalogue and Material.

John Ford, from the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society is booked to speak to GIHS on 11th October


From: Rich Sylvester
I would like to tell you about the new Memories and Stories of East Greenwich project. The group will research and record local memories and the industrial heritage of the Greenwich Peninsula (the former South Met Gasworks - generally known as the Dome site). Stories and local history records take us back to the 1800's of Greenwich Marsh. 

On the same site 200 years on we are in the early phases of a major housing development around the "Dome" - and the landscape has been extensively remodeled with groundwork and remediation of the "brownfields" left by the industry of the interviewing period. By the river we can still identify the wharves and sites of industrial buildings that once thrived with local business such as whaling and rope making. The pubs and street names give us further clues, while on the pockets of foreshore still accessible to the public we can find old nails and fragments of clay pipe which are all part of the jigsaw that we will piece together to tell or remind us all of the amazing history of this area.

The children from Millennium and Meridian Primary schools will investigate the changing riverscape through inter-generational interviews and web-based dialogue focusing on the changes to industry and local life from 1930 to the present day. Through a series of workshops with an oral history tutor, they will record the memories of local residents, who remember the river and its historical role. The over 50's Club will attend training sessions in IT and historical data recording, assisting with web-based research; scanning images and documents from the local heritage centre. One result will be the production of 2000 heritage trail maps providing a snapshot of a rapidly disappearing cultural heritage. The project will provide a channel for local people (new residents and present) to express and explore what they know and value about the Peninsula. To this end we are pleased to hear from anyone who lives or works on or around the Peninsula as well as those who have lived or worked there in the past.
Richard Sylvester (Co-ordinator) 


From: Felicity Harrison
I have been lent a postcard, posted in 1906, which is captioned Molassine Co's Dinner, Sturminster Newton 1906 to use a part of a series in our local magazine. I live in Sturminster and was intrigued to see this card. Having read various articles and clips about the company in your newsletters on the Web I feel that the connection must be cattle feed as, until recently, the town hosted the biggest calf market in the country and dairying was the major industry. But... according to the information the company wasn't formed until 1907 and why were they in Sturminster? Please can you shed any light on this or point me towards the right direction to further my research?


From: Anne Benney
Volunteers from the Blackheath Society clear and tidy the Station "garden" twice a year. We did it the other last Sunday and some thought "station garden" was misleading. "Wildlife garden" has been tried but doesn't quite suit either. Although there are bound to be ideas from within the Blackheath Society, I wondered if a member of the Greenwich Industrial History Soc. might have a suggestion. If you can help to give this stretch of disused rails its proper name I'd be glad to hear from you - maybe it should be called whatever was its original name (the sidings or shunting yard perhaps) - we'd like to get it right or at least arrive at a consensus.


From: Pamela White
I came across the article posted on the Internet entitled Greenwich Millennium Site, 200 Years of Innovation. The section that was of interest to me gave mention of the East Greenwich Gas Works. My great-grandfather, George Cutler, was an engineer and worked in the Samuel Cutler and Sons firm that built the two gasholders. I would be most interested to receive any information that you may have on the firm, Samuel Cutler, and on gas works in general. Am I correct to assume from the material on the Web, that one can still see the remnants of the gas holder, located on Tunnel Ave and visible from the A102(M), Blackwell Tunnel Approach? If one wished to view the gas holder, what would be the best location? I also understand that the firm owned by Samuel Cutler was located on the Isle of Dogs. Has anyone ever done an industrial history of the firm? It would appear from what I have read that the labour history as well as the engineering background of the era and the project are most fascinating.
This query has been referred to a number of gas industry historians who hopefully will report further. However, Brian Sturt says "I am not certain if the holders at East Greenwich were built by Samuel Cutler and Company. I am almost certain that the second holder was built by Clayton's". Attached is an article on Cutlers from the Gas Journal, Volume 212, October 2nd 1935, pages 37-39.

This article – more detail in a future issue – says that George and Samuel Cutler set up a factory for the manufacture of gas works plant in 1844 in the City Road, Islington. In 1858 the business had expanded and the firm moved to Providence Ironworks Millwall. The firm was particularly identified with gasholder construction – they were the largest moving metal structures in the world and Cutlers were identified with the largest. They operate 24 hours a day year-in year-out in all weathers almost unattended. (The article says some have run for half a century in this way – the East Greenwich Holder has now operated for 120 years – and others still longer).
Malcolm Tucker also confirms that the East Greenwich holder was not built by Cutlers but by Claytons.


From: Gill Selley, Woodbury Local History Society
I am researching Montague Wigzell, born in the City of London in 1831, the son of Eustace Wigzell. He was an artist and inventor. He came to Exeter in 1854 as the first headmaster of the Exeter School of Art and in 1866 became the first headmaster of the Croydon School of Art. 
In 1861 he formed the Patent Spiral Fluted Nail Company and manufactured this in Topsham, near Exeter. In 1866 he was declared bankrupt. In his bankruptcy examination it was stated that he had seven 'ventilators', another of his inventions, at the Greenwich works. From 1859 he had invented a gun battery, various types of nails, a double ventilator and a candle-making machine. There is evidence that he was making candles and ventilators as well as his spiral fluted nails at Topsham, but he must have had a family connection or perhaps a manufactory in Greenwich. He had a brother called Atwood who described himself as a 'practical engineer', and there was a Eustace Wigzell who was thought to be a marine engineer from Greenwich, possibly his father or brother. I would be very grateful if you have any information about Montague Wigzell in the Greenwich area. I have found that Wigzells were living in the area in the Victorian period. In 1855 a Eustace Wigzell Esq. was living in Blackheath Road and in the 1881 census a Eustace Wigzell, aged 31, described as a mechanical engineer (possibly son of the former), was living in Deptford.


From: Jeff Nicholas
I wonder whether you or some of the members of your Historical Society might be able to help me. I have the task of writing a small biography of Edward G Barnard M.P. for Greenwich between 1832 and 1847. He was from the famous Barnard shipbuilding dynasty. My task is to find out more about E.G. as there is a major street named after him here in Adelaide, South Australia. He had something to do with the South Australian Commission which was set up under act of parliament in 1834 to see through the settlement of a new colony in South Australia. Is there a painting or image of him somewhere? We know that he owned Gosfield Hall and spent a lot of money on it. Is there anyone in your society who might be interested in following him up for me?


From: Toby Butler
Thank you for your interest in Memoryscape. I am very keen to evaluate my research, so I'll be organising some walks that anyone can come to (I'll provide a CD-Walkman) and I'll give out a short questionnaire afterwards; I would also like to organise a small group discussion after the walk. If anyone wants to come on an organised walk, just tell them to get in touch. Also, if you know of a group or organisation who would like to come on a walk, please let me know and I could do one specially. It would take about two hours - I am particularly keen for people to listen to the walks actually walking, not at home or in a meeting room.

Of course, the walks can also be done on your own and I will happily send a free copy to anyone who is willing to actually do the walk and fill in a questionnaire for me! They just have to give me a call or e-mail and I'll send one off to them. If you need any more info, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Toby is arranging a walk for GIHS members on 24th July. 


From: Bob Carr
Do you know David Lloyd. Who is he? He is very interested in the Greenwich Steam Ferry.

The Greenwich and Rotherhithe Steam Ferries share David Lloyd’s web page with two railway sites from the West Country – so, no, we don’t know who David Lloyd is. David......... are you there?

The Greenwich Steam Ferry was the one that ran from Wood Wharf, Horseferry Road to the Isle of Dogs – Clive Chambers described some of the archaeology of the site in a recent talk to GIHS. David’s site describes the two original boats, Countess of Lathom and Countess of Zetland as well as the cylinders sunk in the riverside wall and the steam engines themselves. There is a lot of interest in the site – but nothing at all about the recent demolitions there.

The Webmeister reports in 2017.. David Lloyd's site is unfortunately no longer functional, but Forgotten Highway's site may be of interest regarding this particular ferry crossing.

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Glass made in Charlton

February 24, 2020, 12:15 am
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CHARLTON MADE GLASS

One of the ‘forgotten’ factories in Greenwich was the largest glass bottle works in the world. The following article, by R.D.Goodson, appeared in the London Electricity Board magazine in February 1961.

A bottle - who gives more than a passing thought to it other than in respect of its contents. Down in Greenwich in the South Eastern District a lot of people do. At United Glass Ltd’s Charlton factory some 2,100 employees of that organisation spend all of their working life designing, planning and making literally millions of bottles and in connection with the electricity supply, the Board's District Staff watch over its electrical well-being with an almost parental care, as may be expected a consumer who can set up a maximum demand of 4-6 MW with a high load factor is looked upon as a particular asset to the district.

The company originated under the title of Moore and Nettlefold and has carried on glass bottle manufacture on the same site as far back as 1911. It is of interest to note that even at that early date electricity played an important part in production. It is on record that the factory contracted to take an electricity supply of approximately 500 kW capacity. In those days Foreign labour, mostly drawn from East European countries, was used extensively. Production continued up to the outbreak of World War 1. Recommencing in 1920, the original plant was replaced by more modern equipment to meet the ever-increasing need for greater efficiency and economic working. 

Rapid development of the glass industry demanded modernisation of plant. and today the Charlton works rank high in glass-producing efficiency. "There have been changes in the Company title. Quite recently the well-known United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Ltd. (U.G.B) became United Glass Ltd. an organisation of nation wide interest and high reputation. The factory occupies an area of 37 acres, flanked by the River Thames in the vicinity of the Royal Naval College. Within the curtilage of the works is a well-planned system of internal roads, together with some 5.5 miles of railway lines, the latter constituting a veritable private marshalling yard. Goods in and out of the factory area are handled by road, rail or river, whichever is most convenient for the particular purpose. 

Access by river for export overseas is facilitated by a well-equipped wharf - always served by a sufficient depth of water in the Thames at that point. The buildings, apart from the production area, include an administrative block, drawing office, engineering workshops, research laboratory and storage sheds, supported by a miscellany of ancillary accommodation. The 2.100 people regularly employed include technical and administrative staff. Their shift-to-shift requirements are catered for by an efficient canteen service, which operates throughout the 24 hours in each day. Electricity is supplied at high voltage with a service capacity of 6,600 k VA delivered to two main substations known respectively as North and South.

The summated maximum demand recently recorded over the two points of supply is 4,600 kW with an annual consumption of over 30 million units. Security of supply is of paramount importance and with this in mind the Board’s engineers in designing the supply arrangements, provided a supply at 10.4 kV direct from Blackwall Point Main Substation, consisting briefly of 0.15 sq in feeder ring (unit protected) incorporating the two substations (North and South) in the United Glass works with a further injection feeder (also unit protected) from Blackwall Point main substation to the North substation. In addition to this, further security of supply is given by interconnection at three points on the Main Substation High Voltage feeder network. Glass production is a most interesting process and is carried on continuously throughout the year by means of four large oil fired furnaces with electrically driven fan cooling and electrically operated boost melting device each boost has an electrical capacity of 6500 kW. 

An interesting feature of glass bottle manufacture is that all scrap is remelted. It is the practice to feed this broken glass into a large hammer mill. The material when ground to a fine powder in known in the trade as ‘cullet’. Cullet is mixed with sand, soda ash and limestone. This is the raw material used in modern manufacture, of glass.

Colour variations are obtained by the introduction of chemicals to the mixture. In the Charlton factory white flint, green and amber bottles are produced. Raw materials stored in silos are always available for immediate transference to an electrically driven "batch" car. This vehicle is, in effect, a mobile hopper with a built-in weighing machine. The driver halts the vehicle under each silo in turn until the correct quantity of material required for the particular process, is collected. The contents, known as the "batch", are eventually tipped into a drum mixer, similar in design to a large concrete-mixer. Bucket elevators move the "batch" into hoppers above the furnaces, from where the material is gravity fed into them. The quantity of feed is carefully regulated by electronic control. 

Due to modern development of refractories and to electric boost melting, the output of the furnaces, which have been in existence for some while, has been increased from 180 tons per day to 440 tons per day. The electric boost melting applied to each furnace enables the manufacturers to obtain an additional 30 tons output per day per furnace. With the regenerative type of furnace installed in the factory, boost melting is achieved by passing an electric charge through the molten glass in the furnace. The old type of furnace used in 1911, it is of interest to note, had an output of approximately 30 tons per day. Electricity is continuously required by the present day furnaces for oil atomization and cooling. The molten glass is normally held at a temperature of 1,500 degrees C. and it needs little imagination to realise the importance of continually cooling the exterior of the furnace. In the early days of glass manufacture, production was hampered by the comparatively short life of the furnaces, not more than 6-8 months. Modern design however, provides a furnace life of 3 to 4 years. The process is continuous. Once ignited, a furnace is producing molten glass until rebuilding is necessary. At the end of its useful life the furnace is "tapped" and the remaining molten glass drawn off. This is an important part of the life operation for if the glass is allowed to cool in the furnace the solid mass would present an almost impossible task to break out. The drawing-off in molten state enables the glass to be used over again as "cullet” when the renewed furnace is again commissioned. 

At Charlton, the process known in the trade as "tank furnace" practice operates with fascinating continuity. The quantity of molten glass in the tank is controlled with infinite care, a depth of 42 inches being maintained throughout with a maximum tolerance of one-tenth of an inch. Approximately 110,000 tons of batch material are used in the four furnaces each year. An apparently never-ending flow of glass passes on its fiery way like lava from an erupting volcano. Continuously channelled into the insatiable maws of the bottle-forming machines. The visitor will inevitably experience an illusion of Dante's Inferno. This, however, is quickly dispelled by the well-ordered stream of perfect bottles, which emerge and move, inexhaustibly, towards completion stage. 

Two types of bottle-making machines are used. One operates on a flow principle, while the other incorporates a suction method. The difference briefly, is that the former is gravity fed by molten glass, while the latter sucks the material from a revolving pot furnace. With each type of machine a small quantity of glass known as the "gob", having a consistency of treacle, is passed into a preliminary mould known as a "blank" or "parison". It is at this stage that the first shape is formed by injecting a small quantity of compressed air into the "gob". The "parison" is important as it plays a major part in determining the thickness of the glass and strength of the finished product. The first stage complete, the "parison” is transferred mechanically to the finishing mould, where compressed air is again introduced to blow the glass to its final shape. The bottle still red hot is moved by conveyor belt on its next stage to an annealing oven or Lehr. Careful control of cooling is essential. The bottles are annealed by slow baking in the Lehr in gradually diminishing heat. The bottles, cool by now, are handled for the first.. and only time, when they are inspected for Haws. Periodic sample tests for quality, size, shape and liquid capacity ensure that the finished article is to specification. Bottles are then cartoned and despatched by road and rail or exported by ship direct from the Company's wharf.

United Glass Ltd. is proud of their product and use only the finest quality material. Their product has an ever expanding market both at home and abroad. Their exports at present represent approximately 10 per cent of their production and are marketed principally in Holland and the Scandinavian countries. At home, the firm supply bottles to milk, pharmaceutical, brewery and other similar trades. It is their proud claim that the customer has only to state the shape of the bottle, the quantity and the order will be satisfied. This they do to the tune of six to seven million bottles a week. How important the glass industry is to our modern way of life! Just imagine a world without bottles, windows, mirrors, drinking glasses, and television tubes!

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Gilbert's and other pits at Charlton

February 26, 2020, 1:32 am
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GILBERT’S AND OTHER PITS AT CHARLTON
   
by Paul Sowan

At our December meeting we heard a presentation from underground historian and geologist Paul Sowan about Gilbert’s pit at Charlton.   Paul has now sent part of an enormous dossier of information on these pits – some extracts are included below and, hopefully, more will follow


The village centre of Charlton (Old Charlton) is on high ground on the Lower London Tertiary beds in south-east London, and overlooks the Thames to the north. Between the village centre and the area of the former Thames-side marshes the ground drops away northwards. Geologically this constitutes the escarpment formed by the Lower London Tertiary beds. The old village centre is about 150 feet above the level of the Thames- side marshes.

New Charlton had developed on the lower ground by the Woolwich Parish boundary, effectively a suburb of that town, by 1839, when two lime burners are recorded there - Sarah Cutts and Lewis Glenton. It later extended westward along the Woolwich Road, and from 1849 was served by Charlton Station, this area becoming known as Lower Charlton.

The North Kent Line of the railway was built along the foot of the escarpment between 1847 and its opening on 30 July 1849. The formerly wooded escarpment has been eaten into by opencast mineral workings (principally for chalk and sand), and in part covered by 19th century and later residential development.

Interestingly, none of the four large chalk and sand pits between Charlton Station and Woolwich appears ever to have been equipped with standard gauge railway sidings into the pits. The Railway Clearing House's 1904 Handbook lists only Beadle Bros.' siding, which was perhaps associated with the AngersteinWharf branch line of 1852 to the south and west of Charlton Junction. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey large scale plans for the area, surveyed 1866 - 67 and published in 1869, shews several lines of rails in the westernmost pit  - currently the location of Charlton Athletic
Football Club's stand) converging northwards to run under the main east-west passenger line, and thence northwards to the Thames.

No such railways appear to have been provided for the other three pits further east. If only horses and carts were employed to distribute the materials from these, it may be concluded that they were largely consumed in the immediate locality, or alternatively carted to jetties on the Thames and shipped away.
Woolwich Dockyard was immediately downstream, within a kilometre of Charlton Station, and the large chalk and sand pits.  England's first salt-glazed stoneware kiln was set up near the Arsenal early in the 17th century, and, soon afterwards, a glassworks was established on an adjoining site. There was thus, from the 16th century onwards, a demand for ballast, moulding-sand, glass-sand, and other mineral products, including large quantities of clays, lime, and sand for the bricks and mortar employed in the Dockyard and Arsenal buildings.  

There have been four major pits excavated at the foot of, and into, the escarpment at Charlton. These are referred to here, from west to east, as follows:

Charlton Station pit  - Bounded by Charlton Hill on the west, the main railway on the north, and Charlton Lane on the east - indicated as Ballast Pits (sand and chalk) by the Ordnance Survey in 1866 – 67.  (now occupied by the football pitch and stands) Gilbert's pit  - Lying to the east of Charlton Lane / Pound Park Road  and south of Charlton Tunnel - forming the western part of Maryon Park - disused (transferred to LCC) 1938 - this pit contains the  SSSI


North pit - Lying north of the railway line and tunnel, and south of the Woolwich Road - now forming the northern part of MaryonPark

East pit  - Lying to the south and east of the railway line and Mount Street Tunnel. Now forming the eastern part of MaryonPark.

The SSSI represents the eastern working face of Gilbert's pit. The western face of the East pit is only a few metres further to the east, the SSSI being thus positioned on a narrow ridge of unworked ground between the two pits.

In both the Charlton Station or West) pit and the North pit the excavation of Thanet  Sand was carried downwards to exploit the underlying chalk. The upper surface of the Chalk, and base of the Thanet Sand is thus clearly above the level of the Thamesin the immediate locality, although Dewey et al.
(1924) observed in connection with the riverside marshes further to the east that: The Chalk which forms most of the southern bank of the Thames between the Erith Marshes and Gravesendis thus saturated with water and numerous springs arise along this stretch. This fact is of paramount importance to engineers.   During recent years the cement manufacturers endeavoured by heavy pumping to lower the water-level in the Chalk in order to make more chalk dry and so available for quarrying purposes, but the cost and want of success rendered the operation unprofitable, and it was abandoned. Previously it had been shown that over-pumping draws river water into the Chalk, where that formation is not protected by impermeable beds. Much of the alluvium, however, is permeable and the Chalk  on which it lies, though at a depth of 70 ft. from the surface, is generally heavily charged with  water

The operators of the chalk pits at Charlton would similarly have been limited in the depth to which they could excavate by the water table at shallow level. One such operator has been identified, and is the subject of a published article by Barbara Ludlow (2001) who informs us: “  For hundreds of years, chalk was dug at Greenwich, Charlton, and Woolwich to be burnt in lime kilns. There were many kilns on the lower slopes of Blackheath Hill and until the beginning of the nineteenth century Greenwich South Streetwas known as Limekiln Lane. Two other notable sites were Charlton Church Lane and the part of Woolwich, which was  later to become Frances Street.

Lime was essential to the brick and tile making industries. It was also used when making  mortar and manure, however, when Thomas Nichols left Dartmouth, Devon to settle in New Charlton in the late 1840s nuch of the local chalk was built over or worked out. Even so he established himself as a carpenter and lime merchant in Hardens Manorway. Nichols' business prospered and in the mid-1860s, he moved to  site between the North Kent Railway  line and Woolwich Road. Here on the eastern side of Charlton Church Laneand close to the fairly new Charlton Station he concentrated on lime burning. Thomas moved his family into 444 Woolwich Road, promptly named the house 'Lime Villa' and had two Staffordshire style bottle kilns built. The business could not rely on local quarries so he brought in limestone [ie chalk] from Riddlesdown Quarry, near Whyteleafe in Surrey. The 1871 Census shows Nichols employed thirteen men and that they also lived close to the works... Eventually the business passed to Fred Nichols, and in the early 1920s, the then owner Eric Nichols sold the premises. Lime burning was finished in Charlton but the buildings and bottle   kilns, with a chalk capital 'N' set in the neck of both, were purchased by the Crown Fuel Company to produce heating elements for gas fires. In 1950 the Festival of Britain [in 1951]  seems to have inspired the Company to branch out into pottery and use the kilns for making decorated ware and small figures of animals, mostly dogs. These goods marked 'Greenwich pottery' were for export only but they were advertised in the 1951 Greenwich Festival Guide.Towards the end of the 1950s production ceased but a bottle kiln ofc. 1868 and buildings of  about the same date were left. Everything was demolished in 1965 and Barney Close, Charlton, was built over the site.  Before the buildings were demolished an Industrial Archaeologist surveyed the site and a photograph ofc. 1872 was discovered. Nichols is seated and behind him stand five of his workers. A photograph was taken of the attractive mid-Victorian bottle kiln before it was demolished.

The Nichols's kilns, from this account, were close to the junction of Church Lane and Woolwich Road, and not those shewn in the middle of the large Station Pit the other side of the railway line, which is known to have been worked in part for chalk. This large pit presumably went out of production, at the latest, when the football ground was established in it in or shortly after 1900. Fred Nichols certainly worked two chalk pits 'near Whyteleafe' at one time or another. What is usually called the Rose & Crown chalk pit at Kenley, a large working which went out of use as recently as the 1960s, is still a prominent feature on the east side of the A22 Godstone Road just inside the London Borough of Croydon. Over the boundary, in Surrey, were the much shorter lived Whyteleafe chalk pits and kilns; the kilns have gone and the pits are now barely recognisable as the site has been developed for residential purposes. The Rose and Crown pit never had direct access to the railway, although the Oxted line (South Croydon to Oxted) crosses the open pit on a prominent viaduct. The Whyteleafe works further south did have a siding from Upper Warlingham Station, which would have made the transfer of chalk thence to Charlton relatively straightforward



this article first appeared in the January 2006 GIHS Newsletter
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The 1870 Cable to India

February 28, 2020, 11:15 am
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The 1870 Cable to India.


This June will mark the 150thanniversary of the opening for commercial service of the first submarine telegraph cable to India, connecting London with Bombay (Mumbai) and on to Calcutta (Kolkata).  The UK end of the cable was landed in England by the Investigator at Porth Curnow Bay on 6 June 1870.

Investigator landing the shore end in Porth Curnow Bay

This landmark system was the start of a global network of submarine telegraph cables that were built by the Eastern & Associated Telegraph Companies, a group which eventually became Cable & Wireless (C & W).  Porthcurno as it is now known,became the most important cable station in the world as well as C & W’s training college.  It was also a vital communications centre during WWII.  The cable station is now a world class museum and archive pkporthcurno.com PK Porthcurno is planning a series of events in June this year to commemorate this landmark cable system.
You might ask what this has to do with the industrial history of Greenwich, and the answer is quite a lot!
Soon after the Telegraph Construction &Maintenance Co (Telcon) had successfully installed the 1865 and 1866 Atlantic telegraph cables, they approached the British Government with a plan for a cable to India, but the Government was not inclined to fund it.   At that time John Pender (1816-96) was Chairman of Telcon, but in 1868 he stood down in favour of his close friend, Sir Daniel Gooch, Baronet (1816-1889),and the pair of them set about promoting the cable to India.  Over the next two years John Pender founded three limited liability operating companies, and he and Gooch invested in them.  The Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Company (founded 18 May 1868) would link Italy, Malta and Egypt; the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company (October 1869) would connect Bombay to Aden and then Suez; and the Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company (16 June 1869) would complete the line to England via Carcavelos (near Lisbon, Portugal).  The landing in England was planned initially for Falmouth, but due to concerns over damage to the cable that might be caused by ships’ anchors in the busy port, it was moved to Porth Curnow Bay.



Map of the 1870 Cable System
John Pender was the chairman of two of these operating companies and a director of the Mediterranean company, chaired by Lord William Hay (1826-1911).  All three companies placed contracts with Telcon to make and install the cables.  Up until 1895 Telcon had two factory sites on the Greenwich Peninsula:the original Glass, Elliot site at Morden Wharf, and the much larger Enderby Wharf site.  Between June 1868 and May 1870, the vast majority of the cable was made on these two sites, but to meet the project timescales, some of the manufacture for the Malta to UK system was subcontracted to W T Henley’s Telegraph Works at North Woolwich. 

Telcon was entirely responsible for the laying and commissioning of the three systems, and they used six ships to complete the work: Chiltern, Great Eastern, Hawk, Hibernia, William Cory & Scanderia. All but the SS Great Eastern loaded their cable from Enderby & Morden Wharves.   The Great Easternwas too big to come up the Thames to Greenwich, so she was moored at Sheerness and the cable was transferred from the factories to her in hulks, 150nm at a time.To keep the temperature of the cable in her tanks down, in 1869 Great Eastern’s hull and funnels had been painted white, and this was refreshed for this voyage to lay cable in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

SS Great EasternPainted White 186

The final splice of the last leg of the system between England and Portugal was completed by Hibernia on 8 June 1870.   John Pender was in the temporary cable hut on the beach at Porth Curnow with Sir Samuel Canning (1823-1908),the Chief Engineer of Telcon, to dictate the first test message to be sent over his system to Bombay.


Sketch by Robert Dudley (1826-1909)

The service from London to Bombay and Calcutta opened to the public on 23 June 1870. That evening, to celebrate his remarkable success, John Pender hosted a soirée at his London residence,18 Arlington Street, marking the inauguration of the first wholly British owned London to India telegraph service.  The guest of honour was His Royal Highness Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, whose presence had been arranged by Pender’s wife Emma (1816-90).The entertainment included demonstrations of modern telegraphy by Cromwell Fleetwood Varley (1828-83), in which the guests were invited to have messages telegraphed to Bombay, Calcutta and New York, receiving replies in less than fifteen minutes.  As a talking point, the grapnel that Great Easternused to recover the 1865 Atlantic cable was suspended from a balcony above the guests.  The guest list included over one hundred dignitaries and the entire event was captured in a 68-page souvenir booklet.  It was also covered a week later in the Illustrated London News, whose article included a detailed engraving of the gathering, which was held in Pender’s main reception room.

Inaugural Soiree at 18 Arlington Street




John Pender went on to merge these operating companies to form the Eastern Telegraph Co in 1872, and together with Daniel Gooch developed his network using limited liability companies for each new project.  These were brought together into the Eastern & Associated Telegraph Companies in 1902 and they merged with Marconi Wireless Telephone in 1929 to form Imperial & International Communications Ltd, which changed its name Cable & Wireless in 1934.   Even though C & W was nationalised by the Labour Government in January 1946, four generations of John Pender’s family ran these organisations until 1965.   John Pender never sold his stake in Telcon, and when Daniel Gooch died, Pender’s eldest son, James Pender (1841-1921), became a board director to retaining the family influence.  On James’ death he was replaced by John Pender’s youngest grandson, Henry Denison-Pender (1884-1967), who remained a board member until Telcon merged with BICC on 5 February 1959, when he retired.
If you want to learn more about this world-changing project, there will be a talk on the subject at the GIHS meeting on Tuesday 14 April.  In the meantime, to read more on the subject there will be articles in the current and March issues of SubTel Forum https://subtelforum.com/products/subtel-forum-magazine/and for those of you who subscribe to the Journal of the Institute of Telecommunications Professionals, there will be a more detailed article in the March edition on the management and implementation of this important cable system.


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Reviews and snippets January 2006

March 2, 2020, 7:47 am
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Reviews and snippets January 2006


GREENWICH STEAM FERRY
 1888-1899
Recent archaeological work carried out during the demolition of WoodWharf at the north end of Horseferry Place SE10 which was at the southern end of the Greenwich Steam Ferry (ref Engineering 17 February 1888, and The Engineer 2 December 1892) has provided some surprising information. It had been thought that there were two or three steam engines on each bank to work the pair of travelling platforms each side of the river and to raise and lower the slowly moving landing stages (one on each bank) which were adjusted as the tide rose and fell. However excavation now reveals that there was only one engine bed at WoodWharfand it appears that a single (large) steam engine (using steam from three locomotive boilers) perhaps worked the three platforms by a complicated drive. The platforms were not counterbalanced by each other but by massive weights in shafts.

There were three of these, one for each platform, over 150 feet deep (this depth has been verified by diving). Further excavation revealed remains of a drain at a lower level which ran to an outfall a short way to the north of WoodWharf. It is thought this drain predates the Steam Ferry. Having independently counterbalanced moving platforms would allow the platforms which communicated with the landing stage to move at any time as traffic dictated. This is analogous with the lifts or elevators in a tall building. The implication is that heavy traffic was anticipated. Mention has been made that it was an American system installed at Greenwich and one wonders if ferries of a similar kind ever operated in New York. The arrangement is rather unlike British practice at the time. The use of locomotive boilers to drive stationary steam engines was not that uncommon and even the locomotive's cylinders and motion might be used. In 1879 the Metropolitan Board of Works purchased six broad gauge engines from the Great Western Railway in order to use them at pumping stations. They were obtained at a reasonable cost - £500 each. Two went to Crossness, one to Falcon brook, Battersea, one to EffraVauxhallGardens and two were put in store. The pair at Crossness drove centrifugal pumps and provided steam for other plant. It is not known how long they survived.
Bob Carr (extracted from GLIAS Newsletter.)

Clive Chambers is due to speak on the ferry remains at our February meeting.


The Swiftstone Trust

Swiftstone is a locally preserved tug. The following extracts are from a review of their work in the past year along with work on preserved firefloat, Massey Shaw.

On September 18th 2004 Swiftstone took part in the Thames Festival at Bankside. We went on up to Bankside for the festival where we circled round hooting and tooting for the benefit of spectators. They waved and blew bubbles appreciatively. 

On October 25th 2004 we went to inspect Woolwich Arsenal pier for a potential mooring. It was not ideal for the Swiftstone but Massey Shaw is currently moored there.

In October 2004 ft was discovered that Swiftstone had a leak. Not too bad at that time and, as she was moored at Wood Wharf on the foreshore the water that came in with the tide and for the most part drained out with the tide. On the night of October 22nd Ian and Julian spent a very uncomfortable time digging away the sand and mud and gravel in a torrential downpour to find the leak.

On 28th October 2004. Reg was informed of a break-in on the Massey Shaw. Vandals had been aboard, smashed in the  cabin door  and gained access to the crew space and galley area. The lads of the were greeted by a sorry sight. The vandals had drunk some and stolen other bottles of beverages, had left excrement and committed acts of general havoc.

On 1st November Reg got another phone call to say that Massey Shaw appeared to be sinking. The phones ran red hot for a time – fortunately Swiftstone’s pumps were working so Massey Shaw was pumped out and refloated and it was found that the engine room had been broken into and  valves had been opened causing the sinking.

Later that day Massey Shaw was towed away by agents of the insurer's after which she went to Woolwich Arsenal Pier.

We were hoping for a repair of Swiftstone in time for summer events but it was not to be.  There are so few repair facilities on the Thames and we had to wait our turn at Corys. This is the first time that Swiftstone had been in the dry dock at Cory despite having been owned by them for more than 50 years.
In our search for potential moorings for Swiftstone we discovered in the Greenwicharea a long jetty in reasonably sound conditions. We were informed by the owners that they had no objections at all and would be rather pleased if  we could take over the river licence from PLA and that is where we hit the bumpers in a most drastic way. The PLA are  demanding an enormous amount of paper work from us, -  business plans,  financial accounting and a guaranteed source of finance to completely  demolish and remove the structure from the river at some unknown time in the future and they want  survey  reports on the structure and planning approval.


Association for Industrial Archaeology Awards

The AIA award programme aims to enhance the understanding of industrial archaeology and to encourage high standards in fieldwork and publications. Annual awards are made in the following categories
•    Fieldwork and Recording
•    Essays
•    Publications
Applications for the three awards above must be received
by 31st March.  Entries are also invited at any time from voluntary groups for the Conservation Award.
www.industrial-archaeology.org.uk


Beam engine gets Lottery cash boost

Hidden away in Crossness Record is the information that Crossness Engines have been offered a lottery grant.  However News Shopper’s Linda Piper provided a more detailed account telling us that The Heritage Lottery Fund had awarded the money to the Crossness  Engines Trust for the restoration of the Grade I Listed  buildings and to create a series of visitor facilities.
“ The first installment of £99,000 of Lottery cash will      enable the trust to produce detailed restoration and      development plans.  Once those have been approved the rest of the cash  will be released to start the work. As well as the restoration of the original buildings, new facilities such as a cafe, lecture room and library will be created, together with car parking and the launch of a revamped website. The trust will then be able to tell the story of London's  sewage problem and feat of engineering which               overcame it. “
She continues: “There will be activities for schools and visitor  workshops, talks, guided tours and hands-on activities as well as dressing up and role play to bring the sewage works to life.  Described by the Heritage Lottery Fund as "a heritage gem," the complex is currently open for only 30 days a year. Once restored, the trust plans to open it three day week during spring and autumn and two days a week during the winter.”

They quote The Lottery Fund London manager  as saying  "The buildings at the pumping station are nationally important and the proposed scheme will open up its history to as many people as possible”. Peter Bazalgette, great great grandson of Sir Joseph and chairman of the trust, said: "The trust's volunteers have already restored one of the magnificent engines. "Now they are a concrete step closer to their dream the creation of an exhibition and steam centre at t heart of the community which will become the Thames Gateway."

Gasworks to the Dome Project

The Independent Photography Project  are starting a new series of workshops for Gasworks to Dome for 2006. It will focus on training for taking 'then and now' digital photos of GreenwichPeninsula - and setting everyone a brief for going out and doing it  - and then looking at some existing websites, for inspiration! Over the coming weeks we will develop our group's idea for the project's final multimedia presentation, and we'll be bringing in a new digital arts specialist to help us do that.


WoolwichTown Hall Centenary 2006
                                                                               


The Town Hall in Wellington Street celebrates it's 100th birthday in 2006. Designed in high Edwardian gothic style by Sir Arthur Brumwell Thomas, it was built in 1906 to replace the earlier Town hall of 1842 in Calderwood  Street. Costing £95,000, the Town Hall was opened by Will Crooks MP who used a golden key to open the door. The Town Hall is noted for its outstanding architectural detail and for the fine stained glass windows by Geoffrey Webb, which depict local historical figures and associations. There is also a statue of Queen Victoria by Frederick  Pomeroy which was funded by public subscription. 

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Letters January 2006

March 3, 2020, 1:02 am
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Letters January 2006

From:  Keith Mills
I have no real information relating to "Merryweather's" of Greenwich, London. I know that following their move from Greenwich, they established themselves at the Rassau Ind. Estate in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, then one Easter weekend they moved all their appliances to a store in Plymouth, all this took place between 1982 and 1986.  Furthermore, two gentlemen by the names of Greening and Tovil (I believe) set up the G & T Turntable ladder business in Gravesend, Kent.  These two gentlemen were former employees at the Merryweather Factory in Greenwich, further to this I have no other information on their Records/Files on Fire appliances.  A descendant recently approached the  FireServiceCollege. I believe the descendant was that of "Moses Merryweather," 

From:  Richard Buchanan
This is in reply to a request in the November 2005 GIHS Newsletter: SS Faraday (1) is briefly written up in Cableships and Submarine Cables by K R Haigh, published in 1978 by STC Submarine Systems Division (now Alcatel Submarine Systems). The following is an extract:

Brief details- Built for Siemens Bros, Woolwich, in 1874 by C Mitchell & Co Ltd, Newcastle.
Length: 360.38 ft Breadth: 52.25 ft  Depth-.36.9ft Gross Tonnage: 5052 Compound Engine. 

William Siemens was instrumental in having: Twin Screws and bow & stern Rudders for manoeuvrability; Twin Funnels abreast, leaving a clear central cable run from bow to stern, and innovative cable handling gear. There were three Cable Tanks. Laid 50 000 nautical miles of cable before being decommissioned in 1924, when replaced by SS Faraday  (2); though survived as a hulk before being broken up in 1950.  

From Yvonne Witton
I saw your website and am hoping you can give me some brief information on the Industrial Buildings Company who owned the Rectory Buildings in Deptford in 1890's

From: Jennifer Nevill
Do you have any information about CA Robinson & Co which was based at AnchorWharf until the 1970's?

From: Sharon Waite
I wonder if you could direct me to somebody that may be able to help. My husband lived at 147 Blackheath Hill until he was about 6 (which would have been approx. 1967). We have managed to find an old photo of the building which was spectacular - I am trying to find out the history of the building, what was it used for originally, who built it etc. Unfortunately it has now been demolished and some ghastly 1970's style flats have been erected, but it would be great to know the history of what he remembers.

From: John Davy                                                                                                            
We recently had a neighbour pass away and during the house clearance came across 2 framed certificates awarded to a George Smoker for services in assisting to save lives from a fire at Chestfields Blackheath Hill Greenwich 13th July 1880. I wondered if your local society would have any information or would know where I could go to find more.


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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INFORMATION FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE - January 2006

March 4, 2020, 9:18 am
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CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL INFORMATION
FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE



MAST QUAY, FORMER WOOLWICH DOCKYARD, CHURCH ROAD, WOOLWICH. Pre-Construct Archaeology
In or around 1512 Henry VIII established a Royal Dockyard in Woolwich which was closed down in 1869. The dockyard had been engaged in the construction and repair of naval vessels. The archaeologists’ watching brief uncovered evidence for 10 phases of activity, beginning in the 18th century. Various timber revetments of this period were shown to have been made re-used ships timbers and construction scraps, demonstrating that cost  was an issue in manufacture. We also noted further revetments, two ragstone slipway walls, cobbled surfaces and drainage elements. Historically the dockyard is known to have been frequently modified and altered. This evidence is supported by the archaeological data. Interesting details of shipwrights, carpenters etc. craft activities were identified as well as information on the navy's wood procurement strategies.

BROADWATER ROAD, THAMESMEAD. Wessex Archaeology
We found no remains of archaeological importance, apart from noting the possible abandoned  course of the  PilkingtonCanal.

ST PAUL'S ACADEMY (ABBEYWOODSCHOOL) Pre-Construct Archaeology
In one trench a 19th century boundary ditch was found, showing the area for agriculture or pasture in post medieval times.

WOODWHARF
On the south bank, at Wood Wharf, Horseferry Place/Thames Street, Greenwich a record was made of the below ground Engine Room that served the Greenwich Steam Ferry, which ran from 1888 to 1900. Steam power was needed to move two carriages and the landing stage on rails up and down a concrete ramp on the foreshore to meet the ferry boats and to cope with the tidal range. The cable haulage system was complex and the ferry not a commercial success.

ROYAL ARSENAL
Another season of fieldwork has revealed well-preserved evidence  for the industrial development of  the site from the 19th to 20th century  Deposits of reworked alluvial clay in  the middle of the site revealed two 18th-century cannon in very good  condition. It is likely that both had  been brought to the Royal Arsenal for proofing, had failed, and then  been recycled as mooring posts.  In the north of the site, layers of  wood shavings and bark may be evidence for the use of the site as Timber Field, for seasoning, in the  middle of the 19th century  In the northwestern corner;  remains were found of the 1870s Boiler House that powered a  steam hammer; the anvil of which  was found in the Phase 2 works.  The remains of the building were  extensive, consisting of brick flues and boiler base supports founded on timber piles. To the east of the Boiler House,  contemporary remains of the  Rolling Mill were found, including  brick-built furnaces and a chimney  base. Evidence was seen for the  reworking of the Rolling Mill, presumably reflecting advances in manufacturing technology.  The substantial structural remains of the south Boring Mill were found. A variety of external features survived too, including cobbled surfaces and bogey tracks. While the remains  were consistent with those found of previous the South Boring Mill in Zone 22, it was noticeable that the actual  lathe beds in the eastern side of   the mill had been removed for the installation of the ground slab of a later building. This shows the change of function of this part of the South Boring Mill. The external elements of the South Boring Mill had been superseded by the 20th-century reworking of  Street No 10.   

Recording of the ChemicalDepartmentBuildingat the Royal Arsenal,Woolwich  took place on this historically important structure. One of the first purpose-built chemical laboratories, it was the home to many  major military developments including that of cordite. The building in altered principally through lain extensions, and it was  possible to record a number of  items such as former fume  cupboards, exposed by plaster as well as blocked doorways and other  architectural features.
                             
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