Letters January 2005
From: David Riddle
Just a note to let all members know that the Greenwich Industrial History Society has been added to the membership of WebRing - the Industrial History & Museums Ring created by the Wandle Industrial Museum to interlink related Web sites. This ring also contains web sites dedicated to information and/or research about industrial history and heritage in a wider context.
From: Bob Aspinall
These few lines will update you on events in 2004. After 22 years as Librarian of the Port of London Library & Archive (PLA 1982/1986, Museum of London 1986-2004), I retired in October 2004. This was due mostly to the stress of the workload (which led to another 10 weeks sick absence in the Summer). I have found that retirement and I are very well-suited, and I have to say that I am surprised by how little I have thought about work! I am currently working one day a week in the Library on special projects, with the flashy title of MiD Library & Archive Advisor! It would be delightful to hear from you now and again:- I wish you a healthy and prosperous 2005.
From: Graham Manchester
I had contacted you about my great-grandfather’s business in Anchor & Hope Lane plus an old antiquarian called Ron Longhurst who lived up by the Park in Westcombe Park Road. You kindly came back to me with some recollection of Ron and his wife but I have not heard anymore. However, I have found some photos of my great-grandfather’s vehicles working for the South East Gas Board supplying tar for the A20 at the Dutch House! Plus we have found a person who has a record of ALL the vehicles owned by my great-grandfather including the one which was blown up by a V1 doodlebug.
From: Jenny Hunt
My maternal grandfather, George Francis Mole, worked for William Webster of Crossness from 1888, aged 16, for a number of years having started his employment two to three years earlier with the Beckton Gas Works as a Crane Boy. While at William Webster he obtained his 'full ticket'. At some point he joined Redpath Brown and worked there until he retired aged 75. He worked on the construction of old Canning Town Bridge and Folkestone Harbour. We always understood that he was a Crane Driver. he was a founder member of the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers. Any information would be most helpful and greatly welcomed.
From: Patrick Harvey
I would like any information about Duresco, the paint company formerly based in Charlton.
From: Mary Tuffett
I would like to draw the attention of the society to the Jubilee Geological Wall currently being built at Watchet Station in Somerset. In Cadet Place in Greenwich stands what has been called ‘the Cyclopean Wall’.
I recall that in this newsletter Eric Robinson, the geologist (senior lecturer University College and ex-President Royal Archaeological Institute) has drawn attention to its importance as ‘a history of the stone trade in the English channel’.
In Watchet, Eric Robinson has been supervising the construction of a very similar wall in order to demonstrate the varieties of local stone in that area. The result will look very like our Greenwich wall. Details of the wall can be obtained from the Town Museum in Watchet (no address but Watchet is a very small place!).
The Greenwich wall is likely to disappear soon when Lovells and Granite Wharves are developed.
From: David Riddle
Just a note to let all members know that the Greenwich Industrial History Society has been added to the membership of WebRing - the Industrial History & Museums Ring created by the Wandle Industrial Museum to interlink related Web sites. This ring also contains web sites dedicated to information and/or research about industrial history and heritage in a wider context.
From: Bob Aspinall
These few lines will update you on events in 2004. After 22 years as Librarian of the Port of London Library & Archive (PLA 1982/1986, Museum of London 1986-2004), I retired in October 2004. This was due mostly to the stress of the workload (which led to another 10 weeks sick absence in the Summer). I have found that retirement and I are very well-suited, and I have to say that I am surprised by how little I have thought about work! I am currently working one day a week in the Library on special projects, with the flashy title of MiD Library & Archive Advisor! It would be delightful to hear from you now and again:- I wish you a healthy and prosperous 2005.
From: Graham Manchester
I had contacted you about my great-grandfather’s business in Anchor & Hope Lane plus an old antiquarian called Ron Longhurst who lived up by the Park in Westcombe Park Road. You kindly came back to me with some recollection of Ron and his wife but I have not heard anymore. However, I have found some photos of my great-grandfather’s vehicles working for the South East Gas Board supplying tar for the A20 at the Dutch House! Plus we have found a person who has a record of ALL the vehicles owned by my great-grandfather including the one which was blown up by a V1 doodlebug.
From: Jenny Hunt
My maternal grandfather, George Francis Mole, worked for William Webster of Crossness from 1888, aged 16, for a number of years having started his employment two to three years earlier with the Beckton Gas Works as a Crane Boy. While at William Webster he obtained his 'full ticket'. At some point he joined Redpath Brown and worked there until he retired aged 75. He worked on the construction of old Canning Town Bridge and Folkestone Harbour. We always understood that he was a Crane Driver. he was a founder member of the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers. Any information would be most helpful and greatly welcomed.
From: Patrick Harvey
I would like any information about Duresco, the paint company formerly based in Charlton.
From: Mary Tuffett
I would like to draw the attention of the society to the Jubilee Geological Wall currently being built at Watchet Station in Somerset. In Cadet Place in Greenwich stands what has been called ‘the Cyclopean Wall’.
In Watchet, Eric Robinson has been supervising the construction of a very similar wall in order to demonstrate the varieties of local stone in that area. The result will look very like our Greenwich wall. Details of the wall can be obtained from the Town Museum in Watchet (no address but Watchet is a very small place!).
The Greenwich wall is likely to disappear soon when Lovells and Granite Wharves are developed.