From Philip Davies, Director, English
Heritage London Region
I enclose for your attention a copy of Changing London: An Historic
City for a Modern World, which we are distributing widely. Changing
London highlights the crucial contribution London's historic environment
makes to people's quality of life and to the capital's economy. We must stop
polarizing the old and the new. London's future lies in the successful
integration of both into the daily lives of the 7.5 million people who live and
work in this great city. The publication coincides with the release of a MORI
poll commissioned by English Heritage which asks Londoners about their views on
London's historic environment. It is clear that it enjoys enormous public
support. People care deeply about it. English Heritage is a facilitator in
enabling change. Conservation is about managing, not preventing, change. One of
our key aims is to encourage a creative dialogue between conservation and
developers.
We believe that the best new buildings arise from understanding and
valuing the historic environment. Conservation does not inhibit good new
architecture; it provides a framework within which it can flourish. This was
demonstrated by the recent RIBA London Awards where 11 of the 14 award winning
schemes were for new buildings in an historic context.
From Pat O’Driscoll
Some more comments on Mary Mills’ new book Greenwich and Woolwich at
Work.
p. 24 – Norton’s Barge Yard – Norton’s survived into the 1960s. Dick
closed it in 1966 but he continued to go down there most days.
p 28 – the bottom picture was taken by me on 27th October
1954. It might be possible to identify the barge hulk being broken up in this
picture of Garrett’s Barge Breakers.
The bottom picture on page 71 was taken by me on 22nd
September 1954. The mast shown outside Enderby House on the Greenwich riverside
and said to come from the Great Eastern was made of wood – it was the only one of
her masts, which was wood because it was used to mount the ship’s compass above
the magnetic field of the ship. The
other masts were of hollow steel and formed funnels for the ship’s auxiliaries
(steam steering engine, etc.)
The picture on p. 105 was taken on 22nd May 1972.
The picture of Tower Julie on p. 15 was taken on April 3rd
1972. She was then discharging a cargo of maize and it was her very first
voyage.
The pictures of old Deptford Creek Bridge are interesting. It’s the
first one I’ve seen. The gang of men had to remove the rails so that the bridge
could open just 14 inches (I’m told), which would just permit the passage of a
ship’s mast if the ship was steered very accurately.
P. 65 – note the solid front tyres of that lorry. These would date the
picture from the early 1920s before pneumatic tyres came on the scene.
p. 35 that barge alongside Woolwich power station looks as if she is a
steel one, possibly one of Goldsmith’s. She would be a river barge rather than
a coasting barge because on bowsprit can be seen. Coasting barges generally had
a bowsprit. I can’t think what sort of bales she would be discharging here. The
crane has an iron bucket rather than a grab, which would seem to rule out coal,
which one would be more likely to find being discharged at a power station. A
bit of a mystery here! I’d like to show the picture to Bob Childs, who might
well know the answer.
p. 102 I think the reason why no books can be seen on the shelves in
Plumstead Library is that most public libraries in the early past of the 20th
century were closed access ones where the books were out of signs and would be
borrowers chose a book from number in a catalogue and the assistant fetched.
Some libraries had a big board with details of books and a number beside each
book. The libraries I used to work at (Forest Hill branch dating from 1900)
only went over to open access in 1932 so that the books were on shelves as they
are in today’s libraries. The branch librarian who had been in post since 1920
told me about the changeover.
From Bob Aspinall,
Museum in Docklands
I am taking this opportunity to update friends and colleagues on the
latest news regarding the Museum in Docklands (MiD), which is as follows:-
The Museum in
Docklands ran in to financial problems earlier this year, due to the escalating
cost of converting this magnificent Grade I Listed warehouse into a museum
capable of accommodating the demands of 150,000 visitors a year. The only way
that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) would bail us out was to bring about a
merger between MiD and the Museum of London (MoL): this was based on the
premise that most of the collections which would be displayed at MiD already
belong to MoL, together with the contents of the Docklands Library &
Archive. The MoL agreed to the merger on the understanding that a funding
package could be put together to take on MiD and run it in the future. This
funding package has three components:- the HLF: the Department of Culture,
Media & Sport (DCMS): and the Corporation of London (CoL). At the moment,
DCMS and CoL support the MoL on a 50/50 basis. All the support has to be
"new money"- the MoL cannot run MiD out of its existing budget. So
far, HLF has coughed up, DCMS has put in some money but not as much as was
originally hoped, but the CoL has so far refused to make a contribution. This failure has caused the
announcement of the merger between the two museums to be put back twice, in
November and December. It has also meant that the plans to recruit 40 new staff
to run MiD have had to be suspended. The job adverts have been issued: hundreds
of people have applied: shortlists have been made: but job interviews scheduled
to take place in the first full week in January have been postponed.
Meanwhile, the staff here is continuing to work on getting the MiD ready
for opening. As many of you will know, the displays in the galleries are about
90% complete, the lecture theatre is operational and the Library & Archive
is in place. But the reluctance of the CoL to put money on the table means that
the merger will be delayed at least until the next MoL Board meeting in
January. Despite that, the MoL remains confident that it can still achieve the
scheduled opening date of the 12th April 2003. However, if the CoL fails to
commit to its share of the funding in January, the opening date will have to be
put back once again. I am sure you can imagine the effect that all this is
having on the MiD staff- 2002 has been a bleak year for all of us. Merger with
the MoL is now the only option left open to MiD if it wants to open to the
public. Let us hope that the current problems will be resolved soon and we can
at long last deliver this wonderful museum. All I can say to you is, watch this
space!
From
James Purtill
Your November newsletter includes a letter from
Michael Cooke regarding the electric telegraph and submarine cables. I worked
in the submarine cable industry for some years and I have some information
which could be helpful. I have a copy of a book entitled "From Elektron to
'e' Commerce - 150 Years of Laying Submarine Cables" which was jointly
produced in 2000 by Global Marine Systems Ltd. (address: 27 Duke Street,
Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1HT) and Alcatel Submarine Networks of Greenwich. It is
possible that copies could be available from these companies. The book includes
some
information about submarine cable manufacture at Greenwich among a lot of
historical detail about the development of the industry. Technical detail about
telegraph cable manufacture and laying should be available from the Porthcurno
telecommunications museum in Cornwall. Their website (http//www.porthcurno.
org.uk/ museum/ mdex.html) includes details of equipment in the museum and a
few relevant books. I presume Alcatel must have some old records but I am not
sure.
Finally, Captain Glyn Wrench at the National Maritime Museum at
Greenwich will be able to assist. He spent a lifetime working on Cable &
Wireless vessels and is an expert and an enthusiast on the subject. He would be
delighted to hear from anybody with an interest in the industry. I hope this is
helpful.
From Barbara Ludlow
My Billingsgate Dock article should
be in Bygone Kent next month. Did
you hear Julian Watson (Greenwich Local History Librarian) and Eve Hostettler
(Island History Project) talking about the Greenwich Foot Tunnel on ‘Making
History’ this week?
More to the point – who heard Barbara
herself talking about Enderby House on the same programme a couple of weeks
ago?
From Malcolm Tucker
You had a query from Kay Bigsby (GIHS
p.7) about an engine driver or building worker c. 1900 (presumably the father
of the person on the birth certificate!). He
might have tended a portable engine for driving machinery such as a mortar
mixer on a large site. But supporting it was a railway locomotive engine – I
enclose a copy of an article on contractors’ railways by Edwin Course (1992). Although these were
used mainly on civil engineering works the article mentions mental hospitals,
and after World War One when productivity became of greater concern to the
building industry these were used on large housing contracts both public and
private. The sites did not have to be connected to the mainline system, nor
large in area, a recent article in another journal described the use of a
standard gauge loco for constructing the water works service reservoir at
Fortis Green nears Muswell Hill, N10 , in the Edwardian period. By the nature of the construction industry a
worker would need to move from site to site, so he may not have worked close to
home except occasionally.
Those with
past connections with the Royal Arsenal Woolwich are usually eager to point out
‘Woolwich Arsenal ‘ is the railway station – but your note from Peter Wood
(GIHS 5 pp 8-9) states that some bronze memorial plaques manufactured at the
Arsenal in the 1920s are marked ‘WA’ Any comments?
The article which Malcolm sent is
from the Construction History Society Newsletter No.19 April 1992.
From Jim Arthur
I read and
enjoyed Mary Mills’ book ‘Greenwich and Woolwich at Work’. I am interested in
Merryweather and sons I would like to be put in touch with anyone who has a
collection of pictures. I saw many photos in old bound copies of London Fireman. I regret I did not grab the opportunity of
acquiring these, as some were priceless.
Just also to say that on p. 10 of the book is the ‘Woolwich Infant’ –
authorities differ on this, I would say a muzzle loader had to be a smooth
bore, but on p.51 a similar gun shows feint rifling marks at the muzzle !!!
From Brian Molony
This letter comes from the University of Hull on the banks of the Humber
to Humber Road. I hope that is a good omen! I am Emeritus Professor of Italian
at the University of Hull and have written two books and a number of articles
on the Italian writer Italo Svevo (1861-1928). With Prof. John Gatt-Rutter, who
has written a biography of Svevo, I am now preparing an edition of Svevo's
letters and essays from/about London. You no doubt know the English Heritage
blue plaque at 67 Church Lane, Charlton
(which for some reason omits to say that he also lived there from 1920
to 1927). Italo Svevo was the pseudonym of Ettore Schmitz, who worked for the
paint firm of his parents-in law, Gioacchino and Olga Veneziani. He set up the
Veneziani factory in Hope & Anchor Lane. I am now looking for information
about the factory - even, ideally, a photograph of it - as well as some of
Svevo's neighbours, such as Richards, the owner of the factory or workshop next
door, whom Svevo mentions in his essays. I shall be very grateful if you can
draw the attention of your members to our project, which I think will be of
interest to them, and to our need for some help. Is there also a Charlton Local
History Society you could put me in touch with?
From Peter Solar
For some years I have
been collecting information on flax, hemp, and jute spinning mills in the U.K.
I wonder if you or any of the members of the Society might be able to tell me
more about a mill in Greenwich. What I have found to date is summarized below:
Factory Inspectors' Statistics for flax, hemp and jute mills in Kent
- 1839 1, 1850 1, 1857 0, 1862 0, 1867
0, 1871 0,
1905 1 (hemp)
In 1839 factory inspectors' statistics the mill is in Greenwich parish
and has 40 hands (but no sign of it in Pigot's directory for 1840) In 1855 sale
auction: twine sp & prep machinery of Hemp Works, East Greenwich, near
London; 10 sp fr; 15 twisting fr (Dundee Advertiser, 24/7/55).
Enderby, C.H. & G. (38, 39) (not 24, 51) New East Greenwich and 15
Great St Helens, London Founded:1834
Closed: Product:
Notes: In Pigot's London & Provincial Directory for 1833 new entry
for 1834 is Enderby Bros, rope & canvas mfrs, 15 Great St Helens. In 1837
listed in London as merchants at 15 Great St Helens. In 1839 flax spinning
mills & patent rope makers. In 1845 Charles, Henry & George Enderby,
rope & canvas mfrs. Spindles:
I suspect that the advertisement cited above refers to the Enderby
concern. I would be interested to know whether this mill was newly constructed
or converted from some other use and what became of the site after hemp
spinning was stopped in the early 1850s.
Professor of
Economics, Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels
From Jay Edwins
Hello, I wonder if you can help me settle a friendly argument! 1 believe
that the Blackwall Tunnel has major bends in it for engineering reasons. My
chum, however, insists that it was built like this so horses would not bolt
when they saw daylight. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
From Glyn in Tasmania
Hi everyone, I
am researching the building of the Lady Nelson in Dudmans Dock in 1798 Some
reports refer to Deadmans Dock. Are these the same place? Any information would
be most welcome.
From Bob
Forrester
General
Steam Navigation Co. and its Deptford Factory:
You
may recall that I contacted you some time back concerning my research at the Greenwich
Maritime Institute into General Steam and, specifically, my interest in its
Deptford Factory ship repair and engine building facility on the banks of
Deptford Creek.
I wonder if a mention in your up-coming newsletter may
yield some leads. I have visited both the Greenwich and Lewisham libraries and
made contact with Peter Gurnett who produced a booklet, A History of the
GSNCo., a couple of years ago. I have been thoroughly through the GSNCo.
archive in the National Maritime Museum and also looked through the limited
material available at the Museum in Docklands. I have also had a chat with Alan
Pearsall. Any leads or information your members may be able to offer concerning
the Factory or relating to the Brockelbank family which was resident in
Westcombe Park will be greatly appreciated. (Thomas Brockelbank, a timber
merchant, was closely involved with the company from the 1820s.)
From Tony Wright
I am researching William Harding, Gent,
Merchant of Greenwich, Kent. Born in Poole, Hampshire he subsequently married
into a Barbados Plantation family. He had two sons, William and John. John at
some stage lived in Greenwich and inherited plantations. John died around1718.
His father William died 1707. Any info. would be most welcome.
From: Dennis Grubb
Can you find someone who would be able to
research News Papers about 1905 or so for information on a court case and
subsequent closure of the Cemetery Brickyard in Southland Road Plumstead which
was run by my ancestors at that time.Please advise what they would want me to
pay
Dennis Grubb, Adelaide South Australia
From Ian Sharpe
We have updated http://www.tower-bridge.org.uk and trust you will find many
useful links to explore, do let us know what you think about our site by
e-mail, or you can sign our visitor Guestbook and even link your URL there.
Best wishes for the festive season....
Chair of LEA Heritage Community Group
Best wishes for the festive season....
Chair of LEA Heritage Community Group
From Reg, Jacqui and Lorna Barter
It appears that we are the custodians of the
only Merryweather Firepumps left in Greenwich (in Massey Shaw)!
(well Reg …
there’s a mysterious valve cover in Vanburgh Hill with ‘Merryweather’ written
on it …. What lies beneath?)
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