PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
ARCHIVE
Issue
28 contains an article by
GIHS member, Pat O'Driscoll on her experiences in sailing barge Olive May – and
indeed the history of the barge before Pat joined her. It would not be honest to pretend that the
article contains anything about Greenwich – but there are some stunning
pictures and stories of a sailing barge at work on other parts of London River
– well worth reading! The issue also contains a picture of Thornley Colliery,
Co.Durham taken following a disastrous fire in 1875. It is very likely that
Thornley Street in East Greenwich was named after this colliery
GLIAS NEWSLETTER, 191
Contains a report of the visit to Woolwich
Arsenal arranged by Mike Neill – and attended by many GIHS members. It also contains the article on Excavations
at the Arsenal taken from our previous newsletter, a report of the Crossness
Engines AGM, and a note about the Antigallican Pub in Charlton.
MERIDIAN
The December 2000 issue contains an
interview with the new Director of the Maritime Museum – Rear Admiral Roy
Clare. Some GIHS members have already met Roy and we look forward to future
co-operation.
UNDERGROUND NEWS
Roger Hough has passed us a copy of this
monthly magazine – which is to do with railways not chalk mines (sorry, Nick
Catford). Roger points out that –perhaps
now that Greenwich is attached to the underground network at last – that it is
full of articles of great interest. The edition which Roger has given us is for
April 2000 and includes the working timetable for the Jubilee Line as well as
all sorts of news snippets and reviews.
LEWISHAM LOCAL HISTORY
SOCIETY NEWSLETTER.
Contains a note from Peter Gurnett about
the Russian replica ship, Shtandart, which visited us last summer. Peter points
out that when Peter the Great left Deptford in 1698 he took with him about 500
English engineers, artificers, surgeons, artisans, artillerymen, etc. Peter
points out that this means that the original Shtandart was in effect Deptford
built!
The issue also contains a reproduction of a
gas bill from someone who lived at 6 Annandale Road in 1917. This came from the South Metropolitan Gas
Company, at Old Kent Road, and showed that the occupant, a Mr. Drapper, owed
18s.6d. for his gas plus 1/3d. for meter rent and 1/6d. for gas stove hire.
BLACKHEATH GUIDE
The December issue contains a fascinating
article by Neil Rhind on 'modern' architecture - and draws attention to a new
book by a local author on the subject (Modern Retro by Neil Bingham and Andrew
Weaving).
The January issue has an interview by Sarah
Hodgson with Terry Scales about his new book, Visions of Greenwich Reach. A Homage to the Working Thames.
Neil Rhind writes
about Blackheath winters with particular reference to alterations in the course
of the Kidbrook stream and the swimming bath once near Blackheath Station –
using old carp ponds.
VOICE OF THE VALLEY
Amazing as it may seem Charlton Football
Club supporters have published an article on interest to local industrial
historians! This is in their April issue in an article by Keith Ferris and
concerns the history of the site of the Valley Ground.
Anyone who has visited The Valley can see
it is an old pit and in the 1800s this was owned by the Roupell Boyd estates
but quarried by Lewis Glenton, limeburner. In 1840 the Turnpike Trust gave
Glenton permission to build a railway from the quarry to the riverside. Once work started there was an immediate row
– and Keith Ferris gives some details of this.
He points our that the route of Glenton's railway was today's Ransom
Road and that the rather strange angle, and bridge, on this road is explained
once you realise it is an old railway trackbed – and he further said that lines
fanned out over the area of today's football ground. Part of the railway was reused by British
Ropes – and indeed some track remained by the riverside until reasonably
recently.
LEWISHAM HISTORY JOURNAL
The latest edition, No.8, contains an
extremely important article on Mumford's Flour Mill in Greenwich High Road by
English Heritage's Jonathan Clarke. This is in fact the text of the lecture
given to our Society by Jonathan earlier this year (and snaffled from under our
noses by Peter Gurnett!!!). Anyone who didn't come to our lecture is urged to
go at once and buy a copy of this text – perhaps one of the most important
descriptions of a Greenwich building to be written this year. If you did come to the lecture you will be
rushing out to get it anyway because you will know how good it was!
Also in this issue are articles on
Jacobites in Deptford and Henry Williamson in the First World War. Lewisham Local History Society are a bit coy
about where to buy copies from. I got my second copy from Tom Sheppherd, 2
Bennett Park, SE3. I needed a second copy because the first one was stolen by
someone who was so overwhelmed by Jonathan's article that they ran off with my
copy!
GASLIGHT
The newsletter of the North West Gas
Historical Society, an unlikely place to find Greenwich industry, you might
think. BUT – in their December 2000 issue is a reproduction of the directors
and chief officers of the Plumstead and Charlton Consumers Gas Company taken in
1870. Gaslight's editor, Terry Mitchell, reckons that this is the oldest
photograph taken of interest to gas historians.
It was reproduced in the South Metropolitan Gas Company's Co-partnership
Journal in May 1936 and credited with thanks to Woolwich Antiquarians.
OPEN TO TIDE MILLS
The proceedings of a Conference held in
September at the House Mill at Bromley by Bow have been published. It contains items on tide mills – at Bromley
by Bow but also at Eling, Woodbridge and at the Tower of London, as well as
details of some abroad.
Merryweather
and Saskatoon
Go to the web site of the City of Saskatoon
- its in Canada! There you will not only find pages and pages and pages of
pictures of Greenwich built fire engines but a company history embellished with
archive pictures of the factory in Greenwich High Road…. (Someone said
something about a prophet not being recognised in their own country…?).
WAS THE
FIRST BRITISH MOTOR CAR BUILT IN GREENWICH?
This is the claim made on a web site http://www.mysterymotors.com/directory.htm. The author says that this was built at the
Merryweather works in Greenwich High Road by Edward Butler. …. Tell us more someone!
WILLIAM
MONTAGUE GLENISTER
In 1861 a William Montague Glenister and a
Mr. Merryweather patented the first twin hand pump action fire tricycle – the
forerunner of the modern fire engine.
Glenister had begun his career in the police working for the Great
Western Railway and then becoming Superintendent in Hastings. In 1861 he also became the first Captain of
the new Hastings Fire Brigade.
-
is he
anything to do with Glenister Road, SE10?
WOOLWICH
AND LEWISHAM STEAM
ENGINES.
We are indebted to Peter Jenkins for the
following notes taken from the Surveyor General's minutes.
Woolwich Wharf – September 15th
1806 ' Captain Hayter, commanding Royal Engineers at Woolwich … the Steam
Engine used in the construction of the New Wharf at Woolwich required repairs
for a sum not exceeding £350. Ordered
that Captain Hayter be acquainted that the Board approve of Mr. Lloyd being
employed to repair the Steam Engine upon the terms of his proposal'
Royal Carriage Department January 25th 1809 Maudsley to provide a steam engine, plus an
extra boiler for the Royal Carriage Works at Woolwich. (N.B. the engines is to be connected by drums
and shafts to straps - thus it is a
rotary engine) February 24th
1809 Bramah had made repairs to boiler and valves at the Royal Carriage
Department.
Royal
Armoury Mills at Lewisham – December 16th 1808 – John Faulder
allowed 52/- a chaldron for Wylon Moor Coals, the market price, for the steam
engine at Lewisham. April 1st 1809. 36hp steam engine at Lewisham working
extremely well. Lloyd made straps for the drums. April
18th 1809 Two labourers required to carry coal and sift cinders
at Lewisham.
LOCAL
INDUSTRY FLOURISHES
The Maze Hill Pottery is in the Old Ticket
Office of Maze Hill Station in Woodlands Park Road, SE10 and is very much in
business. Lisa Hammond, the potter, developed a soda glaze technique while at
Goldsmiths and has worked on the process ever since. She draws attention to the
similarity of this process to that undertaken at the Woolwich kiln – now under
restoration Lisa not only makes and sells pots at
Maze Hill, she also runs classes in the subject. Another Greenwich pottery can be found very
close by in Chevening Road - where Sarah Perry makes stoneware.
GASHOLDERS
The great gasholder at East Greenwich is
not generally seen as an attractive object.
Things are not the same abroad:
Milan - an almost
exact copy of the East Greenwich gas holder is being turned into a Museum and
exhibition centre. .
Oberlin, North
America, a small gas holder is an estate feature: h
Oberhausen in the
Ruhr the enormous gasholder (of a different design) is now an entertainment and
exhibition complex.
Brisbane,
Australia, a holder is a feature in a new park. cultural events have already been held in the gas holder while it, and three
others, are being renovated.
Gelsenkirchen,
Germany, a spherical holder is now a used as a feasture in a 'greening' process
throughout the city.
Amsterdam …other similar
projects in Florence and in
Portugal.
John Bowles has
passed us copy of the SAVE Britain's Heritage newsletter from February last
year. This includes a special item on
gas holders with particular reference to proposed demolition of those at
St.Pancras They go on 'perhaps a more
interesting approach might be the one adopted at some sites in the German Ruhr
…. Kings Cross is not the only site under threat. Britain was once a world
leader in the gas industry and thr race is on to survey surviving sites and
assess which ought to be preserved before they are all gone. You can help by letting SAVE know of any
particularly attractive or historic gas holders near you that you believe
deserve consideration for listing'.
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AS A
FORCE IN A
DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
This is the subject of a Conference to be
held in May in Orebro County, Sweden – under the auspices of the Committee on
Cultural Heritage of the Industrial Era in Sweden. It asks how industrial monuments can be used
to create identity, and can they be a force in a changing society?
INDUSTRIES
OF GREENWICH - Peter Trigg
J.Stone
& Co. – The Charlton
branch of this firm is mainly known for making large propellers and, in more
recent times, for thurst units as well. Such famous ships as the Queen Mary
were fitted with Stones propellers and fitted with Stone's propellers and
transport of these from the works was always a great source of interest.
Electrical Engineering
The earliest
practical application of electricity was the telegraph and about the middle of
the nineteenth century many firms set up business to make telegraphic cables
and instruments. Submarine cables, in particular, were in great demand and
Greenwich/Charlton. Having ready access to the Thames, were ideal areas for
their manufacture. As electrical
engineering developed later in the century most of the early firms widened
their scope to cover virtually all electrical equipment.
Elliott Brothers (Lewisham) – Originally scientific instrument makers
they moved to Lewisham late in the nineteenth century. Electrical instruments
became their speciality soon after the move and in more recent times electronic
control systems.
Glass Elliot & Co.
(East Greenwich) –
This company in conjunction with the Gutta Percha Company made past of the
first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1857 and many others over the next
decade or so on including the second transatlantic cable laid by the Great Eastern
in 1865.
W.T.Henley (Greenwich) – This was another firm initially prominent in
telegraphic work but mostly known in later times for power cable production.
THE
ORDER OF INDUSTRIAL HEROISM
We have been sent a copy of 'The Order of
Industrial Heroism' by W.H.Fevyer, J.W.Wilson and J.E.Cribb. (pub. Orders and
Medals Society). This may seem to be an unusual subject to
highlight here, but it contains many stories which throw a great deal of light
on industrial history in our area. For example:
Albert Boswell, Charlton, SE7 – a foundry
worker presented with his award in Greenwich Town Hall – 27th
October 1954
A trimmer was grinding a magnesium casting during which a
considerable amount of inflammable magnesium dust had gathered on his clothing.
A spark from the grinder set his clothes alight and dropping the girder he ran
along the main gangway of the shop.
Albert Boswell, with two others, went to his rescue and put out the
flames. This was at considerable personal risk because of dust on their own
clothes.
James Ernest
Hawes, Charlton, SE7 – presented at Minor Hall, Greenwich, 8th January 1954.
James Hawes was a 51 year old employee of South Eastern Gas
Board, known locally as 'Big Jim'. In October 1953 at Phoenix Wharf a storage
tank burst and released 30,000 gallons of liquid ammonia. W.J.Bell, a stoker,
was trapped and overcome in a boiler room where the liquid was 18 inches deep.
Without waiting for a respirator, Hawes took a deep breath, and waded 20 yards
through the ammonia to where Bell was lying face down, and carried him out.
While others tried, in vain, to revive Bell by artificial respiration, Hawes
went back into the fumes to look for two fitters who were thought to be trapped
in the engineer's work shed, but who had actually managed to escape.
THE ARSENAL GETS
ITS OWN WEB SITE
A group of Arsenal enthusiasts have now set
up their own website .it includes a lot (but rather small)
pictures of the Arsenal in the past as well as today. It includes
details of developments and of the archaeological dig, which has been going on
recently. There are links through to many relevant local and national
organisations including the new Firepower project, and to the Royal Arsenal
Woolwich Historical Society. This is a really important initiative which should
soon put the Arsenal and its past firmly into a world-wide web presence.
DISCOVER
ELTHAM
GIHS member Darrell Spurgeon has re-issued 'Discover Eltham' in his 'Greenwich Guide
Books' series. While Eltham may not seem to be the best source of IA in Greater
London, Darrell has nevertheless done his very best. By including Shooters Hill and Mottingham in
the area covered he has found some interesting water industry and farming
remains. Sadly the only remaining
factory in the area - Stanley's in New Eltham – has now closed although the
buildings remain for the present. All
in all Darrell has found some surprising things in an unpromising area,
WATERFRONT DESIGN PROPOSALS AWARD
Locally based
river-interest organisation, The London Rivers Association, hopes to launch an
annual award together with URBED. This would be to encourage good waterfront
design as a catalyst in promoting urban renaissance – a similar scheme in the
USA attracts 80 applications some from the UK. Do you think this is a good
idea? Do you have comments on the criteria for judging the award, would you or
your company be interested in entering.
HOWARD BLOCH
It is with great sadness that we would like
to note the death of Howard Bloch.
Howard was known to many GHIS members as the Local History Librarian for
the London Borough of Newham where he worked for many years. During this period
he published several books and articles most covering the heavily
industrialised area of West Ham and the Royal Docks – some of which was once in
Woolwich. His last book 'Germans in London' was about German immigration in
Canning Town and detailed much about the sugar industry there in the nineteenth
and early twentieth century. Howard was closely involved with the community and
it's history in Newham - for example he was involved in community plays, talks
and walks. Although he continued to write the history of the area he left his
job in Newham some years ago, eventually moving to Lewisham Local History
Department where he worked until this summer.
In this period he helped set up Greenwich Industrial History Society –
leading the Society on its first outdoors event in a walk around the North
Woolwich area. He made many contributions to this newsletter – and there is a
backlog of articles by him, which will appear in due course. So many people
knew Howard and worked with him and many of them will want to pay tribute to
his dedication and hard work. He had many friends and admirers and it is with
great sorrow that we have all since realised that he himself never knew that.
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