British Deaf History
Society - recently took part in an
exhibition at The Forum, Greenwich (Christ Church). They have a range of publications – not
industrial but interesting, nevertheless.
MERRYWEATHER’S CATALOGUE
Ted Barr has been kind enough to send us a
photocopy of a Merryweather’s catalogue from the 1880s - over 100 pages and its difficult to know
where to start. It describes many of
their fire and steam engines, who bought them and what they were used for –
this is going to have to be another serial!
Must be careful too since on the front it says ‘Proceedings will be
taken against any person pirating this catalogue’.
Merryweather's were fire engine
manufacturers based in Greenwich High Road – the factory is still there, used
as a trading estate – behind an art deco frontage. But it is likely soon to be the subject of a
planning application for demolition. The
Company had originally been in business in Long Acre in London – and claimed in
the 1880s to have been established ‘upwards of 200 years ‘, So, clearly they
didn’t start with making steam fire engines!
So – leaving the formalities for now – let
us take an engine at random. On page 18
is illustrated ‘The Conqueror’ ‘Admiralty Pattern Patent Double Cylinder Steam
Fire Engine. The first of this class of
engine won first prize at Crystal Palace in 1863. One such engine was the largest Steam Fire
Engine in the world ‘La Belle France’ purchased by the Austro Hungarian
Government in 1878 along with another.
Conquerors were also bought by the Dockyards at Portsmouth (3), Gosport,
Woolwich, Deptford, Devonport (4), Keyham, Chatham (2), Kiel, Wilmershaven, Don Pedro, Rio de Janiero and
Dantzig. Wigan Corporation bought ‘Le
Empereur’ in 1868, and others went to Dacca Twist Mills, Tomsk, Valparaiso, and
a Russian Mill.
And what did these magnificent engines
cost? The smallest which pumped 900
gallons per minute, to a height of 200 feet would set you back £990.50 but
should you want 2,000 gallons a minute to 300 feet you would have to find
£2,000. Plus, of course, in both cases
numerous extras.
What was thrown in for the price included
the feed pumps, lamps, water bags, engine hose, oil cans and – oh yes – sway
bars for the horses. You pumped your
water by steam power, but you took the equipment to the fire by more
traditional methods!
The
Guide Magazine
The November 2001 contains an edition of
Peter Kent’s ‘River Watch’ but (shame on you, Peter) he has abandoned Greenwich
for an article on the Pool of London.
All good stuff, though. In the
same edition, Neil Rhind writes on ‘Lost Horizons’. .
About an older, greener, Blackheath.
Crossness
Record
(Autumn 2001 Vol.7.No.5.) More ‘News from the Octagon’ – our local
steam museum. ‘Prince Consort’ now has
most of his ‘topworks’ finished and work is now concentrated around the
cylinder. All six sets of valves are
being refitted to the ports – having been refurbished at Crossness’s own
workshop. The barring engine is
undergoing its second restoration. The
chimney erection is now completed and much of the ancillary equipment in the
new boiler room, has been installed and steel pipework fitted. The concrete bunded area to the east of the
Triple Expansion House will be the cooling pond for the new steam system. The final section of engine house arcade next
to Prince Consort is almost finished and the cast iron floor panels and been
returned. Some windows to the west have
been unboarded and there is now much more light coming in. The old steam and machine tools display space
has now been converted to a new lecture theatre – to a very high standard and
looks magnificent. The whole visitor
centre is now undergoing reorganisation.
Woolwich
Antiquarian Society Newsletter
October 2001 gives details of a ceremony to
mark the opening of the newly refurbished gatehouse of the Cambridge Barracks
in Francis Street. Views from it are
said to be ‘glorious’ and the rooms are to be for community use.
Henry
Maudslay 1771-1831 & Maudslay Sons and Field Ltd.
We have been very kindly sent a copy of this
booklet published by the Maudslay Society in 1949 to mark the establishment of
the Maudslay Scholarship. This gives so
much information it is difficult to know where to start – extracts will be
included in future editions of this work.
Bygone
Kent.
Vol. 22, No.9. Contains an article by Mary Mills on
‘Greenwich and Deptford Copperas –The Final Years’. This concerns extracts from the diary of
Elizabeth Pearson, sister of the works owner.
It speculates on relationships with the Millington family in Greenwich
and goes on to describe the eventual failure of the Deptford copperas works
after 200 years in production.
Vol. 22.
No.10. has a letter asking for details about Ye Olde Sheer Hulk pub
which was opposite the main gate of the Royal Dockyard in Woolwich. The writer is a Mrs. Lingham from Ashford who
says that she was brought up next door to this pub and it was believed that it
was built of timbers taken from the old prison hulks.
Opening of the
Riverside Path
As a local
resident, a councillor and a historian I was particularly happy on 17th
September. This was a great day for
Greenwich because - at last - the riverside path was opened around the Dome
site, and the route between Deptford Creek and Thames Barrier completed.
This section of
riverside path has been closed to the public for 120 years, ever since the gas
works was built in the 1880s. Before
that, in the 1870s, Greenwich Vestry (Greenwich Council’s predecessor) had
fought a long, hard battle in the High Court to keep it open. Nothing changes - it is only because
Greenwich Council went back to the High Court in the 1990s that so much of the
path is open today – and thanks to hard work by English Partnerships, it is now
open right round the tip of the Peninsula.
Some really
exciting new vistas will be opened up to us – across the River is the whole of
Blackwall Reach with tales of the days when ‘Blackwall fashion’ were the most
important words in world shipbuilding.
We will be able to see where HMS Warrior – now preserved in dry dock at
Portsmouth – was built, as well as the monument to the departure of the
Virginia Settlers as they went off to found America, and London’s only real
lighthouse – today an art gallery. The
path was formally opened by the Mayor – but the real ceremony was performed by
the children of the Millennium School who lined up on their bicycles to be the
first through the new section. They were
followed by stream of guests on foot – walking, chatting, and looking at the
river. It has taken a lot of hard work
to get this path open – the community groups who have kept on reminding us all
about it, the council staff who have done such a lot of hard work as well as
English Partnerships, who were ultimately responsible for opening it up. Thank you to everyone – the best thanks
though will be to see visitors and locals using the path, seeing the river.
GEOLOGICAL
REFERENCES
Paul Sowan has been kind enough to send us
a list of references to local geological features. They include:
Report
of the Committee for the Exploration of subsidences on Blackheath. Thomas Vincent Holmes.
Blackheath & Lewisham Scientific Assoc. July 1881.
Excursion
to Westcombe Park, Greenwich and Loampit Hill, Lewisham April 7th
1883. Thomas Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological
Association 8 (3) 112-113
The
new section in Westcombe Park, Greenwich Thomas Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological
Association 8 (1) 59-64
Excursion
to Loampit Hill, Lewisham and West Coombe Park, Greenwich, July 7th
1888. Thomas Vincent
Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 10 (9) 501-503.
Excursion
along the new railway from Blackheath to Bexley Heath. Vincent Holmes, Proceedings of the Geological Association 13 (5)
152-157
Excursion
to Charlton and Plumstead Sat. April 17th 1901. Thomas Vincent Holmes & William Whitaker, Proceedings Geological
Association 17 (4) 182-184
Convoys Wharf
The site now referred to as CONVOYS WHARF
is of great historical importance. It
was Henry V111's Royal Naval Dockyard, later the Royal Naval Victualling yard,
and then the Foreign Cattle Market before its recent use for import of newsprint for the Wapping
printing works of News International
Last
year planning permission was sought for site redevelopment, predominantly as an
up-market housing estate. It was opposed
by Deptford residents, amenity societies, and the Mayor of London as not
meeting local needs, and refused by Lewisham Council.
A new proposal, the outline description of
which sounds much more appropriate, has now been submitted.
Tom Sheppard
THE CROWN WOODS AFFAIR
By Jack Vaughan
On October 14th, the annual
exhibition of vintage vehicles was expanded to include a miscellaneous
collection of sub-exhibitions. From our
point of view the most important was advertised as an ‘Industrial Fair’. Since this could offer an opportunity to
raise the profile of Industrial History in our area, we undertook to offer a
small display.
We chose a relevant theme based on famous
engineers who had some connection with our district. The space allocation imposed a limit on the
number that could be included and this meant that some worthy individuals could
not be used.
I shall not give details here other than
the names – as I may offer a series of talks on them in small groups.
The names:
Henry Maudslay, James Nasmyth, William Armstrong, William Fairbairn,
Joseph Bramah, Marc Brunel, Joseph Whitworth, The Collier family [Matchless
Motor Cycles], Charles (General) Gordon, Frederick Abel, John Rennie, Michael
Faraday.
On the whole, it was a worthwhile under
taking although it took two months from first to last.
EDITORIAL
NOTE
We really should thank Jack for the time and effort he put in to setting this
exhibition up – we should also thank his long-suffering daughter who provided a
vast amount of help and support.
** Jack has provided a list of 13 scientists and engineers who were
associated with Greenwich industry and scientific advance. Clearly there were many more – for example,
the Greenwich based engineer, John Penn,
and all the astronomers at the Royal Observatory, for a start. Please send in names of others– and if you
can provide mini-biographies so much the better. Let’s see how many names we can get, and
amaze everyone! We might even be able to
publish a book …. or a series of books
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