NEWS AND NOTES FROM 2006.
The following items were news items in our Newsletter of December 2006
GREENWICH EMOTION
MAP
Whaaat! The East Greenwich
based The Photograph Project have produced an Ordnance Survey type map of the
Greenwich Peninsula based on people’s emotional reactions to it – via a clever
little hand held device and some clever computer equipment. The Photography Project has an ambitious
programme much of which is based on research and memories of industry on the Peninsula. Details (and perhaps copies) from Isabel
Lilley at The Photography Project,
VICTORIA DEEP
Victoria Deep Water Terminal, Greenwich Peninsula SE10
MoLAS geoarchaeological monitoring of geotechnical test pits and boreholes
November 2002
The site lies on the western side of the Greenwich peninsula, where a ridge of
floodplain gravel, overlain by sand exists below the alluvium. A peaty soil had
developed above the sand, which was buried by a bed of peat, about 1m thick. At
the interface of the soil and peat struck flints were recovered, which may be
of Neolithic date. The peat represented several cycles of increasingly wet then
increasingly dry conditions, with probably episodes of dry woodland, wet Alder
Carr and sedge fen interspersed with periods of prolonged flooding in which
much wood was found. It was overlain by clays and silts, representing a
transition to salt marsh and mudflats. The high clay content and increasing
iron-staining especially
in the upper parts of the minerogenic alluvium suggests it might represent seasonal
flooding of a marshy / grassy floodplain soil as opposed to mudflats and salt
marsh. The pre-Victorian land surface was represented by a soil that had
developed in the upper part of the alluvium in parts of the site, and in the
north of the site waterlain channel-edge or foreshore deposits were found
between 0 and +1m OD, which may represent (or link with) a post-medieval
sluice, tidal creek or watercourse. A sluice dating from the post-medieval
period and linked to drains and watercourses existing into the 19th century is
known to have existed in this part of the peninsula. Tarry contamination was
found in the lower levels of the made ground, which was up to 3m thick close to
the river, in the western side of the site. This is likely to relate to the use
of the site from the 1840's by the Improved Wood Pavement Company to make coal
tar-soaked wood blocks for paving using the waste products of the gas industry.
SPREAD EAGLE ART COLLECTION -
Dick Moy – who was a founder member of GIHS and whose recent death
was a great blow to many who cared about Greenwich
left much to remember him by. His involvement
with The Spread Eagle is part of the
remarkable story of post-war development in Greenwich. In addition to
food, music and theatre The Spread Eagle has had close connections with the
visual arts. The Moy family managed an art gallery and antique business in
adjoining buildings for more than fifty years. After Dick Moy's death in 2005
The Spread Eagle was acquired by Frank Dowling. Their respective historical art
collections are brought together to form The Spread Eagle Art Collection. This
catalogue is a pictorial souvenir of the people and places in Greenwich. It features a wide range of
distinguished artists and illustrators, from the 17th century to the present
day, who were inspired by Greenwich,
including many who were familiar with the tavern, coaching inn, and restaurant.
The Spread Eagle spans more than 300 years of history. It is situated on Stockwell Street,
one of the most ancient roads in Greenwich
and a tavern from before 1650 .
The advent of rail travel in the 1830s and later the development of
motor transport led to the demise of The Spread Eagle as a coaching Inn. It survived as a tavern until 1922. For more than
forty years it was occupied by a Printer and bookbinder and finally became the
receiving office of a laundry. The Moy family purchased the property in 1964
and Dick began the task of restoring the
building as a restaurant. During the restoration process many original features
were uncovered and many lost relics were discovered. Roman pottery, A Tudor
show and a Kentish 'fives9 board - the forerunner of darts, were found. Also a
whip that may well have been used by Joseph Steel the Spread Eagle's coachman
renowned in Greenwich
for his bare-fist fighting. In 1819 he Bishop Sharpe and lost a £25 wager. A print, now part of The Spread Eagle Art
Collection, portrays him knocked upside down. A trunk was discovered in the
attic which originally belonged to Mrs. Webb - the landlady of The Spread Eagle
during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This was also the popular period of English Music Hall and the trunk contained
her collection of dedicated photographs
and letters of her musical and theatrical clientele. The artistes had all
performed at the neighbouring halls of present-day Greenwich Theatre. These – and many other pictures of Greenwich are included in the catalogue.
(I did not record the origins of this piece - hopefully reproduction is ok)
THE HILL FOLK
Life in Rural Kent
1950's to 70's by Iris Bryce. 'The Hill Folk' follows Iris' award winning book
'Remember Greenwich' and 'Tree in the Quad'. A collection of essays on life on a farm near Wrotham in Kent in the
fifties, sixties and early seventies. Published by History Into Print. Price:
£9.95
CABLES ON TV
It was with some excitement that we received an email from Allan
Green – who spoke to GIHS about cable maker Henley in October – about the Coast
programme on BBC TV. The programme was to visit the Telegraph Cable
Museum at Porthcurno in Cornwall where Allan is
based and where the archives of Greenwich
cable makers are kept. Cable enthusiasts
everywhere were emailing each other frantically. In the end it was an interesting description
of the Museum and the revolutionary nature of the telegraph cable – shame they
never mentioned that ALL of them were made in Greenwich!
SEVERNDROOG CASTLE BUILDING
PRESERVATION TRUST
London's most romantic castle is set to enter a new phase of life, if
the support it gained during this year’s London Open House weekend is anything
to go by. "As good as the Monument", "a wonderful gem ... full
of magic and presence" and "really spectacular" were just some
of the comments from visitors. "It's not the biggest castle I've been it
but it has the best views" and "I would love to live here" were
comments from children. Nearly a thousand people queued, some for hours, to go
up the 18th century folly in Castle Wood, Shooter's Hill, London SE18, and to
see its rarely accessible interior. The three-sided castle, holds fond memories
for many South Londoners as a place to visit for relaxation and enjoyment, for
children to play - and as the area's only castle.
Severndroog Castle Building
Preservation Trust, the group which has been campaigning to save the Castle,
appointed Waloff Associates Ltd in August 2006 to prepare an Audience
Development Plan for the castle and its surroundings. The Plan, funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, will help the Trust decide which
uses are most sustainable and viable for the castle, and then approach the
London Borough of Greenwich to obtain a long
term lease. The local authority is currently the owner of Severndroog Castle,
which is not accessible to the public at present.
Dr Barry Gray, Chair of the
Trustees, said: "The Open House event showed the amount of public support.
Now, we need to be clear what the castle can be used for - and how this can be
to everyone's benefit. We look forward to working with Greenwich Council to make
sure this happens". The Trust has also commissioned 2 further reports, a
Conservation Management Plan and an Access Plan. This work will be undertaken
by Thomas Ford & Partners, a firm of Chartered architects and surveyors who
also act as historic building consultants. When all 3 reports are completed,
the Severndroog Castle Building Preservation Trust will approach Heritage
Lottery Fund for funding to fully restore the Castle.
NEWS FROM CROSSNESS
VICTORIAN PROGRESS
Victoria's
intermediate pressure (IP) cylinder has been laid Bare. All the old metallic
cladding has been removed and the lagging stripped off. In the main, the
cladding on the cylinder was in a sound condition and although the outer
surface was pitted with rust there were patches on the inner surfaces that retained their original 'blued steel' finish.
Plain horizontal joins in the cladding were covered by 2 inch wide circumferential brass bands which are in store
prior to cleaning and polishing. The metallic cladding itself has also been stored
pending a detailed inspection and a decision on which bits to retain. It is
interesting that many of the complex non-plain joints in the cladding, such as
those between cylindrical and flat parts of the cladding, have brass fascias
attached by brass rivets that cover the joins themselves. Again, a decision has
to be made as to how many of these brass pieces we retain. Each part of
cladding has been measured, a sketch made and a numbered disc attached to it. Removal
of the lagging proved to be a very dusty job although much of it came away in
chunks. It was applied in about 1900 before asbestos was used for lagging and
seems to be a mortar like material. Samples have been kept for display, testing
and record purposes but the rest of the removed lagging has been disposed of as
ground infill around the site.
With the lagging removed, the intermediate
pressure cylinder casting was cleaned down by needle-gunning and wire brushing where
after it has been primed with red lead paint. The flanges for the steam heating
pipes and the pressure tapping points have been left unpainted so that they can
be faced off to ensure they make steam-tight joints when the mating flanges are
fitted. However, there is still a lot of cleaning to be done and this will be
ongoing as we progress. Having removed the lagging, we were then faced with the
question 'What do we take off next?' The simple answer was 'The part that is
easiest to get at' but that part proved to be crucial to the timing of the
cut-off of the steam inlet valve.
To ensure that the valve timing is right when
the engine is reassembled it is essential that the distances between various
adjustable parts of the valve gear go back as found. On Prince Consort the
standard engineering practice of 'pop-marking' the components was used but what
we had overlooked was the fact that when the rust and corrosion was cleaned off
so the pop-marks were also removed. Therefore, on Victoria, learning from that lesson, before
we removed any parts a sketch was made showing the critical setting dimensions
by measuring centre-to-centre distances between the pins and bolts also from pins/bolts
to flat surfaces of associated parts. The parts that we finally decided to
remove were the inlet valve trip rods, complete with adjustment devices that
are essential components in determining the trip timing of the steam inlet
valve. These parts have now been stripped down to their individual components,
detail drawings made of them -and numbered discs attached. They are now being
cleaned up and polished prior to being put on display until they can be reassembled
back on the engine. This we hope to do progressively - it being probably as
efficient a way of storing the various parts as any, and at least we should
still be able to remember where they came from!
(Originally published in Crossness Record )
Crane Exported From London
The elderly grey-painted Stothert & Pitt crane, used to unload
the small sand and gravel carrying motor ships of J. J. Prior Ltd at their
wharf on Deptford Creek has recently been replaced by a tall PLA type crane of
the kind common in the larger London docks about 30 years ago. I J Prior carefully
dismantled the old crane and it left the Creek on one of their vessels about Friday 8th September 2006.
Bob Carr. From GLIAS Newsletter.
Siemens Brothers Engineering Society
Members
will remember that Siemens Brothers Engineering society have produced a
catalogue of items in their possession. Brian Middlemiss, their secretary, and
GIHS member has written to tell us that following a recent large donation of
archive material to the Engineering Society, they have now produced a formal
Supplement to this Main Archive Material Catalogue. They have been kind enough to supply us with
a copy of the Supplement to be associated with the Main Catalogue previously
supplied in 2004.
They point out that the need to produce this Supplement was
triggered by the sad death of Bill Speller, (one of their Members) following which,
his family made a large donation of archive material to the Society. They took
the opportunity to include in the
Supplement all the other donations received since publication of the Main
Catalogue in June 2004. There will be no further Supplements – all subsequent
donations will be treated as 'private donations' and passed, with a covering
letter, to an appropriate new holder. The Supplement lists all the items
donated, with the identity of the new holders to whom they have been given for
the benefit of future generations and researchers. The Society remains indebted
to Siemens,UKCorporate Communications who continue to support their activities
and have facilitated the printing and binding of the Supplement.
Charles,
Henry and George Enderby were Samuel's sons. In 1841 Charles was living in Enderby House at
