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Greenwich Foot Tunnel's Centenary Greenwich Foot Tunnel opened on 4th August 1902 (exactly 2 years after the late Queen Mother was born). It was not only a major engineering achievement by Alexander Binnie (later made Sir), it also provided for the first time an alternative to the expensive ferry across the river. The Foot Tunnel allowed many people from Greenwich and the isolated Isle of Dogs to cross the Thames very easily for the first time. So, the Foot Tunnel is 100 years old on Sunday 4th August this year. Oddly, neither Greenwich nor Tower Hamlets Councils had any plans to mark the occasion, and so Greenwich Cyclists have decided to create a suitable event on the day. Tower Hamlets Wheelers are in on the plan too. Things are evolving quickly and Greenwich Council is now becoming interested. At the very least there will be a human chain linking Cutty Sark Gardens and Island Gardens and events on both. Alcatel, the largest private sector employer in the Borough, have been invited to supply one of their submarine cables to pull through and so link the two communities. Binnie, Black and Veatch - the firm started by Alexander Binnie, is now a UK-based multi-national partnership of consulting engineers are delighted to get involved, and at the very least, want to mount an exhibition about the tunnel project in, probably, the adjacent World Heritage site interpretative area. www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk (under Rides and Events) will be updated as the event evolves. So, diary the date. If you're
interested in helping out in any way, please contact: |
By Rachel Smith
The Steer family can be held personally accountable for the hole in Blackheath Hill. William Steer was fined several times for his part in causing the hole - a total of £95! This was probably a great deal of money in 1666. The Blackheath Hill area was already being mined by the Steers, who were lime- workers when the Great Fire of London destroyed the City. This was the nearest area of chalk to the City and despite its poor quality, the chalk, processed into lime and used for mortar and building foundations, was in great demand. Sir Christopher Wren, how ever, refused to use it in his building works, which may explain the durability of his buildings when so little else from the time exists.
The mine workings must have been extensive because the family were still mining it in 1677 with their lime kilns situated on Greenwich South Street, formerly known as Limekiln Lane, when they fell foul of the law and William Steers was given his initial fine for "filling up, supporting and making good, safe and secure the King's Highway there against his lime kilns leading from Deptford to Blackheath which said highway he hath undermined by digging, taking and carrying from thence great quantities of chalk, whereby the said common highway is become very unsafe, and very dangerous for all the King's
Liege and over the said highway". He was fined again for the same offence and £5 for not putting up a fence against his Lime Kilns. Mining ceased around 1725 and the entrance in Maidenstone Hill was blocked up. By 1780 the mines were opened once again, and became the Blackheath Caves - a tourist attraction. A guided tour cost 6d. The main cavern was used for concerts and dances, and was a very fashionable venue to be seen at, but by the 1850s it was once again considered dangerous, and sealed.
And so to the question of "Can it happen in Westcombe Park?" - Frances Ward says no - Westcombe Park is built on the Blackheath pebble beds, while the area of Blackheath Hill is built on a remote out- crop of chalk. Our area was "open-mined" for its gravel and while small subsidences may occasionally occur, no caves exist beneath us. Engineers have recently researched the archives in the Local History Library relating to the caves to ascertain its extent. It seems eventually they will all be filled in, thus ending more than 300 years of existence.
Originally published in The Westcombe News
Latest news on 'the hole' is at http://greenwichindhist.co.uk/blackhole/hole.html
David Riddle points out to us a letter on the Google groups Web
site rec.subterrenea which asks if the
subsidence is really the old plague pits after which some people
claim that Blackheath is named.
Where addresses are not given, please contact through the Editor, c/o 24 Humber Road, London SE3
From: Dennis Grubb
I am related to the Grubb families who ran the Cemetery Brickyard next to the Woolwich Cemetery and the Wickham Lane Brickyard and lived at Southland Road, Plumstead. I am wondering if you know of a publication, articles or source which can give me more information on the manufacturing process of bricks at the yards form about 1850 to early 1900s? My family of brickmakers were first at Crayford (Barnes Cray) then Deptford and then Plumstead,
dgrubb@adelaide.on.net or grubbdennis@netscape.net
From: Andrew Hunt
As a Science Year Project the London Region of the Association for Science Education with support form Nuffield has set up a web site (http://www.londoncityofscience.com) to tell the world in general (and teachers/students in particular) what science does for London and what London does for Science. The Web site will continue once Science Year is over. We interpret science widely to include all sorts of technologies. Entries are short (2-300 words with an image). The 'Places' section is intended to show people how science and technology have shaped the London people see in the daily lives. Contributors are credited and the credit can include a link to a Web site. Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested.
Andrew Hunt, 36 Marquis Road, NW1 9UB Tel: 020 7267 3680
From: Denise
I am trying to gather some information on the Royal Ordnance Factory in Woolwich. I need to do a local history assignment for my course work and the title I have been given is 'Cause and Effect' which I need to tie in with how the ROF came into being and what it did for Woolwich as a whole (need to base this project on a 50 year period - up to the First World War).
(If you can help please contact the Editor for Denise's details)
From: David Riddle
We seem to get a lot of Genealogy enquiries lately. A colleague of mine at Goldsmiths College, Peter Christian has kindly come up with this info and suggests that people simply look on the relevant web pages on Genuki
City of London: http://www.gold.ac.uk/genuki/LND
Middlesex: http://www.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX
Surrey: http://ww.gold.ac.uk/genuki/SRY
Kent: http://ox.ac.uk/~malcolm/genuki/big/eng/KEN
These all relate to the historic counties i.e. Pre-1974.
From: China Hamilton
I am most interested in all the material I can find on Crossness Pumping Station there is no mention of the architect of the building, Charles Henry Driver. Driver was a major Victorian architect, especially in the area of railway stations, his work on the Thames Embankment and one wing of the Crystal Palace etc. You will find his design contribution to the Crossness pumping station in the listed buildings details.
From: Mark Landergan
I see you refer on your Web site to an article written by my father titled Eltham Park. The Story of A Station. Can I get a copy of this?
[Sorry Mark, the article was actually in Bygone Kent! - editor]
From: John Greig
I would like some information about Greig's Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula. James Robert Greig, with his brother, inherited an estate in the south of Trinidad that was mainly concerned with sugar production in the early days. On various certificates he is described as a sugar merchant or retired ditto. However, those of his children who took on the estate [incorporated in Trinidad as: Greig (Cedros) Estates Limited] are variously described, with 'planter' being one designation (my grandfather was in Trinidad but died young and my father was born there).
Various family tales suggest that there was a search for alternative products and indeed, in the 1891 census James Robert is described as 'West India Merchant (Oil Miller)' whereas he had just been 'West India Merchant' in the 1881 census). At his death in 1915 he had shares in Cedros Oil Company Limited, though, since I learnt this from the inventory, I have no idea whether it referred to vegetable or mineral oils (with Trinidad, both are possible). I will be trying to trace down this Cedros Oil Company but am not at the moment able to be more specific about the nature of his trade at Greenwich. Much will depend on when he took over the lease of the wharf. I assume from the wording of the inventory that it was not necessarily at the start of the 80-year lease.
With regard to this, the start of the lease was about a fortnight before he was married to a Jessie Rodger in Belfast. Jessie's father, James, was a sea captain (as was James Robert's father) and there is a family tale, which I have not yet been able to confirm but for which there is quite good circumstantial evidence, that one of Jessie's uncles was Alexander Rodger the owner of several tea clippers including the Taeping. This may all turn out to be coincidence but I will have to keep it in mind.
(Mary Mills replied :….)
From: Dan Byrnes
I have just placed on the internet a new website book titled 'The Business of Slavery' which is actually to be a predecessor to the main production 'The Blackheath Connection' already on the net and getting a regular 370 hits on average per week.
It presents a new theory ranged around four main themes. Attention is also given to successive expressions of interest that England had, or thought it had, in what we now call Australia. I have some facts, which have not been seen in print before so I'll be glad to have any reactions people think I should have at this stage of writing. http://watson.northnet.net.au/users.zantos.merchantz.html
whatson@northnet.com.au
From: June Baker-Dobson
I am interested in the Thames Soap Works, Greenwich, situated on the peninsula during the 1800s and hope that you may be able to help me. My husband's father was born at the works, but we have been unable to find out anything.
From Stuart Rankin
I have been asked if anyone might have more information on the Joyce Greenwich Ironworks - can you suggest someone?
From Judy Jenkins
I am wondering if any of your members are at all knowledgeable about tenants of Charlton House in the 1970s. I understand that Charles Davies Cortoys leased part of Charlton House from the Maryon Wilson family and also leased part of Shooters Hill Road. I would be stunned if anyone can help me with information on this man.
From: Catherine Brigden
My great-grandfather Charles Brigden was from Woolwich and was a gunner with the Royal Horse Artillery, serving during the Crimean War. I have come across a reference stating that he was among several men presented with a cannon by Queen Victoria and that these cannons were placed on Woolwich Common. I am wondering if there are any remaining on the common.
From: Paul Harcombe
I am wondering if you could possibly help me. I lived in married quarters with my parents (my dad was in the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team) for three years up to 1979 at which point history and military history in particular became of great interest. My dad always encouraged this especially as being in Woolwich he was really proud of being at Regimental HQ, as it were. These days I work in HM Land Registry and as a result have access to the up-to-date map of the UK and some computerised versions of old maps. The point of all this meandering is that I noted on the old maps of the Royal Artillery buildings in Woolwich, a building called the Magnetic Office, just south of the Rotunda. I couldn't find out what it was - and it has been bugging us as to what it might have been for. If you could possibly help me I would be very grateful.
From: Chris Mansfield
It's Chris, from Readysnacks cafe.... I was just having a look at your Web site and spotted the link to my own (re Tom Cribb).
The site address has now changed and fairly soon this link will not find me.
Also, if you are interested, you got his date of birth listed incorrectly.. He was born on the 2nd July 1781 and christened on the 8th. I have got copies of both his birth cert' and christening cert'. A lot of Tom Cribb devotees got this bit wrong. How goes it with your book of people at work??
Byeeee.. Chris
Check out my Web site, www.readysnacks.co.uk
All now corrected on the Web version of the relevant page. Ahh... the Wonders of the Web!! Dave.
From: David Riddle
Do you know anyone who is interested in Joseph Paxton?
Someone who contacted me about the Dome and Wellcome's proposal has
just set up a Society to celebrate his bi-centennial...
Joseph Paxton (1803-1865)
..is probably the unsung hero of the Victorian age - but in many ways he is a remarkably contemporary figure. In 1851 (the year of the Great Exhibition) he was quite well known, a reputation equivalent to that of Stephenson or Brunei. He was first and foremost a 'horticulturist' - head gardener to the 6th Duke of Devonshire. His contributions to horticulture are many, from his groundbreaking publications to the giant 'Victoria regia' lily and the 'Cavendish' banana. He was also a railway entrepreneur. He is probably best known for his pioneering work in Iron and Glass structures - the exposition buildings and greenhouses of the age. Similar techniques in steel led to skyscrapers. The Crystal Palace was widely imitated, and it was the world's first 'International Exposition' building. Sydenham was probably the World's first Theme Park. As many have observed, the 'Dome' owes part of its existence to this legacy - so marking his Bicentennial in the Dome would seem particularly apt.
A Web site for the Society is currently under construction. http://www.josephpaxton.org
The following article describes the removal of a steam engine to a new home at Crossness Engines Trust. The article appeared in the Spring 2002 edition of Crossness Engines Record and in the April 2002 edition of the GLIAS Newsletter (from which this version is scanned).
Crossness Engines has recently earned out a rescue mission on a Stewart engine from David Evans of Crayford, Kent. I doubt whether many of the staff of David Evans were aware of the existence of the small steam engine tucked away in one of their smaller print shops. When I made enquiries whilst on a conducted tour of the silk printing works some years ago, the official guide had to seek advice from an older member of staff before the engine was located and I was allowed to see it.
When members of the Crossness Engines Trust (CET) learnt of the intention of David Evans and Co. to close their works at Crayford we were of course concerned for the fate of the engine. Mike Dunmow, Executive Secretary of the Trust, wrote to 'Evans' enquiring as to the disposal of the engine and if there was no better home for it, might Crossness Engines recover it for conservation. An agreement was reached and an advance party from CET went along to the silk printing works at Bourne Road, Crayford to assess the work involved in recovery.
The team, including Colin Bowden, arrived on 15th November 2001 and photographed and measured the engine and its location within the works. Preliminary marking and engine stripping was then carried out, removing the steam and exhaust pipes and loosening various nuts in preparation for the next visit. An assessment was also made at this time as to the amount of lifting tackle and scaffolding required to safely dis-assemble the engine.
The next visit was on 23rd November 2001, when the main cam con-rods and valve con-rods were 'pop marked' and removed from the engine. It was deemed prudent to bring these items back to 'Crossness' for safekeeping. Lack of heavy transport meant that the scaffolding and lifting tackle could not be taken to the works on this visit.
On the 28th November 2001, the cylinders, valve-boxes and crosshead sliders were removed ready for collection.
With heavier transport we arrived at the now closed works on the 20th December 2001 and erected a scaffold frame and lifting tackle. It must be said that although the engine is quite small it was close to a wall and hemmed in by a rather large tentering machine. With the chain hoist securely slung and web slings attached the camshaft, flywheel and belt-wheel were lifted clear of the 'A' frame and 'tarzaned' to one end of the engine base. The engine's 'A' frame was then lifted clear of its retaining studs and loaded onto a suitable trolley and removed to the front of the building ready for collection at a later date. On this visit the smaller parts were removed to 'Crossness', leaving only the heaviest two pieces, the 'A' frame and flywheel, camshaft and belt wheel to be collected.
On 4th January 2002 the team arrived with a low truck with a HIAB and the remaining two pieces of engine were loaded and taken back to Crossness Engines Museum. It is the intention, of the Trust that the engine will eventually be cleaned, conserved and re-assembled and mounted on a mobile base to become a static display.
ENGINE DATA
The engine was built by Stewart of Glasgow and is a diagonal duplex with the cylinders located one on each leg of an 'A' frame. The cam, flywheel and drive-wheel are mounted in bearings at the apex of the frame. The cylinders are five-inch diameter with a ten-inch throw, the piston-rods work through guide-blocks mounted on each leg of the 'A' frame and up to the cranks on the main shaft. The overall size of the engine is fifty-nine inches high by thirty-two inches wide; the 'A' frame is forty inches high, sixty inches long and sixteen inches wide. The flywheel is thirty-six inches diameter by four inches wide. The supplier: T Mitchell & Sons, Bolton, Lancs. Serial No. 9326.
THE PROJECT WORK TEAM
Mike Dunmow, Alan Boakes, Harry Collinson, David Dawson, Laurie Dunmow, John Ridley, Peter J. Skilton, David Wilkinson and Martin Wilson.
Research continues about Stewarts of Glasgow and our engine in particular. If any GLIAS member feels they have something to contribute please contact either Mike Dunmow or Peter Skilton at;
Crossness Engines Trust, c/o Thames Water Sewage Treatment Works,
Belvedere Road, Abbey Wood, London. SEZ 9AQ
Article by Sue Hayton
Some members may have seen the announcement in the Newsletter of the closure of Lowne Instruments in Boone Street in Lee and the sale of its machinery.
GLIAS member, George Arthur, who has worked for the company for nearly 30 years alerted the Recording Group to the closure of the works at the end of February 2002 after 147 years in business, in Finchiey, Lewisham and finally in Lee. The Recording Group, with the permission of the owner. Bob Barnard, and with the help of George, was able to make a video, shot by Dan Hayton, of the works before it closed. The video record also showed many of the machines in operation as well as later shots of a nearly empty works. Dave Perrett, ably assisted with the tape measure by his son, Martin, was able to make a measured drawing using a computer design program and in addition Chris Grabham spent two full days photographing the works. I spent some time in the Local History Library in Lewisham trying to find out any information about the two Lowne sites in the Borough. I was also able to look through what remained of the company's records from the 19th and early 20th century, a random rag-bag selection!
Robert Mann Lowne was the son of a doctor, Benjamin Thompson Lowne, who moved to London to train at Barts Medical College in 1842. He later moved to the Farringdon Dispensary in Bartletts Passage in Holborn, now New Fetter Lane. Robert was the second son, bom in 1844. His elder brother, also Benjamin Thompson Lowne, became a noted surgeon and lecturer at the Middlesex Hospital, but iittle is known about Robert's early life. His first patent, taken out in 1865, was for a spirometer, sliowing his knowledge of things medical. From then on a great number of patents were taken out by Robert Mann Lowne and from 1872 he and his family lived in East End, Finchley where he became known as an inventor and scientific instrument maker. He and his wife, Emily, had four children, two of whom, Robert James Mann Lowne and Benjamin Thomson Lowne (yes, another one!), joined him in the business.
By 1894 the family moved to Lewisharn where they occupied a large house, Ravenscroft, at 108 Bromley Road. All the work was carried out by the three family members which is quite surprising considering the volume of work undertaken by the company in the early years of the 20th century. The Lowne Electric Clock and Appliance Company was set up in 1904 as a limited company to exploit the patents for electric clocks taken out by the company. Contracts were undertaken to provide the Arsenal with an electric master clock system, with 46 slave clocks needing 6.5 miles of cabling and run from Leclanché cells, as well as one for the South Metropolitan Gas Works in the Old Kent Road.
Both systems are sadly no longer in existence. A new workshop in the garden was built in 1905 to be able to fulfil these orders. Sadly the company did not prosper and was, for a while, taken over in the 1920s by the Magneta Company. whose Head Office was in Carterel Street. The Lownes continued to work at home for Magneta, until 1926 when the company reverted to the Lowne family. New premises had to be found as Ravenscroft had been sold to the Magneta Company and the site had been redeveloped.
The company moved to Boones Street off Lee High Road, where a former wheelwright's premises was to be their home until 2002. Robert Mann Lowne died in 1928 and his two sons with RJM Lowne's son, Frederick James Mann Lowne, continuing the business. With the advent of the National Grid, mains clocks were possible and so the Lownes made synchronous clocks both for the home and for industry. Daniel remembers a large Lowne clock near the Angel in the 1970s - does anyone else know of one?
After the difficulties of the 1930s, perhaps their most profitable years were in the 1940s when War work kept them occupied, despite the damage caused in 1942 by a nearby bomb. After the retirement of his father and uncle, 'Mr Fred' ran the works and developed new products, in particular, air meters, needed in particular in mines. In turn Fred's step son. Bob Barnard, took over until the decision was made to close.
Sadly Bob died at the beginning of February, only a few days after the sale of the machinery. We were much indebted to him and his family for allowing GLIAS so much access for recording. We were particularly delighted to have the chance of finding more records, including the Minute Books and some accounts, in the office and even in the garage! Lewisham Local History Museum has had a number of items donated to it including synchronous clocks, stools and work benches, as well as advertising material. We look forward to a Lowne exhibition from them in due course. Many original photographs and glass negatives have been rescued along with advertisements from the early days and the original Minute Books. The family again has been generous in allowing me to look through them to compile both this article as well as a fuller record for the Recording Group. Who knows where Lowne instruments are to be found? I know of several in the Science Museum, master and slave clocks as well as spirometers. Are there any others, particularly air meters, in other collections? Finally, does anyone have a Lowne electric clock at home? Apparently they are collectable now!
P.S. The works in Boone Street are to be demolished and a new
housing development, 'Lowne Court' will replace it. Apparently
no one objected to the demolition of the old building, perhaps
because it really has outlived its usefulness.
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John Humphries House and the LEO W computer By Harry Pearman John Humphries House in Stockwell Street was the first purpose-built computer centre in Greenwich and the site of a remarkable initiative by local government. An early UK computer with an electronic stored memory was the EDSAC machine developed at Cambridge University in 1949. I caught the attention of J. Lyons & Co., who were the managers of a highly successful teashop chain. They were also innovators of management systems and found that the paperwork of stock control in all of their branches greatly inhibited efficiency. Lyons therefore set about building the first UK computer for business use. It was dubbed the LEO 1 machine; LEO standing for Lyons Electronic Office. It utilised mercury delay lines for memory storage, and ran the world's first regular office job for stock control in 1951. An offshoot company, LEO Computers Ltd., was formed in 1954 to market the technology and LE0 2 machines were installed in many British offices, including Ford Motor Company, British Oxygen Company and the Ministry of Pensions at Newcastle. This success led to the invention of the LE0 3 machine. This machine used panels of magnetic washers to store programs and data. Memory size was limited, and programmers had to show great ingenuity in the direct manipulation of memory in order to contain data. Files were stored on magnetic tape reels and data was entered by completing batches of forms, which were punched onto paper tape. Programs were written in a wholly numeric language called Intercede, and the primitive operating system required a great deal of operator intervention. LEO's principal benefit was the ability to print forms and tabulations at speeds of up to 1,000 lines a minute. In 1960 these innovations caught the attention of a Greenwich Councillor named John Humphries. He was instrumental in the creation of a Joint Committee formed from the then Metropolitan Boroughs of Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford, Southwark, Bermondsey and Camberwell, and this in turn set about the creation of a computer centre, with the result that John Humphries house was built and officially opened. The development of systems was placed in the hands of the Metropolitan Boroughs Organisation & Methods Committee, another Joint Organisation serving the needs of 28 Metropolitan Boroughs and managed by John Dive. They created a computer division and it was based at John Humphries. The first application was Rate Accounting and this was followed by Payroll, General Ledger Accounting, Job Costing, Stock Control, Creditor Payments, Miscellaneous Debtors, Transport, Housing Rents, Electoral Registration, Library Cataloguing and Land Use Registration. Subsequently The Forest and Bexley Hospitals and the Bloodstock Agency also used the services of the site. A major change took place in 1965 when London Government was re-organised and the centre then serviced the data processing needs of the London Boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich and Southwark. As computing developed it became financially viable for each local authority to create its own computer installation. The need for a joint installation ceased and the use of John Humphries House was discontinued. LEO Computers Ltd merged with the computer interests of English Electric in 1963 to form English Electric LEO, and later, English Electric Leo Marconi (EELM). Subsequent mergers eventually found LEO incorporated into SCL in 1968. And the ICL machine range took over new production.
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This newsletter was produced for Greenwich Industrial History Society, Chair, Jack Vaughan, 35 Eaglesfield Road, SE18. Views expressed in it are those of the authors and not of the Society.
Contributions (within reason) are always welcome.
ANY NEWSLETTER IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS CONTENTS MAKE IT.
IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO TO CONTRIBUTE - ARTICLES, REPORTS, LETTERS -
ANYTHING
Please send to Mary Mills (address below).
Meetings as advertised at the head of this newsletter will be held at;
The Old Bakehouse, (at back of the) Age Exchange Reminiscence Centre, 11 Blackheath Village, London, SE23 9LA.
Do not go to the Reminiscence Centre itself - The Old Bakehouse is at the back, in Bennett Park. Walk into Bennett Park and turn left into a yard. The Old Bakehouse is the building on your right. The entrance is straight ahead.
.... OR PLEASE CONTACT MARY MILLS, 24 HUMBER ROAD, SE3 7LR. 020 8858
9482
And...... DON'T FORGET TO ASK US FOR A MEMBERSHIP FORM
.... David Riddle, Goldsmiths College
Space courtesy of Goldsmiths College, University of London