Peter Marshall | >Re-PHOTO

Lammas Lands, Leyton, Columbia Market & Bethnal Green – 2006

Lammas Lands, Leyton, Columbia Market & Bethnal Green: On Sunday 17th December 2006 I went to an event by local residents seeking to protect the Leyton Lammas Lands from the sprawling London 2012 Olympics before going to a meeting with a friend at Columbia Market. Unfortunately on my way there I got a phone call telling me he was unable to make it, so I took a few pictures there before walking on in a roundabout way to visit another friend in Bethnal Green. Below I’ll post what I wrote back in 2006 (with minor corrections) and some of the pictures from that day.

Loss of Common Land

Leyton Lammas Lands, Marsh Lane, Leyton

Lammas Lands, Leyton, Columbia Market & Bethnal Green — *Allotments displaced by the Olympics may be relocated here on Leyton Lammas Lands*

History seems about to repeat itself in Leyton, although the outcome may be different this time. It was in 894 that King Alfred drained Leyton Marsh and gave the local people the right to graze their animals on the Lammas Land created. (Details in this post come from a leaflet written by Lorraine Metherall and Neil Bedford, published by the New Lammas Lands Defence Committee (NLLDC) and from Martin Slavin’s Games Monitor web site – now archived here.)

In the 1890s, the East London Waterworks Company tried to take over the Lammas Lands, and on Lammas Day, 1st August 1892, a large demonstration met on the marshes and ripped up their fences. The company tried to sue one of the people involved, and locals set up the ‘Leyton Lammas Lands Defence Committee‘ (LLLDC) and fought the case in court. The water company ended up admitting defeat, paying all costs and giving money for a local essay prize.

The efforts of the LLLDC led to the ‘1904 Leyton Urban District Council Act‘, in which parliament vested the lands in the council, making them responsible for maintaining them as “an open space for the perpetual use therof for exercise and recreation…”. The act made them a permanent public open space in return for the giving up of the lammas rights, and was confirmed by parliament in 1965.

Over the years parts of the land have been taken for other uses, including railway sidings, Gas Board land and, more recently, the Lea Valley Riding School and Ice Rink. When the Lea Valley Regional Park acquired most of the Lammas Lands by compulsory purchase in 1971, they for some reason felt able to ignore the 1904 act, and have blocked public access to some areas.

The latest threat to Leyton Lammas Lands come from the London Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). Although outside the Olympic area, the Lammas Lands are a handy place to dump the unwanted, in this case the allotment holders of Manor Gardens. In the late 1880s the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at Eton College and prompted them to set up a charitable settlement in Hackney. The Eton Manor Settlement bought up land, including lammas land in Hackney and Leyton and set up various sports clubs and related activities including the Manor Garden Allotments.

*A new short section of road would link Marsh Lane to Orient Way here.*

Although the ODA is apparently set on jettisoning inconvenient requirements that were a part of its original agreement – such as the need to replace common land – it apparently still has to re-site the allotments, and its preferred site is on Marsh Lane, part of the Leyton Lammas Lands. Unfortunately the current land is unsuitable, being heavily polluted with a relatively thin layer of topsoil on top of wartime rubble.

*This is the area of the Lammas Lands that would be taken for the allotments*

Making them usable means removal of some existing soil and bringing in many lorry loads of new topsoil, probably half a metre over the whole site. This would mean an new vehicle access to Marsh Lane, bringing traffic the few yards from Orient Way, along with widening Marsh Lane with the loss of some of the fine avenue of trees currently on both sides. This would also need to stay open for the use of the allotment holders, and would almost certainly result in the newly widened Marsh Lane becoming a heavily trafficked short cut to Church Road.

*Singing ‘The Lammas Land Song’ “We will not be robbed when there’s a ballot in this land…”*

The ODA needs the support of the local council for their application, and the NLLDC hope to raise enough local support to make them think again. It is of course possible that the courts could be asked to ensure that the provisions of the 1904 act are enforced.

More pictures

[The Manor Gardens allotments were moved here in 2007 but the site allocated was in very poor condition. The ODA reneged on its promise to return them to their original site – but eventually in 2016 they were given a new site – only one fifth the area of their original site – on Pudding Mill Lane. This is now under threat from more and more tall buildings around it blocking out the sun.]

Leyton

*Brightly painted sheds were being erected on the gas holder site*

A few more pictures from Leyton.

Columbia Market

I was in the East End partly to meet a mate at Columbia Market, but in the end he couldn’t make it. With Christmas just over a week to go, prices were high. I calculated we’d just sent several hundred pounds worth of eucalyptus twigs to the incinerator after I did a bit of pruning recently, and those three holly trees in the back garden would be a goldmine. Strangely, even at these prices, some people seemed to be buying the stuff, though by the end of they day there did seem to be quite a lot of plants being loaded back into the lorries, and there were certainly plenty of Christmas Untrees left.

Real trees of course have roots, and we always get one that has them, and grow it on for a few years between January and December. A few die off, and others eventually get too big to get through the door, and there are three that would suit Trafalgar Square down the garden. [Two huge and still growing but I had to fell one of them a few years ago.]

A few more images – including the Christmas Tree machine

Bethnal Green

I took a few snaps, and then wandered through Hackney and Bethnal Green on my way to visit another friend who had written a book, The Romance of Bethnal Green, on the area and is using some of my pictures, to take a look at the design.

There was some nice light on some of the streets and buildings, and Queen Adelaide’s head curiously lit up as I passed.

More pictures from Hackney and Bethnal Green

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Dancers, Shops, Gym, Laundry, a Lab and Cobblers – 1990

Dancers, Shops, Gym, Laundry, a Lab and Cobblers: The next set of pictures from my walk on February 18th 1990 around Kings Cross & St Pancras. The previous post on this was St Pancras Old Church & More – 1990.

*Dancers, Mural, Stanley Buildings, Stanley Passage, Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-64*

This was my favourite mural in London on the side of Stanley buildings and one I’d photographed several times since 1985. Unusually it was painted in black and white and it extended across the whole side of the flats from first floor level to the chimneys. You can see an image in colour I made a few months earlier from a similar viewpoint on Flickr.

*Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-65*

Nearby on Pancras Road I photographed this rather finely proportioned frontage with some interesting brickwork and decoration at its top. I wish I had made another exposure to show more clearly the two busts at the left of the ground floor.

*Turnhalle, German Gymnasium, Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-66*

Another image of the Pancras Road frontage of the German Gymnasium in a row of shops including the St Pancras Cafe. All this was lost for the redevelopment of St Pancras International – with the Gymnasium being given a new modern frontage in a style matching the rest of the building.

*Kings Cross Laundry, Caledonia St, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-51*

To the east of Kings Cross the first turning to the right from York Way is Caledonia Street. I’d photographed the laundry with its large intertwined KCL insignia on a walk the previous year. Although there were more recent signs for occupiers including those for Lanitis Fabrics Ltd, and Stella Models and signs calling for Machinists, Overlockers, Pressers, Finishers and Cutters, the building appeared to be no longer in use.

The building is still there, though all of the sings apart from the ‘KCL’ have gone and it is now offices with a gateway leading into the ‘Regent Quarter’ redevelopment.

*New Wharf Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-53*

A little further to the north is Wharfdale Road, another right turning from York Way and from that New Wharf Road goes to the north. These two roads are on the south and east of the ‘new wharf’, Battlebridge Basin on the Regent’s Canal, serving the wharves around its sides.

A large notice on the lefthand buildin, formerly MAMMA ROMA, advertises the development of Battlebridge Basin with 3 buildings with planning consent for offices.

*Ozonol Laboratories, New Wharf Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-54*

The next building on the road was the then derelict Ozonol Laboratories, Manufacturing Chemists. In 1932 the company had patented a product for “disinfecting mouthpieces of telephones, speaking tubes and the like” and similar products mainly under the similar names: “Ozonol”, “Ozlab”, “Oztox” and others were marketed for use in air purifiers and as an ointment for treating sunburn and hemorrhoids and a wide range of other uses. Ozonol ointments are still sold in some countries though probably not containing some of the original components such as lead oxide.

*Shoe Repairs, Caledonian Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-56*

I walked through to Caledonian Road where I photographed through the window of this cobblers shop with its phone, hand-made sign, electric fire and general clutter. It looked then like something out of an earlier age.

It was time to go home, and I walked back to the tube at Kings Cross.

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Santacon Comes to Town – 2012

Santacon Comes to Town: On Saturday 15th December 2015 hundreds of santas, some elves, the odd reindeer and a few others converged on Trafalgar Square at the end of the annual Santacon event.

Santacon described itself as “a non-profit, non-political, non-religious and non-sensical Christmas parade“, though that makes it sound rather more organised than it is, with hundreds roaming the streets with their friends, largely sticking to routes from various starting points published shortly before the event and indulging in a considerable amount of festive drinking.

“Most of those taking part were young, in their teens or twenties, but there were a few older participants, although most of the beards on show were profuse, white and fake, as well as some younger children and at least one baby elf.”

Police don’t like it, I think mainly because it interferes with the great god of traffic as santas often spill across roads though they probably call it “inconvenience to the public”. But the great majority of the public seem to be amused and welcome the spectacle. And some even join in the festivities.

One particularly controversial aspect has been the friendly rivalry between elves and santas which erupts into battles between the two groups pelting each other with Brussels sprouts. It’s something firmly deprecated by both Santacon organisers and police, but elves will be elves.

It would be unusual for a Brussels sprout to inflict any real damage – I was hit be several while taking these pictures, but it does seem rather a waste of my favourite Christmas vegetable.

*Some had a rather minimal Santa outfit*

Santacon in London seemed to reach a peak around 2010, though I think I last photographed it in 2018. The date for 2025, announced only at the last minute, was December 6th, but I didn’t go.

The conclusion to my 2012 post included a snippet of history: “The first mass event with people in Santa costumes began with a street theatre group in Copenhagen in 1974, but the event took off in the USA in the 1990s and has spread to cities across the world. Some of those taking part see it as a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas, but for most it’s simply a fun day out in the city drinking on the street with friends.”

Many more pictures of santas of both sexes at Santacon Comes to Town.

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Venezuela & Grenfell – 2018

Venezuela & Grenfell: A small protest outside J P Morgan subsidiary Euroclear in the City of London called on the company to return over $1 billion of Venezuelan government funds sent to buy medicines and food for Venezuela. Later I joined the large silent march from Kensington Town Hall 18 months after the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower.

*People carry large and small Grenfell hearts on the protest*

Hand Back Venezuela’s stolen money

Euroclear, City of London

*Protesters talk with a sceptical passer-by*

The USA began its sanctions against Venezuela in 2005 a few years after Hugo Chávez became president in 1999. He brought in a programme of reforms to improve access to food, housing, healthcare and education and to support socialist government across Latin America and against US influence in what that country considered as its ‘backyard’.

This programme led to economic difficulties but greatly reduced inequality in the country, with many of the middle classes badly hit. The USA imposed further sanctions after Nicolás Maduro became president, partly because of the suppression of human and civil rights, but also for its claims that the regime supported revolutionary movements elsewhere in Latin American and allegations about its role in narcotics trading. Many believe that it was the nationalisation of the oil industry was the most important reason behind the US actions.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but currently earns very little from oil exports, particularly since President Trump imposed sanctions in 2017 and 2019. In the past the US was a major customer, but now because of sanctions its main sales are to China, India and Cuba. In 2025 Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all goods imported into the US from any country that imports Venezuelan oil, either directly or indirectly.

Now it seems increasingly likely that the US will openly back a coup in Venezuela, and as the recent seizure of an oil tanker makes clear, the main reason behind this is those oil reserves.

Back in 2018, Euroclear, a J P Morgan Subsidiary, was refusing to release %1 billion of Venezuelan government money that had been sent to buy medicines and food for Venezuela. They had taken the money despite US sanctions but were refusing to release it. The US then was pushing for humanitarian intervention in Venezuela but refusing allowing the money to be used to provide food and medicines. What they wanted was a change to a regime favourable to the USA.

Hand Back Venezuela’s stolen money

Grenfell silent walk – 18 months on

*Marchers gather outside Kensington Town Hall and are offered green lights to carry*

Survivors and campaigners, many of whom lost family and friends at Grenfell, took part in a silent walk marking 18 months since the disaster.

*The green lights are not very bright but the area is very dark*

They hold Kensington and Chelsea Council responsible both for the tragedy and for failing to deal effectively with its aftermath, with many survivors still not properly rehoused. They want justice and those responsible brought to trial, for the community concerns to be met and changes made to ensure safety for all.

*The Justice4Grenfell banner is near the back of the march*

Still in 2025, after an expensive and lengthy public inquiry, little has changed and there has still been no justice.

*A third group, Humanity For Grenfell joins the march*

I commented back in 2018, that it seemed surprising that “the campaign has not been more forceful. Obviously those for those most closely affected by the terrible fire, trauma makes a more purposeful serious of actions difficult or impossible, but the wider community seem also to have been affected. It was unfortunate that some people set up a rival organisation to United for Grenfell which has gained much of the publicity but has failed to make any real gains and has perhaps served to de-radicalise despite its left-wing connections.“

*‘Grenfell Youth Know the Truth – Justice is Coming’ Much of the truth is known but as yet no sign of justice*

I’ve written more about Grenfell in a recent post, noting the difference between the official response between here and the recent fire in Hong Kong, where there were arrests in the days following the fire – but we are still waiting for any here.

Many more pictures at Grenfell silent walk – 18 months on.

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Guantanamo Bay Protest, Whitehall 2003

Guantanamo Bay Protest: The protest opposite Downing Street on Saturday 13th December 2003 was I think the first protest against the illegal detention camp that I attended, though there were many more later. Co-incidentally it took place on the day in Operation Red Dawn that US forces captured the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near Tikrit in Iraq.

Saddam was held in prison in Baghdad in comfortable conditions, allowed to keep a diary, write poems, smoke cigars and even have his own private garden where he planted seeds for some months before being handed over for trial to the interim Iraqi government. Eventually he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged at the end of 2006.

Those who were taken to Guantanamo – mostly innocent of any crimes – as we know were treated very differently. Subjected to humiliation, frequent torture and caged in terrible conditions. Few were ever brought to any trial and most were eventually released after many years of confinement.

The camp was set up in January 2002 and a total of roughly 780 men from 47 countries were brought to Guantanamo. At the start of 2025, there were still 15 held there. 9 had died while being held. Of the 780, only 8 men have ever been convicted, and 4 of these convictions have since been reversed.

Many were captured and sent there for the flimsiest of suspicions – including one man from Belgium arrested in Kuwait for wearing a Casio digital watch. Another was a taxi driver and the only journalist held there was an Al Jazeera cameraman. Most were just unlucky, often foreigners captured by bandits and sold to the US army as a handy source of income.

I wrote a short opinion on My London Diary in 2003, and captions to a few of the pictures that I posted which I’ve re-used here.

“Justice is simply not happening for those imprisoned at Guatanamo Bay. What is happening is in breach of the conventions on human rights. It makes nonsense of the claims of the USA to be fighting against terrorism when they are acting in this way. Most of the Muslim world seems convinced the USA is a terrorist state because of actions like this.

It wasn’t a huge demonstration, at times there seemed to be more speakers than demonstrators. I turned down an invitation to speak, though I think it was just a case of mistaken identity … but at least this didn’t lead me to be incarcerated without trial.”

More pictures on My London Diary

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Boycott Workfare Surprise Party – Brixton 2012

*People walk out from the Boycott Workfare Surprise Party in the BHF shop*

Campaigners held a brief ‘Boycott Workfare Surprise Party’ in the British Heart Foundation shop in the centre of Brixton in a protest against the charity using free forced labour by unemployed people in their shops.

Previous governments had introduced various schemes to provide work for the unemployed, particularly for young people which involved training, usually while performing socially useful tasks, such as the Youth Training Scheme. But Workfare, introduced by the coalition government in 2012 meant that those who had been out of work for some years had to work for six months without pay, often at profit-making companies, in order to keep getting their benefits.

There were a number of different workfare schemes brought in under the coalition and Tory governments including ‘Community Work Placements‘, introduced in April 2014 which forced “claimants to work for up to 30 hours a week for 26 weeks in return for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)” but was scrapped in 2015.

*Staff challenge the protesters who are putting up some Xmas decorations*

The protesters came from the anti-workfare group Boycott Workfare and met in Windrush Square in Brixton, where two PCSO’s tried with little success to find out what they intended to do.

The small group then walked off down Brixton Road and went into the “British Heart Foundation shop armed with Christmas decorations, Santa hats and crackers as well as a banner and placard. Shop staff argued with them as soon as they started to party and protest.” I went in with them but was soon was told I could not photograph inside the store; I didn’t argue but left and continued to take pictures through the many glass windows to the shop.

After around 15 minutes the group left the BHF shop and posed for photographs outside before packing up and moving to protest outside Poundland, which also uses free workfare labour, abusing the unemployed. They handed out leaflets to those entering and leaving the shop and to passersby by.

The next stop was Superdrug, where a security guard came out and told the protesters they were not allowed to protest on the street outside. They laughed at him and told him he was mistaken – they had every right to protest on the highway.

He saw I was taking pictures and threatened to smash my camera. I moved back behind some of the protesters and told him he would be breaking the law if he touched me and continued taking photographs.

The protest continued, and the protesters explained why they were protesting. The security man wasn’t aware that Superdrug were using free labour of unemployed people who had no choice but to work for nothing or lose their benefits.

He calmed down and after a few minutes went back inside Superdrug. The protest continued, handing out leaflets to those walking past on the busy high street. When they began discussing which shop to go to for their next protest I decided I’d done enough and left for home.

As I commented, “Workfare is supposed to offer a way for the unemployed to get into work, but many employers are using it as a free labour supply, cutting down the number of actual jobs available by getting the work done for nothing by the unemployed… Some employers also seem to be using workfare to attack workers’ terms and conditions and attacking trade union organisation by replacing unionised workers by the unemployed.”

More pictures at Boycott Workfare Surprise Party in Brixton.

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St Pancras Old Church & More – 1990

St Pancras Old Church & More: More from my wanderings to the north of St Pancras and Kings Cross on February 18th 1990. This walk began with Between Kings Cross & St Pancras – 1990 and continued in Gasholders, Goods Way and Midland Road, 1990.

*The Chenies, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-41*

This 8 storey block was built in a vaguely Art Deco style in the late 1940s as council flats for St Pancras Borough Council, one of two blocks in the Godlington Street Estate. Later it passed to the London Borough of Camden. John Russell, an adviser to Henry VIII was given the title Earl of Bedford in 1551 and the Bedford family later gained other titles including that of Baron Rusell of Chenies. The Bedford estate owns much of Bloomsbury and some other parts of Camden and in the 16th century acquired Chenies Manor in Buckinghamshire by marriage.

Pancras Tyres, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-42

The former premises of Pancras Tyres which had moved, though it was now impossible to see where they had moved to, I could still read 56 PEN, but there are a surprising number of streets in London beginning with Pen. The notice obscuring the rest of the address claims that (despite the move) the gates are in constant use, but they were certainly not while I was there.

St Pancras Old Church, St Pancras Old Burial Ground, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-4311-13th Century church enlarged by A D Gough and R L Roumieu in 1847-8century, later restorations and 'Norman' remodelling by A W Blomfield. Still in use. — *St Pancras Old Church, St Pancras Old Burial Ground, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-43*

This Grade II* listed 11-13th Century church was enlarged by A D Gough and R L Roumieu in 1847-8 and later ‘restored’ with Norman remodelling by A W Blomfield, Very little can now be seen of the original Norman building, but there are claims that there are some much older Roman remains in parts of the walls, and that this was a place of worship possibly as long ago as AD 314, A 6th century altar stone was found here.

The church remains in use as “a traditional Anglo-Catholic church that rejects the ordination of women as priests and bishops” and as a music venue.

*The Hardy Tree, St Pancras Old Burial Ground, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-22*

The railway line out of St Pancras Station runs through St Pancras Old Burial Ground and before it could be built in 1865 many of the graves their had to be dug up and moved. Some were piled up in a heap here, with the young Thomas Hardy, then an assistant to architect Arthur Blomfield, delegated to be the overseer for the work. At the centre of the pile of gravestones was an seed or small sapling, which sprouted and grew into the large ash tree whose trunk can just be seen in my picture and which became known and loved as ‘The Hardy Tree’.

Sadly the tree became infected with a fungus in 2014, severely weakening it and on 27th December 2022 it collapsed. A beech sapling was planted in 2024 to replace the original tree.

*Tomb, Sir John Soane, St Pancras Old Burial Ground, Pancras Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-26*

Sir John Soane (1753 – 1837) was one of Britain’ greatest architects, the son of a bricklayer who rose to became a professor of architecture and was responsible for influential Neo-Classical buildings including the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

He designed this Grade I listed tomb following the death of his wife in 1815 and it was erected here in 1816. His wife, Soane and his son were all buried here. In 1924, Giles Gilbert Scott (son of Sir George Gilbert Scott architect of St Pancras Station and hotel) walked in the burial ground and was inspired by the central part of this tomb for his entry to the comptition to design a telephone box. His winning entry, the K2, produced in 1926 was the iconic telephone box – though it changed a little over the years, developing into the 1935 K6 model.

Gas Holders, Camley St, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-14 — *Gasholders, Camley St, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-14*

I walked back towards the stations, turning down Goods Way where I could not resist taking a few more pictures of the gas holders.

Gas Holders, Camley St, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-15 — *Gasholders, Camley St, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-15*

Gas Holders, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-16 — *Gashholders, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-16*

More pictures from around Kings Cross and Pentonville in a later post.

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Gasholders, Goods Way and Midland Road, 1990

Gasholders, Goods Way and Midland Road: Continuing with pictures from my walk on Sunday 18th February 1990 – the first post on this was Between Kings Cross & St Pancras – 1990.

*Gas Holders, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2d-16*

I photographed the gasholders here on various occasions and from various places, both in black and white and in colour. The Pancras Gasworks and those at Shoredittch were the first gas works of the Imperial Gas Light Company (later the Imperial Gas Light and Coke Co) were built in 1822 on Battlebridge Road beside the Regent’s Canal. In the 1860s it was still the largest gas works in Britain if not the world, but soon it was eclipsed by others.

Although the gas works closed in 1904 and was dismantled three years later, the gasholders continued in us for gas storage for gas from the company’s vast Beckton gasworks and were only finally decommissioned around 2000 well after town gas had been replaced by natural gas.

*Triplet, Gas Holders, Goods Way, Camley St, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-61*

These three gasholders were originally built in 1879, replacing an earlier triplet from the 1860s designed by engineer John Clark. He had them built as ‘telescopic’ holders with two interlocking sections or ‘lifts’ around the outside of the ‘bell’ which could rise up inside the guide frames to increase the capacity.

*Triplet, Gas Holders, Goods Way, Camley St, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-62*

As the Grade II listing text states this involved “replacing the guide frames in their entirety by the contractors Westwood and Wright under the direction of John Clark. The columns of the new guide frames observed classical rules so that the lowest tier was in the Tuscan order, the middle in the Doric and the topmost in a simplified version of Corinthian.”

The guide frames of these three gasholders were carefully disassembled, painstakingly restored and re-erected around 300 yards away on the other bank of the Regent’s Canal, with two now surrounding the new Gasholder apartments, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects.

*Midland Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-54*

This section along Midland Rd with the corner of Brill Place at right was demolished to build the Francis Crick Institute.

*Garages, 58, Midland Rd, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-56*

These small industrial workshops were also demolished in the redevelopment of the area for the building of St Pancras International.

*Water Point, St Pancras Station, Goods Way, Somers Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2e-01*

This Grade II listed water point is close to the new location of the gasholder frames and also the redeveloped coal drops on the north side of the canal. Built around 1870 for the Midland Railway it was probably designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott’s architects office.

Like the gasholders its original location was in the way of St Pancras International and was moved around 2001 to its new location on Camley St, some 700 yards to the north. When built it was condemned by some architectural critics for being an inappropriate use of Gothic for a functional building, but it well matched the station and hotel.

Together with the Granary building and others in the area according to Historic England it forms “an evocative ensemble of former industrial buildings of considerable urban landscape value.” Having a theme park like this is certainly better than losing these structures completely but it isn’t any real replacement for the original.

More pictures from the walk in a later post.

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US Climate Wrecking, Mumia & Stop The War – 2011

US Climate Wrecking, Mumia & Stop The War: Friday 9th December 2011 I went to Grosvenor Square for a protest against the US blocking any progress on reducing world carbon emissions and also photographed a protest calling for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, “the world’s most famous death-row inmate” on the 30th anniversary of his alleged crime. From there went to Housemans bookshop for a crowded launch party of a book on 10 years of Stop The War campaigning.

USA Climate Treaty Wrecker

US Embassy, Grosvenor Square

US Climate Wrecking, Mumia & Stop The War - 2011 — *The Koch Brothers finance climate denial – a giant banner in front of US Embassy*

COP 17, the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, was due to end on 11th December by the USA was blocking any progress on adopting the worlds’ only emissions reductions treaty, the Kyoto protocol.

The USA was leading a small group of countries – also including Canada and Japan – in preventing global agreement. The protesters blamed the US policy on the lobbying by US industries, and in particular the Koch Brothers, climate change deniers whose huge fortunes come from fossil fuels and were the major funders behind the extreme right Tea Party movement in the Republican Party. No longer active as it shifted the party to the extreme right positions it now holds

The Durban talks overran by 36 hours and failed to agree on a global plan, instead pushing the debate in the future, agreeing to establish a legally binding agreement by 2015 which would come into force by 2020. But further opposition again led by the US at all later COPs have prevented that happening.

The protesters from the Camapaign Against Climate Change held up a giant 8 metre by 4 meter banner with some difficulty in front of the embassy ‘condemning the Koch brothers and their “dirty money” for preventing progress in tackling climate change. Continued opposition to any effective action by the US seems likely to result in much of the world becoming uninhabitable by the end of this century, with billions mainly in the world’s poorer countries dying.’

More pictures at USA Climate Treaty Wrecker.

Mumia Abu-Jamal 30th Anniversary Protest

US Embassy, Grosvenor Square

A second group of protesters marched to the US Embassy on the 30th anniversary of the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner after the officer had stopped Mumia Abu-Jamal’s younger brother at 4am in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mumia was alleged to have run across from his parked taxi to intervene. He was wounded by a shot from Faulkner and a revolver registered to Mumia which had fired five shots was found at the scene.

Mumia, a journalist and former Black Panther, was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1982, but supporters claim that the crime was not properly investigated. They aalso say he did not get a fair trial, with a predominantly white jury, ineffective legal support and incorrect direction to the jury by a racist judge. Another man is alleged to have admitted to the shooting.

In jail during various legal appeals, Mumia wrote the book ‘Live From Death Row‘ (1995) in which he described his life in jail and the corrupt racist nature of the US Justice system. Eventually a federal appeals court decided that a new sentencing hearing was needed as the instructions the jury were given were potentially misleading. But the US Supreme Court in October 2011 not to consider the case but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.

At the protest there were several speeches giving details of his case and a lengthy statement about the life imprisonment decision was read. But like many of his supporters around the world those at the protest felt that sentence was unacceptable as they held that “Mumia was innocent of the crime and in prison because of his race and his revolutionary views, held by a racist system.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal 30th Anniversary Protest

10 Years of Stop The War Book Launch

Housemans, Caledonian Rd

I was pleased to have a few of my pictures included in ‘Stop The War – A Graphic History‘ published to mark 10 years of campaigning.

*Kate Hudson, David Gentleman and Andrew Burgin*

The book includes images by well-known graphics artists including Banksy and Ralph Steadman. I was particularly pleased to meet David Gentleman, whose graphic posters have inspired the movement – and of course feature in many of my pictures.

*Jeremy Corbyn, MP talks to David Gentleman who designed the Stop The War placards*

There are also pictures from a couple of dozen photographers, though most of the photos come from half a dozen of us. For me of course that seemed in many ways the most important section of the book as a historical record.

Many artists and photographers were present at the opening as well as leading figures in the campaign, including Tony Benn who contributed the foreword to the book.

More pictures at 10 Years Stop The War Book.

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Global Climate Change March – 2007

Global Climate Change March: On Saturday 8th December 2007 around 6,000 people came to march through London in an attempt to shake the government out of its complacency and get the real change in direction needed to avoid catastrophe. It was by then totally clear that our world was heading to disaster.

Eighteen years later we are still on course for human extinction, and for taking many other species with us. Although most governments have by now taken some measures to curb emissions together these have only resulted in a slight reduction of our rate of self-destruction. Tinkering at the margins is not going to save us and there will be no magic scientific solution, we need a dramatic system change.

The main driver of our impending disaster can be stated in one word: GROWTH. The incessant demand for more, more, more – when what we really should be valuing is better.

We have a government that is committed to growth – and introducing climate killing policies such as Heathrow expansion. Protests such this in 2007 and many others managed to stop the third runway then but now it and other disastrous projects are back.

Of course it isn’t just our current government, but the whole political and economic system which calls for growth – and is dominated by the rich and powerful people and corporations who control the laws, the media and more. They aren’t our laws and our media but their laws and their media – and they lead to the obscenity of billionaires and to poverty in rich countries and across the world.

Below is my fairly lengthy account of the march in 2007 from My London Diary, where there are many more pictures of the event than the few here.

Global Climate Change March – Parliament – Grosvenor Square

The global climate change march on Saturday 8 December was intended to send a message to government that they need to produce an effective Climate Change bill and put themselves wholeheartedly behind saving the planet rather than backing projects such as the Heathrow expansion that will further increase the chaos.

The march went to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, because America is still refusing to ratify the Kyoto treaty and still sabotaging any progress on getting effective measures to cut carbon and energy use.

Cyclists were also out in force on a tour of central London before the march, visiting a picket at Tesco Metro in Lower Regent Street, where leaflets were handed to customers asking them to shop elsewhere so long as Tesco continues to promote bio-fuels.

It was a lousy day, with strong winds and intermittent heavy showers, but that didn’t stop more than 6000 marchers turning out for the event, many in fancy dress as santas, polar bears, reindeer, elves, penguins and more to highlight the problem of melting polar icecaps. At the front of the march was the ‘Statue of Taking Liberties’ with the Kyoto treaty, followed by the Earth in its greenhouse as in the Campaign against Climate Change logo. And Lucy, our favourite mermaid was there to remind us of the perils of rising sea levels.

It was hardly surprising to see such a great number of protesters and placards opposed to the expansion of Heathrow and the building of a third runway across the villages of Sipson and Harmondsworth. There also appeared to be an increasing realisation that to combat climate chaos we need to put into place changes in lifestyle and politics, with some protesters calling for an end to livestock farming – one of the main contributors to carbon emissions – and others for a revolution.

I tried hard to represent all the different groups on the march, but doubtless I will have missed some. One of the santas carried two placards, the more appropriate of which said “Santa says stop Global Warming. Its getting too wet and windy for Rudolph“; it was certainly too wet and windy for marchers and photographers, but we stuck it out

Many more pictures at Global Climate Change March.

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