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The Jewish East End & Al-Quds Day – 2006

The Jewish East End & Al-Quds Day: On Sunday 22 October 2006 I went on a morning guided walk around parts of the formerly Jewish East End, one of the activities of the now long gone (and still missed) London Arts Café. The name was rather misleading as it never achieved its aim to open a cafe dedicated to London and the arts in the city, but did organise some interesting talks as well as exhibitions at various venues showing painting and photography of London and walks and visits such as this. Some record of these is still on-line although the organisation closed down in 2007, though was continued as a short-lived Meetup group.

After lunch I went to Marble Arch for the start of the annual Al-Quds Day march. I didn’t stay long as it began to rain heavily.

Here (with minor corrections) is all I wrote in 2006 and a few of the pictures. You can still see more at the links to My London Diary.

The (formerly) Jewish East End

The Jewish East End & Al-Quds Day - 2006 — *Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, built in 1899 and one of the very few synagogues still open then in the East End.*

On Sunday morning I took a walk with members of London Arts Cafe through the once Jewish areas of London’s East End. We were fortunate to be able to go in both the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, as well as the Bevis Marks Synagogue, Britain’s oldest standing Jewish place of worship, built in 1698, where unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but you can see some other pictures from our walk.

A few more pictures on My London Diary

International Al-Quds Day March

Marble Arch

Al-Quds is Jerusalem, and Sunday saw the annual march calling for its liberation, and that of Palestine.

*Hizbullah capes help keep some marchers dry*

The idea of an international Al-Quds Day came from Ayatollah Khomeini, shortly after he gained power in Iran in 1979.

Shortly after the start of the march, it started to rain heavily and I came home rather than get my equipment soaked again.

A few more pictures on My London Diary.

The External Security Organisation of Hizbullah was proscribed in the UK in 2001, but it was only in 2008 that the whole of its military wing was proscribed. But Hizbullah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party with around 12% of the seats in the Lebanese Parliament, and operates a vast social services network in the country including schools and hospitals, as well as a satellite TV station. The party flag covers both the civil and the military wings of the party, and so its display was not an offence after the 2008 proscription. There were probably more Hisbullah flags on display than usual in 2006 because the march took place just a couple of months after the Israeli invasion and occupation of parts of Lebanon in July-August 2006.

Following years of lobbying the proscription was extended to cover the whole organisation in 2019 and it is now an offence to carry the flag. My pictures are a historical record and do not imply any support for the organisation.

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A Film Disaster – and the Isle of Dogs – 1990

A Film Disaster: From Hampstead I went on to Colindale where I took only a couple of pictures – not on line – and then on to Kingsbury. But the next time I developed a batch of film – fortunately only 4 films from a new 100 ft roll – I found there was a disaster. Every image was covered with speckled white spots and quite impossible to print.

I contacted the film manufacturer with a sample and while they accepted no liability, the did replace the roll with a new one, which I suppose was better than nothing. But the damage was so bad it was impossible to make acceptable darkroom prints from the negatives, and I kept them in my files with the message ‘DAMAGED FILM – REFERENCE ONLY’. And a month or so later went back to Kingsbury to retake those incredible 1930s houses by Ernest Trobridge again.

After scanning these damaged negatives it became possible -though very time-consuming – to digitally retouch most of these negatives, and I have done so with a handful of them. But I’ll come back to them later along with the replacement images I took in May.

Isle of Dogs – 1990

Isle of Dogs: The pictures I took a few days later on the Isle of Dogs were also on the faulty film, but again after scanning them I was able to painstakingly digitally retouch a few of them. You can still see a little unevenness in some areas of some of the pictures, most noticeably in some of the skies. These were retouched several years ago and I could do a better job now, certainly if I was prepared to use AI tools.

*West India Docks, Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4i-55*

This view was I think from a DLR West India platform. It gives some idea of the building work taking place in the area at the time.

Heron Quays, DLR, Station, Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4i-21 — *DLR, Station, Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4i-21*

I think this was the first Canary Wharf DLR station – replaced by the rather larger one now there which opened in November 1991.

*West India Dock Entrance, Westferry Rd, River Thames, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-64*

At left is the distinctive 20-storey residential block Cascades by Rex Wilkinson of CZWG. Across the River Thames in Rotherhithe is Lawrence Wharf, completed by the Danish developer ISLEF between 1986 and 1988 on the former Vitak Timber Imports timber yard and sawmill which closed in 1987

*West India Dock Entrance, Westferry Rd, River Thames, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-66*

An aggregate works supplying sand and gravel, still much in demand with the immense amount of building works in the area.

John Lemanton & Son Ltd, Regents Wharf, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-52 — *John Lenanton & Son Ltd, Regents Wharf, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-52*

One of the oldest businesses on the Isle of Dogs founded by timber merchant John Lenanton at Batson’s Wharf close by and it soon expanded to Regents Wharf. It was still trading in 1990. While for many years most of the timber came in to the yard by water to the wharf, including by barge from the Surrey Docks, in its later years most came by lorry from Tilbury Docks.

*John Lemanton & Son Ltd, Regents Wharf, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-53*

The company closed soon after I made these pictures and its buildings were demolished and replaced by a rather dreary apartment complex.

*Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-55*

The two shops at the right of the picture are still there but the rest of the buildings have been demolished and replaced and are now part of the exclusive, gated Ocean Wharf development between Westferry Road and the River Thames completed around 2000.

*Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-56*

More derelict former industrial premises in this section of Westferry Road – the windows at right are on the left of the previous picture

*Shops, 46-54, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-41*

There is still a row of shops here on Westferry Road and three of the original buildings remain along with some more modern infill, although the businesses in the are different. There is no longer a New Friends Chinese Takeaway or Golden Fish Bar. New Friends is a reminder that Limehouse, London’s first Chinatown is just up the road.

The Golden Fishbar at 46 Westferry Road was apparently a central location for the successful 1986 Channel 4 drama series Prospects about two young East End lads, Jimmy ‘Pincy’ Pince and Billy ‘Bill’ Pearson, played by Gary Olsen and Brian Bovell, trying to make a living on the Isle of Dogs. The shop is now Docklands Fried Chicken, a branch of Docklands Grill House.

More from the Isle of Dogs in a later post.

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Islington December 1992

Although these pictures are in my files for 1993, my rather limited diary tells me that they were taken in December 1992 when I made two walks in Islington, but gives no other informations about the actual pictures.

At the time I had no commercial outlet for my colour pictures which were very much personal projects, and one in which details such as location were of no importance.

Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-61 — *Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-61*

The rather strange shadow of a car on an unusual frontage

One of several themes that interested me was the popular representation of people – both men and women – in window displays such as these, painted signage and more.

I’ve arranged the pictures in the order they were taken and its clear that several were from the same shop window.

Creeping in at the bottom of the picture is ‘Shy Girl £65’.

After these pictures of shop windows – possibly on Essex Road – I moved on.

Playground, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-52 — *Playground, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-52*

This garden and playground is Tibby Place just off Essex Road on Greenman Street, and was the site of the Tibberton Baths. In 1894 a large house, Wontner’s Villa, on the west side of Tibberton Square was bought and demolished and Tibberton Baths built on its site, with mens and womens swimming baths and a laundry, opening in 1895.

The baths continued in use until the early 1980s and after they were closed and left empty a fire destroyed the main building. The baths were then demolished and these ornate Victorian iron arches which had spanned one of the rather narrow swimming pools were salvaged and erected in this small park on the west of the site which was given the name Tibby Place.

Mecca Bingo, Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-54 — *Mecca Bingo, Essex Rd, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-54*

Built and opened in 1930 as the Carlton Cinema this was one of noted cinema architect George Coles finest, and is Grade II* listed. You can read more details on the Cinema Treasures web site which states it was taken over by Associated British Cinemas Ltd in February 1935 but only renamed as the ABC Islington in 1962. It closed as a cinema in 1972 and was converted into a Bingo club, continuing in use until 2007, when apparently the government smoking ban in public places made it impossible to continue. It was then bought by a church who are slowly restoring and converting its interior and has been renamed Gracepoint.

Hairdresser, London, 93c01-02-44 — *Hairdresser, Islington, 93c01-02-44*

A good selection of hairbrushes, combs and other items in the window of this Islington hairdresser.

Service Dept, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-43 — *Service Dept, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-43*

I rather doubt that service was still available, and certainly not from this window.

Blue picture, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-42 — *Blue picture, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-42*

‘SYLA for prettier bathrooms’. A rather cheeky picture on public display, blue in two meanings.

‘BEST FOR MILES’ is the claim above the menu, but unfortunately I can read nothing below – it was winter and there was no lighting inside the cafe and the fast colour film I needed to use simply did not resolve enough, and there was a lot of colour noise.

You can see the rather basic Christmas decorations in this picture made shortly before or after Christmas.

I think my next post in this series will be pictures really taken in 1993.

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Shut DESO Action Day – 2006

Bloomsbury, London

On Shut DESO Action Day, Monday October 16 2006, protesters formed a human chain around the building housing the Defence Export Services Organisation close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury declaring it a Global Danger Zone.

In 1966 Denis Healey, Secretary of State for Defence in Harold Wilson’s Labour government founded the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) to help British arms manufactures export military equipment and services.

Since this protest in 2006 it has been rebranded several times, first as the Defence & Security Organisation, then UK Defence and Security Exports which is now a part of the Department for Business and Trade, in July 2026 itself rebranded as (now known as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), but throughout has remained much the same.

DESO and now UKDSE helps companies export arms and security equipment, organising exhibitions, providing serving soldiers to help demonstrate the use of weapons at these, organising trade missions, advising on government export finance, identifying export opportunities and even producing brochures advertising British arms. It trains companies on how to export military and ‘dual-use’ arms and security equipment legally despite our export controls. UKDSE is now run from inside the Ministry of Defence.

Here’s what I wrote back in 2006 – I’ve left out a sentence about a web site which is no longer in existence. You can find out more from the the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) which campaigns against the UK government’s active promotion of the arms industry including UK Defence and Security Exports (UKDSE).

The Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) spends £15 million a year of our taxes selling arms for British arms manufacturers, often to countries with poor human rights records or engaged in violent conflict. We contribute ten times as much to promoting arms sales than promoting civil exports. Always headed by an arms industry executive, DESO gives the arms manufacturers a unique influence over government policies.

On Monday 16 October, 2006, around 250 protesters, many dressed in white, made a human chain around the DESO HQ in Bloomsbury, just a few yards from the British Museum, and designated the department as a ‘Global Danger Zone’. From there, many went to lobby their MPs to close down DESO. Mark Thomas came and spoke to those demonstrating, adding his voice to those asking for DESO to be closed down – and making an offer of alternative employment for some of the staff.

The demonstration was organised by Campaign Against The Arms Trade and supported by other groups including the Fellowship Of Reconciliation, Speak, War On Want, CND, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party.

More pictures begin here on My London Diary.

After the protest I walked back to Waterloo Station across Waterloo Bridge.

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Hampstead, Old And Modern – 1990

Continuing my walk in Hampstead on Sunday 9th April 1990. The previous post was More Hampstead – 1990 and ended at The Mount.

*Holly Mount, Holly Hill, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-63*

Hampstead is a hilly part of North London and Hollybush Steps up beside the house at the start of The Mount lead to another street with ‘mount’ in is name, Holly Mount which leads on to Holly Hill.

My picture is from the corner where Holly Mount meets Holly Hill, looking back down Holly Mount and on the left is the Holly Bush pub, with beyond that Hollybush House, with Hollybush Steps just out of sight around the corner. There is an awful lot of ‘Holly’ in that last sentence and this area of hillside was in earlier times covered with holly bushes.

But apparently the area was until the mid-nineteenth century known as Cloth Hill as its abundant springs made it a good place for washing clothes including laundries serving the Royal Household in Whitehall. Perhaps they hung their washing to dry on the holly bushes. But when the area was further developed and gentrified in the early Victorian era they chose to remember the holly rather than dirty washing. Ian Visits web site has a detailed illustrated article on the alley and Holly Mount.

The Grade II listed Holly Bush pub is a fine pub I’ve visited on several occasions. It was built in the 1790s as a stable block for the home and studio of portrait painter George Romney, but in 1807 was converted to provide catering for Hampstead Assembly Rooms. By around the middle of the nineteenth century it had begun to be used as a pub, but was apparently not fully licenced until 1928. In 2010 it was bought by Fullers and is a pub whose restaurant and drink prices reflect its situation in one of the most affluent areas of London.

*Mount Vernon, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-65*

Slopes lead up from Holly Hill to yet another mount in Hampstead, Mount Vernon, which gets its name from Major General Charles Vernon MP (1791-1810) who owned land here. The blue plaque is for Sir Henry Dale (1875–1968), a pharmacologist and physiologist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi for his work on acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses.

At the end of the street is another blue plaque on the corner with Holly Walk, to the rather more famous Robert Louis Stevenson.

St Mary's, RC, Church, Holly Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-53 — *St Mary’s, RC, Church, Holly Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-53*

The church was first established here by a French Catholic priest Abbé Jean-Jacques Morel (1766–1852) who fled here from the French Revolution but it only had a church building here from 1816 and even then it looked nothing like this.

London had had a week of huge anti-Catholic riots in 1780, the Gordon Riots, and after a week of widespread destruction the army were brought in and around 500 rioters were killed and many injured and arrested. In 1816 anti-Catholic feeling was still running high and at first the church was built to look like another Georgian house.

By the 1850s feelings had quietened and the law had changed to allow Catholic churches to ring bells and William Wardell designed this facade with its bell tower, statue of the Virgin and Child and a massive doorway. Abbé Jean-Jacques Morel died in 1852, the year it was finished.

*Sun House, Frognal Way, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-21*

Various streets in the area share the name Frognal – and rather to my surprise simply because they were developed where a lot of frogs lived and croaked. Much of the area is private streets where Google Streetview does not go.

Sun House at 9 Frognal Way is Grade II* listed, as “a pioneer work of the Modern Movement in the UK“, designed by Maxwell Fry and built in 1935-6. “Fry was a founder member of the MARS Group which did much to forward the cause of the new architecture.”

It is a difficult house to photograph from the street as it it largely hidden behind trees and now also I think behind tall gates.

*House, Frognal, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-25*

66 Frognall is another Grade II* listed modern house, designed by Colin Lucas with
Amyas Connell and Basil Ward in 1937-8, on the corner with Frognal Way.

*House, Frognal, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-11*

Another photograph of the Grade II* listed 66 Frognal showing the entrance at its north end.

I’d had enough of Hampstead and had other places to go – I had taken many more pictures than I’ve so far put on line, and perhaps some time I’ll go back and scan more. But Hampstead still seems to me a place of its own, not really a part of the real London I know.

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Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise – 1992

Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise: More colour pictures from my walk in Islington which although are in my January 1993 folder I now find were actually taken in mid-December 1992, but were only processed in the following month. The previous post which was from the beginning of my walk was wrongly titled Islington in Colour – January 1993.

It seemed more about departure than arrival for this closed shop, which was at 130 New North Road on the corner with Poole St. At left you can see the fairly distinctive bridge over the Regent’s Canal still there though this shop and the other buildings between it and the canal was replaced not long after with a large block whose ground floor is occupied by a Co-op food store.

My guess was that Arrival had been a café. I liked the faded canopies with a sun motive and the columns supported on square blocks, I think painted on or tiled over the brickwork as well as the graffiti tags and fly posting for the Dalston Lane Car Boot and Brixton Academy. The disused shop had been firmly sealed against squatters.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-32 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-32*

The Business Design Centre opened in October 1986, built in the Grade II listed Royal Agricultural Hall built in 1861-2 to the design by Frederick Peck for agricultural shows and continued in use for these until 1938, also hosting other events such as the he Royal Tournament and the first Crufts dog show.

During the Second World War it was taken over by the military and after the Mount Pleasant sorting office was devastated by bombing became a Royal Mail parcels depot. After they moved out the large site remained empty until bought and converted by Sam Morris to an exhibition venue, conference centre, showrooms and offices as the Business Design Centre which opened in October 1986.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-34 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-34*

I imagine that this sculpture showing two Sumo wrestlers holding up a shipping container was there in conjunction with an event taking place in the Business Design Centre and I have no idea how long it remained in place. Unfortunately none of the handful of frames I made in black and white and colour include enough of the board with text about the event.

The shipping container appears to be an actual used container, with clear signs of wear – and if it was a standard 20ft container will have weighed around 2,300kg – quite a weight for two wrestlers.

Alfredo’s is still there, though no longer a snack bar but a café and restaurant renamed Alfredo’s 1920. I photographed it again in 1986 and here is what I wrote when I posted this on Facebook:

“Established 1920 and with a fine frontage. Details of this still remain in its current use by bistro Meat People, although the central Alfredo’s Snack Bar is long gone and the panel it was on is now plain and rectangular and there is no drop shadow on the plain name MEAT PEOPLE. But at the top of the white vertical panel it now states ‘FORMERLY ALFREDO’S’ and at it’s base ‘ESTABLISHED 1920’ and has some of the same text as before, with the rest altered to reflect the current usage.”

Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-25 — *Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 92c01-01-25*

I’m unsure as to how I would categorise the shop with this window display, but I think it was probably run by an ex-boxer. I can’t read the small print under the photograph at top left but I think it is the American boxer Jack Dempsey, (1895 – 1983), “nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926.” He was best known for the two controversial fights he had with Gene Turney in 1926 and 1927, both of which he lost.

In the window along with the boxing pictures are WD-40, furniture and leather creams, brushes, a hammer, jugs, superglue, a rabbit and more.

Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-11 — *Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-11*

I now have no idea where this angry looking snake with the white strip with the messages ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Power’ was, or why, though perhaps it was a motorcycle dealer.

Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-72 — *Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-72*

For something very different I photographed this painted sunflower next to a door on the wall, presumable leading to two flats, though the number on it, ‘1 B C’ is rather odd. From the parking notice it would seem to be on a fairly busy road. There are two blind windows, probably from when the building was converted to flats.

The picture is very noisy, and although the plant has a shadow, this is painted and the plant pot floats oddly in space. I think the noise is because I under-exposed the negative, though it may also reflect a processing fault. It was taken on a dull December day and perhaps this particular corner was duller than most.

This building is still there but now residential and the metal shutter had been replaced by what looks like wood. The building is in the gap between two semi-detached houses on the street.

Angel's Paradise, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-76 — *Angel’s Paradise, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-76*

The rather strange colours in this picture are perhaps appropriate, though I think due to a processing fault. There was a legendary night club on Parkfield Street which was demolished in the late 1990s for the Angel Central shopping complex, but I’m unsure whether this was that venue or another perhaps earlier location – or a completely different Paradise. I’ve been unable to find other pictures which clearly show the Paradise club.

Here is my quick attempt to improve the colour – after having cropped the image to remove a damaged area at left.

More from December 1992 in Islington to come.

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Ganesh Chaturthi Festival Southall – 2005

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival: On Sunday 9th October 2005 I got on my bike and rode to Southall to photograph a Hindu festival which was apparently being celebrated for the first time in England. This was one of many community and religious festivals which I photographed in the first ten or so years of this century – the previous day I had photographed the Catholic Rosary Crusade of Reparation in Westminster and there are pictures of this also on the October 2005 page of My London Diary. At the start of the same month I’d gone to Southall before for a guided tour of the splendid Sikh Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara which opened in 2003.

I was born and grew up in Middlesex, just a few miles from Southall and when young would sometimes cycle there to the footbridge over the Great Western Railway close to the station where steam trains would hurtle past.

In 1950 a local factory owner brought workers from India, and soon others began to follow them, finding jobs at Heathrow Airport, London Transport and other organisations some recruiting in India. Over my growing years the population of the town and of Hounslow where I was living just to the south became increasingly of Indian origin – and I grew to love the smell and taste of curry.

Now in the 2020s around 70% of the population define themselves as Asian, from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other areas, though many of them have been born here. Over the years I’ve visited it for various events and enjoyed the vibrancy of its streets and Indian food at some of its cheaper cafés with Indian friends.

But some of the events I’ve gone there to photograph have been reminders of the racial tensions there in the 1970s, and in particular of the murders of Sikh teenager Gurdip Singh Chagga by racists in 1976 and anti-racist activist Blair Peach, murdered by police while protesting against the National Front in 1979.

I was made to feel very welcome at the 2004 event and I think I was the only photographer taking pictures, with not even the local newspaper in attendance. I turned down the invitation to travel on the lorry to the Thames at Putney with the group as I needed to cycle home.

Here is what I wrote about the event back in 2004:

“Another celebration the following day was also dedicated to world peace, as the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival was celebrated in this country for the first time. The tradition of this Ganapati festival dates back to 1895 in Maharashtra, India. It aims to raise awareness of Hindu culture in Britain and “to bring people from different faiths and walks of like together in order to promote peace and harmony in a multicultural society.”

“Statues of Lord Ganesh specially brought from India were transported through the centre of Southall, from the Vishwa Hindu Temple to the site of the oldest Hindu temple* in Britain, Ram Mandir in King Street and back.

“Later the statues were to be taken to the Thames and ritually immersed in the water at Putney, close to the starting point of the Boat Race. Unfortunately i had to miss this part of the event.”

* Shree Ram Mandir, Southall began in 1965 but I think the Slough temple may have started a couple of years earlier.

There are many more pictures from the event which was also attended by the local MP, the Mayor and a few people from local churches, beginning here on My London Diary.

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Islington in Colour – January 1993

Islington in Colour: The first of several posts of colour pictures I made in January 1993 in the London Borough of Islington, mostly in Islington itself. All these pictures are in my Flickr album 1993 London Colour and clicking on any image will take you to a larger version there.

I think the first walk on which I took these pictures began at Kings Cross and I walked into Pentonville. I will post them in the order I made them, but I can’t remember the exact location of some of these. Please comment if you recognise where they were.

*Mural, Magnus Irvin, 1982, London, 1993, 93c01-01-73*

Magnus Irvin, born in 1955, is a prolific public artist and his work includes many murals, but this one is not included in the murals page on his web site. He designed and painted this one in 1982. Perhaps it refers to Joseph Grimaldi who basically invented the clown as we know it and is buried in the area.

*Hurst House, Weston Rise, Pentonville, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-61*

This striking post-war brutalist estate was designed Howell, Killick, Partridge & Amis for the Greater London Council and built in 1964-7. As well as photographing it in black and white I made this colour image.

*Hairdresser, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-63*

A sign reflected in the window points to Chapel Market and this HIGH CLASS GENTS TOILET SALOON was at No. 114. Few streets in the area have numbers this high.

Demos Modes Ltd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-65

This closed shop up for sale was definitely at No.5, but again I cannot remember which road it was on or find any information on Demos Modes Ltd.

*Shop Window, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-66*

A dramatic figure in a window display, I think selling crash helmets for motorcyclists. Wearing them had become compulsory in the UK twenty years earlier in 1973.

*Crash Repairs, Mural, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-53*

A mural which leaves you in no doubt about what the business it is advertising offers, but I suspect most of its clients had rather less sporty models.

*Mural, School Playground, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-55*

I think this and the picture below are from the same school playground.

*Mural, School Playground, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-42*

A mural of rural scenes in a school playground, perhaps reflecting the rural past of the area. There were once watermills on the River Fleet which ran in places along the borough’s western boundary, and certainly farms with sheep and geese, but I think all will have disappeared by the age of the tractor cutting corn.

More colour from Islington to come.

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Hampstead Alley, Hospital, Baths, House, Heath – 1990

Hampstead Alley, Hospital, Baths, House, Heath: My walk on Sunday 9th April 1990 continues. The walk began at my post A Hampstead Walk -1990.

Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-26

Another picture of Streatley Place. The narrow width of this alley makes it difficult to photograph, and it still retains some of the character of the rural path through fields which had still still been at the end of the 18th century. By the time of the 1860s OS Map it was completely surrounded by buildings – and was then known as Brewhouse Lane.

For reasons unknown to me its name changed around 1890 to Streatley Place. Some of the 19th century buildings of what began as Hampstead Workhouse, later New End Hospital, which backed onto Streatley Place were converted to flats around 1990.

As you can see the path slopes fairly steeply up here.

*Mansfield Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-15*

As Camden Council’s Conservation Appraisal states, Mansfield Place, built in 1860-61, is a “secluded quadrangle of low, two storey cottages approached down a narrow path between long front garden plots” making “a dramatic contrast between the cottage type gardens and the former hospital buildings looming up behind them” which you can see in this picture. Mansfield Place is Grade II listed.

*Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-65*

More steps on Streatley Place, I think looking down to the row of houses in a previous picture, part of the development around the alley around 1860.

*New Hospital, New End, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-51*

There is an extensive description of the history of New End Hospital which began life in 1800 as Hampstead Workhouse on the Lost Hospitals of London web site.

At left of picture is the 1878 building for the vestry then responsible for the hospital. Its architect Henry Edward Kendall was also responsible for the Vestry Hall built in the same year which later became Hampstead Town Hall. It was named Kendall Hall. The ‘New Hospital’, a slightly plainer block, was added in 1896. The hospital closed in 1986, and most of it was converted to flats.

*The Wells and Campden Baths, Wash House, 71, Flask Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-55*

The Grade II listed Wells and Campden Baths were built in 1888 by architect Henry Simpson Legg for the Wells and Campden Charity, close to the site of the original Hampstead spring in Flask Walk though I think they relied on the local water supply then provided by a private water company, but later by the Metropolitan Water Board.

At the time it opened few of the homes where the working-class lived had bathrooms, often just a single cold tap, sometimes shared with other households, and public baths such as as this provided a much needed facility with many coming here and to other public baths for a weekly bath – soap and towels provided as well as hot water.

The Wells and Campden charity built baths in Kilburn and here. As well as the nine private baths in the building there was also a laundry and drying room. The baths was leased and run by the council (who had also opened their own baths) in 1906 as the charity found them too expensive to continue running. Perhaps surprisingly the baths continued in use until around 1978. The were converted to private flats in the 1980s.

*House, Well Walk, East Heath Rd, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-56*

Architect Ewan Christian designed this house at 50 Well Walk on the corner with East Heath Road in 1881 for his family and called it Thwaitehead, but later it became known as Klippan House. It was built by Norfolk builders Cornish and Gaymer. Christian (1814-95) was a well-known and extremely prolific church architect who became President and Gold Medallist of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and was the architect of the National Portrait Gallery.

You can read more about it and see a rather better picture of this house and of its interiors from Belsize Architects who refurbished the house in 2010, converting the Grade II listed building back into a single residence for Daniel and Gaynor Harris and their daughters who had bought it for £11 million. They restored many of its original features, but could not restore the view it had when built of Hampstead Heath.

*Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-43*

But a short walk from that house took me to Hampstead Heath, where you can see a church spire and some rooftops over a small hillock.

My walk continued – more posts later.

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More Thamesmead Panoramas – 1994

More Thamesmead Panoramas: This final set of panoramic images came from my final visit to Thamesmead in November 1994.

*Lesnes Abbey, Ruins, Abbey Wood, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-42*

I began and ended the day at Abbey Wood station and I no longer remember the route of the walk that I tookm but I think I began by going to the Lesnes Abbey Ruins. After the Norman conquest in 1066 land here was given to Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William the Conqueror and Bishop of Bayeux (and pictured on that tapestry he probably commissioned as a gift to his brother.)

Odo was the man who ran the country for his brother – until he was tried for fraud and disgraced. Odo was forgiven on William’s deathbed. But Lesnes Abbey was only founded in 1178 by the man then in charge of England for Henry II, Richard de Luci. He retired here then, possibly as a penance for his role earlier inspiring the 1170 murder of Thomas Beckett, and died three months after retiring.

The Abbey was always small and was closed by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525 as it had fewer than seven men living there. Much of the stones were taken away as building material with the abbot’s house becoming a part of a farmhouse. The London County Council bought the site and grounds in 1930 and opened it as a public park.

*Abbey Way, Footpath, Footbridge, Abbey Rd, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-21*

From the ruins I walked to the elevated footpath which leads into Thamesmead South.

*Abbey Way, Footpath, Footbridge, Abbey Rd, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-12*

The footbridge goes across Abbey Road and to the north gives a view of the tower blocks of Thamesmead across the horizon.

*Clocktower, Deptford Dockyard, Joyce Dawson Way, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1003-32*

I don’t think I made many other panoramas as I walked towards the river, and this is one I made on an earlier visit. It isn’t a good picture of the clock tower as it doesn’t show the clock!

When Convoys took over the old Royal Naval Dockyard in 1960 to bring newsprint into London they had no interest in its history and despite many objections they demolished the large Great Storehouse and many other old buildings on the site. The clock tower which had been a later addition on the top of this ancient wooden building was saved by urgent pleas and left by the riverside at Convoys Wharf when the building was demolished in 1981.

But it was still just a nuisance to Convoys and they still were threatening to demolish it. The tower was saved by the GLC and taken by boat to Thamesmead and erected here in the middle of a commercial centre.

*Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-22*

At some point in my visit I made another visit to the Tavy Btidge Centre and made a few more panoramas.

Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-11

Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-12

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1103-22*

The River Thames is around a mile and a half away. On a previous visit I had taken another panorama from an almost identical position, but I think this is a rather better composition with the rail lined up carefully with the opposite shore.

These two lines are in the vertical centre of the image and so remain straight. Standing up a little to the right of centre above them is the Barking Creek Barrier.

*Goldfish Are Wankers, Graffiti, Riverside Path, River Thames, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1103-23*

I couldn’t decide which was the more interesting work of art, the strange yellow sculpture or the graffiti on the wall behind. The wall is the flood barrier to protect Thamesmead, much of which is low-lying.

*Crossness Nature Reserve, Thamesmead East, Bexley, 1994, 94-1101-61*

The Crossness Nature Reserve is to the east of Thamesmead, just past the large Crossness Sewage Treatment Works. When opened in 1865 the the sewage from London south of the Thames was simply pumped into the Thames when the tide was going out, but a large area of land was taken over to treat it before release around 1890.

*Crossness Nature Reserve, Thamesmead East, Bexley, 1994, 94-1103-41*

This is the end of my posts of colour pictures from around Thamesmead in 1994 though there are still a few more in my Flickr colour album for that year – as well as others in the 1994 black and white album.

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