Autumn Equinox: The Druid Order: The Autumn Equinox was on September 23 in 2007, and as usual The Druid Order celebrated in with their ritual on Primrose Hill and I went to photograph it.
My photographs show the event from the preparations including a brief practice for a few on the hill top in normal clothing, and then their robing and preparation for the march up the hill and the various stages of the ceremony.
I had another event to attend elsewhere and had to rush off before they ended the event with a procession back down the hill, which I did photograph in other years. But I was on my way to a guided walk around ‘London Street Women’, statues on the streets of the City – you can also see pictures of them on My London Diary.
In this post I’ll stick with the Druids. I photographed The Druid Order both in the autumn at Primrose Hill and at Tower Hill for the Spring Equinox on quite a few occasions and in some I give a fairly detailed account of their history (they began early last century) and the more ancient traditions as well as of the various stages in the ceremonies.
Back in September 2007 my account was rather brief but earlier in the year I had written captions to the pictures of the similar Spring celebration which explained what I thought was happening at each stage.
Here is the piece I posted on the September 2007 page with the usual minor corrections:
The Druid Order has three public ceremonies each year, celebrating the Spring Equinox at Tower Hill, Summer Solstice at Stonehenge and Autumn Equinox (Alban Elued) at Primrose Hill.
I got there rather early, and found quite a few people enjoying the hill in their own way – including those who were running up it as well as others merely enjoying the panoramic view over london, as well as a group of half a dozen people in normal clothes practising a simple ritual of Peace To The Four Corners.
At least this told me I was in the right place, and I soon spotted a larger group gathering in under the trees a short distance away.
The ceremony followed the same pattern as in the spring, with a few minor differences.
I did have a small surprise, when i came across a rival druid, Jay The Taylor, the Druid of Wormwood Scrubs, part of the Loose Association Of Druids, who had come to celebrate the event in the Hawthorn Grove (not a feature marked on my map) and seemed surprised to see the other druids.
There are around 80 pictures from Primrose Hill on My London Diary, presented there in the order in which I took them, at Autumn Equinox – The Druid Order.
Limehouse and East India: I spent most of Saturday 11th June 1994 wandering in the area between Limehouse, Blackwall and the former East India Docks, concentrating on making panoramas, some of which were the post Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas – 1994 but I also took a number of black and white and colour images. You can find more of both in two Flickr albums – links at the bottom of this post – but here is some of the colour work. These pictures will have been made using an Olympus OM$ camera on Fuji film. I carried a range of lenses from 21mm to 200mm, though probably most all were taken with 28mm or 50mm lenses.
Limehouse Link Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-55
The eastern entrance to the Limehouse Link Tunnel which was officially opened in 1993. Both portals have decorative sculptures, this one an untitled abstract by Nigel Hall which I find it hard to find any point in. The 1.1 mile tunnel took 4 years to build and cost £293,000,000 making it the most expensive road scheme in Britain per mile.
Limehouse Link Tunnel, Three Colts St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-44
This is the Limehouse Link Eastern Service Building. With a huge volume of traffic passing through the tunnel presumably the main service needed is ventilation and those chimneys presumably are on top of huge fans for the purpose, sharing the pollution with the community.
The story of Dunbar Wharf is told on the Isle of Dogs Life web site in the article Dunbar Wharf and the Remarkable Story of Duncan Dunbar, and I’ve written more about it in previous posts. Duncan Dunbar made a fortune as a brewer and wine merchant and on his death in 1825 his son, also Duncan Dunbar used this to set up a large shipping fleet, becoming one of the richest men in Britain.
As well as goods to and from the world Dunbar’s shipping line made 37 trips carrying convicts to Australia and were troopships for the Crimean War. He never married and had no children and on his death in 1862 the ships were all sold and the business closed.
The buildings here date from the mid 19th century and are Grade II listed.
London Art Fashions, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-34
I think this was the window of a tailor’s shop in Limehouse, but cannot recall its exact location. The caption I gave it came from the black and white poster at the back which I suspect is from the 1920s or 30s, though I’m certainly no fashion expert, while the blue framed image at lower left looks to me a little older and has an interesting lady golfer.
Chinese Restaurant, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-23
Limehouse and Poplar used to be London’s Chinatown before that moved to Soho, and some traces remain, rather more back in 1994 than now. On the wall is a calendar for the ‘Year of the Dog’ and a notice informing us that:
‘*WE NOW SELL ‘CHICKEN’ BALLS’ IN BATTER PLEASE ASK STAFF £2 A PORTION THANK YOU’
The two green hexagons floating in the centre close to the top of the picture (with some more very faint and above them to their right) are photographic artifacts, lens flare, images of the lens iris reflected from some interior lens surface from a light source just outside the frame. But I rather like the effect here.
Looking through a window into a hairdressers with a red-edged counter and mirrors, red chairs and red towels hanging on hooks seen in the mirror. It wasn’t possible for me to get enough depth of field to make everything in the picture pin sharp, but this perhaps makes the mirrored image stand out a little more.
East India Dock Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-51
The lane closer to the centre of the image dives here into the East India Dock Tunnel with the red brickwork of the tunnel mouth at the right of the picture. The tunnel was opened in 1993. At the left is Canary Wharf Tower, then in isolation, in front of it the bridge and red tower of East India DLR station. The rather depressing 1990 ten-storey granite clad post-modern office blocks on the site of the main East India Dock have now been comprehensively redeveloped mainly for residential use and rebranded as ‘Republic’.
Canary Wharf, DLR, Power Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-53
Further east also looking back to Canary Wharf from underneath the DLR viaduct with the former switchgear house of Brunswick Wharf Power Station at right. Planned in 1939 but not built until after the war this was a coal fired power station on the site of the East India Export Dock. In 1948 the dock was filled in but post-war financial constraints meant the power station was only became operational in 1952, and finally completed in 1956.
In 1970 it was converted to burn oil, probably to reduce air pollution in London. Increases in oil prices later made this one of the more expensive generating stations and it was closed in 1984 and sold for redevelopment in 1987.
Most of the power station was demolished in 1989 but this building remained, I think until around 2005 when it was demolished for a large residential development, Virginia Quays, which has on the riverbank the 1951 Grade II listed Virginia Quay Settlers Monument.
Darfur and the Mayor’s Thames Festival: On Sunday 16th September 2007 I went to London to photograph a march on an International Day of Action over the genocide which had been taking place on a large scale in Darfur since 2003, with around 300,000 civilians killed. My comments at the time are in italics below. After the end of the march I went to walk along the riverside wher the Mayor’s Thames Festival was taking place, though I found little actually happening.
Protect Darfur – International Day of Action
“Several hundred marched from the Sudanese Embassy in St James to Westminster where a protest rally was held opposite Downing Street over the continuing failure of the international community to take effective action over Darfur.”
“Among the mainly African demonstrators were groups of Jews, concerned that, as in the 1930s, too many are happy to turn a blind eye to what is going on.”
The Sudanese government had earlier co-opted and armed the Arab Janjaweed militias against those opposed to it in Darfur and they created what the UN described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
In July 2007 the UN and the African Union approved a the largest joint peacekeeping mission in the world UNAMID to the area, and over the years there were various peace agreements, but despite this conflicts continued and in 2023 a civil war broke out in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (which developed from the Janjaweed) and the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – and genocide returned to Sudan.
The BBC has an article, ‘Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening’ about the renewed genocide and famine in Darfur and across the country which again the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
At the rally opposite Downing Street, demonstrators were asked to put on their blindfolds as a reminder that leaders around the world are refusing to see the problem in Darfur.
“I didn’t stay to hear all the speakers. The position of the rostrum made it hard to photograph, working directly into the sun behind the speakers’ heads from any available close positions, and photographs were not going to be of great interest.
The message on Darfur is clear, and the international community needs to take action.”
Many more pictures (too many) on My London Diary at protect darfur.
River Thames and the Mayor’s Thames Festival
“We were promised that Sunday was the end of our short, late summer, and I took a walk along the south bank of the River Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge, among the crowds who had turned up for the Mayor’s Thames Festival.“
Nothing much exciting seemed to be happening while I was there (it seemed mainly a commercial opportunity for the very large number of stalls along the riverbank), but I then didn’t hang around for the procession and fireworks promised later.
I did take quite a few pictures which you can see at river thames and the mayor’s festival – and it looks as if I found it a little more interesting than my account suggested.
Around Shooters Hill Road: Continuing my walk on Saturday 20th January 1990 which began with the previous post, Westcombe Park and Blackheath 1990.
Heath House, 1 Shooters Hill Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-34
This is an area full of mostly large houses, and this, at 1B Shooters Hill on the corner of Vanbrugh Terrace – the A2 ancient main road Watling Street from London to Dover via Canterbury – is one of the larger and is extended by the substantial conservatory.
According to its Grade II listing it was “built by Benjamin Cooke the cooper and shipowner of Dock Head, Bermondsey, about 1850” though the glazed conservatory was a later extension.
House, 19, Shooters Hill Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-21
One of a long line of large houses on the north of Shooters Hill Road Grade II listed as 7-33 Shooters Hill Road. The listing is rather vague about dates, stating “2nd quarter of C19” and is mainly about the relatively minor differences between the pairs of houses mentioning the extra windows of 19 and its pair 21 at each side of the tympanum – probably why I chose this pair as one of two I photographed (the other not online.)
Houses, Stratheden Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-24
I turned northeast from Shooters Hill up Stratheden Road, to photograph this impressive row of late Victorian large semi-detached houses leading up to St John the Evangelist Church. Two of the blocks at 15-17 have been joined with a new central entrance as Bardon Lodge.
St John the Evangelist Blackheath was designed by Arthur Ashpitel (1807–1869) in a largely Perpendicular style and was completed in 1853. It was built as a landmark to be seen from the west as the centre of the Vanbrugh Park development and is Grade II listed.
House, St John’s Park, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-26
This house immediately to the south of St John’s Church in St John’s Park was then surrounded by far more overgrown vegetation than now. There are two similar detached houses here and this is No 32. I saw it as a villa in some Gothic mystery – and may have deliberately chosen the viewpoint to exaggerate this.
These two detached villas are both locally listed and were built in 1873.
House, Vanbrugh Park, Shooters Hill, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-11
I’m rather surprised I didn’t photograph the rather fine pub on the corner as I turned from Stratheden Road into Vanbrugh Park, but my next frame was of these three storey houses at 30 and 31 Vanbrugh Park – there is another pair to their left.
I think these are probably late Victorian, built after many of the others in this street.
House, 90, Shooters Hill Rd, Charlton, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-14
Originally this was a semi-detached house, but the left half was lost with the construction of the ‘Sun in the Sands’ roundabout to take Shooters Hill Road over the the Rochester Way Relief Road which opened in 1988.
Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas: In June 1994 I took a walk east from Limehouse, making a new series of panoramic images as well as taking some more normal photographs. I think these images were taken on a couple of different walks, but here I’ll present them in a roughly geographical order, going east from Limehouse Basin to East India Dock Basin station and largely following the Docklands Light Railway.
Limehouse Dock in 1994 was not surrounded by flats and there was a clear view from the the council flats – John Scurr House – on the corner of Ratcliffe Lane and Branch Road – which you can see at the right.
And in 1994, as in many such blocks, there was little or no entrance security so I could simply walk in and up the stairs to take pictures such as this. The DLR viaduct runs from the left side to St Anne’s Church and the marina is almost empty, while Canary Wharf Tower in the distance is twice the height of the buildings around it, but now is surrounded by other tall towers.
The bridge that leads across Aspen Way from the West India Docks to Poplar DLR station at the extreme right of the picture. At left you can see the DLR line from West India Quay which crosses the road in a blue bridge to join the line from Limehouse.
This picture made a rather nice album cover for the 1998 album The Limehouse Link by Mucho Macho, particularly impressive on the 12″ vinyl where it is carried across both front and back – reproduced at 24 by 12 inches, considerably larger than the CD version.
As Darryl Sterdan’s 1999 review stated “No vocals are no problem for the British DJs on their auspicious debut release” and despite its cover it made little impact.
I’d taken photographs in earlier years around the building of the Beckton extension of the DLR and the Limehouse Link tunnel and both had caused major changes in the area. Among which was this rather convoluted footpath leading under the road and DLR south from Blackwall Station.
Parts of the Grade II listed inscription on the Northern portal of the Blackwall tunnel, built in 1897 are hard to read in my picture, so here it is in full: ‘THIS TUNNEL CONSTRUCTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL WAS OPENED BY/ HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES K.C. ON BEHALF OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA ON 22nd MAY 1897 IN THE 60th YEAR OF HER REIGN/ SIR ALEX R. BINNIE ENGINEER’
I had to wait some time back in 1994 for a train to pass across on the DLR. Services now are usually more frequent.
Dock, DLR Station, East India, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-63-52
I wandered rather a long time around East India Dock station, using the bridge across Aspen Way to photograph on both sides of the road. Here I photographed the station across an area of water which has been created in a part of the area formerly occupied by the East India Dock (Import), though I think nothing original remains. So probably I should caption this ‘water feature’ rather than ‘dock’.
East India DLR Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-64-52
Framed at the centre of this image are two towers, Canary Wharf and the much closer tower in Naval Row of the mid 19th century Italianate East India Dock Pumping Station, Grade II listed and one of the few relics of that dock, along with some listed walls and steps and the areas of water. The two towers are a similar shape but actually very different in size and detail.
DSEI March and a Tank: On Tuesday 11th September 2007 I marched with protesters from Plaistow Park to Custom House were the largest arms fair in the world was being held, – it is still held every two years and is again taking place now. Then I went to the main entrance by the side of the Royal Victoria Dock to welcome the Space Hijackers, “an international band of anarchitects” who had promised to come with a tank to sell it at the fair as a protest.
Over 150 people marched from Plaistow Park to Custom House
Here, with some minor corrections, is what I wrote about the day’s events back in 2007, along with some of the pictures I took and links to where you can see more of my pictures on My London Diary.
CAAT March Against DSEi East London Arms Fair
One of the more scandalous events to take place in London is the DSEI (Defence Systems & Equipment International Exhibition) arms fair, held every two years since 2001 at the Excel Centre on the side of the Royal Victoria Dock in Newham.
Even if you are not a pacifist (and I’m not) it is a trade that has its sickening side, with arms sales to corrupt regimes who use them to kill, torture and deny human rights to their own people, as well as endless shady deals by arms dealers that end up with weapons traded there in the hands of criminals around the world – including some used on the streets of this country.
Britain also has a thriving business in implements of torture, which have been exposed as on sale in earlier shows here. The show also features all the other kinds of nasty devices used by police forces around the world to keep corrupt governments in power.
Of course our government claims to have an ethical policy so far as arms sales are concerned, but in reality it is more about making deals look clean on paper than really worrying about where the arms will end up and what they will be used for. DSEI isn’t just a UK show, it is the world’s largest arms fair – the 2005 show had over 1200 exhibitors from 35 countries present.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) organised a peaceful protest against the fair with a march through Newham from Plaistow Park to a rally outside Custom House Station, as close as they were allowed to get to the Excel Centre. Around 150 people walked the 2 miles to the rally where they met around 50 others who had travelled there directly, and later they were joined by a group of ‘Critical Mass’ cyclists.
Unfortunately the police set up a long thin pen along the side of the road opposite the station, and would not allow speakers to use the small cycle-towed sound system. So the demonstrators were too spread out for many to hear the speeches, by local residents Len Aldis and Bill Perry, local councillor Alan Craig, Green Party Mayoral Candidate Sian Berry, CAAT’s Ian Prichard and comedian Mark Thomas.
The DSEI causes major disruption to the area, with millions spent on extra policing and a number of roads and paths being closed – including the very useful high-level bridge across the dock itself. But the very minor inconvenience of a slightly louder amplification for a few minutes was apparently out of the question. It was a decision that clearly indicated police priorities.
Normally the Royal Victoria dockside is open to the public, but this week the whole northern side was off limits as I found. I took a walk past the eastern end of the dock and then around to the dockside at Brittania Village to get a view of the Excel Centre and the military vessels moored alongside, including a Swedish Stealth Corvette, with odd profiles and jagged camouflage designed to reduce its visibility and radar and other profiles.
The ‘tank’ makes its way down Tidal Basin Road to the ExCeL entrance
I was slowly making my way around the the Tidal Dock Basin Road which leads to the main vehicle entrance to Excel. The Space Hijackers had announced they would be bringing a tank to the fair, and this seemed to be the likely route they would take.
Police had earlier stopped their actual tank almost as soon as it hit the road for some so-called ‘road safety checks’, but the Space Hijackers had tank number 2 in reserve. I think it was strictly a converted Armoured Personnel Carrier, but still a very impressive vehicle. I was pleased to find my guess was right when it made its way down the road, led by someone on a bicycle.
No surprise, the police wouldn’t let it into the arms fair, but it was allowed to park by the side of the entrance and a party and auction took place.
When people began to leave the arms fair, the protesters were able to make a very visible and audible protest as they drove slowly by. At one stage the police helped by blocking the traffic for a while so they could get a better view of the protest.
Generally the police were unnecessarily restrictive, penning the protesters to one side of the road, and harassing press. That isn’t a genuine press pass one said when I showed my NUJ issued press card [from the UK Press Card Authority Ltd and recognised by the National Police Chiefs’ Council as showing me “a bona fide newsgatherer” who were trying to stop me doing my job], threatening me with arrest unless I got back behind the line of police.
The police FIT team did its usual best to stoke up the atmosphere with their intimidatory tactics – certainly something that gives photographers a bad name. It is hard to believe that those hundreds (probably by now thousands) of pictures they have of me – mainly with a camera obscuring my face – are of any great use in protection national security. [Later when I made a ‘Freedom of Information’ request they denied having a single image of me.]
Communications centre inside the ‘tank’
I’m not worried about being photographed – my appearance is pretty much public property since until recently a picture of me was viewed around a million times a month on the commercial site I used to write for.
I stayed until the tank had been auctioned, with some interesting bids but then had to leave to attend a meeting where my presence was vital. I was rather annoyed at having to walk an extra half mile or so to the station when police refused to let anyone use the direct route. There was really no reason or logic for this kind of minor harassment.
You can see much more about the event and also read more comments on the police harassment of journalists on My London Diary at space hijackers auction tank at dsei.
East Finchley & Mill Hill: Pictures I took in May 1994 on walks around these areas of North London. I made relatively few colour pictures but you can find many more black and white images in my Flickr album 1994 London Photos.
Café, East Finchley, 1994, 94-54-53
I was amused by the contrast between the large image on the wall and the view out of the window. Then the ashtray on every table was the norm. There is a second picture on Flickr with a foreground table and ashtray
Mural, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-41
The mural on the shed in what I think was a school reflects the multi-ethnic nature of much of London, but not really of Mill Hill. According to the 1991 census only 18% of the population of the London Borough of Barnet belonged to non-white ethnic groups, with 12% Asian and only 6% black; and 2021, 57.7% of Barnet’s population still identified as White. The borough does have a large Chinese origin population and is home to London’s largest Jewish community.
Shop Window, Travel Agent, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-43
What attracted me to this window was undoubtedly the three very different women it portrays (though the SALLY in large print was only a ferry firm operating out of Ramsgate.)
Perhaps deliberately, though I doubt it, the closest image of a woman is out of focus. I find her rather disturbing , partly because of her blue tint (cyan fades much slower than yellow or magenta inks) but also because of the rigid symmetry of her face and the ridiculous thing at the neck of her top.
Mag-it, Fishing Bait Machine, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-45
Not only a machine selling maggots, but one which offers you a choice of Red, White and Bronze maggots, mixed maggots, giant maggots, red worms and casters. All apparently frozen and needing to be left in a normal bait box for 60 minutes to recover.
I don’t think there is anywhere in Mill Hill where it is worth fishing.
University of London Observatory, Watford Way, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-46
Since 2015 this had been called the UCL Observatory as although built for the whole of London University UCL have managed it since 1951, using it as a hands-on teaching observatory. On their web site it states:
“The Observatory building was designed by Mr L. Rome Guthrie and constructed by Messrs Leslie and Co.; construction commenced in July 1928 and was completed in 1929. The Observatory was opened by the then Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, on 1929 October 8.”
I’d often looked out of a train window going north from King’s Cross and been surprised as we flashed past this building in an Intercity 125, and wasn’t quite convinced it was real amd not a folly or some figment of my imagination. Who I thought would build an observatory here given London’s weather?
Bunns Lane Car Cleaning Services, Bunns Lane, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-35
Rather to my surprise you can still get your car washed and valeted on Bunns Lane, though I suspect its days are numbered, along with the adjoining Mill Hill Industrial Estate. The bridge carries the M1 over Bunns Lane and beyond that is a bridge for the main East Coast rail line.
Isle of Dogs and Poor Doors: On Wednesday 3rd September 2014 the weather was fine with blue skies and clouds and I decided to spend the afternoon photographing in the Isle of Dogs before meeting with Class War for one of their ongoing series of protests against separate entrances for the wealthy and social housing residents of a tower block in Aldgate.
Isle of Dogs Panoramas – Island Gardens to South Quay
The main purpose of my visit to the Isle of Dogs was to make panoramas of scenes which I had photographed more conventionally over the years, including the black and white images that I included in my book ‘City to Blackwall‘ and more of them are now in my albums on Flickr.
I had gone back so make some panoramas in the area in the 1990s and early 2000s, using various panoramic film cameras, but the switch to digital had made creating panoramic images much simpler for me.
Perhaps the most important change was in accurate viewfinding – with my first panoramic film camera the most accurate way to see the extent of my pictures was by viewing along two arrows on the top of the body – much more reliable than its viewfinder. But of course digital also gave a wider range of shutter speeds and ISO.
And to do this, the camera needed to be firmly mounted on a tripod – and I carried a rather heavy Manfrotto around with me. This also enabled me – with the aid of a spirit level – to ensure that the camera was level. The Nikon I used for these panoramas had level indicators in the viewfinder and was easy to use handheld.
However to make these on digital I needed to use a fisheye lens – the 16mm Nikon fisheye. Not the kind that gives a circular image, but a full-frame fisheye where the image circle goes through the corners of the frame. This gives a 180 degree image across the frame diagonal, but rather less horizontally and vertical, with considerable curvature of straight lines.
Software – I then used PTGUi for these – than comes to the rescue, converting the spherical perspective into a cylindrical one which rendered verticals upright (there are several ways this can be done with slightly different results.) Later I moved to simpler software.
With the 36Mp Nikon D800E there were far more pixels than necessary even after this stretching and this was no longer a problem. I could work with single exposures rather than stitching together several images as I had done earlier with digital cameras.
Although I had mainly gone to make panoramas I also took a Nikon D700 body and made pictures with a 16-35mm Nikon zoom. Not everything is best suited by the panoramic treatment.
Again there are many more pictures at Isle of Dogs.
Class War ‘Poor Doors’ picket Week 6 – Aldgate
A police officer watches as people walk down the alley leading to the ‘poor door’ of the luxury development
Class War and friends held their sixth weekly protest outside 1 Commercial St in Aldgate and it was a relatively uneventful one.
As the protesters arrived, two police officers came out from the building and talked with the protesters making clear that they expected the protesters not to block the doorway for people entering or leaving the building. More officers soon arrived to police the event.
There were a few heated arguments between protesters and police but nothing of any consequence. The protesters held their banner well in front of the door.
They talked and handed out leaflets to people leaving and entering the ‘rich door’ as well as to people walking past – and to at least one cyclist stopped at the traffic lights.
After keeping up the picket for an hour as intended, Class War packed up and left – until the next week.
Kingston Carnival: On Sunday 2 September 2007 I went to Kingston to photograph the carnival.
Kingston is a town I’ve visited fairly often over the years, though mainly just going through it or changing buses to meet friends or go to meetings elsewhere, but I’ve never really got to know. Its an ancient town, where Saxon Kings were crowned and the street layout in its central pedestrianised areas still follows much of its complex medieval pattern. It includes several pubs worth a visit.
Kingston (officially Kingston-upon-Thames) also has a fine museum where I was pleased to be a part of a show, Another London, in January 2007 along with Mike Seaborne and Paul Baldesare – which you can still see online. Among my 26 pictures which featured in it were three made in Kingston including two from the 2006 Kingston Carnival, as well as two from adjoining Surbiton.
The museum also has a permanent exhibition of Kingston’s most famous son, photographer Eadweard Muybridge, (1830-1904) best known for his pioneering studies of animal movement beginning with pictures of the racehorse Occident owned by the former governor of California, Leland Stanford made in 1878 using a line of 12 cameras triggered by strings the horse ran through.
His work had been interrupted earlier in 1875 when he was on trial for murder after having shot his wife’s lover. His lawyer pleaded insanity presenting evidence that he had bouts of unstable behaviour caused by a severe head injury in a stagecoach accident in 1860 and the jury acquitted him recording a verdict of justifiable homicide.
The centenary of Muybridge’s death in 2004 was celebrated in Kingston including by my late friend photographer Terry King whose re-enactment of Muybridge’s work using twelve 10×8 cameras at Ham Polo Club. Modern ponies apparently refuse to run through strings thinking they are an electric fence and a different method had to be found to trigger the special shutters attached to the cameras.
Kingston’s 25th Carnival takes place on Sunday 7th September 2025, and I might just go along again, though I don’t think I’ve been to it since 2007.
I didn’t write a great deal about it in 2007, but here it is:
“This year’s Kingston Carnival was a much more exciting event than last year’s but there was still a large rent-a-carnival aspect to it. Kingston is an ethnically rich borough, and although there was plenty of home-grown talent on display, particularly in the performances by youth from the borough, the procession was still dominated by out of town talent.
“It’s great to encourage diversity, but I think a borough carnival has a duty to promote its local expression rather more, even if it might mean – at least until it built up more – a rather less flashy display.
“Of course it was good to see a greater diversity among the ‘foreign’ talent that paraded past the rather dazed looking shoppers along Kingston’s pedestrian streets, including even some clog dancers from Croydon, along with Caribbean groups.
“Beeraahaar Sweet Combination, based in Stamford Hill enlivened the main parade, and the elaborate larger costumes from Paddington Arts arrived later to play their part.”
Westcombe Park and Blackheath: On Saturday 20th January I got off a train at Westcombe Park station to begin another walk. Westcombe Park is in the London Borough of Greenwich and is at the east of Greenwich and north of Blackheath. Twelve years after I made this walk the Westcombe Park Conservation Area was designated in 2002.
House, 146, Humber Rd, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1h-21
Banker John Julius Angerstein (1735-1823) bought a large part of what had been parkland around a large country house to build his own house, Woodlands, now a Steiner School and the only listed building (Grade II*) in the area.
It was only when a large area of land was sold in 1876 that residential development of the area was begun – after a false start the Westcombe Park Estate Company was formed in 1878. They laid out roads, drains and sewers and offered freehold and leasehold plots for sale with only fairly loose guidelines over what could be built.
The Woodlands, 90, Mycenae Rd, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, 1990, 1990, 90-1h-23
The development from then on was piecemeal and sporadic and by 1900 much was still undeveloped – and the estate company went into liquidation and the remaining land was sold off cheaply. There are a few properties from the 1880s, rather more from the 1890s particularly in the roads close to the station from which city clerks could travel into work. Although Woodlands is the only nationally listed building in the area, there are many locally listed buildings.
The Woodlands, Mycenae Rd, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1h-24
Houses, Beaconsfield Rd, Vanburgh Park, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1h-12
These houses are in the Blackheath Conservation Area and are on the north side of Vanburgh Park, so their frontages facing south with views across the common. The road at right angles in the picture is Beaconsfield Rd. These 3 storey locally listed Victorian villas date from 1860-1866 and were designed by architect Henry William Spratt.
Tree, Bower Avenue, Greenwich Park, Greenwich, 1990, 90-1i-62
From Vanburgh Park I walked across into Greenwich Park and then went down Bower Avenue where I found this massive tree trunk.
The Grade II listed buildings of Vanburgh Terrace date from around 1840. I think this view is from somewhere near Charlton Way or Maze Hill. The terrace faces west across the parkland.
