Spitalfields & Wapping 1987

Spitalfields 87-7m-12-positive_2400
Interior, Christ Church, Commercial St, Spitalfields, Tower Hamlets, 1987

I think I had gone to Liverpool St to see off some visitors from Germany who had been staying with us and we arrived at the station long before their train was due to leave for Harwich, so I took them to see Christ Chruch, which was then in the middle of building works. The air was rather dusty and the light a little dim, but the structure was still impressive, and we were greeted by one of the clergy who gave us a short conducted tour.

Interior, Christ Church, Commercial St,  Spitalfields, Tower Hamlets, 198787-7m-22-positive_2400

One of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s great pentagram of London churches much celebrated in the writings of Iain Sinclair, Peter Ackroyd and others it is a building I find more satisfying seen close too and at and angle as in this picture than in more prosaic and distant views.

Peach, Fashion, Commercial St,  Spitalfields, Tower Hamlets, 1987 87-7m-21-positive_2400

Close to the church in Commercial Rd was this builidng, housing Peach and several other fashoion and clothing firms as well as The Colour Assembly litho printers. But I didn’t have long to take pictures as our visitors had a train to catch and we made our way back to Liverpool Street.

St Katharine's Way, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987 87-7n-23-positive_2400
St Katharine’s Way, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987

Afterwards I walked down to St Katherine’s Way, where some of the old warehouse buildings were being gutted and turned into flats, while keeping the basic facades. Miller’s Wharf dates from 1865, but once beyond the front wall is mostly from 1989. A 2 bed flat with a river view is currently for sale at £1.6m should you be looking to move.

Tower Bridge, River Thames, Aldermans Stairs, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987 87-7n-36-positive_2400
Tower Bridge, River Thames, Thames Path, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987

Just a few yards east is a part of the Thames Path from which you can get similar views (though only at ground level) without the huge price tag. Somewhere around this time I went with a group walking along the north bank of the river with the person from Tower Hamlets responsible for footpaths and we found then a number of places where there was supposed to be public access to the river had their gates locked. More recently when I’ve walked along here I think I have been able to access most or all of them.

River Thames,  Rotherhithe, Wapping New Stairs,Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987 87-7n-31-positive_2400

I think this picture, which has police launches moored in the foreground is taken from Wapping New Stairs – which are of course very old.

Discovery Walk, Wapping Lane,  Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987  87-7n-53-positive_2400

Little remains of the old London Docks, with new housing covering much of the area, here alongside the ornamental canal which I think includes some sections of the old dock wall. I took two pictures from the road overlooking the canal, one concentrating on the south and the other the north side.

Ornamental canal, News International, Print Works, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, 1987 87-7n-55-positive_2400

The two pictures actually overlap and can be joined to make a narrow panorama, though I don’t think I particular intended this when I took them.

The right of the picture is dominated by the large Wapping printing works of News International, the site of a protests for over a year from 1986-7 by the print unions against Murdoch. The strike ended in what seemed an inevitable defeat for the unions who were trying to prevent the introduction of new technology, moving away from the hot metal of Fleet St which employed several thousand type setters to litho printing which allowed journalists to directly input there stories.

More pictures on page 6 of 1987 London Photos.


All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.


Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.