The first in a series of posts which will eventually include all of the selected photographs I took in London in 1978 and posted recently on Facebook with comments, and a few related images. All of these pictures (and more) are in my London Pictures web site, and eventually I intend to add the comments there too.
Click on any image to go to the web page with a slightly larger picture.
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London 1978 (1)
Clink Wharf, Clink St, Southwark, 1978
14s21: Southwark, warehouses, bridge,
1978 was really the year I came of age as a photographer, having met and been challenged, inspired and encouraged by one of the UK’s greatest photographers and teachers through a series of workshops. Raymond Moore made me think seriously about producing bodies of work that led to my projects on Hull and on London. I was still desperately short of time, working well over 60 hours a week during term-time in my teaching job (and even shorter of sleep after my second son was born.) Among the first fruits of this were a series of images on the former docklands in Southwark, and this was one of the earliest images.
Wharf, Clink St, Southwark, 1978
14s23: Southwark, warehouses,
New British Wharf, Clink St, Southwark, 1978
14s24: Southwark, warehouses,
Sennet Bros, Castle Yard Factory, Holland St, Southwark, 1978
14t11: Southwark, factory, Hatters, Furriers, Skin Merchants
Sennett Brothers who had the Castle Yard Factory off Holland St were a reminder of some of the earlier industries of Southwark, Hatters, Furriers and Skin Merchants. The official address of the company, liquidated in 1963 was in Hopton St.
Renny’s Dining Rooms, Southwark, 1978
14t22 Southwark, cafe, restaurant,
Renny’s Dining Rooms seem to have disappeared with no other trace on the Internet, and while it had been clearly at No 41, I can’t recall exactly where it stood. But I think from the name it was probably on Rennie St, just a little to the west of the Blackfriars Rd, possibly close to its start on Upper Ground, but no trace of it remains. But the whole area had a strong connection to the Rennie family
The street will have got its name from the engineers John Rennie the Elder and John Rennie the Younger who had their engineering works in nearby Holland St, but lived at 27 Stamford St, a few yards from where Rennie St crosses. They were the best-known civil engineers of their era, with the elder responsible for many canals and other great schemes, including many bridges. The old Waterloo Bridge was perhaps the best known by the father, while his son built London Bridge, which was sold in 1967 and some of its stones used to build a replica in Arizona. There was also Rennies Wharf nearby.
Porn & Dunwoody, Bear Gardens, Southwark, 1978
14u22: southwark, works, yard,
OXO advert, Parker Horwell and Kirk Ltd, Southwark, 1978
14u24: Southwark, factory, engravers, die stampers, Victorian, Edwardian
Parker Horwell and Kirk Ltd were engravers, and the Southwark Borough Commercial & Industrial Guide gives their address as 14 Southwark Bridge Rd, SE1, where it bridges over Park St. There are now 2 large blocks on each side of Park St, Rose Court at 2 and City Gate House at 22, and nothing between. I think this building was on Park St with an entrance on Southwark Bridge Road, with the large OXO advert facing the main road.
There is of course a far better known OXO advert around a kilometre to the east on the OXO Tower, built into the architecture of the Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company’s factory to get around a ban on advertising on the South Bank. Presumably there was no such ban away from the river.
Grey & Martin’s City Lead Mills, Southwark Bridge Road, Southwark, 1978
14u25: Southwark, factory, lead mills, Victorian
Just across the Southwark Bridge Rd from Parker Horwell and Kirk, where now the FT building stands were the City Lead Mills of Grey & Marten Ltd (my London’s Industrial Heritage site puts them on the wrong bridge) whose address was City Lead Works, Southwark Bridge, London, S.E1. To the right in the distance you can see Cannon St railway bridge and Adelaide House, on the north bank of the Thames next to London Bridge.
The company was established in 1863 and was apparently still in business in the 1960s and among other things sold leaded windows from an address in Little Park St as well as making lead containers and protective lead sheeting for medical X-ray and radioactive equipment.
More to follow….
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My London Diary : London Photos : Hull : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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