London Photos | >Re-PHOTO

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More: Wednesday 22nd October 2014, ten years ago today was a busy day for me. You can read my full accounts of the various events I photographed on the links to My London Diary, along with many more pictures, but here I’ve only space for a short outline. Below is my day more or less in order.

DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF – Royal Courts of Justice,

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

When disabled people won a court case over withdrawal of the Independent Living Fund the government simply put back the closure of the fund. Today’s protest by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) supported a second case against the closure. Speakers at the vigil included three MPs, John McDonnell, Andy Slaughter and Jeremy Corbyn, as well as many from various disability groups.

At the end of the protest, DPAC carried out their usual direct action, blocking Strand outside the court with their wheelchairs.

More at DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF.

End UK shame over Shaker Aamer – Parliament Square, London

Protesters were continuing their regular vigils opposite Parliament for Shaker Aamer, imprisoned and tortured for over 12 years and cleared for release in 2007. They believe he was still being held because his testimony would embarrass MI6 as well as the US.

End UK shame over Shaker Aamer.

Westminster Tube Station & Canary Wharf

I took the tube from Westminster to Canary Wharf to visit the Bridges exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands, later returning to Westminster. I paused in Westminster Station to take some panoramic images of the interior, designed as Piranesian, though sometimes I get more of the feeling of Escher as you seem to walk endlessly up escalators and around the interior.

I found the show a little disappointing, but took advantage of my visit there to take a few more panoramic images.

A few more pictures,

Democracy Camp – Plinth Guy & Poet Arrested – Parliament Square

I made a couple of visits to the Democracy Camp in Parliament Square both before and after going to Canary Wharf. Although the camp had been ejected from the main grass area workshops and rallies were still taking place throughout the day, and Danny, the ‘Plinth Guy‘ was still up there with Churchill since the previous day – and there were cheers when he completed 24 hours.

Earlier someone had been arrested for throwing him a bottle of water, and when performance poet and activist Martin Powell arrived with a plastic tub of food he was warned he would be arrested if he tried to give it to Danny.

He replied it could not possibly be a crime to feed a hungry person and threw it extremely accurately over police heads and into Danny’s waiting hands. Arrested and marched away he loudly recited his poem ‘The Missing Peace’.

Danny was still in place when I returned at 5pm but the police had called in their climbing team. I listened while its leader talked with him, and Danny told him he would not resist arrest if they came to take him down peacefully. But I had to leave before they started to do so.

Democracy Camp – Poet Arrested

Musical Poor Doors – One Commercial St

This was Class War’s 14th weekly protest at the ‘rich door’ of Redrow’s One Commercial St flats and it was a lively affair with the banners dancing to the music of Rhythms of Resistance, a poetic performance and some rousing speeches against social apartheid.

There ws strong police presence but there was no trouble, with a carnival atmosphere and banners dancing up and down the wide pavement in front of the rich door. Most of the police appeared to be enjoying the event too.

As usual after an hour of protesting people dispersed and I went into Aldgate East station to begin my journey home.

More at Musical Poor Doors.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys – 2006

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys: On Saturday 21st October I went to the 250th anniversary celebrations at Borough Market and then to a march celebrating the closing by apprentices of the gates of Derry to the forces of King James II in 1688 which led to the siege of Derry the following year. Here are my accounts of both events from My London Diary in 2006 with a few minor alterations to make them more readable and links to more pictures on the site.

Borough Market: 250th Anniversary – Southwark

Borough Market started with the Romans a couple of thousand years ago, and around a thousand years ago was thriving on and around London’s only bridge across the river Thames. In the next few centuries it moved a little south into Borough High Street, and in 1550 received a royal charter, although like all London markets it was under the control of the City of London.

Increased congestion in Borough High Street lead to the first of nine Acts Of Parliament about the market’s activities in 1754, which moved it out of the road a few yards west to its present site. The agreement with the city authorities, which established the new market was made 250 years ago in 1756. Every year the Lord Mayor of London visits the market and collects fruit for the poor. It is now the only remaining wholesale and retail market in London.

The market is now officially a charity, but has always existed to support the residents of St Saviour’s Parish. Any surplus made by the market now goes to Southwark Council and the residents of the former parish get a rebate on their council tax.

The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers have also been celebrating the 400th anniversary of their Royal Charter in 1605. They had been inspecting (and levying duty) on London’s fruit and veg since 1292 or earlier, and received ordinances in 1463.

Until recently, Borough Market was a wholesale market, but its small size and transport problems meant that ten years ago it was almost empty and in a very poor state. Since then it has grown as a retail site for high quality food and drink, with many small specialist suppliers, as well as other small businesses. Two small parts of the site have been sold to provide money to rebuild and improve the market.

The Lord Mayor arrived with a small guard of pikemen and there were a few speeches. The fruiterers provide fresh fruit for a number of shelters for the homeless. The Lord Mayor and his party then toured the market, which had some fine displays of produce as well as its normal superb foods.

more pictures

Apprentice Boys of Derry March – Westminster

The Apprentice Boys Of Derry is a protestant organisation dedicated “to maintaining the spirit of liberty” displayed by the 13 apprentices who closed the gates of the city to the approaching army of the Catholic King James II in 1688. He demanded that the city surrender, receiving the now famous reply “No surrender!” The association which now organises parades to commemorate this was founded in 1814.

As well as in Derry itself, there are Apprentice Boys Clubs around the world, and each year there are several marches in London. At times their marches by or through largely Catholic areas have been extremely contentious, and the banning of their Portadown march in 1986 led to serious riots. Recent events in today’s calmer climate have caused fewer problems.

The march started near Victoria Station and went through Parliament Square to the Cenotaph in Whitehall where a wreath was laid. I left them at Trafalgar Square, on their way to a service at the Independent Congregational Church in Orange Street, behind the National Gallery, followed by a social evening.

more pictures

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament – 2014

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament – On Saturday 18th October 2014 over 80,000 people marched in London to call for workers to share in the economic recovery which has seen a great increase in wages of chief executives while workers have lost out. Later I went to Parliament Square where the Democracy Camp finally took over the area. When police left, I left to photograph a Catholic religious procession.

Britain Needs A Pay Rise – Embankment

I walked along the Embankment a couple of hours before the march was due to start and already it was beginning to fill up with marchers, and I returned later from photographing Democracy Camp protesters in Parliament Square just in time to catch the end of a photocall with TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady in front of a bus covered with a green banner with the message ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’ and people holding large white numbers 1,7 and 5.

The gap between rich and poor is widening in the UK, with company chief executives in 2014 getting 175 times the pay of the average worker. Wealth is also hugely unequally divided, with the “the richest 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population” by 2023. Only 8 of the 37 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries are now less equal than the UK.

Eventually the march set off, and after photographing the start of the march I stayed in place to photograph the rest of the march as it came past me.

Matt Wrack, FBU

“At the front were the major unions, the health workers and the teachers, the firefighters and more, a reminder of how much we still depend on unionised workers despite the largely successful attacks by Thatcher and later governments which have almost eliminated the unions in many areas.”

“Further back the marchers were more varied, and I met rather more people I knew, including those with CND, Focus E15, Occupy London and other radical movements.”

I kept taking pictures as people came past me for around an hour and a quarter, when people were still coming past but it was close to the end. Rather than continue with them to Hyde Park where the final rally would be starting I considered taking the Underground – it would probably be over before those marchers arrived. But I decided I had enough pictures of the event and went instead to Parliament Square to see what was happening at the Democracy Camp.

Many more pictures at Britain Needs A Pay Rise.

Democracy Camp Takes the Square – Parliament Square

When I arrived the tense standoff between police and protesters around the edges of the grassed area was continuing. Many of the protesters had temporarily left the square to join in with the TUC march but were beginning to arrive back.

One group “from UK Uncut came into the square dancing to the sound of a music centre on a shopping trolley. As they danced on the pavement in front of the statue of Churchill, Westminster Council officials prompted police into action and together with one of the Heritage Wardens the police moved to attempt to seize the sound system.”

“Democracy campers linked arms to make it difficult for the warden and police to reach the system” but eventually the group were surrounded and “Martin Tuohy showed his ID as Senior Westminster Warden at Westminster City Council and together with another employee grabbed the system with police looking on.”

After some tense argument the UK Uncut group were allowed to leave the square along with their sound equipment with the warning that unless they took it away from Parliament Square it would be taken from them.

More people arrived from the TUC march, where some had carried “two large wood and fabric towers, one with the words POWER and OCCUPY and the other the word DEMOCRACY. Together with other protesters they ran onto the grass square and raised the towers“

Others joined them including some carrying a long ‘Real Democracy Now!’ banner and the rally began.

The first speaker was “Labour MP John McDonnell. Among the other speakers were Occupy’s George Barda, environmentalist Donnachadh McCarthy and Russell Brand, who after speaking posed for photographs together with many of those present. “

The sudden invasion of the grass had taken the police and Heritage Wardens by surprise, and they had been unable to do anything to prevent it. But during the rally police began “massing around the square in blocks of around 20, obviously posed in a military looking formations ready to run onto the square.” As well as perhaps 200 ordinary police, reinforcements arrived “arrived with two larger groups of blue-capped TSGs obviously spoiling for a fight.”

“Then the police suddenly started to disappear while Brand was speaking. Perhaps someone had realised that with Russell Brand talking, any attack on the protesters would have generated massive and largely negative media coverage. Much better to come back late at night and do it after the mass media had left (which they did.)”

Nothing seemed likely to happen until much later, so I left for another event.

More at Democracy Camp takes the Square.

Procession of the Blessed Sacrament – Westminster Cathedral to Southwark Cathedral

I arrived just in time to see the procession emerge from Westminster Cathedral – no photography was allowed inside.

I followed it down the road to Lambeth Bridge where they stopped for a change of dress as Auxiliary Bishop Paul Hendricks put on his robe to carry the sacrament in Southwark diocese.

I left the procession at the south end of the bridge to catch a bus back to Waterloo and make my way home.

Procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Southwark Housing, Bermondsey & Rembrandt – 2014

Southwark Housing, Bermondsey & Rembrandt: On Thursday October 16th 2014 I photographed a march from the Elephant to Southwark Council Offices over the borough’s housing scandals, took some time off in Bermondsey to take some panoramic images and then covered a protest at the National Gallery against sponsorship of art exhibitions by companies such as Shell, G4S, BP and Serco.

Compulsory Purchase Orders for Southwark Councillors

Housing campaigners from Southwark marched from the Elephant and Council to Southwark Council Offices to serve ‘People’s Compulsory Purchase Orders‘ on the homes of the Council leader and other councillors who they say have accepted gifts from developers to sell off council estates at knockdown prices.

The shameful demolition of over 1200 homes in and close to the well-designed and largely popular Heygate estate has cost the borough dearly, with the costs to the council of ‘decanting’ the residents exceeding the knock-down price it charged the developers.

Of course the estate residents suffered more, losing their homes and being forced to move further out into the suburbs. Leaseholders were only offered roughly half the true market value of property in the area.

The demolition and redevelopment has meant the loss of over a thousand social homes, and the new properties on the site had already been advertised to overseas buyers in Singapore and elsewhere as second homes, investment properties, homes for wealthy overseas students studying here, buy-to-let etc. There are just a few so-called affordable units at 80% of market rates, still well above what most Londoners can actually afford.

The protesters met at the base of the Strata Tower, an ugly development of largely luxury flats with three wind turbines built into its roof for show – unable to produce electricity as when running they produce excessive vibration in flats at the top of the building. Facing them ‘One The Elephant‘ was going up, a 44 storey block of luxury flats with no social housing, and is being sold abroad, with ‘studio flats’ starting at around £320,000 or 640,000 Singapore dollars.

Southwark campaigners were joined by members of the Focus E15 ‘Housing for All campaign’ and their first stop for a brief protest was the Elephant Park Sales Office on the Walworth Rd. They then walked through several council estates to the north of the New Kent Road which are also attractive targets for developers who can make huge profits by demolishing them and building high price flats at much higher densities.

They continued through other council estates in the area to London Bridge Station and on to the council offices in Tooley Street, where they were stopped by security from entering the Council offices. Police were called and after much argument two of the campaigners who were Southwark residents were allowed in and waited to present letters containing ‘People’s Compulsory Purchase Orders’ for their homes to council leader Peter John and two other councillors.

They asked at reception to see the councillors and were told to take a seat and wait. They waited and waited. Eventually someone from the council came to tell them that all three named councillors were unavailable but took their letters promising to hand them over personally to them.

More at CPOs for Southwark Councillors.

Bermondsey Thames Panoramas – City Hall to Angel Wharf

I had some time before my next protest and took a short walk by the River Thames,

beginning in Potters Fields where ‘One Tower Bridge’ was going up close to City Hall.

Past Tower Bridge I took a short walk on the foreshore in front of Butler’s Wharf before continuing along Shad Thames and across the footbridge over St Saviour’s Creek.

I continued along the Thames Path past the moorings, and got as far as Angel Wharf before I realised I needed to catch a bus to get me back to Trafalgar Sqaure in time for my next event.

More pictures Bermondsey Thames Panoramas

Art Not Oil Rembrandt Against Shell – National Gallery

The Art Not Oil coalition had gate-crashed the press launch of the National Gallery’s Rembrandt exhibition to give a brief performance protesting against oil sponsorship of the arts and privatisation of gallery staffing.

On the evening of 16th October they met on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields before marching the few yards to give a repeat performance outside the gallery which was then holding a gala evening for special guests and highly ranked staff.

The National Gallery was making plans to privatise up to two thirds of the gallery staff and this exhibition was being guarded by a private security firm rather than the gallery’s own staff.

Art Not Oil held banners and placards and handed out flyers agains the sponsorship by Shell stating:

"The presence of unethical sponsors like Shell and the contracting of external security firms shows the growing influence the private sector is having over our arts and culture. With its meagre contribution to the gallery, Shell is buying social legitimacy for its dodgy deeds worldwide, including:

- its failure to clean up its multiple spills in the Niger Delta
- its reckless plans to drill in the Arctic for yet more oil
- its tar sands projects in Canada that are undermining Indigenous people's rights"

They sang a number of specially written songs and performed the short playlet they had previously given inside the gallery during the press launch.

More at Art Not Oil Rembrandt Against Shell.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Barging on Bow Creek – 2011

Barging on Bow Creek: On Wednesday 12 October 2011 I was pleased to get paid to go back to Bow Creek and take photographs of a working barge on Bow Creek in Poplar.

Bow Creek is the lower part of the River Lea, between Bow Locks and the River Thames. Bow Locks mark the southern end of the Lea Navigation and since London’s oldest canal, the Limehouse Cut opened in 1770, most canal traffic took advantage of this to take a more direct route to the Thames and avoid the dangerous and meandering tidal Bow Creek.

The River Lea remains tidal some miles above Bow Lock, but this tidal section is separate from the navigation, although there are various channels and locks such as City Mill Lock and Carpenters Lock on the Olympic site which link the two.

Bow Creek continued to be used for navigation, including for bring coal to West Ham Power Station and the huge Imperial Gas Light & Coke Company gas works at Bromley-by-Bow.

But the gas works closed in 1976 although its gasholders remain – they were still in use for gas storage until 2010. (I went inside the site to photograph them in 2022.) Planning permission has now been granted for 2,200 new homes on the site, retaining the seven gasholders. The gas works dock is now Cody Dock, a creative and community hub with moorings and a short walk from the DLR at Star Lane, hosting many intersting events.

West Ham Power Station ended production in 1983 and was then demolished to build a business park. In the lower sections of Bow Creek there were still a number of timber yards and a ship repair business still using the creek at least in the 1980s, but I think all all commercial traffic has now ended.

Much was made during the construction of the Olympic site of the use of barges to carry waste away from the area, and a new lock was built at great expense on the Prescott Channel at Three Mills Green, but I think barges were only used for PR photographs and the huge majority of waste was taken out by lorries.

So I was pleased to hear that “the people cleaning up the gas works site at Poplar … were using barges to carry out the highly toxic soil from the site* and “… “was delighted to be given a commission to go and photograph the barging.”

*This is what a rubbish recycling plant looks like*

On My London Diary I write more about my relationship with the River Lea which had begun in 1981 when “I heard a story on the radio that commercial barge traffic was about to come to an end on the Lea Navigation, and decided to travel across London to record its last days.” From then I carried out a major project on the river, but was disappointed to have a funding application turned down.

I returned to the River around ten years later and again in the early 2000s, with more frequent visits after the Olympic bid was successful – although access to the main site was soon impossible. In 2010 I published Before the Olympics, ISBN: 978-1-909363-00-7 with over 200 pictures from the source to the Thames.

The My London Diary post also describes my experience on the visit – how I had to dress up to take the pictures – and that although I’d been promised I would have half an hour to take photographs it actually ended up as 11 minutes.

After taking the pictures – both for the project PR and myself – I had the rest of the day to take a walk along Bow Creek again and made my way to the Thames on the Greenwich meridian, where I found “a new marker installed in the Virginia Quay estate next to West India Docks station, built since I carried out my ‘Meridian Project‘ in the 1990s and made an unsuccessful bid to create a’Meridian Walk’ to mark the new millennium.” Now there is a sculpture trail, The Line, which in part follows Bow Creek – and includes work at Cody Dock.

All pictures in this post are from Wednesday 12 October 2011. There are many more pictures from my walk as well as the barging at Barging on Bow Creek

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Liverpool Road, Highbury Corner & Caledonian Rd – 1989

Liverpool Road, Highbury Corner & Caledonian Rd continues my walk in Islington on Sunday 15th October 1989 which began with the post Memorials, Eros and More. The previous post was Shops, a Poly, Electricity, Church & Library.

*Samuel Lewis buildings, Samuel Lewis Housing Trust, Liverpool Rd, Islington, 1989 89-10h-63*

Samuel Lewis was born in Birmingham in 1837, started work at 13 selling steel pens, then opened a jewellers shop before becoming the most fashionable money-lender of his day. When he died in 1901 he left £2.6 million to his wife, with over £1 million going to charity on her death.

£670,000 of this – equivalent to around £30 million today – went to a charitable trust to provide housing for the poor, and these flats are on the first of eight large estates they built.

This estate was built in 1909-10 for the Samuel Lewis Trust, architects Charles Sampson Joseph, (1872-1948), Charles James Smithem and Ernest Martin Joseph (1877-1960) who worked as Joseph & Smithem until 1916. The two Joseph brothers were sons of Nathan Solomon Joseph (1834-1909) who as well as building many synagogues was the leading designer of social housing as architect for the Guiness Trust and the Four per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company and worked also for the LCC and other London councils and he may also have contributed to the designs for these buildings.

*Hampton Court, Upper St, Islington, 1989 89-10h-41*

I was amused by the contrast between this street and its namesake palace on the River Thames. This Hampton Court is a short street leading west from Upper Street at Highbury Corner, leading to Swan Yard, which is at the end of the street in my picture.

On the left wall is a sign for J Barrett & Sons, but I can’t make out what their business was at 250 Upper St, now a Starbucks. The posters on the wall at right are for a Socialist Party Public Meeting and I think we have four pictures of Maggie Thatcher; I can’t quite read the text but I’m sure it wasn’t complimentary.

The tall building on the right at the end of the street is now a printers and I think probably was when I made this picture. Those to the right of it have been replaced and I think those on the left considerably refurbished. Those in Swan Yard at the end of the street are still there but have lost their white paint.

I think Highbury Studios, at 15 Swan Yard and most other workshops on the street have been converted to residential or office use and there is now a new building at the southern end of the street, recently converted into coworking office space with a communal roof terrace overlooking Laycock Green, an urban green open space.

Swan Yard and the southern side of Hampton Court are included in the Upper Street (North) conservation area.

*Mallett, Porter & Dowd, North London Engineering Works, 465, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-33*

This warehouse and works was built in 1874. Its conversion to student housing for University College London was awarded the Carbuncle Cup for the ugliest building of 2013 from Building Design magazine. The red brick building was demolished with its frontage retained a short distance in front of a a new multicoloured building. The judges commented “The original frontage has been retained in a cynical gesture towards preservation. But its failings go deeper,” and said “This is a building that the jury struggled to see as remotely fit for human occupation.” The rooms lack adequate daylight, give little privacy and those behind the facade have no view outside. Islington council had refused planning permission for the treatment of this locally listed building but were overruled.

*Hubbards for Cupboards, 453, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-35*

Those musical among you can sing “We’re Hub-bords Cup-boards, We’re Hub-bords Cup-boards, We’re go-ing to fight, fight, fight – to get your of-fice right” to the tune shown on this shop, Hubbards for Cupboards Tables & Chairs, at Hubbards Corner on Caledonian Rd. 453 Caledonian Rd on the north corner with Market Road is now a large block of flats with a natural food shop at ground level.

*Caledonian Road Methodist Church, Caledonian Rd, Market Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-36*

Built in an Italianate style in 1870 as a Primitive Methodist Chapel, architects T & W Stone, it became Caledonian Road Methodist church in 1932 and is still in use. It was restored in 1953 and the exterior cleaned in 1980. Grade II listed.

*Market Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-24*

This building, at 18 Market Road opposite the bus stop at Market Road Gardens and the adventure playground was demolished between 2008 and 2012. Peter Darley in The Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society says it was a tripe factory when Czech refugge Otto Fischel bought it in the 1950s and made it Otaco Ltd, plastic injection moulders. His wife, artist Käthe Strenitz was fascinated with industrial London and produced many fine pictures.

You can read more in Jane’s London about J. L. Henson tripe dealer whose name was originally on the panel where E.Zee is in my picture. But the elephants and E. Zee remain unaccounted for, but were perhaps linked in some way with the playground opposite. Though I have a nagging feeling that somewhere in the past I have written more about them.

A private limited company EZEE Ltd, Company number 02564140, was incorporated in 1990, had its registered office for a year in 1992-3 at 14-18 Market Rd. Its business was given as Artistic & literary creation etc. It last filed annual returns in 1991 and was finally dissolved in 2015.

My walk continued and there will be another post shortly.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Land Army, Charity Pull & Rosary Crusade – 2005

Land Army, Charity Pull & Rosary Crusade: Saturday 8th October 2005 was a day of considerable variety as well as some tricky travelling around London for me, beginning in Whitehall with the women of the Land Army, rushing to Lewisham for a charity event organised by the Mayor and then back to Westminster Cathedral for a religions procession.

Commemoration of the Women’s Land Army – Cenotaph, Whitehall

During the Second World War many women joined the Women’s Land Army. First set up in 1917 during World War One, it was reformed in June 1939 when World War Two seemed inevitable, before the war actually began at the start of September.

During WW2, over 200,000 Land Girls worked in the Women’s Land Army, playing a crucial role in feeding the nation at war – and it continued for some years after the war ended in 1945, finally ending in November 1950.

For many joining up was a healthy alternative to working in munitions or joining the other services, less regimented and offering a wide range of activities. Few had any previous experience in agriculture, but “they ploughed, grew produce, milked cows, caught rats, drove tractors – and much more.”

But the war had ended 50 years earlier and they were now in their 70s and 80s when I met them opposite the memorial to the Women Of The Second World War which had recently been unveiled near the Cenotaph.

Some I talked to had been at the unveiling of that memorial and were extremely scathing about it and had been and were disappointed that the Queen had not spoken at all at the event.

They were a sprightly and feisty group despite their age. A few had come in 1940s dress but most wore some of their uniform often with a number of medals. They marched to the Cenotaph where wreaths were laid and a bugler sounded ‘The Last Post’. After which I rushed away to Charing Cross to catch a train as the event had run late.

More pictures

Lewisham: Mayor’s Charity Vehicle Pull

Every year like most Mayors the Mayor of Lewisham has a charity appeal and for some years a Charity Vehicle Pull from Downham to Lewisham was organised as a way of raising money for this.

I’d got a later train than I’d hoped, so sat on the train trying to work out where the vehicle pull would be by the time the train arrived in the area. I left the train at Ladywell and rushed from the station to Lewisham High Street and fortunately found my guess had been correct.

“I took a few pictures – there isn’t a huge lot you can do with an event like this – and then got on the top floor of a bus which was travelling along the open lane inside the event, hoping to overtake them. It would have worked, but for an illegally parked vehicle that was blocking the lane.”

Rosary Crusade of Reparation – Westminster Cathedral

At Lewisham Station I’d missed the Victoria train, and had to run under the subway to jump on a Charing Cross service just as the doors were closing, changing at Waterloo East to Southwark Station on the Jubilee line, then at Green Park to the Victoria line to Victoria.

I hurried the short distance from Victoria Station to Westminster Cathedral arriving just at the right time for the start of the Rosary Crusade of Reparation.

The Rosary Cruade had started in Vienna in 1947, with a series of processions with the statue of ‘Our Lady of Fatima’.

The Virgin Mary appeared to Portuguese children at Fatima in 1917 and had asked for prayers and penance to avoid further wars and achieve world peace. This call was renewed in the Rosary Crusade by Father Petrus Pavlicek following a vision during his visit to a Marian shrine in 1946.

The processions became an annual event, held on or around 12th Sept, the Feast of The Name of Mary (which celebrated the defeat of Turkish armies surrounding Vienna in 1683), and soon spread to other countries.

When Russian troops left Austria in 1955, many Austrian catholics ascribed this to their prayers in the rosary crusade.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Shops, a Poly, Electricity, Church & Library – 1989

Shops, a Poly, Electricity, Church & Library: Continuing my walk in Islington on Sunday 15th October 1989 which began with the post Memorials, Eros and More.

*Dorset House, 217-9, Holloway Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-45*

I walked back from Hornsey Road to Holloway Road and took this picture of Dorset House on the corner of George’s Road, then the Unique Butchers at 217 and Wai Shang Chinese Take Away at 219. This building had changed little by 2022, though the butchers was then a closed cafe up for sale and the Chinese take-away was now Green Jade.

I’m surprised that this building does not appear to be locally listed, though it is a shame that it has lost the balustrade on its left side. On Drawing The Street where you can see a more recent drawing of the building @ronniecruwys points out that the detailing of the balustrade is identical to that of Southwark Bridge, but that dates from 1921, when Rennie’s earlier bridge was rebuilt. A comment on that post states “My 2 x great grandfather lived here in 1881. His name was Henry Appleby and his father in law who was the head of the house in 1881 (census) was a retired Policeman named Walter Tovey.”

My guess is that this house probably dates from the early 19th century, but like others I have failed to find out more about its history. George’s Road was originally George’s Place, built by George Pocock.

*Polytechnic of North London, Holloway Rd, Hornsey Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-33*

Wikipedia tells me the Polytechnic of North London was granted university status to become the University of North London. It existed under that name until 2002, when it merged with London Guildhall University to form London Metropolitan University. It had been formed from Northern Polytechnic, founded in 1896 and North-Western Polytechnic in 1971.

This building mirroring its surroundings is on the corner with Hornsey Road and was rather appropriately I think next to a mirror shop and factory at left of picture, which later in 1994 was redeveloped as the Learning Centre library.

*Pyracrest Ltd, 71 Hornsey Rd, Caedmon Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-22*

This shop remained in commercial use until recently, though not for joinery, display and general woodwork but most recently as a glass merchant. It was sold in 2012 and extended. The garage on the opposite corner, shown here only by a Michelin Man poster on the wall closed around 2009 and was replaced by a new residential development with a ground floor café.

Caedmon Road was earlier called Spencer Road, renamed in 1938. Developed in 1866 it was renamed after Caedmon the earliest known English poet, a Northumbrian cowherd working at Whitby Abbey whose only known surviving work is the nine lines of Cædmon’s Hymn. You can read this on Wikipedia and will find only a slight resemblance to modern English – though possibly more to Geordie or the other impenetrable dialects of the north-East.

The Vestry of St Mary Islington, Electric Light Station, Eden Grove, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-26 — *The Vestry of St Mary Islington, Electric Lighting Station, Eden Grove, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-26*

Conveniently the title of this locally listed building at 60 Eden Grove is shown on its exterior along with the date of 1896. As the Islington Society states, Islington was one of the earlier local authorities to distribute electricity. The vestry’s work was taken over by the Metropolitan Borough of Islington in 1900.

At first this power station was only for street lighting, but soon the wealthier inhabitants of the borough could get power for their homes and they say by 1936 it was supplying “40,000 customers through 106 miles of mains.“

*Former St James, church, Chillingworth Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-12*

This Grade II listed Neoclassical church was built as St James the Apostle Church in Victoria Road (later Chalfont Road, later Chillingworth Road) in 1839, architects Henry William Inwood and E N Clifton. The east end was extended in 1840 by Hambley and he added the tower in 1850. The top section of this was later removed, possibly after bomb damage, in 1944.

The parish was united with St. Mary Magdalen in 1953-4 and a parish hall built in the shell of the church. Converted to offices and recording studio in 1980-82 and renamed St Mark’s Studios. Probably then the concave entrance shown here was constructed and the original pilasters on the facade were replaced by pillars.

Islington Central Library, Fieldway Crescent, Holloway Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-15 — *Islington Central Library, Fieldway Crescent, Holloway Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989*

This frontage on Holloway Rd dates from 1906, architect Henry T Hare; the building was enlarged in 1973-6, and has recently undergone considerable refurbishment. It is Grade II listed.

The library was built for the Metropolitan Borough of Islington and received funding of £20,000 from Andrew Carnegie and was opened in October 1907 by Sir Arthur Rucker, principal of the University of London. The bust at the left is of Spenser and that at the right, cruelly cropped, of Bacon. It remains open as a public library.

More to come from this walk later.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Memorials, Eros and More – Highbury & Lower Holloway 1989

Memorials, Eros and More: On Sunday 15th October 1989 I caught the North London Line from Richmond to Highbury & Islington for the start of another walk in North London.

*Boer War Memorial, Higbury Crescent, Highbury Place, Highbury, Islington, 1989 89-10f-24*

There had been a series of conflicts between Dutch and British settlers in South Africa for some years as the Boers opposed the British annexation of African countries and resented British attempts to end slavery. The first Boer War in 1880-1 ended badly for the British who signed a peace treaty with Transvaal President Paul Kruger.

But the discovery of huge gold reserves in 1884 created a hug British interest in the area, and Britain again decided to try to take control of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. One of the earliest moves was a failed attempt thought up then by Cape Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes and Johannesburg gold magnate Alfred Beit to provoke an uprising in Johannesburg by an armed raid from Rhodesia, the Jameson Raid over the New Year in 1896. This was followed by an uneasy truce – and an uprising by the Matabele and Mashona peoples against the British South Africa Company whose forces had been greatly weakened by taking part the raid which was suppressed with many Africans killed.

British efforts continued and in 1899 after Britain rejected an ultimatum to withdraw their troops made by Kruger he declared what we generally call the Boer War, though now more widely known as the South African War, which continued until 1902.

The memorial was erected here in 1905 and the inscription reads:

HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE WHO SINK TO REST
BY ALL THEIR COUNTRY’S WISHES BLESS’D.
IN HONOUR OF
NINETY-EIGHT ISLINGTONIANS
WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR,
1899 – 1903.
ERECTED BY THEIR FELLOW-TOWNSMEN
JULY 1905.

as well as listing the names of the 98.

The war had repercussions and laid the basis for apartheid in South Africa. It also saw the first ‘concentration camps’ where Boers were imprisoned by the British. And Robert Baden-Powell who had been a scout in the war set up the Scout movement with a uniform and ideas based on his role there.

On the wall behind the cannons is the graffitied message ‘BRITISH STATE HEAR US SAY – IRISH PEOPLE WILL MAKE YOU PAY.

*The Court Gardens, Holloway Rd, Highbury, Islington 1989 89-10f-12*

This gate to The Court Gardens is, perhaps unsurprisingly, next to Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Holloway Road, which perhaps accounts for the uncompromising concrete wall at right. Underneath the name it states PRIVATE PROPERTY. A private road leads into the housing in Court Gardens from Liverpool Road,

*Thomas Judd, Memorials, 123 Holloway Rd, Highbury, Islington, 1989 89-10f-13*

Thomas Judd, Memorial & Marble Masons remained in this shop until around 2018. The shop had been open since the 1880s and was thought to have been the oldest business in continuous use on the street.

The Camden New Journal reported in 2018 that its owner, Kenneth Howard, was an 81 year-old who had retired and in 2016 had been suspended from the National Association of Memorial Masons register for a year. This meant the company was unable to work in many cemeteries. He was taken to court by some clients who had paid deposits to him for work he had been unable to deliver, claiming he had been let down by a sub-contractor, and was ordered to pay back the deposits with compensation, court costs and a victim surcharge.

*Bookbinders of London, Ronalds Road, Highbury, Islington, 1989 89-10g-61*

This company is still in existence but moved its registered office from 11 Ronalds Road in 2014 to Hertford and their name across the adjoining gates was replaced the following year by NET.WORKS.LONDON and later by UNCOMMON as serviced offices.

Although the neighbouring former Salvation Army Citadel is locally listed I was a little surprised to find this building is not mentioned.It is well-proportioned with fine doorways.

*Bookbinders of London, Ronalds Road, Highbury, Islington, 1989 89-10g-66*

According to the fine ‘Streets With Story’ by Eric A Willats, Ronalds Road was named “after Sir Francis Ronalds (1788-1873) who was, with Wheatstone, one of the pioneers of the electric telegraph. The name was suggested by a Mr. M.C. Sharpe who for years had lived at Highbury Terrace. Sir Francis’s father Francis Ronalds took over no.1 Highbury Terrace in 1796 and died in 1806. The new road had run alongside no.1 and the first electric wires ran from a coach-house of no.1 to a cottage in the immediate neighbourhood.”

Ronalds (1788 – 1873) built the world’s first working telegraph system in his mother’s back garden in Hammersmith when he was 28 in 1816. ‘It was infamously rejected on 5 August 1816 by Sir John Barrow, Secretary at the Admiralty, as being “wholly unnecessary“.’

Drayton Park, Islington, 1989 89-10g-53 — *Drayton Park Rd, Highbury, Islington, 1989 89-10g-53*

I think this fence and yard has long disappeared together with the figure on it, but is was possibly part of Drayton Park School close to the corner of Arvon Road. I think the picture shows a child holding something just above kitchen scales.

*Eros Fashions, Hornsey Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10g-43*

Much of this section of Hornsey Road close to the impressive Victorian School building at 30-36 has been replaced by modern buildings since 1989 and I think that the building that Eros Fashions occupied has gone. Certainly I can find no trace of it now.

Back then Eros Fashions was still in business, with vacancies for almost everyone involved in the manufacture of clothing:

“VACANCIES
MACHINISTS
FINISHERS
PRESSER
OVERLOCKERS
FELLING
CUTTER“

on the board beside the door, and shadowy mannequins inside.

This is the final picture in my book ‘1989’ still available on Blurb, though at a silly price for the print version, and the full set of pages is on the web site, including this image and this text:

“‘Eros, fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.’

Created first out of Chaos, also son to Aphrodite, though argument rages as to whether his Dad was Zeus, Ares or even Uranus.

It must be a bit of a come-down to be running a fashion manufacturer (to be rude you could call it a sweat-shop) in North London. Though he was always a bit of a shady character – those different names for a start – Cupid and Amor – what was he trying to hide? And then there’s that business with Hymen, best not to say too much.”‘”

Which seems a suitable place to end this post, though my walk will continue in further episodes.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Lea Navigation & Olympic Site

Lea Navigation & Olympic Site: Saturday 1 October 2011 was a fine day and I decided to go early to Stratford and take a photographic walk around Bow & Stratford Marsh, before a meeting at the View Tube on the Greenway overlooking the Olympic site.

I took the Jubilee Line to Stratford and then walked over the footbridge leading to the Carpenters Estate and then on to Stratford High Street. A great deal of new building was taking place there, including a new bridge to carry the Olympic crowds across the busy road on a route from West Ham station along the Greenway. The bridge was demolished shortly after the games ended.

This section of the Greenway – the path on top of Bazalgette’s Northern Outfall Sewer rebranded in the 1990s – was closed off by fences and I kept on walking down the High Street. A few yards along was one of the few remaining commercial sites, though by then derelict and for sale. It was demolished and the site flattened for the Games, though it was only five years later than penthouses on the new block here were offered for sale.

A few yards off the High Street was City Mill Lock, now behind a row of flats. I continued on to the Lea Navigation. The industrial sites on the High Street had now been cleared and there were now huge advertising structures.

I had come mainly with the intention of making panoramic images, but these don’t display well on this blog, but you can see them larger on My London Diary. A footway now carries the towpath under the Bow Flyover and the High Street and then across the canal where the towpath continues on the opposite bank.

I made far too many pictures around this part of the canal before I could drag myself away, although the sky was not at its best for panoramic images and I would have prefered more distinct clouds rather than the large areas of blue. Only the first section of Cook’s Road was still open, but I could walk along beside St Thomas’s Creek to Marshgate Lane and then make my way to the bright yellow View Tube.

Here I was one of five photographers taking part in what was billed as a ‘Salon de Refuse Olympique‘, showing our artistic responses to the area. It was interesting to see the very different work that the five of us presented. You can read more about this in a post published here two days after the event in 2011, Northern Outfall Sewer 1990, 2005, 2010… which includes the three pictures I contributed for a forthcoming book as well as a lengthy text based on my presentation.

The Olympics have certainly changed this area, and the changes which were showing back in 2011 have continued. Many more pictures – both panoramic and normal aspect ration – in my post on My London Diary at Lea Navigation & Olympic Site.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos