>Re:PHOTO Peter Marshall - Thoughts on Photography

Al Quds Day march for Jerusalem 2014

Al Quds Day march for Jerusalem: In 2014 the annual Al Quds Day march was held on Friday 25th July and came the day before a major protest close to the Israeli Embassy over attacks by Israeli forces on Gaza which had killed over a thousand Palestinians, mainly civilians.

I’ve written many times before about these marches which began in Iran in 1979 and is a anti-Zionist protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in support of their rights and specifically concerned with the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem (Al Quds) and the West Bank which followed the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel celebrates this with a national holiday on Jerusalem Day.

Public events take place across the Arab world, particularly in countries with large Shia Muslim communities and also in London and some cities in Europe and America. Many of these events are organised by groups funded by Iran.

Critics have often accused the event of being anti-Semitic, but on the various occasions I’ve photographed them there has been little evidence of this. I have seenboyco a few people who have turned up with anti-Semitic slogans on placards being forced to discard them or leave the march by the stewards.

Although the vast majority of marchers are Muslims there is also a significant number of Jews on the march, most obviously with the ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta Jews carried their usual placards and banners against the Zionist state and condemning the atrocities carried out in its name. They say that Judaism is not a nationalist religion and reject any idea of a Jewish State. But many of the the non-Muslims from various left groups that support the march are also Jewish.

The march in London was fairly large with perhaps 5-10,000 people, including many who had come in coaches from mosques around the country. Many had come with families and some marched together, but mostly men and women marched in separate groups as you can see from my pictures. The women were considerably more colourfully dressed and along with the Neturei Karta – all male – are over-represented in my coverage of the event.

The march calls for Freedom for Palestine and for all oppressed people across the world, and it also calls for a boycott of Israel and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and Israeli apartheid. And clearly this is an anti-Zionist event, but not anti-Jewish, as one of the chants used by the marchers made clear: ‘Judaism Yes, Zionism No!’.

I left the march as it turned off of Regent Street to make its way to a rally at the US Embassy. By that point there had been no sign of the opposition to the march I had seen in some previous years from Zionist, Iranian freedom, communist and royalist movements and UK right wing fringe groups, but I think there many have been some Zionists waiting to protest against it at the US Embassy.

Many more pictures at Al Quds Day march for Jerusalem.

Lavender Hill & Wandsworth Rd – 1989

Lavender Hill & Wandsworth Rd: On Sunday 28th May 1989 I again took the train to Clapham Junction, with time for a rather longer walk than I had made the previous day.

*Battersea Reference Library, Altenburg Gardens, Battersea, 1989 89-5i-54*

A short walk up Lavender Hill from the station brought me to Altenburg Gardens and this remarkable Grade II listed ‘Arts and Crafts’ Reference Library. Initial designs by Borough Surveyor 1924 T W A Hayward were treated to considerable improvements by his architectural assistant Henry Hyams who was appointed in January 1924 and was responsible for the unusual building we see today.

Hyams was – as the Survey of London at UCL Bartlett suggests “an obscure but intriguing figure, who had spent time in central Europe in the Edwardian decade before settling in Devon. He had advanced views – Esperanto, theosophy – perhaps atypical of a Hackney publican’s son, and had spent time in Wandsworth jail during the First World War for his trenchant pacifism”. His rather eclectic “Arts and Crafts” design came well after the style had gone out of fashion and included some unusual decoration as well as the Council’s motto ‘ NON MIHI, NON TIBI, SED NOBIS’ (Not for Me, Not for You, But for Us) over the main doorway.

Altenberg Gardens had been developed in the late 1880s, and has some substantial late Victorian housing but I didn’t continue along it to photograph these but returned to Lavender Hill.

*Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-56*

The reference library was an extension linked to the main Battersea Central Library on Lavender Hill which had been built in 1889-90, shortly after Battersea had managed to gain its status as a separate vestry from Wandsworth.

Battersea Vestry held a competition for the building of the central Library and the winner was local architect Edward Mountford who had submitted the only design of ten submissions that was within the Vestry’s budget of £6,000.

Edward Mountford went on to win a further competition against designs by another 11 architects to design a new town hall for the Vestry of St Mary Battersea which was erected in 1891-3 and continued to serve the local authority until 1965. Here the budget was considerably larger and it shows in this Grade II* building, which according to the listing text has “Relief sculpture by Paul R Montford. Decorative plasterwork by Gilbert Seale of Camberwell. Mosaic floors by the Vitreous Mosaic Co, Battersea.“

*Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-44*

This is the Grand Hall Entrance on Town Hall Road, of which I made several pictures. The design was described by Mountford as ‘essentially English Renaissance, though perhaps treated somewhat freely’. And it had included this separate entrance on the east side to the large public hall at the rear of the building. There are detailed descriptions of the building in the Survey of London on the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture site.

*Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-46*

When Battersea became again united with Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth in 1965, this building was made redundant. Wandworth’s plans to demolish much of it were defeated by a public campaign by the Victorian Society and Battersea Society and it was Grade II* listed in 1970. It became a community arts centre in 1974 and despite a major fire in 2015 which required extensive rebuilding continues in use as Battersea Arts Centre. I appeared briefly on stage there in 2017 in a after-performance panel discussion ‘Art & Accidental Activism’ after a Lung Theatre performance of ‘E15’.

*Scrap Metal Merchants, Lavender Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-34*

This whole section of Lavender Hill including the scrap metal merchants Chase Metals at 92 has been demolished. There is a building dating from 2015 at 100 Lavender Hill but nothing on the street between this an No 66 except a hedge in front of the five storey housing blocks on Wandsworth’s Gideon Road Estate.

*Houses, Lambourn Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5i-35*

I walked to the end of Lavender Hill and continued along Wandsworth Road, walking a short distance down Lambourn Road to photograph these houses before returning to Wandsworth Road. This road was laid out at the start of large scale development of the area in the 1860s by Eken and Williams and the houses this terrace are larger than most with three storeys and a basement.

I liked the steps up in the roofline, partly with an extra storey but also as the houses go up the hill, as well as the repeated decoration abouve the windows and doors.

Hibbert Almshouses, 715-729 Wandsworth Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5i-22 — *Hibbert Almshouses, 715-729, Wandsworth Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5i-22*

The Hibbert Almshouses were built in 1859 to provide accommodation for older women from the Ancient Parish of Clapham, commissioned by Sarah and Mary Ann Hibbert, in memory of their father William Hibbert, a long-term resident of Clapham.

The Hibbert Almshouse Charity was established in 1864 to take over the running from the sisters and still manages the buildings for their orginal purpose, although married couples and single men of the appropriate age are now also accepted as residents – though preference is given to women if there is more than one applicant when a house falls vacant.

The architect of these Grade II listed almshouses was Edward I’Anson and the building is largely unchanged although bathrooms were added in the 1960s. The charity is currently raising funds for a manor renovation and donations are welcome.

The account of my walk will continue in a later post.

Clapham and The Grand

Clapham and The Grand: It was not until near the end of May 1989 that I found time to return and take pictures in south London. On Saturday 27th May I took the train to Clapham Junction and a bus up Lavender Hill to begin my walk in Clapham.

*Shops, Spiritualist Church entrance, North St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5h-21*

I took a couple of pictures at the east end of Lavender Hill and the start of Wandsworth Road, not on-line, and then walked down North Street to make a couple of pictures of the entrance to the Spiritualist Church and the shops on each side.

Shops, Old Town, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5h-22 — *Shops, Old Town, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5h-2*2

Walking down the street took me the Old Town, where the light was showing the device on the house at No 12 here with its proverb ‘CONTENTEMENT PASSE RICHESSE’, the motto of the Atkins-Bowyer family. Richard Bowyer (d1820) had taken on the name when he inherited the Manor of Clapham from Sir Richard Atkins of Clapham. I’ve never quite worked out what the relief which is thought to have come from the old Manor House is meant to depict.

My walk continued along Clapham Common Northside, but it was some distance before I made my next picture.

*60 Clapham Common Northside, Lambeth, 1989 89-5h-23*

Maitland House at 60 Clapham Common Northside dates from 1790-1792 and is Grade II listed. According to the Survey of London it was one of a pair and “was built originally for one John Bleaden, but took its name from its next occupant, Ebenezer Maitland, a Coleman Street merchant, who lived here from 1796 until his death in 1834“. Maitland House’s “distinctive entrance porch of Tuscan columns supporting a bowed first-floor window” in my pictures appears not to have been a part of the original design but to have been added a few years after the pair was built. The other half of the once matching pair, Bell House, was demolished in the 1890s for the building of Taybridge Road and replaced by the current house at No 61, built along with No 59 in 1894-5.

*Forthbridge Rd, Clapham, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5h-25*

I continued along Clapham Common Northside but made no more pictures there. My next stop came after I turned up Forthbridge Road, one of streets built here between 1890 and 1895 by developers John Cathles Hill and Charles J Bentley who bought and demolished some of the earlier large detached houses.

These streets are not without detail of architectural interest but are relatively standard late-Victorian two-storey houses. However this particular house at No 20 stood out for its later added embellishments, perhaps not entirely appropriate or consonant with the Victorian doorways with the leaf motif concrete blocks and rather kitsch sculpture which occupied my next three near-identical frames – only one of which I’ve put on line.

*Sisters Avenue, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5h-16*

I continued walking north, going up Nansen Road and Stormont Road to Lavender Hill and then walking west, looking down the various turnings but not finding much to excite my interest until
I came to Sisters Ave.

I made a picture of this row of three-story houses, but it was the incredibly solid gate posts that held my interest – and which I have put this picture online. I think I saw them as some giant row of pawns on the chessboard of Clapham, or perhaps some Maginot Line of soliders defending against marauders from Battersea, where I was now heading.

The Grand Theatre, St John's Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-51 — *The Grand Theatre, St John’s Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1989 89-5i-51*

I continued walking down Lavender Hill and across the junction at The Falcon to St John’s Hill to photograph this building while the light was right. Designed by Ernest Woodrow and built for a group led by well-known music hall stars including Dan Leno it opened in 1900 as The New Grand Theatre of Varieties with a huge stage and room for an audience of 3,000.

It was a highly successful venue for many years and in 1927 began to show films as well as live variety shows as The Grand Theater. From 1950 to 1963 it was only a cinema, and after it was bought by Essoldo became Essoldo Cinema. Essoldo opened it as a Bingo club after closing it as a cinema and it continued under others as a bingo club until 1979. It was Grade II listed in 1983.

In 1989 when I took this picture it was still closed, but that year it was bought to be converted to a live music venue, opening in 1991 and closing in 1997. Wetherspoons then wanted to open it as a pub but were refused a licence. Eventually it was reopened as “an independently run venue which functions as a nightclub, live music venue, theatre and event space.”

Conveniently the entrance to Clapham Junction was now opposite and it was time for me to take the train home. This was a rather shorter walk than most of my wanderings and I had made relatively few pictures, but I was to return the following day to continue my photography of the area on my next walk.

King’s Cross, St Pancras & Derbyshire

*Regents Canal, Granary, Kings Cross Goods Yard, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1989 89-5g-61*

I left London for a weekend in the middle of May 1989, going up to a conference in Derbyshire, taking the train from St Pancras to Chesterfield and then a bus journey with my family. We had come up to London by train and taken the Underground from Vauxhall to Kings Cross/St Pancras, arriving far too early for the train we had tickets reserved on.

I’m not sure if this was accidental or part of a plan by me to take a short walk and made some pictures before catching the train, but that is what I did, walking up York Road and then down to the Regent’s Canal on Goods Way to make this view across the canal.

*Bridge, Granary, Kings Cross Goods Yard, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1989 89-5g-63*

A little further west on Goods Way I stopped at the bridge over the canal leading to the Granary. As you can see the view of the Granary then was restricted by a number of rather utilitarian buildings on the yard in front of it.

*Gasholders, Goods Way, Kings Cross, Camden, 1989 89-5g-64*

Further still along Goods Way, the road itself was between tall brick walls but gave a splendid view of the magnificent gas holders, including the fine triplet. I think some of the brick wall at right may remain, covered now in creeper, but on the left side are now new office buildings and no gasholders are in sight, with St Pancras International in their place. It’s a change I still find depressing, though at least the gas holders have been preserved in a new site.

*Shops, Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1989 89-5g-65*

I turned left into Pancras Road to take another picture of the block of shops containing the entrance to the Turnhalle (the German Gymnasium) with on one side the St Pancras Cafe and on the corner G Franchi & Sons, Locksmiths and Tools, with two ladders for sale leaning on its frontage.

I think photographers since W H Fox Talbot had always had a bit of a thing about ladders which perhaps made me take another picture of this scene, and I chose also to include the London taxi at left. I will have waited too for the man walking along the street to clear the shop, but as always there were also some elements outside my control.

*Intercity train, gasholders, St Pancras Station, Somers Town, Camden, 1989 89-5g-66*

Finally it was time to board my train and we were allowed onto the platform where it was waiting. I just had time to walk almost to the end of the platform and made this picture before we left the station.

King's Cross, St Pancras & Derbyshire — Baslow Edge, Derbyshire,1989

We did eventually get to Derbyshire and there was time while we were they for some short walks and I took just a few pictures. The first is I think on Baslow Edge.

And this well is in Curbar.

Shut Down Yarl’s Wood 14

Shut Down Yarl’s Wood 14: This protest on Saturday 21st July 2018 was the 14th organised by Movement for Justice outside the immigration prison at Yarl’s Wood and I think their last there. I missed the first so this was my 13th visit to this remote location, cyling uphill the five or six miles north from Bedford station. I had previously photographed a number of protests organised by MfJ outside the two immigration prisons (officially called detention centres to make it sound nicer) on the north of Heathrow airport, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, a rather easier journey.

Unlike these two prisons which housed men, Yarl’s Wood was mainly used to hold women, though there were also a few families there. The protests there had attracted more campaigners because of this, with women being seen more widely as victims than male asylum seekers. And many of those who were locked up inside were women who had been raped as well as beaten and otherwise subjected to traumatic events before fleeing their countries.

Many of the women – as too the men elsewhere – were kept locked up for many months and some for years in indefinite detention while the Home Office refused to believe their stories or to properly investigate their cases, often demanding paperwork it would be impossible for them to provide. The remoteness of the centre and only limited access to internet and telephones makes it difficult for the women to progress their cases.

Many of these are people with desperate needs for counselling and help, but instead as various investigations, official as well as undercover journalism – had shown are held under appalling conditions in this and other centres run by private companies such as SERCO, with detainees refused their human and civil rights, assaulted, sexually harassed and assaulted, denied proper medical treatment, poorly fed and forced to work for £1 an hour on menial tasks.

The protests here are greeted by the women, giving them the assurance that they have not been forgotten and that there are those outside who support them. Those able to get to the windows facing the hill on which the protesters stood so they could be seen over the tall prison fence – the lower 10ft solid steel and above that another ten foot of dense metal mesh – shouted greetings, waved and held up messages.

A powerful public address system meant those inside could hear the speeches, some by former inmates of Yarl’s Wood and other detention centres, and some by those inside, relayed by mobile phone to the amplifier, as well as by some leading MfJ members.

Most of those inside will eventually be released, the majority getting leave to stay in this country. Some are taken to be deported with the MfJ and other organisations then working desperately and often successfully to stop their deportation flights back to terror and violence in their home countries.

This was by far the smallest of all the protests at Yarl’s Wood organised by the MfJ, following complaints made against the organisation by a former member who appears to have been treated badly by them. But however justified her personal complaint, her comments revealed little or nothing about the nature of the group which was not already on Wikipedia or otherwise common knowledge. But the dispute led to many other groups ending their support for protests organised by the MfJ, some organising their own protests but with very limited success.

*Mabel had been held in Yarl’s Wood for a day or two less than 3 years*

Other groups were and are working – as MfJ still is – to support detainees. The MfJ has played a major role in protests against our racist immigration detention system and in actions to prevent deportations. It still seems to be supported by many former detainees who have always played a leading role in the protests both at Yarl’s Wood and at Harmondsworth.

The Home Office finally decided it was too easy for protests to be organised outside Yarl’s Wood and moved the women – many of whom were released at the start of the Covid epidemic – up to an even more remote location in the north-east, with Yarl’s Wood being used to house those who had crossed the Channel in small boats.

The Illegal Immigration Act finally passed a few days ago intends to deport almost all migrants and asylum seekers (other than those coming under special schemes for Ukraine, Hong Kong etc) to Rwanda without any consideration of their asylum claims. Efforts to persuade the government to set up safe routes for those claiming asylum were rejected by the government in the latest ratcheting up of its racist policies, justified by them through the doublespeak of “compassion” while showing not the faintest scintilla of any real compassion.

More on My London Diary at Shut Down Yarl’s Wood 14.

Rail Strikes, Tickets & Right to Ride

Some of my thoughts about the UK railway system and my experiences of it with pictures from a protest on Thursday 20th July 2017 about the real problems faced by disabled rail users.

I’ve spent quite a lot of my life on trains. Not many very long journeys, though I did once go to Marseilles from Victoria long before the age of Eurostar and TGVs and I’ve always taken the train on my visits to Paris, Brussels and Scotland as well as most trips around England as I don’t drive. But the great bulk of my rail journeys have shorter commutes to photograph in and around London.

It was really the advent of the Travelcard in 1983 and its later extensions that made much of my photography of London practicable. Before that going Waterloo (or Vauxhall) had been easy for me, but getting around in London was a nightmare of buying tickets for individual journeys on trains, underground and buses. Well paid photographers could use taxis, but I was making little for most of the time and used them only rarely – mainly when others were paying or we could share.

The Travelcard also significantly reduced the costs of journeys involving several forms or transport or even several buses, and for those of us coming from outside London gave us freedom to travel within all six zones of Greater London. So news that it is to be ended for those living outside the boundary is not at all welcome.

More recently, engineering works at weekends and rail strikes have also affected my photography. There have been days when I’ve decided not to try to get into London as the though of perhaps an extra couple of hours or even more sitting on trains and buses have just made it not seem worthwhile.

Of course I support the rail workers. The government’s approach to the disputes, forcing the various rail companies into confrontation rather than trying to find solutions is totally ridiculous and unsupportable. At the root of the problem is the fragmentation of privatisation and the opportunities it gave and continues to give the companies – many owned by foreign state railways – opportunities to profit at the expense of the tax payer. Radical reforms are needed, almost certainly involving some bringing back of rail into public ownership and undoing at least some elements of splitting up the essentially indivisible.

And engineering work is essential, though I do wonder why it seems to happen now far more frequently than it used to. It does seem to be handled more efficiently in some continental countries and involve less disruption of weekend services.

The government and rail companies are now proposing to get rid of most of the rail ticket offices. We have a hugely complex ticketing system with many anomalies and which ticket machines and online ticketing are unable to process. Even the workers in ticket offices can’t always get things right. But before cutting back on their services which many – particularly the old, disabled and less frequent travellers – find essential, we need first to unify and simplify rail ticketing.

We have seen some improvements of our rail system since I first began using it back in the 1960s. There have been considerable improvements in rolling stock, begun under British Rail as did our faster services and Inter City lines, some electrified at that from London to Manchester. Design improvements have also changed our commuter trains (though in some areas these are still sadly out of date) making my journeys into London much less noisy and smoother.

I do miss not being able to open windows and doors, but can see the reasons for this. But though we no longer have to wait at stations while the guard or station staff rush along the platform to close doors thoughtlessly left open by exiting passengers making the stops at stations a minute or so shorter, and though the newer trains have better acceleration and faster maximum speeds and are running on smoother rails, travel times have actually increased.

The reason for the slacker timetables is clear. Train companies have to pay for trains that run late. So they add a minute here and a minute there to the schedules. They also close train doors before the time the train is due to leave, sometimes 30s, sometimes a minute. So my 9.59 train is now a 9.58:30 train, often leaving passengers who should have just caught it fuming on the platform. And instead of the journey taking 28 minutes it now takes 34 – or even 38 at weekends.

DPAC/RMT ‘Right to Ride’ protest – Dept of Transport

But my problems and moans about trains are trivial compared to those faced by those in wheelchairs or otherwise requiring support. On Thursday 20th July 2017 I was with DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) and RMT members outside the Dept of Transport, calling for disabled people to have the same right to use rail services as others.

DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) had called this protest during their week of action while the London World Para Athletics Championships was taking place. DPAC say the government uses this and similar events to try to show it is highly supportive of the disabled while actually they are highly discriminatory against all those who are not high-performing para-athletes.

Many of the changes which the government is trying to impose on our railways, including Driver Only Operated trains, the removal of guards from trains and rail staff from stations all threaten the freedom of disable people to travel. DPAC have joined with RMT staff on picket lines for industrial action against these changes which discriminate against the disabled and threaten rail safety.

Disabled people requiring support to travel – such as a ramp to board a train – have to give a day’s notice, and even then are sometimes stranded when staff fail to turn up – often being left on the platform or taken to the next station. London buses now have driver-operated ramps, but no trains have these fitted.

After speeches and delivering a petition demanding the right to ride on trains without having to give a day’s notice they blocked the road outside the ministry in protest for ten minutes. DPAC are now protesting with rail workers against the proposed ticket office closures.

More pictures at DPAC/RMT ‘Right to Ride’ protest

Ghost Sign, Cooltan and a Cinema

The final episode in in the series of posts on my walk in south London on Sunday 6th May 1989. The walk began with Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis. The previous post was Railton Road, Herne Hill.

Ghost Sign, S.Errington, Dulwich Road, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-41 — *Ghost Sign, S.Errington, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-41*

I turned into Dulwich Road and walked up it towards Brixton, stopping to make very few pictures, perhaps keen to get to the end of the walk. Just before reaching Water Lane on the side of what was then Ellis Newsagents at 1a Dulwich Road I couldn’t resist the finely painted sign ‘
S Cooltan
ERRINGTON
DEALER IN
ANTIQUE
&
MODERN

FURNITURE

FURNITURE
BOUGHT
SOLD OR

in drop capitals, decorated with some fine curly bits. Clearly something at the bottom following the ‘OR’ had been painted over, but I couldn’t decide what it might have been. Perhaps ‘EXCHANGED’ or ‘HIRED’?

The property now looks to be residential, but on Google Maps it still appears as:
S Errington Dealer In Antique & Modern Furniture
Home Furniture Shop
Temporarily closed

and that sign is still there, rather more faded and with the lettering now looking very much plainer. Unfortunately although I will have had a camera body with colour film in my bag I did’t photograph this in colour. Some days I only thought in black and white.

CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory, Effra Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-44 — *CoolTan, Suntan Lotion factory, Effra Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-44*

I walked along Brixton Water Lane, taking a couple of pictures (not digitised) on my way to Effra Road. The the names suggest I was following the route of the River Effra, underground since the early nineteenth century, but in fact I had been doing so all the way down from Herne Hill and was now walking away from it. Effra Road got its name from Effra Farm which was on the bank of the river.

*CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory, Effra Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-33*

The former Suntan lotion factory was squatted and in June 1991 became the CoolTan Arts Centre. They were evicted in February 1992, and the centre moved first to offices above Brixton Cycles before squatting the former Unemployment Benefit Offices in Coldharbour Lane. There it became a thriving art space, with a cafe, live music and offices for various campaign groups including Reclaim the Streets, Earth First! and the Green Party until 1995, when the building was taken over by The Voice newspaper – who boarded it up and left it empty and rotting. The Effra Road factory was demolished shortly after their eviction and remained as empty unused ground for over ten years.

*CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory, Effra Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-34*

But Cooltan Arts continued. From 1993-2016 Michelle Baharier was, as she writes in her statement on the South London Women Artists site, “Founder, Artistic Director and CEO of CoolTan Arts, London. In twenty-five years, I grew CoolTan Arts from an old suntan lotion factory squatted social centre in Brixton to a user-led disabled people’s arts and mental health charity. CoolTan Arts worked with over three thousand people face-to-face per year with its participatory art programme. The charity improved the lives of individuals with mental distress through creativity, self-advocacy, and volunteer opportunities within the arts. During my tenure at CoolTan I developed psycho-geography walks and other collaborative events with different communities.”

*CoolTan Suntan Lotion factory, Effra Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-35*

Clearly I was intrigued by this empty 1930s moderne factory and by its gates and their shadows. Unfortunately the gates were locked and although the fence was fairly low the location seemed a little public for me to climb over and explore the site further though it was more decorative than a real barrier. Eventually I managed to tear myself away and continue my walk, taking a few pictures not online as I walked past St Matthews Church and on to Brixton Hill.

*Former Cinema, 101-3 Brixton Hill, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-24*

The Tarpaulin & Ten Mfg Co, T&T was for many years in the former cinema, which was converted from shops and opened on 10th March 1911 as Brixton Hill Cinematograph Theatre, and was 13th of Montagu A. Pyke’s chain of Cinematograph Theatres. Pyke went out of business when he was jailed after his projectionist in his cinema died in a fire in 1914, and the cinema was taken over by others. It changed its name then and several other times over the years, operating under names including ‘New Royalty’, ‘New Royalty Kinema’ and finally the Clifton.

It showed its last film in 1957 and deteriorated badly before becoming the T&T shop. I think this kept going into this century and the building was up for sale in 2004 and became the Dalxiis Somalian restaurant. By 2008 the auditorium had been demolished and the front of the cinema had become the South Beach Bar, which lost its licence in 2012. In 2015-6 it was ‘Believers Home Chapel’ , in 2018 the S.G.H Events Hall and in 2019 the TAMI Gospel Centre of The Anointed Ministry International, though still with the South Beach Bar sign on that metal structure, empty in my picture at roof level that had once carried the The New Royalty Kinema and Camping Centre signs.

*Post Office Building, Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-11*

I went down Blenheim Gardens, photographing this building, dating from 1891 and still in use by the Royal Mail as Brixton Delivery Office, and the windmill, before walking through the back streets between Brixton Hill and Tulse Hill on a roundabout way to Brixton Water Lane to catch a bus on my way home at the end of my long walk.

Railton Road, Herne Hill

The next episode in in the series of posts on my walk in south London on Sunday 7th May 1989. The walk began with Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis. The previous post was Herne Hill, Dorchester and Carnegie.

*Shops, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-62*

I wandered up Railton Road from the junction with Dulwich Road towards Herne Hill station. Herne Hill only appears to have got its name relatively recently, with the Herne Hill Society stating that the first documented reference dates from 1801. Earlier maps show it as King’s Hill or Dulwich Hill.

Neither of the two derivations they give seems particularly likely, with an Old English root hyrne (corner, angle) hyll seeming unlikely from the late appearance of the name and a roost of large numbers of heron on the nearby River Effra seems fanciful. Other possibilities put forward have been that it was named after a family called Herne who apparently lived here in the 17th century.

Perhaps the name really does come from Herne the Hunter, the mythical resident of Herne’s Oak in the Windsor Forest some twenty five miles or more to the west, transferred here by an early developer of the area who perhaps saw oak trees which reminded him of that place, perhaps also hearing the rattling of chains and ghostly moans in this area. Who knows?

Railton Road was apparently one of the roads developed in 1868, a few years after the coming of the railway, the station on this road opening in 1862. Until then the area had been one of large villas with leafy gardens for the wealthy, but soon became full of “smaller houses for clerks, artisans, craftsmen and their families, the workers taking advantage of cheap fares for commuting into London.“

*Shops, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-63*

The building at 222 Railton Road, here the Herne Hill Bingo and Social Club, was the Herne Hill Cinema, said to have opened in 1914, although there appears according to a postcard on Brixton Buzz to have been a cinema around here earlier than that. It’s narrow facade opened to a much wider auditorium behind which could seat 750.

Brixton Buzz quotes Cinema Treasures giving more information about its 1932 design by George Coles and closure as a cinema in 1959, but says it continued in use as a bingo club until 1986, then becoming shuttered and empty. Clearly it was locked and barred when I photographed it in 1989, and has a notice too small to read on its door, but doesn’t look in too poor condition. It is now a private bar, but apparently the auditorium area behind was demolished and housing built on the site.

*Herne Hill Station, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-66*

Herne Hill Station was opened at the bottom of Herne Hill on Railton Road by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1862. At first it was a terminus, with services only towards Victoria, but a year later the line was extended to Beckenham and by the end of the decade there were also services to “the City of London, King’s Cross, Kingston via Wimbledon, and Kent, including express trains to Dover Harbour for continental Europe.“

The building with its polychrome brick Gothic tower seems excessive for what was a small suburban station, and was certainly intended to impress. The tower held the water tank needed by steam locomotives. The Wikipedia article quotes The Building News description of the station from 1863 as “spacious and convenient … and of the very best quality” and states “an unusual amount of decorative taste has been displayed“. It became an exempler of Victorian railway architecture.

*Shops, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-65*

This view looks toward the corner with Rymer St, which now takes traffic from Railton Road to Dulwich Road as Railton Road a little further north is now a no-entry street for motorised traffic other than buses.

At left is 200 Railton Road and at right, next to an alley is an accomodation bureau and letting service at 289, now the home of Herne Hill Books. Apparently this stretch of road was until 1888 known as Lett Street. The alley was once a public footpath, and looks as if it was still in 1989.

This view still looks much the same now, with the two 19-storey blocks of Park View House and Herne Hill House in Hurst Street, each built in 1966 with 72 flats, towering over the neighbourhood. Park View House many be blessed with a view of Brockwell Park, but unfortunately you can see it and its neighbouring tower from the park.

*Railton Rd, Rymer St, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-51*

A closer view of 200 Railton Road. I have been unable to find out more about this building. Two of the three ground-floor shops appear to have been converted to to residential use by the time I made this picture.

*Shops, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5f-55*

I walked back down south down Railton Road to the junction with Dulwich Rd, stopping to photograph this terrace of shops at 315-323 Railton Road. This is now a pedestrian area and the shops are rather different in nature.

I liked the sign at left on 315, ‘Only the best is good enough for me‘ though with the metal shutters up on a Sunday I could not be sure what it sold, though I think it was probably a greengrocers.

To be concluded in another post.

Herne Hill, Dorchester and Carnegie

Herne Hill, Dorchester and Carnegie: Another episode in in the series of posts on my walk in south London on Sunday 7th May 1989 (on earlier posts I put the date wrongly as 6th May). The walk began with Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis. The previous post was Ruskin & Half Moon, Herne Hill.

*Houses, Herne Hill, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5e-34*

There are some fine late Victorian houses on Herne Hill and most seemed in a good state of repair, though this one was getting some major work done. The chimneys are impressive. If you click on the image you will go to my Flickr album where you will find a couple more pictures of houses on this section of the street – and there are also a few I haven’t put online.

*Flats, Dorchester Court, Herne Hill, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5e-23*

A little further up I came to this splendid group of 1930’s ‘moderne’ style flats. There are 96 flats in 8 blocks around a courtyard. Built in 1933-4 Dorchester Court is Grade II listed, the architects were Leslie H Kemp and Frederick E Tasker and the estate was developed by a local builder and developer, Mr Morrell. The name probably came from that of the Dorchester Hotel which had been opened in 1931 on Park Lane intended to be the perfect luxury hotel.

According to Historic England “There are structural problems with the balconies and general external deterioration. A Listed Building Consent application for the extension and refurbishment of the blocks is pending determination” and the Evening Standard in 2022 ran an article with the impresively long headline “Inside neglected Art Deco block where residents face carbon monoxide leaks, mice, cockroaches and lead pipes” stating “Residents at the Herne Hill estate are stuck in a nightmare.”

Until recently Dorchester Court was owned and neglected by the property company Manaquel, a family company whose wealth is estimated at £200 million. The Standard says they have appealed against a 2021 improvement notice from Lambeth Council and that their “endgame appears to be a full-scale redevelopment.”

The Dorchester Court Tenants Union sate that “Dorchester Court is operated by Property Partners, who are owned by Beaumaris Ventures Limited (British Virgin Islands), a financial intermediary of the IFM Group Limited (Jersey), who are both listed in the Panama Papers. Dorchester Court generates around £1.5 million in rent per year with additional income from leaseholder service charges.“

*House, 10-12 Herne Hill, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5e-24*

A grand pair of Italianate mid-19th century semi-detached houses, now flats, with a most unusual design. The house has now lost its white fence and rather hides behind a brick wall and a tall hedge.

*Carnegie Library, Haredale Rd, Herne Hill Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5e-11*

I turned left into Herne Hill Road from Herne Hill, and walked along it to photograph the Haredale Road frontage of the Carnegie Library before going on to photograph the main entrance on Herne Hill Road. This Grade II listed library is one of those built with a grant from Scottish-American steel baron, Andrew Carnegie, using his vast profits from his ruthless exploitation of workers to establish over 2,800 libraries. He provided a grant of £12,500 to enable the Herne Hill Library, designed by architects Wakeford and Sons, to be built and opened in 1906.

*Carnegie Library, Herne Hill Rd, Herne Hill, Lambeth, 1989 89-5e-12*

I was back at the library in 2016 at the end of a ten days of occupation by local residents against Lambeth council’s plans to turn it into a fee-charging gym run by Greenwich Leisure Ltd with an just un-staffed lounge with books. Their occupation had hit national headlines with huge support from around the country.

The gym plans went ahead, but with a little more library provision than originally planned and there is also now the Carnegie Library Hub based in the building, “a thriving sustainable centre of local activity attractive to the whole community for developing employment opportunities, learning, fitness and wellbeing, cultural and social activity” which protects and celebrates its history and legacy.

I didn’t take many more pictures as I walked back to Herne Hill and walked back down it. After a short walk along Half Moon Lane I turned around and went towards the station, where the next part of this walk will begin.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

If you go to the web site of St. Peter’s Italian Church in Clerkenwell today you will find the programme for this year’s Procession in Honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which has been taking place there since 1883. It will probably be taken down soon after the event, and at some time be replaced by the programme for next years event on Sunday 21st July 2024.

Theis year it takes place this afternoon, 16th July 2023, and the programme has some photographs from previous years, along with a map of the area showing the location of the church on Clerkenwell Road, roughly opposite Hatton Garden, the route of the march, this year going down Leather Lane and across Greville Street to Return up Hatton Garden, and the location of the Sagra in Warner Street. There is also a long list of the 38 groups in the order of the procession, the final one following Our Lady of Mount Carmel being the crowd of Parishioners.

Of course if you go there you will be able to pick up a printed copy. It’s best to arrive in plenty of time to enjoy an ice-cream, snack or plastic cup of wine or two at the Sagra before the procession begins at 3.30pm – and you can go back there again after the procession. It’s an event where everyone is welcome and there are no tickets or booking required.

The pavement on Clerkenwell Road gets very crowded so unless you are tall you will want to get there at least a few minutes before the start to find a good place to stand, though once the end of the procession has gone past you can walk to see it coming back to the church.

Many also go into the church well before the procession and even if you don’t wish to pray it is worth a visit. According to the web site it has been described as “one of the most beautiful churches in London“. When built in 1863 its “Irish architect John Miller Bryson worked from plans drawn by Francesco Gualandi of Bologna, modelled on the Basilica of San Crisogno in Rome.” And while it may not be entirely to my taste it is certainly remarkable.

As too is the procession, with its floats on lorries and walking groups in costumes related to the life of Jesus , the first communicants, and various groups and associations, some carrying the heavy statues from the church decorated for the occasion.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is one of the titles of the Virgin Mary, who was adopted as the patroness of the Carmelite Order which was begun by hermits on Mt Carmel in Palestine around the end of the 12th century. July 16 became the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the procession takes place on the closest Sunday – and this year, as in 2017, it is on the actual saint’s day.

The pictures here are all from Sunday 16th July 2017 – and there are many more on My London Diary at Processione della Madonna del Carmine as well as more from other years.

You can also see the pictures I made the first year I went to the festival, in 1992, in an album on Flickr with 50 black and white and 19 colour pictures. In some ways I think this remains the best set of images I’ve made of the event over the years.