containers | >Re-PHOTO

1995 Colour – Poplar, Bow, Leyton, North Woolwich & Silvertown

Poplar, Bow, Leyton, North Woolwich & Silvertown: These pictures come from a number of visits to areas of London working on several different projects and are my final selection of colour panoramas made in 1995. There are a few more colour images, including some panoramas I made in 1995 in the images in the Flickr album as well as many I have not digitised; some very similar to those online, others that I now find of less interest. Some of these were taken as a part of my project on the Greenwich Meridian in London – you can see a set of 16 images from this on the urban landscape web site.

*Bow Locks, River Lea, Bow Creek, Bow, Tower Hamlets, 1995, 95p4-752*

Bow Locks separate the tidal River Lea from the Lea Navigation and the Limehouse Cut which offers an alternative route to the Thames to avoid the winding and dangerous Bow Creek. First built in 1850 they were remodelled in 1930. At the highest Spring tides water from Bow Creek would overtop the locks and raise the level of the canals here – the locks were modified in 2000 to stop this and avoid the silting it caused.

London Galvanizers, Leven Rd, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 5p4-743 — *London Galvanizers, Leven Rd, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 95p4-743*

The Poplar Gas Coompany built a local gas works here in the 1820s at the request of the Poplar Vestry after ratepayers lobbied them to provide gas street lighting. The site was cleared in 2011 and I was commissioned to photograph the removal of toxic earth from the site using barges on Bow Creek. Something around an eigth of the material was removed in this way, tides making the removal of more difficult. The original gasholders had to be built to special safety standards because of their proximity to the West India Dock wall. The last of the gasholders was removed in 2017.

London Galvanizers had modernised their galvanizing plant here in 1983-5 and were one of the most important jobbing galvanizers in London and the Home Counties.

*Langthorne Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p4-862*

This street corner is close to the Meridian and I had stood here for some time outside the Chinese restaurant which was having some joinery work done. I liked the contrast between its orange paint and the blue on the opposite corner and the warm brown of the Birkbeck Tavern at right. I think I had made at least one exposure when a young girl in a red coat on roller skates came to see what I was doing – and I made this exposure as a red car come around, filling an otherwise rather empty grey space.

St Patrick's Catholic Cemetery, Langthorne Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p4-841 — *St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery, Langthorne Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p4-841*

The Meridian also passes through this cemetery and I chose a viewpoint which included the cemetery chapel with a fine group of monuments in the foreground, I think all for people of Italian origin.

Stratford Station, Great Eastern Rd, Stratford, 1995, 95p4-963 — *Stratford Station, Great Eastern Rd, Stratford, Newham,1995, 95p4-963*

I’m unsure what this railway building to the east of the station was, perhaps a 1930s signal box. Parts of this area have now been redeveloped, and this has been behind fences for more than ten years and could stil be there, as least in part.

*King George V Dock, Woolwich Manor Way, North Woolwich, Newham, 1995, 95p9-171*

Finally four pictures from a walk along Woolwich Manor Way, this taken looking westwards along the south side of the King George V Dock. You can see the bridge over the dock entrance at right and the City Airport terminal and Canary Wharf at the end of the dock.

*Royal Albert Dock Basin, Woolwich Manor Way, North Woolwich, Newham, 1995, 95p9-161*

At left is the old swing bridge that took the road over the dock entrance from the basin. To its right is the elevated DLR and the pumping station at the centre of the Gallions roundabout. Further on only two buildings were standing along the side of the Basin, the Gallions Hotel and the Royal Docks Pumping Station.

*Containers, Woolwich Manor Way, North Woolwich, Newham, 1995, 95p9-162*

Land to the south of the Royal Albert Dock Basin just east of Woolwich Manor Way.

*King George V Lock, Woolwich Manor Way, North Woolwich, Newham, 1995, 95p9-153*

This swing bridge across the dock entrance is still there.

*Royal Victoria Dock, Silvertown, Newham, 1995, 95p11-262*

This was taken from Silvertown Way, looking across the Royal Victoria Dock. There are still cranes along the dockside here but the foreground now has flats. The Millenium Mills are still there, but there is nothing in the picture where the Excel Centre now stands and none of the other new developments on the north side of the dock. The council flats at the right have been demolished.

You can see these and some other colour pictures I took in 1995 at 1995 London Colour.

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.

Purfleet & West Thurrock – 2003

Purfleet & West Thurrock: Pictures taken on a ride along the Essex bank of the Thames on Tuesday 22 April 2003, the day following the Easter Bank Holiday.

I only put these pictures onto My London Diary around a year after I made them and wrote nothing about them when I did so.

But these are more pictures that I took on a ride mainly along a footpath beside the River Thames where I rode on my Brompton folding bike.

My ride started not at Purfleet which is just on the outside edge of Greater London, but at Rainham, which was the last station coming out from London where a Travelcard was still valid.

Part of my reason for coming to this area was the building that was taking place of the Channel Tunnel rail link, which tunnelled under the river at Swanscombe in Kent to West Thurrock in Essex. I had previously photographed on the Kent side, You can see some of the work on this high speed rail line in these pictures of this, particularly some from my return journey to Rainham where I followed its route as closely as I could.

The pictures were made with my first digital SLR, the Nikon D100 and a 24-85mm Nikon lens.

As well as riverside industry, including a detergent works at West Thurrock which overshadow an ancient church, there are also images of the QEII Dartford Bridge, container parks, oil storage depots and the CTRL viaducts as well as fairly desolate riverside and a giant pylon.

*St Clement’s Church, West Thurrock was one of the four churches featured in the 1994 film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’*

*Channel Tunnel Rail Link, QEII bridge and a giant pylon*

You can see more pictures from the ride on My London Diary at Purfleet & West Thurrock.

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.

Guns & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames 2008

Guns & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames: On Saturday 20th September 2008 after photographing a protest over gun and knife crime, a festival in Stockwell and being assaulted at an Orange March I went to Open House Day at Trinity Buoy Wharf and then crossed the river to walk along the riverside path from North Greenwich to Greenwich.

The Peoples March – Kennington Park

The Peoples March’ against gun and knife crime from Kennington Park was organised by the Damilola Taylor Trust and other organisations and supported by the Daily Mirror and Choice FM and came at the end of London Peace Week.

In 2007 there were 26 teenagers killed on the streets of London, and many of those on the march “were the families and friends of young people whose lives were ended prematurely by violent death, and the grief felt by many of those I photographed was impossible to miss. They were stricken and angry and demanding that something was done to stop the killing.”

These deaths continue. They peaked in 2021 when 30 were killed, but most years there have been around 20 such tragic deaths. Despite many marches such as this and projects such as the Violence Reduction Unit set up in 2019 by London Mayor Sadiq Khan these deaths continue.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with victims’ families just a few days after the election and earlier this month held a knife crime summit at Downing Street aimed at halving it over the next decade. Earlier in the year King Charles and actor Idris Elba hosted a mini-summit on knife crime at St James’s Palace in July. A ban on the sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will come into force in 4 days time.

It remains to be seen if these initiatives will have any effect. Back in 2008 I commented that “Effective action would involve huge cultural shifts and a direction of change that would reverse much of what we have seen over the past 50 or so years” and unfortunately there still seems little chance of this happening.

The Peoples March

Stockwell Festival – Pineapple Parade

My spirits were lifted by seeing so many people taking part in the Pineapple Parade, part of the Stockwell Festival, clearly enjoying themselves taking part with others in the event. As I commented, “Community festivals such as this have an important role in building the kind of relationships that lead to healthy communities.”

John Tradescant the Elder (1577-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662) had their extensive nurseries a little up the road from where I was taking pictures and brought many exotic species to this country in the seventeenth century, and possibly pineapples were among them, although sources differ on this. Some pineapples were imported here in that era but apparently they were only cultivated here in heated greenhouses in the nineteenth century.

But as I wrote in 2008 “among the dancing and fancy dress I also found a reminder of violent death, Stockwell is probably best known for the brutal shooting by police of an innocent unarmed Brazilian man who had just boarded an underground train at Stockwell Station in 2005.”

More pictures Stockwell Festival – Pineapple Parade.

Apprentice Boys of Derry March – Temple

I shivered a little as I went down the escalator and boarded the tube on my way to Temple to photograph the Apprentice Boys of Derry March in which various Orange Order associations were taking part.

As you can see from my pictures, most of those taking part were proud to be there and happy to be photographed.

“But at one point I found myself being pushed backwards by a large man in dark glasses and instructed very fimly to leave. This kind of intimidation certainly isn’t acceptable and of course I continued to take pictures of the event. But it was a reminder of the darker side of Loyalist Ulster, which I hadn’t expected to see on the streets of London.”

More pictures on My London Diary at Apprentice Boys of Derry March.

Open House at Container City – Trinity Buoy Wharf, Leamouth

I took the tube to Canning Town and then walked down the long way to Trinity Buoy Wharf, cursing that the path beside Bow Creek and long-promised bridge had not been built. Part of the walkway is now open and an new bridge to the redeveloped Pura Foods site now provides more convenient access.

It was Open House Day in London and I took advantage of this to visit Trinity Buoy Wharf and the Container City there, a set of artists studios built using containers. Begun on the site in 2001, this had by then expanded considerably.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, but in 2008 as this year there were many extra activities for Open House. And at the end of 2023 the only complete Victorian steam ship in existence, the SS Robin has joined the collection of Heritage Vessels there, though tours for Open House on Sat 21st & Sun 22nd September 2024 are fully booked.

The containers were interesting but I think it was other aspects of the site and the view from it that interested me most, as well as the chance to take the specially laid-on ferry across the Thames to North Greenwich.

Open House at Container City

North Greenwich to Greenwich – Thames Path, Greenwich

The riverside walk is one I’ve done many times and its always of interest although the section at North Greenwich was only opened up in the 1990s and in more recent times parts of the walk have been blocked during the construction of some of the new blocks of riverside flats.

A large aggregate wharf remains although most of the riverside industry has gone, including the silos and the rest of the works at Morden Wharf. And only Enderby House remains of the site from which ships left to lay undersea cables across the world.

Greenwich of course retains its grand buildings, now a part of Greenwich University.

On My London Diary there are also some views across the river, both to buildings Canning Town, Leamouth, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. It’s a walk I’ve done several times since and might well do again, probably starting from North Greenwich Station. You can see pictures from a walk in 2018 on My London Diary. And there are still some good pubs when you reach Greenwich on your way to the buses or stations there.

More pictures from September 20th 2008 at North Greenwich to Greenwich.

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

Purfleet & West Thurrock – 2003

Purfleet & West Thurrock: 20 years ago, on 22nd April 2003 I was still recovering from a heart attack and a little minor surgery. Delays and cancellations in the NHS are not new, and I’d spent several weeks in hospital waiting for the op, with three or four cancellations as emergencies bumped me off the list at short notice – one time I was even on a trolley on may way to theatre. Back then the major shortage, and one that seldom made the news, was of doctors and it still is, with the government still committed to doing little or nothing about it, even refusing to discuss the junior doctors claims.

My actual operation, when finally it happened, went well, but 24 hours later I was an emergency too, collapsing the the ward toilet as my blood pressure dropped spectacularly thanks to a large dose of a exotic drug through a cannula incorrectly inserted by a junior doctor (the nurses were extremely scornful) and I was still far too weak when they released me home to join the million or more (including my son and wife) the protesting against the Iraq war the following day. I think I was more upset about that than my heart attack.

My GP signed me off work for a few weeks (though most of my work was freelance and from home, and I was able to continue this) and prescribed aspirin and exercise along with a few other drugs to deal with my blood pressure, which I’ve been taking daily ever since, along with insulin for my diabetes, also diagnosed when I went into hospital. And thanks to the NHS, all this has cost me absolutely nothing. And after I was signed off as fit for work in March, though I was still very weak, I managed to go and photograph a couple of protests.

Walking was still for the first month or two just a little taxing, but after a couple of weeks I was fine on my Brompton, where I could take it easy later I went on some longish rides. And as it was a folding bike I could put it on trains and the underground to take me away for more distant starting points. And in April 2003 I went on rides from Dartford, Rainham and, on 22nd April 2003, to Purfleet, where I cycled along beside the Thames to West Thurrock and back.

When I posted pictures of this and other rides on My London Diary, I noted “I didn’t get around to adding these other pictures from April 2003 until very much later, and haven’t got around to giving them captions.” And I wrote nothing about the ride at the time. All were taken on a Nikon D100 with a Nikon 24-85mm lens.

I travelled up to London on a Travelcard which covered a journey to any station in Zones 1-6, which meant the closest I could get to Purfleet was actually the station before, Rainham. Then it wasn’t possible to follow the riverside path from Rainham to Purfleet, which then ended at Coldharbour, so I had to cycle along the road to Purfleet through Wennington. The map now shows a riverside cycle path.

This part of the ride had little interest, other than passing some of the works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, where I took a few pictures before going down Tank Hill Rd to reach the riverside close to the Purfleet Armada Beacon.

Navigation from there to West Thurrock (and on to Grays and the edge of Tilbury Docks on other occasions) was simply a matter of following the riverside path. But it was then an extremely interesting path, past various industrial sites and under the Dartford Bridge (and less noticeably over the Dartford Tunnel.

This is a wide and interesting stretch of the river, also crossed by a 400kV high voltage power line from Swanscombe, with the two 623ft pylons on each side being the tallest in Britain. The distance between the two towers is apparently 4,501 feet, around 0.85 miles or 1.37 km.

Pilgrims en route to Canterbury crossed the river from close by St Clement’s Church, taking to boat across to Swanscombe where the path up from the river is still the Pilgrims Road. But there was no boat available to me, so I turned inland into West Thurrock.

St Clement’s Church was Grade I listed in 1960 and parts at least are 13th century. It was used by a a youth unemployment scheme after regular services closed in 1977 and the interior was gutted, and after the project closed it was badly vandalised.

Dominating the church is the Procter & Gamble detergent factory begun here in 1940 and in 1987 when they were celebrating the company’s 150 years in business they took over the upkeep of the church which took 3 years to restore. The church, which was the location of the funeral in ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ is now open to the public once a month from April to September.

I can’t recall my route back along various roads to Rainham station, but there are a few pictures I took, mainly of the A13 and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link on My London Diary.