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Dartford 1995 Again – Panoramas

Dartford 1995 Again – Panoramas: Part 9 of my occasional series on colour pictures I made in 1995.

*Victoria Industrial Park, Victoria Rd, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-252*

I enjoyed another walk in Dartford on Sunday May 7th 1995, beginning by taking black and white pictures of buildings around the centre before walking out to the northwest along Victoria Road.

*Philips Norman, Cash & Carry, Victoria Rd, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-251*

I went on to photographing in the industrial areas between Burnham Road and the Dartford Creek – the tidal River Darent.

*Burnham Trading Estate, Lawson Rd, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-263*

Here I was able to make my way down to the west bank of the river and make more pictures.

*River Darent, Riverside Wharf, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-121*

At this wharf there had once been a fairly small dock which had been filled in but its gates were still there. I think it had perhaps been a dry dock used for ship repairs,

I think this is a site cleared for the development of a large housing estate, now on Lawson Road and Eleanor Close.

This long, empty road was University Way, a northern by-pass for Dartford, named in hope of a university that never arrived. Bob Dunn had been a Tory junior education minister who had campaigned for this development. MP for Dartford from 1979 to 1997 when he lost his seat to Labour, he died in 2003, only 56, and the road was renamed in his honour.

The bridge that takes Bob Dunn Way across the Darent was not built with navigation in mind, and makes it difficult for boats of any size to proceed up to Dartford. There has been for some years work being carried out to encourage navigation here, but boats have to look carefully at the tide tables to pass under the bridge. The Dartford and Crayford Creek Trust was founded in April 2016 to work to improve the navigation.

*Roundabout, Hythe St, Victoria Rd, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-363*

I walked back much the same way to this roundabout and went up Hythe Street in the centre of this picture.

*River Darent, Nelsons Row, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-243*

Hythe Street tok me to Nelson’s Row where I was able to cross the River Darent. There is also a public slipway here, cleared in recent years by volunteers.

*Pipe Bridge, Riverside Path, River Darent, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-232*

A few houses on the opposite bank are in Kenwyn Road. Past them you can see the derelict half lock which keeps some water in upstream when the tide flows out. Volunteer have put in considerable work to improve this lock in recent years and to revive navigation on Dartford Creek. In the distance is the Dartford Paper Mills site – closed in 2009 the site has been redeveloped.

*Half Lock, Riverside Path, River Darent, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-223*

Boats can navigate through the lock when the tide is high enough for them to get over the cill of the lock which holds back sufficient water for the river to be navigable upstream to the centre of Dartford.

*Dartford Fresh Marshes, Dartford, 1995, 95p5-361*

I turned around here and walked back to Dartford and the station. I’d made an early start to the day on the first train into London and there was still time to stop off on the way home and take a few pictures in Woolwich where I intended to return the following week.

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1995 Colour Part 4 – Around Dartford

1995 Colour Part 4 – Around Dartford: More of my panoramic images. These were taken in and around Dartford in Kent in March 1995 on a walk which took me from the centre of the town and along by the River Thames to an area close to the QEII Dartford Bridge. All these were taken on Sunday 19th March 1995. Dartford is a part of the Thames Gateway area around the Thames Estuary.

Dartford

I walked up Hythe Street and then turned right to a path that led me to a bridge across Dartford Creek.

*Bridge, Dartford Creek, Nelsons Row, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-533*

Dartford Creek is the tidal creek of the River Darent and was once important navigable creek to wharves in the centre of Dartford. Work has now been going on for years to restore the half-lock and make the creek navigable again. I made more panoramic images along the footpath beside the creek later in the year, but on my first visit was keen to get to the River Thames and left the Creek to walk up Joyce Green Lane and Marsh Street to the River Thames.

Littlebrook

The first power station at Littlebrook was coal fired and opened in 1939 and was joined by a second in 1949 and a third in the 1950s with the final station Littlebrook D shown here opening in the 1980s. The earlier stations had been converted to burn oil by 1958 and were all decommisioned by 1981 when the final station began to be put into use. This continued to produce power until 2015 and was finally demolished in 2019. You can read much more detail on Wikipedia.

*River Thames, Dartford Bridge, QEII Bridge, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-631*

Google’s map now shows Littlebrook Beach as a ‘tourist attraction’ but I’m fairly sure I was the only person there on the day I made this picture.

*Jetty, Littlebrook Power Station, Dartford Bridge, QEII Bridge, River Thames, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-643*

*Littlebrook Jetty, Dartford Bridge, QEII Bridge, River Thames, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-661*

*National Power, River Thames, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-663*

Crossways

As I walked along the path beside the river taking these and rather more black and white images I kept looking for a gate or gap in the fence betweent the riverside path and Crossways I could go through, but there was none. It was only when I got to Stone Marshes that I was able to leave the river and then walk along St Mary’s Road and into Crossways Business Park.

The area has been considerably expanded now, with a new major road to Greenhithe as well as new housing and commercial development.

*Lake, Crossways Business Park, Crossways, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-733*

The lake now has much new development around it, including a pub, The Wharf on Galleon Boulevard, close to where I made these pictures

*Lake, Crossways Business Park, Crossways, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-721*

*Lake, Crossways Business Park, Crossways, Dartford, 1995, 95p03-723*

I walked back into Dartford taking quite a few more black and white images but no more panoramas. The black and white pictures from this walk start here.

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Voltaire, Billiards & Methodists

Voltaire, Billiards & Methodists continues the account of my walk on Sunday 28th May 1989. The previous post was Postmen, The Majestic and More and the walk began with Lavender Hill & Wandsworth Rd – 1989.

Voltaire Motors, 4 Voltaire Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-62 — *Voltaire Motors, Voltaire Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-62*

This street apparently only got the name Voltaire Road in the early 20th century, before which this part of it was called Station Road. The French writer Voltaire came to stay with his friend Everard Fawkener in Wandsworth when he was exiled from France in 1726, and is thought to have moved around the area, but there seems to be no record of him having lived anywhere around this road in Clapham.

The most likely suggestions as to where he lived in Wandsworth is that it was close to the River Wandle in Wandsworth Town or Earlsfield. There is a development on Garratt Lane called Voltaire Buildings, but that only got its name from Barratts in 2004 when they redeveloped the site of the former Wandle School.

Voltaire Motors was in a railway arch at Voltaire Rd, just before the entrance to Clapham High St Station. I think this is now ARCH Clapham or The Bridge, gay bars.

*Temperance Billiard Hall, Cato Rd, Clapham High St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-66*

The Temperance Billiard Hall Co Ltd, founded in 1906 built halls like this, built in 1910 by their in-house architect Norman Evans, in many towns and cities across England. It had just become architects offices when I made this and the next picture.

*Temperance Billiard Hall, Clapham High St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-51*

According to Wikipedia there were about 20 Temperance Billiard Halls spread around London in July 1958, though it doesn’t state how many of these now remain. At least two of them, including the Grade II listed Temperance Billiard Hall in Fulham later became pubs. The Clapham building is unlisted but is inside the Clapham High Street Conservation Area.

*National Provincial Bank Ltd, Tremadoc Rd, Clapham High St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-53*

The National Provincial Bank merged with the National Westminster Bank in 1970, possibly when this late 19th century bank building became solicitors offices. It is still home to solicitors but a different firm. The buildings behind the bank are probably a little older.

*Clapham Methodist Church Hall, Nelsons Row, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-54*

Clapham Methodist Church Hall and School on Nelson Row was built in 1873, and used for worship until the main church was completed in 1874. The impressive church was badly damaged and made unsafe by wartime bombing and was eventually replaced by a large glass fronted building on Clapham High St which opened in 1961 – and has since been refurbished.

This building remains on Nelsons Row, though the doorway is now bricked up and Studio Voltaire now occupy the site further down the street. I think this may now be a part of their complex.

*Nelson Works, Nelsons Row, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-55*

These were also part of the Methodist Hall and Sunday School buildings.

Back in 1989 the plates beside the door of Nelson Works were for Universal Metal Fabrications, though there was another name on the Nelson Works sign above the doorway, not quite legible, though some letters can be made out.

*Nelson Works, Nelsons Row, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-56*

Studio Voltaire, founded in 1994 by a collective of artists and creatives in a disused tram shed on Voltaire Road in 1984 moved to this site in 1999, and in 2019-2021 completed a transformation, refurbishing much of the building.