River Thames | >Re-PHOTO

Point Pleasant and the Thames – 1990

Point Pleasant and the Thames: Continuing my walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea with St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990 and the previous post to this was Yet More Wandle.

*Prospect Cottages, Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-43*

I get a fleeting view of these cottages as my train goes past between Putney and Wandsworth Town at ‘Point Pleasant Junction’ which still connects the National Rail lines with the District Line to Wimbledon. The bridge over the lines was closed in 1987 as unsafe and partly demolished, though the piers remain and the remaining link made bi-directional. It is now only used by excusions and some empty trains – but I was on a train that took this route during an emergency deviation quite a few years ago.

I don’t know how Point Pleasant got its name, though it seems to date back as long as the street existed. Perhaps it was simply lead to a pleasant view of the River Thames.

I think these cottages are present on the earliest maps of the area I have seen from the early years of the 19th century, though its hard to be sure and they may have replaced earlier cottages on the site. Surprisingly the 14 cottages do not appear to be even locally listed.

*Works, Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-44*

But Point Pleasant was long an industrial area. According to Ediths Street’s Edward Barker set up an ironworks here in 1634 making small articles such as frying pans and to have been a major arms supplier to the Civil War. His site was sold to Gatty and Waller in 1771 and they set up a chemical works distilling vinegar and producing other chemicals.

The Union Brewery opened here in 1820 and closed in 1920. Richard Seligman set up the Aluminium Plant and Vessel Co. a specialist aluminium welding business, on part of the brewery site in 1920 and his works eventually covered most of Point Pleasant, moving out to Crawley in 1952. I think this factory, built in two stages, was a part of those works.

*Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-45*

Redevelopment of the whole area was just beginning in 1990, and although it started well – and even received a Housing Design award in 2005, later developments have been considerably higher and far less sympathetic.

*Prospect House, Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-32*

There is one Grade II listed property in the area, this house built for a local businessman in 1805-6 who probably did enjoy a pleasant view. It is listed as an excvellent example of domestic Georgian architecture. Just down the road is a locally listed pub which I failed to photograph or to visit. Then I think it was then a Watney’s pub, The Foresters Arms, but shortly after, when its resident cat went missing and then returned was renamed ‘The Cat’s Back’. Taken over by Harvey’s in 2011 it is now apparently a pub worth visiting both for the beer and its now quirky interior. Perhaps time for me to revisit Point Pleasant!

*River Thames, from, Wandsworth Park, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-34*

The riverside view downsteam from close to Point Pleasant. Certainly interesting but I don’t think I would describe it as pleasant. Moorings now obscure much of the view.

*Oil Storage tanks, Osiers Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-35*

The Shell Oil terminal on Osiers Road, an area marked on old maps as a marsh with tidal channels on the corner of the River Wandle and River Thames. Doubtless before Shell it had willows, perhaps harvested for wicker baskets etc.

The site is now crowded with much taller blocks of flats, including a 21 storey tower, with 275 homes. At least it no longer reeks of oil, though I think I could still smell it faintly when I walked around the new riverside path here shortly after it opened.

Still one more set of pictures from this long walk to come.

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Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery

Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery: More pictures from my walk around Woolwich in August 1994

*Waste Land, Woolwich Church St, Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-807-42*

This area, previously occupied by engineering works, has now been redeveloped with a luxury development of tall housing blocks on Mast Quay, “A magnificent crafted living space with panoramic views of the River Thames.”

*Entrance, Woolwich Foot Tunnel, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-13*

As well as getting a free ferry, Woolwich also got a foot tunnel under the River Thames, opened by the London County Council in 1912. The tunnel is just over 500 meters long and remains delightfully cool on hot summer days.

Many cyclists also use the tunnel despite bylwws prohibiting cyclists. Electronic signs were installed in 2016 which used a computerised system to measure traffic and messaged ‘No cycling allowed‘ in red at busy times but ‘Please consider pedestrians‘ in green when the tunnel was fairly empty. Greenwich council was in favour of changing the bylaws to legalise this, but Tower Hamlets refused and the system was discontinued. Many cyclists still ride.

The tunnel provides a useful route across the river, particularly when the ferry is out of action, but most times I’ve used it one of both of the lifts at each end have not been working. I’ve never counted the steps but there are rather a lot of them, particularly when going up.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-21*

Downstream from the ferry in what in 1994 was I think an open area, once the site of Woolwich Power Station, demolished in 1978-9 though the coaling jetty in this picture is still there. There is still a riverside walk but most of the site is now occupied by tall blocks of flats.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-22*

A bridge here links the former coaling jetty with the riverside path.

From Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33 — *Steps from Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33*

This area is now covered by tall flats, though there is a small segment of parkland with fountains.

*Mural, Thames Barrier, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-65*

I cannot remember exactly where I found this mural of the Thames Barrier in Woolwich and I think it was soon demolished.

Royal Artillery Memorial, St George's Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52 — *Royal Artillery Memorial, St George’s Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52*

Built for the garrison in 1862-3 it was hit by a V1 flying bomb in 1944 and the church was largely destroyed by fire. In 1970 more of the building was demolished but a canopy roof added to protect the apse and its polychromatic Victorian brick and decorations, with a memorial garden added in the former nave. It was listed in 1973. In 2011 it was transferred out of military ownership and since then there has been some restoration work, partly lottery funded.

*Cannon, Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-808-32*

The barracks was the home of the Royal Artillery from 1776 until 2007. Its 1,000 foot long Georgian frontage is said to be the longest in Europe if not the world. Since 2007 most of it has been rebuilt behind this, and in 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced plans for all army units to move out by 2028.

The cannon is the “17.75-ton Bhurtpore gun, captured by Field Marshall the Viscount Combermere after the 1826 siege of Bhurtpore” and brought here in 1828. When the Royal Artillery moved out they took this and four other cannons with them, doubtless a vital part of our country’s defence.

Yet More Wandle – 1990

Yet More Wandle: Continuing my walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea with St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990 and the previous post to this was A Wandle Wander – 1990:

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3b-25*

I found it hard to drag myself away from this spot on the path beside the River Wandle where the previous post had ended and took several more pictures before moving on, including this one.

*Tyres, River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-53*

I didn’t move far, just a few yards further on before taking the picture above, which shows the same heap of tyres and the same covered pipe bridge – but from the other side. I think most of these pipe bridges date from the time the east side of the Wandle was occupied by the gas works.

River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-65

Much of the former gasworks site was then occupied by the concrete plant I wandered back and forth for some time taking pictures and cannot now remember the exact locations as the area has changed so much. This area is now a huge building site with a tall residential tower now going up.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-54*

This is where the River Wandle and Bell Lane Creek rejoin, running to the right of this picture into the Thames just a few yards away. The tide was low and you can see there is little or no water running out from the Wandle with all the flow all going down Bell Lane Creek. The Shell Oil Terminal Site was in Osiers Road and this and adjoining sites have now been redeveloped with blocks of flats of various heights, the tallest around 15 storey. One gain from this is that there is now a walkway by the Wandle leading to the Thames; the previous diversion was not without interest – but had an overpowering strong smell of oil.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-55*

Here I think I was looking roughly south I think over or through a fence at the north edge of the cement works where there is a cement lorry. I think this may be part of the works, possibly a water intake or perhaps a settling tank for water used for hosing down the lorries and plant, but that is simply guesswork. But as often with my pictures I did record a six-figure map reference – 257752.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-56*

Also taken from The Causeway a few feet west from the previous image you can see the gasholder in the background – and at right the railway viaduct.

Finally I dragged myself away from the Wandle and made my way west to Point Pleasant where my next post on this walk will begin, coming back to those oil storage tanks beside the Wandle.

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More From the Woolwich Free Ferry – 1994

More From the Woolwich Free Ferry: I went on the ferry across to North Woolwich, taking pictures while I was on the ferry, I think mainly in black and white.

*Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-810-51*

Taken while I was waiting at Woolwich for vehicles and passengers could come off the ferry.

*Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-811-42*

At North Woolwich while vehicles were still driving off and foot passengers were boarding for the journey to Woolwich.

*Riverside Path, River Thames, North Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-810-12*

I got off the ferry at North Woolwich and took a short walk along the riverside path, making this picture and then returning to catch the ferry back. This screw was in the path. The ferry terminal is at right.

*Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-810-32*

I don’t know whether the pictures below on the ferry were made on the outward or return journey.

*Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-810-33*

*Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-810-41*

Soon I was back in Woolwich and taking more pictures there – to be in a later post.

Good Friday – 2007

Good Friday: On Friday 6th April 2007 I got up early and took a train to London to photograph several of the Christian walks of witness and other events taking place around London. The accounts and pictures of my day are still on My London Diary, but rather hidden away. So here is what I wrote (with the usual minor corrections) in 2007, with a few of the pictures and links to the rest.

Good Friday Walk of Witness: North Lambeth

My day started in North Lambeth at 10am, where Churches Together gathered for a short service in the gardens at the front of the Imperial War Museum, before their walk of witness through the locality.

After a short services in a council estate, and the small neighbourhood park they met with others from St Johns, Waterloo for a service on the concourse of Waterloo Station, where I left them.

more pictures

Distribution of the Butterworth Charity

St Bartholemew the Great, Smithfield

A number 4 bus took me close to London’s oldest church, St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, where the Butterworth Charity was to be distributed.

A member of the publishing company gave money in 1887 to ensure the continuation of the established custom of providing 6d (increased to 4 shillings in the 1920s) to 21 poor widows of the parish, and buns to children who came to watch the proceedings.

This year, no poor widows declared themselves and the buns were shared by all present.

Even the workers on the street next to the church.

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Good Friday Procession: St Mary’s Islington

I left before the end of the service at St Bartholomews and despite just missing a bus and a long wait, caught the end of the procession through Islington to St Mary’s Church.

At first I failed to notice the large crowd making it’s way along the busy pavement rather than the road, and the noisy surroundings drowned out the two drums behind the bloody carrier of the Cross at its head.

One of the women in the crowd behind had the best Easter Hat I met on the day, which contrasted rather with the sober black of her Ggreek friend.

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Good Friday Open Air Service

Upper Holloway Fellowship of Churches, The Mall, Archway

Another bus took us to Archway. However it was held up in the queue of traffic behind the march there, so I arrived just as the service was starting.

Perhaps 200 people had assembled and a lively service followed. The singing improved when the generator ran out of petrol, and I felt moved to join in.

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City, Thames & Borough Market

From Archway I took several buses to meet up with a friend in Borough Market, which in the past 10 years has transformed itself from dying old-fashioned fruit and veg business to catering for the an affluent mainly young ‘foody’ market. There is an incredible range of produce on sale now, and some at incredible prices. Some great stuff, some at surprisingly reasonable prices, but plenty of ripoff also.

*Windsor Boat Club Easter Cruise, Slave replica ship ‘Zong’ and the Tower of London.*

I’d come here mainly to meet one of my friends who was photographing the would-be trendy young who where fluttering around its flame. But it wasn’t really my thing, and the Nikon I use wasn’t really the right tool for the job.

more pictures

This was the end of what I wrote in My London Diary, and there are many more pictures on the links above. We soon get fed up with Borough Market and made our way to a nearby pub before going home.

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Plumstead Panoramas – 1994

Plumstead Panoramas: More colour panoramas from my walk in Plumstead in August 1994.

*Lakedale Rd, Tewson Rd, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-806-62*

Plumstead is a hilly place, rising quite steeply from the River Thames as I remember from my first visit to the area when still in short trousers, trudging up a long hill holding my mother’s hand to visit some distant relatives, whose names I no longer remember, nor exactly where they lived. Their back garden went up steeply behind the terrace house.

I don’t think it was this road was the one I walked up back then, but it was still hilly and you can see the houses going down on both sides and I think in the distance to trees and buildings on the other side of the river.

*Park, Plumstead Common, Plumstead, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-61*

The previous picture was taken just a few yards from Winn’s Common, one of several areas also including Bleak Hill and The Slade which make up Plumstead Common. I think this is close to Lakedale Road and shows the foundations of a building with beyond it the rose garden in the next picture.

*Park, Plumstead Common, Plumstead, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-808-13*

I made several other pictures on Plumstead Common, though I can’t remember exactly where on the common this was and can find no traces now of this sunken garden with walkways which must once have been covered by plants and flowers but seem to have left in a semi-derelict state, though there are still some rose bushes.

*Plumstead Common, Plumstead, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-808-23*

Here I deliberately tilted the panoramic camera to give a curved horizon rather than try to level it with a spirit level as I usually did, partly to include the lower edge of the bushes and small trees, but also to create a kind of enclosed space.

Across the common is a pub, the Woodman, one of the 5 Plumstead Common Idlers, ‘the Woodman who never felled a tree’ at 35 The Slade.

“The Star which doesn’t shine in the sky,
the Woodman who doesn’t cut down trees,
the Ship that cannot sail the seas,
the Mill which doesn’t grind corn,
and Who’d a Thought it!”

*Radnor Crescent, Plumstead, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-62*

Radnor Crescent is some distance to the east on the edge of Winn’s Common and I’m not sure exactly which direction I was looking to make this picture, perhaps looking towreds Shooters Hill.

From here I walked to Woolwich and the Woolwich Ferry. More pictures from Woolwich in a later post.

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Belvedere Riverside & Plumstead – 1994

Belvedere Riverside & Plumstead: Some more pictures including some panoramas from my Thames riverside walk on Monday 1st August 1994, and a few from Plumstead a few days later.

*Ford Ferry, Pier, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-805-22*

Ford at Dagenham was just on the opposite bank of the Thames, with a Ford ship moored in front of it and some ominous black smoke rising.

But although the Ford was only around 600 metres away, the fastest route for workers driving from here to the factory was around 15 miles. Taking the Woolwich ferry would take a couple of miles off this, but be slower.

*Ford Ferry, Pier, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-11*

Many of Ford’s workers did live south of the river, either in Thamesmead or further away, and Ford provided a large suppposedly secure car park here from which they could walk down the pier to the Ford Ferry to take them across the river.

Ford had come to Dagenham in 1929 and opened the factory in 1931. They set up the private ferry for workers living in Kent in 1933. In its heyday it made 50 crossings a day taking as many as 1,500 workers to and from the plant, but after vehicle production ended with the plant turning to making engines it was only taking around 240 across and Ford discontinued it in 2003. Eventually they were forced to pay around half a million in compensation and to provide a bus service instead.

Much earlier there had been a Pilgrims ferry from Rainham to Erith, for pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, said to have begun in 1199 and to have continued in use until the mid 1950s.

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-12*

Around here I turned back towards Erith, taking some more pictures on my way (some of which were included in my previous post.)

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-13*

I can’t now remember exactly where on the path this was, but I think I walked all the way back to Erith and to the station there.

Penny's Cafe, Motor Auctions, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-803-32 — *Penny’s Cafe, Motor Auctions, Manor Road, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-803-32*

Finally from that day in Erith, one I took earlier around the start of my walk but failed to post previously. Manor Road leads out east from Erith and was then an industrial area.

This Café (and Motor Auctions) had also clearly once been a factory and still catered for workers in nearby factories. Facebook posts say it had been an engineering factory called Ivor & Jettage, that the café was full of boxing photos and that its yard, used for motor auctions and later car boot sales on Sundays, was in 2024 a scaffolding yard. But I have been unable to confirm this.

*Nathan Way, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-806-52*

A few days after my Erith walk I was back not far away in Plumstead, and made just a handful of colour images including these three.

This picture was made from The Ridgeway a foot and cycle path on top of the Southern Outfall Sewer from Plumstead to Crossness. Nathan Way runs for around 600 metres just to the north of this and most industrial sites along here were demolished by 2015 and are being replaced by a huge estate of blocks of flats, Lombard Square, with 1,913 new homes. The first were finished in 2025.

*Nathan Way, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-805-24*

Another image from The Greenway not far from where I made the panorama above. From 1888-90 here or close by Royal Arsenal football team played here at what became the Manor Ground. They moved next to Woolwich, becoming Woolwich Arsenal but soon found the rent there too high and moved back. They played their last game here in 1913 before moving to Highbury in North London – and of course losing the Woolwich.

Some industry remains at the east end of this stretch of Nathan Way but I’m not sure this includes any in my picture.

*Panoramic, Double Glazing, Nathan Way, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-806-31*

Nathan Way is a long road leading from Plumsteaad to Thamesmead and I think this may have been on the corner with Kellner Road.. But the name repeated on the lorry and the large modern shed behind as well as on what was perhas a small shed in the foreground was unmissable. I just had to make a Panorama.

Tony's Snack Bar, Nathan Way, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-805-26 — *Tony’s Snack Bar, Nathan Way, Plumstead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-805-26*

I think the building at left it 115 Nathan Way, now occupied by Hydraquip Hose & Hydraulics, while behind are the roofs of Belmarsh Prison. But the picture is about the mobile snack bar here and the neat empty row of six white chairs for its then non-existent customers.

My walk continued on into Thamesmead but although I took quite a few black and white pictures I can’t at the moment find any more colour – and perhaps I took none.

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More From the Riverside – 1994

More From the Riverside: More pictures from my walk by the River Thames at Erith and Belvedere on Monday 1st August 1994 to its end in Plumstead.

My previous post from this walk, Thames Riverside – Erith 1994 ended as I approached the Erith Oil Works jetty. The path here climbs up to go over the roadway from the jetty into the works which provided some good views of the jetty,

*Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-52*

Riverside Path, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-804-23 — *Riverside Path, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-42*

Looking upstream from the bridge over the roadway from the jetty to Erith Oil Works – the tanks at left are part of the oil works site.

*Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-804-21*

I continued along the path, looking back to take another view of the jetty

Bulk Carrier Tecumseh, Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-804-32 — *Bulk Carrier Tecumseh, Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-804-53*

This whole shoreline was once lined by industrial sites with their own jetties, by 1994 mainly like this now derelict and shortened.

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-805-45*

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-805-32*

Looking inshore there will still industrial sites, but much no longer relying on the river, though there were still some like the aggregate works that still had working jetties.

*Jetty, Riverside Path, River Thames, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-43*

Another disused jetty a short distance upstream from the Oil Works.

*Wharf, Mulberry Way, Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-805-31*

Sheds and neat stacks of orange and green boxes at a wharf – now serviced by road – at Mulberry Way. This gets its name from the temporary portable floating harbours some of which were constructed here in 1944 by Nuttall Brothers and towed to the French coast after D-Day to land supplies for the Allied invasion. Two temporary harbours were constructed on the Normandy coast; one only lasted a few days before being destroyed by a storm but that at Arromanches remained in use for 10 months.

*Wharf, Mulberry Way, Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-33*

A panoraamic view from the same viewpoint as the previous image. I had climbed up on the wide concrete flood defence wall here to make the picture. The sky was filled with clouds, perfect weather for panoramic landscapes.

*Remains of wharf, Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-21*

I kept walking along the riverside path, coming to these timbers which would once have supported a long landing stage on a wharf with a short jetty into deep water. Across the river you can see Tilbury Docks at the left of the picture, with the blue hull of a ship there and some cranes, and further towards the centre the chimney and turbine hall of East Tilbury Power Station.

The horizon, dead centre in the picture is straight but as you move further down in the picture the curvature produced by the cylindrical perspective become more and more apparent. The path at left is straight and it remained straight to where I was standing to take the picture and beyond. Usually I tried to compose photographs so that this curvature was less apparent, but here I rather liked the effect.

I was working with two swing lens panoramic cameras (and two ‘normal’ SLR cameras.) Normal wide-angle lenses use rectilinear perspective become unusable with a horizontal angle of view of around 90 degrees as the distance from the centre of the lens to the film increases as light travels to the edges of the frame, increasing the size of image objects. The curved film plane in a swing lens camera keeps the lens centre to film distance constant so objects are recorded at the same scale across the image. Of course the wooden posts get smaller in the image the further away they are from the camera.

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 94-802-23*

The curvature is much less apparent in this image taken a few minutes later and a few yards further upstream. But the shadow at bottom left as actually the shadow of the same straight flood wall as the larger shadow at the right.

Both of the panoramic cameras I had gave images with a horizontal angle of view of somewhere around 130 degrees.

I’ll post more pictures from this walk later. More pictures also in my Flickr album 1994 London colour – and you can see these images larger there by clicking on them in this post.

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Thames Riverside – Erith 1994

Thames Riverside – Erith: The Thames Path National Trail was only inaugurated on 24 July 1996 and then stopped at the Thames Barrier, but years before I had often walked along much of it in or near Greater London as well as much further east towards the Estuary.

It had taken a long time since 1947 when the towpath along the Thames was identified by the Hobhouse Committee on National Parks as one of six long distance and coastal recreational walking routes. Work began seriously in 1973 but there were many problems to be overcome, particularly in the upstream areas where much of the towpath had deteriorated, ferries closed and more.

The Thames Path still ends at Woolwich but it now joins the England Coast Path, but long before that it was possible to simply keep on walking beside the river – and I did along the south bank as far as Cliffe. Further on it became difficult to access using public transport.

*Sheds, Crescent Rd, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-52*

These pictures come from Monday 1st August 1994 when I took a train to Erith as my starting point. I began by taking black and white pictures of buildings in the town centre, then walked east out of the town as far as the saltings and Erith Yacht Club. The town has changed considerably since my visit. The first industry developed on this side of town, but I think there is now a large supermarket with huge car park in the almost all the former industrial area. In the 1930s the area in my picture above, on Crescent Road or ManorRoad was a part of the British Fibrocement Works.

*Erith Yacht Club, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-53*

I turned around and came back through Erith to the Riverside Gardens close to the centre of Erith and then walked upstream beside the river to Belvedere before turning around and coming back to take a few more black and white pictures on the west side of Erith before taking the train home.

*Crane, Riverside walk, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-32*

In the distance you can see the housing around Chandlers Drive, one of the first residential devolopmens on the river here, which had previously been highly industrial.

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-803-33*

*River Thames, Flats, Chandlers Drive, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-22*

*Jetty, River Thames, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-805-53*

One of a number of jetties here, this more colourful than most, but I think no longer in use. On the opposite bank I think the hills are where rubbish has been brought out from London and tipped to build up what was previously marsh.

Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Thames Path, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-13 — *Jetty, River Thames, Erith Oil Works, Erith, Bexley, 1994, 94-801-13*

The jetty of the Erith Oil Works, still in business. It was set up on Church Manorway in 1908 and is the the largest vegetable oil mill in the UK. My next post in this series will have more pictures of the Oil Works and other industry on the riverside, again mainly panoramas made with a swing lens camera.

All pictures here and more from this and other walks in 1994 are in my Flickr album 1994 London colour and you can view them larger by clicking on them in this post.

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Photographers Christmas Walk – 2017

Photographers Christmas Walk: Six years ago on Thursday 7th December I celebrated the Christmas season with a walk around the City of London with four other photographers, old friends I had known – and occasionally worked with – for over 20 years.

It was something we have been doing every year for quite a few years, though in the 1990s there used to be a dozen or so of us. I’ll be making another similar outing this year, though its a rather sobering thought that of the five of us who were there in 2017, two have since died. This year there will be only be three of us.

Not all of the others in the original group have died – some have moved away, and one or two others – as in 2017 – are too busy to come at this time of year. But it’s a time when we will remember them all – and lift a glass to the memory of the dead as well as celebrating we are still here.

I’ll leave you to read what I wrote about the walk on My London Diary in 2017, but I think the pictures I took as we walked around show some interesting parts of London, and I’ll say a little here about one of the places we visited.

*Modern buildings tower above Threadneedle Street.*

Walking around the City gave us a thirst – and we went into the Crosse Keys in the grand building of the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank on Gracechurch Street. Wetherspoons may be owned by a man whose politics I loathe, but I have to admire the way they have found a new life for buildings such as this. And the building is a grand one, even though it is a reminder of the hey-day of Empire, funded by exploitation of the people and resources of an age when Britain ruled the world – and did so extremely bloodily.

This Grade II listed banking hall was designed by William Campbell Jones (1862-1951) and built in 1912-13 – you can read much more about the building here.

Now the building is a pub with an unusually wide and changing range of real ales – and whatever their faults, all Wetherspoons keep their beers well and the prices are – by London standards – keen. Though as you can read I wasn’t entirely won over by ‘Smokestack Lightning’.

It took some dragging for me to get the group of four of us (one had sulked and gone away as we entered the pub) out while there was still enough light to take pictures, and I led them down to the river.

We walked back to the bus stop at St Paul’s Churchyard across a small remaining part of the City’s highwalks, part of a post-war scheme to separate pedestrians and traffic, doomed from its inception by the nature of the City. I had photographed them extensively in many panoramas in the 1990s. I think we then ate and had a few more drinks at a pub in Holborn.

More about the walk and more pictures at Photographers Walk.

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