swing lens camera | >Re-PHOTO

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.

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.

Bow Creek and Poplar Panoramas: It was before Christmas that I posted the previous set of panoramic images I made in July 1994 along the DLR between Poplar and Beckton, DLR – Connaught Rd & Bow Creek 1994. Here is the final set I made then.

*Bow Creek, Wharfside Rd, Canning Town, Tower Hamlets, Newham, 1994, 94-720-11*

Another picture taken from the East India Dock Road, looking down at Wharfside Road and the sawmills with their address on Barking Road. The road layouts here have changed with the building of Newham Way flyover and I think Barking Road which earlier began at the ‘Iron Bridge’ over Bow Creek now only starts at the roundabout about 250 yards or so to the east.

As the noticeboard states the entrance to the site is from Wharfside Road on the opposite side of the road, and any driver unfortunate to read the sign would be faced with a long detour to reach it.

M&J Reuben Ltd was founded in 1895 and seems to have moved from the area in 2004 when the then managing director David Reuben retired. London Sawmills Ltd also had timber sheds at Hercules Wharf in Orchard Place closer to the mouth of Bow Creek.

Bow Creek appears on both sides of this roughly 130 degree view, upstream at right, flowing under the bridges and in a long loop and coming up at the left past Pura Foods where London City Island now is, before turning round the other side of Pura foods to flow down to the Thames.

*Bow Creek, East India Dock Rd, Canning Town, Tower Hamlets, Newham, 1994, 94-720-12*

Moving a few yards to the west along East India Dock Road I made this picture standing on the bridge. The Iron Bridge, built in 1810, was the first road bridge to use cast-iron columns and made a new lower route across Bow Creek. It has now been replaced and the current bridge is concrete.

On the left of the river is Essex Wharf, with the sawmills out of picture to the left. The first bridge on the river, a pipe bridge for a large gas pipe, was demolished soon after, but its brick piers remain. The second bridge is now the ‘Blue Bridge’ though in my picture it is grey. A third, a disused single track rail bridge, is hidden by those in front.

*Construction work, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-721-62*

A little further on but I think still on or close to the East India Dock Road I made this picture looking across a construction site, the DLR, Bow Creek and Pura Foods. I think that the tunnel which connects East India Dock Road to Aspen Way is under the site here.

Aspen Way, East India DLR, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-720-51 — *Aspen Way, East India DLR,* South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-720-51

East India Dock Station on Aspen Way, looking west. At left is the Telehouse South and the Blackwall Tunnel ventilation shafts. Then along the horizon some 1930s council flats and buildings aroudn Canary Wharf including the tower. On the other side of the DLR viaduct is the Grade II listed former hydraulic pumping station in Naval Row and over the dock wall the ugly 1990s buildings on the former East India Dock.

*DLR, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-721-11*

Finally a view through the rear window of a DLR train on its way from Poplar to Canary Wharf. Poplar Station can just be seen under the long footbridge across the DLR and the Wes India Dock Road. At left is the DLR line towards Tower Gateway.

The next post in this series of my colour pictures will feature pictures made in July 1994 here and elsewhere using a normal camera.

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

Tag: swing lens camera

Thames Riverside – Erith 1994

DLR – Bow Creek and Poplar Panoramas 1994