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Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick – 2007

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

Manor Gardens and Hackney Wick: The allotment holders at Manor Gardens Allotments were still fighting to be allowed to keep their allotments on a site next to the River Lea inside the London 2012 Olympic site. On Sunday 4th March 2007 I went to the community centre at Hackney Wick where the Olympic delivery authority had agreed to meet with the plot holders to discuss their future and later went on to take more pictures on the allotment site. It was a cold, dull and wet day and the pictures reflect the weather and the mood. Here us the piece I wrote in 2007 with the usual minor corrections.

Manor Gardens Allotments Meeting

*Plot holders outside the community centre before the meeting*

Sunday I went back to Hackney Wick, where the London Delivery Authority for the Olympics had arranged to meet with the plot holders from Manor Gardens Allotments. But hearing that the media were likely to be around, the LDA had pulled out, leaving the plot holders to hold their meeting on their own – which they did, without the other supporters or the media present.

*The plotholders go into the community centre for their meeting; the press and supporters are left to demonstrate outside*

The situation is a mess, and the LDA appear unable to make any suitable provision for plot-holders, or to accept the idea of a green heart to the Olympics with the allotments in place.

The LDA don’t actually seem to have any real use for the allotment site – possibly a footpath may run through it – but I think feel that its presence would sit oddly with the mass corporate sponsorship they rely on. One of their ideas is to put a giant scoreboard advertising Coca-Cola in its place.

*After their meeting, plot holders look at the Manor Gardens website*

Eventually we were too cold and wet, so we came inside to wait for the meeting to end.

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Manor Gardens Allotments

After the meeting, we went with the plot holders to look at the Manor Gardens allotments.

A bridge led to the allotments were on an island between the River Lee and the fiChannelsea River, both tidal.The water was fairly high. The bushes are in blossom – some is wild plum which apparently makes fine jam. Fray Bentos once made pies and puddings in the factories to the right of the river.

*These figs will be ripe in August if allowed to grow*

At the allotments, I was able to take pictures of a few plot holders at work, clearing their plots. A few are still planting in the hope that they will be able to continue there.

*Some were still planting crops, hoping they will be able to harvest.*

Films were being screened in the community hut, and I watched one about the fight to keep urban gardens in New York; although some were lost, the fight led to others being protected.

*A film show in the community hut on saving the gardens of New York*

Only 4 weeks remain until the date set for the site to be vacated. The LDA have failed to come up with a replacement. It is just possible they may change their mind at the last minute, or at least delay the closure, but unless the Manor Gardens Plot holders come up with a credible legal challenge the chances seem poor.

*Many have comfortable areas where they can enjoy their work – and eat the vegetables – Jerusalem artichokes are being peeled ready to cook*

Manor Gardens raises many questions about the kind of democracy we live in and the kind of future we want. If it goes it will be a powerful message that regeneration will be at the expense of the local community and at the expense of the environment. If were are to have a future it needs to be considerably more green than our present, and places like Manor Gardens are the models on which we need to grow and develop.

*Ready for planting – but when and where, plot holders ask. Will Mayor Ken have any answers?*

The question really isn’t a matter of deciding between a green or a brown future. Increasingly I’m convinced there isn’t a future unless we go green. More than that, we also need to move rapidly from a top-down society to a bottom up one, where people have more control over their lives rather than being controlled.

*Work stops for tea in the shed on one of the plots*

Manor Gardens is a site that is more important than the few acres of land and the small community who grow there. It is a part of our battle for survival.

I say goodbye to everyone and hope to come back and photograph when the weather is better. Manor Gardens is a great resource, and was bequeathed in perpetuity for growing food. It would be a great loss and a great missed opportunity if it isn’t still there in 2012 and beyond.

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Hackney Wick

*Waterden Road in the rain – all this will be demolished*

As I walked back to the station and the North London Line I took a few pictures of Hackney Wick.

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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Tags:allotments, battle for survival, bridge, Coca Cola, community centre, community hut, corporate sponsors, films, green heart, green Olympics, Hackney Wick, LDA, London, London 2012, London Delivery Authority, London Olympics, London Photos, Manor Gardens, Manor Gardens Allotments, meeting, missed opportunity, Olympic delivery authority, Olympic site, Olympics, peter Marshall, plot holders, River Lea, River Lee, Waterden Rd
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Protesting the London Olympics Bid – 2005

Wednesday, February 19th, 2025

Protesting the London Olympics Bid: On Saturday 19th February 2005 I sent for a guided walk around the proposed Olympic site on Stratford Marsh and then joined others in a protest march through the area to Hackney Marshes which would also be affected.

Protesting the London Olympics Bid - 2005 — *Small industries giving local employment which will disappear*

The favourites for the games were Paris, and although public opinion in Britain largely backed the bid, there was rather less support by locals both because of the effects it would have on the area and the high coast which would mean an extra £20 per year on council tax.

Paris accused London of violating the rules but the decision was was made by a small majority in London’s favour.

After the success of the bid in July 2005 there were fears around the rest of the country that the extra spending on the games would mean diverting funds for more necessary work away from the rest of the country – which it did.

And locally many suffered from the disruption of the works over an extensive area – with local businesses and some residents being forced out of the area.

This bridge had a local message for Seb Coe who heads London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games

Here I’ll reproduce – with appropriate minor corrections – the article I wrote along with some of the pictures I took on the day.

Site Walk, Bow Back Rivers

Saturday 19th February saw me in the Bow Back Rivers again, on another guided walk looking at the areas threatened by the London 2012 Olympic Bid. We walked along The Northern Outfall Sewer from Stratford High Road to Old Ford, then along the Old River Lea and back down the City Mill River.

Traditionally an area for dirty industries on the east of the city, a health and safety hell-hole, now with plenty of derelict land, but still providing local jobs that will all disappear if the bid goes through.

Much of the area will disappear under concrete, almost all redundant after the big event, with plans for its after use unpublished and unfunded.

At the moment it’s a rich wildlife environment, but all that will go, and the tidal Bow Back Rivers are likely to be lost or severely altered.

If the bid goes ahead it will severely distort a regeneration that needs to be based on local needs and priorities, and the trumpeted increased investment will largely create unwanted facilities that will be future millstones.

*Hackney marshes. Football pitches will be concreted car parks for the Olympics*

Not to mention the disruption over perhaps 15 years as the site is developed and then (if finances materialise) restored for use.

No London 2012 Olympics March

*More local businesses that will close on Waterden Rd.*

After the walk, we went to join the demonstration and protest march that was forming in Meridian Square outside Stratford Station. It wasn’t a huge event, with just over a hundred marchers, but I was surprised at the positive response from those hurrying by to catch trains or go shopping, many expressing support.

The march, on a bitter, dull afternoon, ended on Hackney Marshes, where considerable local sports facilities are due to be covered by car parks if the bid succeeds, with people playing games and a very spirited sack race.

*View from the walkway over Carpenters Lock*

I walked back to Stratford, again through the Olympic site, crossing over the Lea at one of the locks and along the side of the Waterworks River, with often dramatic lighting and the occasional light flurry of snow.

You can see the 2005 post on My London Diary and also many more pictures from the day

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London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Tags:Bow Back Rivers, Carpenters Lock, City Mill River, Greenway, Hackney, Hackney Marshes, local businesses, local residents, London, London 2012, London Olympics, London Photos, march, Newham, No London 2012, Northern Outfall Sewer, Old River Lee, Olympic bid, peter Marshall, protest, Pudding Mill River, Seb Coe, Stratford Marsh, Tower Hamlets, Warton House, Waterden Rd
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Before the Olympics – 2007

Saturday, February 11th, 2023

Five years and a few months before the London 2012 Olympic Games took place much of the site was still open although businesses had been moved out and some of the buildings were becoming derelict. I’d had an invitation to a party at a site there the previous evening but hadn’t been able to attend, but on Sunday 11th February 2007 I took my Brompton on the trains to Stratford Station for a tour of the area. It began as a rather gloomy day but the weather at least brightened up later.

I did return to parts of the area in later months as the close down was taking effect – and even led a two-day workshop at the View Tube in April 2010. And in June I was there to photograph workmen putting up the blue fence to keep us out of the whole Olympic area until well after the games were gone.

Before the Olympics - 2007 — *Footbridge to railway works over Waterworks River, Stratford Marsh.*

Here’s what I wrote on back in 2007 about my ride around the area, much of which I spent pushing and carrying my Brompton bike along footpaths. But it did make it possible for me to cover rather more ground than would have been possible on foot. I’ve corrected the capitalisation etc. There are several pages of pictures with the original on My London Diary, just a few of which are shown here.

2012 Olympic Site – Stratford, Sunday 11 Feb, 2007

Sunday I went to the Olympic site again, keen to photograph before the area becomes ‘fortress Olympics’ and is destroyed. Many of the businesses have now moved out and some of the small industrial estates are looking pretty empty. Tate Moss, who occupied a site by the City Mill River had staged their final event the night before, but the partying didn’t keep going long enough for me to look in and the place was deserted.

*Marshgate Lane under the Northern Outfall Sewer is blocked with old tyres*

Some of the riverside paths were open again after the test borings that have been going on, although several were fenced off over a year ago. The gate to the path by the waterworks river from the Greenway wasn’t locked, so I took a walk up this, but I knew that it was no longer possible to get out onto Marshgate Lane so had to retrace my steps.

*The Marshgate Centre and Banner Chemicals from the Greenway*

The route back up to the Greenway from Marshgate Lane was almost completely obstructed by heaps of old car tires, and I had to carry my Brompton for a few yards and climb up onto a grass bank where the steps were completely blocked. Parts of the road were no longer open to cars too.

From there I moved on to Hackney Wick and Waterden road, and I finished the day as the light was getting low on Hackney Marshes, one of the areas in which locally important sporting facilities will be lost at least for a few years, perhaps for good.

Original text on the February 2007 page (you will need to scroll down.)

My article back then ended with the paragraph above, but my ride didn’t – I had to get back home. It had previously taken me to a number of places just outside the condemned area, including some that were to be demolished for Crossrail, and it didn’t actually end on the Hackney Marshes, as the pictures on My London Diary demonstrate.

I decided to ride back to Stratford to get the train home, and that ride took me back past Clays Lane, where the estate was to be demolished for the athletes’ village and I stopped several more times on my way to take more pictures in the gloom. Even when I arrived at Stratford around sunset there was still enough light for a few final images.

You can see many more pictures from the entire ride on My London Diary

Tags:Banner Chemicals, Bow Back Rivers, car tires, City Mill River, Clays Lane, Crossrail, Greenway, Hackney, Hackney Marshes, Hackney Wick, Kings Yand, London, London 2012, London Photos, Marshgate Lane, Newham, Northern Outfall Sewer, Olympic site, peter Marshall, Pudding Mill Lane, Stratford, Stratford Marsh, Tate Moss, Tower Hamlets, tyres, Waterden Rd, Waterworks River
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An Olympic Bike Ride

Tuesday, January 4th, 2022

*Businesses later demolished at the heart of the site for London’s 2012 Olympics*

An Olympic Bike Ride: At the end of 2002 I finally bought a Brompton, a rather expensive folding bicycle which then cost me around £600. Perhaps not a lot for a new bike then and certainly not now, but rather more than the £13-7s6d or so the other bike I was still riding had cost in 1958.

*Clays Lane Housing Co-operative – demolished for the Olympics*

I’d been thinking about it for years, and it would certainly have been very useful for the work that I’d been doing around outer London in the previous decade, but I’ve only used it infrequently for my photography.

*Eastway Cycle Circuit – lost to the Olympics*

Though it’s a great way to get to places, taking it by train or underground and riding from a convenient station, Bromptons are a powerful magnet for bike thieves, so easy to put in a car boot or van, and selling at a relatively high price. It isn’t safe to lock them anywhere in public view when even the best cycle lock can only detain the well-equipped thief for around 30 seconds.

*Bully Fen Wood – Community Woodland lost to the Olympics*

So rather than using it for my general photography – mainly of protests and other events – I’ve used it for cycle rides on which I’ve taken photographs, both around where I live – it’s easier to jump on and off than my full-size bike – and in and around London.

*Factory on Waterden Road – demolished for the Olympics*

Thursday 4th January 2007 was a nice winter’s day, not too cold and blue skies with just a few clouds, and I went with the Brompton to Waterloo and then on the Jubilee Line to Stratford. Preparations had begun for the 2012 London Olympics and I wanted to see and photograph what I could of the changes that were taking place.

*The footbridge has been kept in the new Olympic Park*

My account of the day on My London Diary begins with my tongue-in-cheek suggestion that it would have been much preferable on environmental ground to shut down Heathrow and use that as the Olympic site, but goes on to describe a conversation I had with one of the residents at Clays Lane, then about to be demolished (spelling etc corrected.)

‘he talked of living in a fascist state, with lack of consultation and individual powerlessness, and of the games as having always had a militaristic overtone. hardly surprising there is little support for the games here, as initial promises that people from the Clays Lane Housing Co-operative would be rehoused in conditions “as good as, if not better than” their present estate were soon changed to “at least as good as in so far as is reasonably practicable.”‘
My London Diary

*Work on the site seen from the Greenway*

From Clays Lane I moved to the Eastway Cycle Track, already closed and fenced off – I decided against going through a gap in the fence to ride around it. The Community Woodland at Bully Fen Wood was also already closed. and I cycled on around the roads at the north of the site to Hackney Wick.

*Pudding Mill River and Marshgate Lane – all now gone*

Along Waterden Road I photographed some of the other industrial sites that were to be lost to the games, then turned along Carpenters Road and into Marshgate Lane, all soon to be fenced off and everthing on them destroyed. After taking pictures around Marshgate Lane I went back and into Hackney Wick, photographing the Kings Yard workshops on Carpenters Road soon to be demolished on my way.

*Kings Yard – demolished for the Olympics*

Hackney Wick to the west of the Lea Navigation is largely outside the Olympic compulsory purchase area, but some large areas of industry were scheduled for demolition and I took more pictures. I found the towpath here beside the navigation still open and rode down it to Stratford High Street, where more industry to the north of the road is also going.

I spent some time going up the roads and paths here going from the High Street into Stratford Marsh which were still open, then went east along the top of the outfall sewer past areas also covered by the Olympic CPO.

*St Thomas Creek, Bow Back Rivers – factories at left and right to be demolished*

There was still a little light and I came down from the ‘Greenway’ and cycled down to Bow Creek from West Ham, going down the path on the west side of the creek to the Lower Lea Crossing. I wanted a picture showing the Pura Foods site then being demolished, but also made a number of other twilight pictures from this elevated viewpoint, and also some from the Silvertown Way viaduct as I made my way to Canning Town Station for the train home.

*Pura Foods being demolished for London City Island development*

Many more pictures from this ride on My London Diary, starting a little way down the January 2007 page.

Tags:Bow Back Rivers, Bow Creek, Bully Fen Wood, Canary Wharf, Clays Lane, Community Woodland, Eastway Cycle Circuit, employment, factories, Hackney Wick, industry, Kings Yard, Lea Navigation, Lea Valley, Leamouth, London, London 2012, London Olympics, London Photos, Lower Lea Crossing, Marshgate Lane, Newham, Olympic site, peter Marshall, River Lea, Stratford, Tower Hamlets, Waterden Rd, workshops
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