London history on demand

Lockdown has been, to put it kindly, a mixed blessing. However, one of the bright spots is that talks previously only available to those who could listen in person are now available to all. The Greenwich Industrial History Society is one of the organisations to have made the move online, launching a YouTube channel for their fantastic lectures. So far, these include a fascinating exploration of global telecoms in Greenwich, Charlton and Woolwich by Alan Burkitt-Gray; a lecture from notable local historian Mary Mills; Greenwich's contribution to the first telegraph line linking Britain to India; and underground Greenwich. 

Another highly worthwhile YouTube channel is London Historians. This fantastic society has been sharing its annual lectures for some years, but now has monthly lectures and shorter presentations too. Definitely worth exploring!

Do you have any other channels you would recommend? 

Olympia Warehouse sunset

Discussion about the development of Olympia Warehouse, part of Convoys Wharf in Deptford, has been going on for well over a decade. Visions of the building being reused as a cultural space, a celebration of the former Royal Dockyard's history, and so on have not come to fruition: on a recent walk, it still stood in lonely splendour. 

 

The long and sorry history of the development of Convoys Wharf has been well covered by the Deptford Dame. The Warehouse itself has survived thanks to being a Grade II listed building - not just for its distinctive curved roofline, but because it is an important piece of industrial heritage. 

Built in 1846 by George Baker & Son, it is of distinctive iron-framed construction: the original wrought- and cast-ironwork is still visible inside. Originally, the two spans covered slipways, allowing ships to be constructed within. They led into the dockyard basin (now filled in) rather than directly into the river. While the building now has a concrete floor and its more recent use was simply as a warehouse, the slipways are intact a little below current ground level. Only one other such shipbuilding shed survives, at Chatham.

 

Thw warehouse has survived long beyond its original working life. It was originally part of the royal naval dockyard, first established by Henry VIII on a site used for trading since before Roman times - and closed in 1869, less than a quarter of a century after the warehouse was completed. Convoys Wharf was therefore the site of a huge amount of maritime history; much was lost last century, with more to be sacrificed to the current (forthcoming?) development.  

The following photographs are from a visit (part of one of those many consultations) back in 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

Ghost signs (142): Fortescue Bros of Reading

This ghost sign is tucked inside a covered alleyway off West Street, Reading - but it was worth stepping around the bins for. 

 

It (literally) points passers-by to the workshops of Fortescue Bros Ltd, cycle makers. In business by 1898, they continued through at least the first half of the twentieth century but are now long gone. The workshop may be defunct, but a jaunty manicule gestures on, jacket sleeve flashing a strip of cuff and cufflink, nails forever neatly trimmed. 

There is even a local London connection for me! Another branch of the Fortescue family were part of Saunders and Fortescue, who made and sold cycles in Lewisham, Peckham and Croydon.

Straight to the point

 Today, just a little teaser for a forthcoming ghost sign post - because who could resist this lively manicule? Those fingernails! The thumb wrinkles! The cuff and cufflink!

A stroll through Sables-d'Or-les-Pins

 

Let's go back to late summer, and stroll down the broad boulevard and elegant side streets of Sables-d'Or-les-Pins. This seaside resort in Brittany, France, was created in the 1920s by Roland Brouard. This estate agent from Saint Malo wanted to build a resort to compete with La Baule and Deauville. Behind the sand dunes, he built a fashionable and stylish town which hosted fashionable events including horse and sports car races, and jazz concerts. 

Its amenities included a casino and a high-class restaurant, as well as a garage for those sports cars - but also a chapel. The original building was a temporary wooden structure, described by the local newspaper in 1928 as more shed than place of worship - albeit appealing and well-attended. However, plans for its replacement came to an abrupt end when the Wall Street Crash and subsequent depression, followed closely by Brouard's death, brought the town's heyday to an end. Only in 1956 was the current chapel inaugurated - by which time Sables-d'Or had begun its new life as a family resort.  

The resort has a distinctive architectural style: stone and half-timbered buildings, some with sea-themed decoration, are well-spaced along wide streets. It remains a popular and attractive seaside town, even if the heady days of its glamorous prime have never quite been recaptured. 

This blog previously visited Sables-d'Or to take a look at some slightly scary ice cream cones!

 

 

313 Oxford Street

Making a rare visit to a near-empty Oxford Street, I had the opportunity to get a phtograph of this fantastic late-Victorian building unobscured by passers-by.

 313 Oxford Street was built in the 1870s, and its stucco flourishes show some of the exuberance of the period. (The shopfront below is, of course, a much later alteration.) It is Grade II listed, and the listing text apprpriately describes it as 'eclectic'! 

Perhaps most striking are the statutes at second-floor level, and there is an intriguing suggestion in the listing text that they might originally have supported lanterns. A closer look confirms that both figures have an arm outstretched, perfectly poised for holding a light. In fact, their forearms are so elongated it's hard to think of another explanation!