GreenwichVisitor THE
September 2018 Page 8
OUR HERITAGE ISN’T JUST THE ROYALS...(BUT WE DO OWE
TODAY: Gasholder is only reminder of past on much-changed Greenwich Peninsula
WE all know something about Greenwich’s Royal history – after all that’s what so many visitors come to Greenwich to see and hear about. It’s about Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Navy and all that.
But some of us have been saying to the Council and our tourism body Visit Greenwich: Hang on! Greenwich and Woolwich were important industrial centres full of innovation and interest. Let’s talk about that too. Not sure anybody is taking any notice though,writes historian and campaigner MARY MILLS. In fact Greenwich’s industrial history is long and proud and full of amazing discoveries. To discover more we need to go back to Henry VIII. But his story isn’t just about his six wives, jousting and feasting. He was responsible for developing the Royal Dockyards at Deptford and Woolwich – both became great national institutions. He also founded a Royal Armoury. From these beginnings a vast network of military and naval manufacture began in this country. This includes the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich – the biggest, the most influential, the most important factory that ever was. There are superlatives all round when we are talking about the Arsenal. Not just the big, big, big guns but also its vastly important research role throughout the centuries. It had five railways, its own canal and the totally separate 17th century rope works. Added to the great warships and research carried on the Royal dockyards was a thriving shipbuilding industry from the 17th century. Originally it was mainly in Deptford but shipbuilding persisted in Greenwich and Woolwich until surprisingly late. Who can identify at least one substantial vessel now on the Thames built on the Greenwich Peninsula in the 1970s? To this was added the development of sailing barges to win races as well as providing heavy haulage on the river. There were also river trades – lighterage, dredging, tugs. In fact we still have a base for tugs in Charlton. Surprisingly perhaps, the earliest riverside industry here was fishing – and Greenwich’s deep sea fleet was eventually to initiate the great fishing industry at Grimsby Added to this was a world famous marine engine factory, along with many other engineering works of all sorts. Huge propellers
‘There were breweries, distilleries, paint works, furniture works, flour mills, explosives, gunpowder and fireworks, subsea cables, marine engineers, the biggest bottle plant in Europe, the largest gas holder in the world, and the finest fire engine maker around and instrumentation were made for famous ocean-going liners. When you next visit a local town museum somewhere – and not just in Britain – they will probably showcase their old Merryweather fire engine, made in Greenwich. See what you can spot! Another industry from the 17th century was the chemical Copperas, made in Deptford and just one of many Chemical Works around the area. Close by was the works where super phosphate manure was developed. The gas industry was established in Greenwich in the 1820s and waste materials provided raw materials for numerous works – for instance beneath our streets there are often tared paving blocks made here. On the Peninsula our great remaining gas holder – once largest in the world – was built for a gasworks with aspirations for not much less than perfection in manufacturing fuels. It wasn’t just gas they made but British motor spirit – petrol – too. There was the first power station as we would understand it in Deptford, as well as one of the earliest local authority facilities to generate electricity from rubbish in Plumstead. Electrical equipment was made in local factories like Johnson and Phillips. And I mustn’t forget the subsea cables made on the Greenwich Peninsula and in Woolwich
which provided the first network of communication around the world – which has developed into the World Wide Web which we all take for granted today. The communications revolution started here. Factories in Woolwich led the world in telephone manufacture and there were also important scientific instrument factories and New Eltham and in Charlton. Also in Charlton was the biggest bottle factory in Europe – the United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Ltd in Anchor and Hope Lane. Transport-wised Greenwich had the first suburban railway in 1836, which was also the first railway in London. It ran from London Bridge to Greenwich on arches said to be the biggest brick structure in the world. How many passengers today are aware of the history their daily journey covers? There was once a huge network of industrial rail lines too – we still have what is now the only railhead on the Thames in the Angerstein Line which crosses Bugsbys Way. There were successful attempts at building steam road vehicles here in the 1840s and again in the 1900s. There was the tram repair depot in Felltram Way and, later, the Tramatorium in Penhall Road, Charlton, where the outdated vehicles were torched in 1953. We should also be proud of the old Blackwall
Tunnel which was revolutionary when it opened in 1892 and still carries a traffic load unthinkable back then. It was built as a free crossing for the people of East London as were the two Foot Tunnels at Greenwich and Woolwich. And of course don’t forget the Thames Barrier. Some of the earliest industries identified here were potteries in Woolwich and Deptford and, slightly later, glassworks. But there was so much more: Breweries and distilleries, sugar factories, paint works, furniture works, flour mills, patterned linoleum produced automatically, tennis rackets, cement artificial stone, asbestos, seed-crushing, steel for the construction industry, fractionating towers, rope and of course private ammunition works, explosives, gunpowder and fireworks. The Matchless Motor Cycle Works in Plumstead was world famous. Some famous names are more associated with industries in the north – but Newcastle’s Armstrong built huge guns at the Royal Arsenal and steelmaker Bessemer had a works at Victoria Deep Water Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula The social infrastructure of all this industry is fascinating too – and equally important. Dockyards in Woolwich and Deptford provided early instances of what we would describe as trade unions. And in Woolwich the earliest co-operative societies were developed and the earliest recognisable Labour Party. In Greenwich, by the way, the first Jewish MP David Salomons was elected in 1851. It is also important to recognise that along with all this industry went a huge amount of research – from the 18th century academics at the Royal Military Academy to the foundation of Woolwich Polytechnic – and later bodies like the Fuel Research Institute in Greenwich. I could go on and on. Very little has been written on our amazing industrial heritage. But Greenwich Industrial History Society has had monthly meetings for the last 20 years. See our blog at greenwich industrialhistory.blogspot.com. We also have spin-offs like the Enderby Group which looks at the heritage of the local cable-making industry and other activities around the Arsenal, Plumstead and Deptford. Our unique industrial history should be better known. We’re on a mission to do that. marymillsmmmmm@aol.com