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GREATER LONDON INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY

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Notes and news — October 1997

Mail Rail extension

It is proposed the extend the existing Post Office Railway tunnels by the construction of a new five-mile long tunnel from Paddington to an interchange depot at Willesden. The system would be used to distribute goods on pallets from Willesden (near the south end of the M1) to Oxford Street stores and thereby reduce lorry congestion in the West End. The cost estimate is £70,000,000. Bob Carr

Gas buses are alive and well in Northampton

A fleet of about six buses powered by environmentally friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) is currently operating about the town of Northampton (GLIAS Newsletter February 1997). These vehicles are of the low floor type with a kneeling device which lowers the front entrance to kerb level to allow wheelchairs, pushchairs and the elderly easy access. The buses are fitted with an identifying tag which gives them priority at most traffic lights. It is reported that a gas bus has also been seen in Southampton. Do members know of any other examples?

Of course gas buses are reminiscent of the vehicles modified to run on solid fuels such as coke or charcoal using a gas producer which were operated during World War II when petrol or diesel fuel became scarce. Some older GLIAS members may remember seeing these in operation. What kind of modification had to be made to the carburettor etc and did the engines so used suffer any ill effects from running on gas? Once petrol or diesel was available again gas-propelled vehicles disappeared from the streets pretty quickly so what were their disadvantages? Bob Carr

Europe's earliest

The following is a reprint of an article which appeared in the European Museum Forum EMF Magazine No. 1 Spring 1997, by GLIAS Vice President Kenneth Hudson.

Industrial archaeology is a child of Great Britain and its still-proud father is the Editor of this magazine, whose pioneer book, Industrial Archaeology: An Introduction, was published in 1963. Within a few years, local and regional archaeology societies began to establish themselves all over Europe and in Australia and North America. Most of the work involved in identifying and recording sites has been carried out by the members of these societies, working in their free time and for love.

So far as we can discover, the earliest society of this type was the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society, usually known as GLIAS, which was founded in 1968 and has continued to be in a flourishing condition ever since. It has displayed great stamina and adaptability during a period when many, possibly most, other societies have withered away and died, as the original enthusiasm was lost.

(No. 164) of its splendid Newsletter appeared in June 1996 and, like its predecessors, it contains an astonishing record of activities. Its guided walks throughout the London area, its discussion meetings, lectures and reports have become famous. It is well managed and its membership continues to be encouragingly large. Its philosophy has never wavered, that it is more rewarding and meaningful to study industrial monuments and equipment on their original sites than to look at bits and pieces of them removed to museums.

It has survived and prospered by following the true Gospel of Industrial Archaeology, as preached by Kenneth Hudson in 1963 and ever since, and by never watering down the true Faith. In religious terms, GLIAS has been run by people best described as realistic fundamentalists. The moral of this must be capable of wider application and almost certainly to the museum world, where the roots of today's problems are to be found in a willingness to abandon principles in a desire to increase the number of visitors.

GLIAS visit to Wilkinson Sword

At the invitation of Mike Medlin, Production Manager, twenty people came on this visit to the sword centre at Ev Acton. We also met a couple named Medlin from the USA, putative cousins of Mike, who contacted him and were asked to join us. We were welcomed by Mike and John Arlett, who is a long serving member of the company. nov Wilkinson Sword was founded in 1772 by Henry Nock, one of the leading gunmakers of the day. When he died in 1804, the business was continued by his son in law, James Wilkinson. James' son Henry brought swordmaking to the business as an extension of bayonet manufacture. The company has always had a reputation for quality, and in 1843 Henry invented a blade testing machine with which the quality of the blades could be strictly controlled. As a result Wilkinson's swords became famous for their strength, balance and reliability. From 1890 the company started to diversify, producing such items as bicycles, typewriters, shaving products and, in due course, cars and motor cycles - all of the highest quality. At one time Wilkinson was producing a wide range of army equipment but this has all been given up and now the company is best known for its shaving systems, produced at Cramlington, and swords, produced at Acton.

We were divided into two parties; Mike took one round the factory while John described many of the exhibits in the museum to the other party, before we changed over. The museum contains many fascinating objects, not only swords, but it would take more space than is available to describe them. The factory is really a mechanised craftsman's shop. Steel ingots are rolled into approximate sword shape in a small rolling mill but are finished by hand on electrically driven grindstones, mirror-polished and acid-etched with the required pattern. The famous test machine was demonstrated before we moved on to the ancillary operations for producing hilts and scabbards. The whole operation was fascinating.

Not all the swords are for the military. Wilkinson specialise in the design and production of swords for civic regalia, for commercial presentation and to commemorate special events. At the time of our visit, a large order of VEL swords to commemorate the hand-over of Hong Kong was being completed.

This was an excellent visit. We were at the factory for some four hours. We are very grateful to Mike and John for giving us their time in this way. Bill Firth

William Webster: Father and Son

On 16th July, as part of the Greenwich and Docklands Festival, the Blackheath Society, in association with the Greenwich Historical Society, presented an illustrated lecture at the Blackheath Concert Halls, by Neil Rhind.

William Webster senior (1823-88) rose in less than ten years from being a millwright and part-time publican in his q native village of Wyberton in Lincolnshire, to become one of London's major civil engineering contractors, being responsible for most of the Thames Embankment and the Crossness Engine Shed. He moved to Blackheath in the 1860s and built himself a large mansion, which survives, converted into flats, as Wyberton House. William's son, also William (1855-1910) trained as a chemist, experimented with X-rays and electricity, but his principal achievements were in the provision of cultural facilities. The Blackheath Art Club, the Conservatoire of Music, the Blackheath Art School and the Blackheath Concert Hall were all prompted by this man and survive today, and the venue of the lecture was therefore appropriate.

William senior's rise is somewhat mysterious. In seven years he had progressed from restoring Lincolnshired! churches to responsibility for the building, in the mid 1850s, of the Cambridgeshire County Asylum at Fulbourn, and the Three Counties Asylum (now Fairfield Hospital) near Arlesey in Bedfordshire. Either Webster was regarded as credit-worthy or he had accumulated sufficient capital to handle such large contracts through his own resources. It is possible that the art of pricing contracts was in its infancy, offering great opportunities for the astute and competent.

A version of Neil Rhind's lecture will be delivered at Goldsmith's College later this year, and should be well worth attending. Richard Graham

GLIAS visit to Tunnel Refineries

The GLIAS group assembled in the training centre where we were welcomed by the Environment and Safety Manager, Mr Turner, who started by emphasising the company's respect for the local environment. He said that the at company had set out a garden and created a riverside walkway. He added that the smell about which local residents had complained, was due to the processing of maize which had just ceased. The group was told that the company generated all its own steam, compressed air and electricity, of which any surplus was sold to the national grid. The ai company processed all waste water from the factory. Waste water had been made suitable for discharge to sewers mo but a new aerobic waste water treatment plant was being commissioned for producing an effluent suitable for directo discharge into the Thames.

Mr Turner outlined the sources of raw materials, the company's products and the methods by which they were Jako manufactured. In summary, products manufactured on the Greenwich site included animal foodstuffs, starch, Vital Wheat gluten, glucose syrup, dextrose monohydrate, fermentation syrups containing maltose and blended syrupssgo. containing a combination of glucose, fructose, maltose, maltotriose and higher sugars. Potable alcohol was also produced by the fermentation and distillation of a low grade glucose syrup which would otherwise be unsuitable for sale as a foodstuff ingredient. By-products, rich in vegetable protein, were also sold for animal feed. Glucose, fructose and maltose etc. were made from the same starting material, namely starch. Starch was obtainable from many crops, but the source exploited by Tunnel Refineries was milled wheat grain, and until shortly before our visit, maize.

Maize was formerly shipped from France and unloaded from the jetty into large silos. After cleaning, the maize was transferred to large stirred cylindrical tanks where it was treated with water containing sulphur dioxide and, after a few days, the seeds were soft enough to be mechanically broken open to allow the starch to be extracted using demineralised water. Wheat was milled at the company's Marston Mill in East Anglia. The wheat germ was removed and sold to make cooking oil while the remaining flour was supplied to Tunnel Refineries in road tankers. Starch was converted into glucose syrup by either of two methods. Glucose was formed when a starch solution was sprayed into a fast moving stream of steam or produced by treating the starch solution with an enzyme (presumably diastase) and acid hydrolysis, using dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acid. Maltose and fructose were produced by qo enzyme processing. Pure starch is used as a thickener in soups, gravies and sauces etc. while modified starches are ey used in paper manufacture.

In the subsequent tour of the site, the group was shown the waste water treatment plant which used an anaerobic process to produce an effluent fit for discharge into sewers. Also visible was the new aerobic processor for producing an effluent suitable for direct discharge into the Thames. Our tour took us past Greenwich Distillers where potable grade ethyl alcohol was recovered from processed low grade glucose syrup.

The group was taken round the plant making and refining the glucose syrup. Refining involved decolourising, gnizin filtering and demineralising the syrup. Some of the group tasted the sweet glucose syrup which appeared 'water white' and absolutely clear. Other parts of our works tour included a small works laboratory, the control room from where pumps and valves etc. were remotely controlled from computer screens, the boiler room, the gas turbine generators, and finally the equipment used to crystallise dextrose monohydrate from the glucose syrup.

The tour ended with a brief discussion about the company, a short video about the Amylum group of companies and fo Marston Mill and Tunnel Refineries in particular. After thanking our guide for such an excellent and informative diver tour of the site, he directed us to the works canteen where most of us enjoyed an excellent lunch. B BissettT

Early coal gas experiments

My previous article described one of the earliest experimental sites for the manufacture of coal gas. Of course,vo, before the manufacture of gas for lighting could become a reality there were many such experiments.

The idea of gas lighting was sold to the London public by Frederick Albert Winsor. This is not the place to go into all the details of his life and works - save to say that despite all the research a great deal remains about him which is very mysterious. No one has really explained where he got his ideas from and how it was that he could get the interest of the Prince Regent and members of the aristocracy despite the obvious exaggeration and eccentricity of many of his claims. How did he know how to make the gas he had no technical background. He must have had some experimental sites - who helped him, and who worked with him and backed him? None of this has ever really been explained; all that we have are a few hints.

One of the hints came from William Matthews, who was a sort of early gas groupie. He said that Winsor was backed and lent premises by a 'Mr Kenzie' who was a retired coach builder living in Green Street near Hyde Park.

This address is backed up by an early gas engineer (and liar) called Stephen Hutchinson who claimed to have invented lime purification while working with Winsor in Green Street. One of Winsor's publications gives an address of 41 Green Street.

Looking at the Horwood plan - roughly contemporary for that period - is very interesting. 41 Green Street is, shown as the entrance to a large building, taking up the entire block, marked as 'Rhedarium'. The Survey of London for the Grosvenor Square area gives some information. Their anonymous research had already picked up the reference to Winsor in William Matthews and came to the same conclusion as me. The Survey gives some details about the.. nas Rhedarium. It had been built as a military stables in 1738 and then sold in 1784 and used as a stables and coach manufactory by a Mr Murdoch MacKenzie.

It must have been very big and more open then, because in 1784 one of Blanchard's balloon flights took off from there. This information comes from L T C Rolt's 'The Aeronauts' - and I would like to criticise Mr. Rolt for a lack of references because I would love to have followed this up. Some of the earliest coal gas experiments were undertaken for balloonists! Rolt gives other tantalising information - that the hydrogen used in the balloon was prepared by Argand himself and that Matthew Boulton was kept informed of events. This whole episode begs even 02 more questions - who was Murdoch MacKenzie ? What was his interest? Who were his associates and backers? Survey of London says that the Rhedarium was pulled down in 1914. The block concerned is only just off Park 2210 Lane and a walk round it today reveals houses all in business or diplomatic use. 41 Green Street was replaced in the last century and the entrance blocked up. At the back of the site in Wood Mews 'Renaissance Court' displays thes date of 1887 but looks to me like a pastiche of an eighteenth century stables. The Survey also mentions the garden now on the site. This is not now accessible but over the wall you can see some large trees - mostly London planes - but others which could even date from Winsor's day. If anyone knows any diplomats who could find a way in ... Mary Mills

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© GLIAS, 1997