- South Kensington Station to be redeveloped
- PS Waverley to be rebuilt
- Commercial road carrying in London
- AIA conference
- Early gas industry
- Europe's earliest — or not?
- 173news.pdf
It now seems likely that a scheme to redevelop South Kensington LT railway station will go ahead despite local opposition.
The architects are Terry Farrell and Partners and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has granted planning permission.
The District and Circle Line platforms here which have traditional canopies to keep off the rain are redolent of the days before electric traction and certainly evoke a feeling at least of the Edwardian period. Arriving by District or Circle Line train at South Kensington is always something of an event and it would be a considerable loss for West London if this part of the station is to be affected.
It is to be hoped that the intended redevelopment will only take place at street level around the perimeter of the site. The intention is to construct flats and mews houses as well as provide office, shop and restaurant accommodation. It is also planned to 'improve' the subway to the South Kensington museums.
South Kensington District and Circle Line station is almost unique on the underground and compares favourably with say Barons Court station of 1916, listed grade II. This latter station has recently been repainted its original colour of maroon. A visit here can be recommended. Bob Carr
Many things are being spruced up for the millennium and the 50 years old paddle steamer Waverley is no exception (GLIAS Newsletter 171, p4).
In the winter of 1998/9 it is planned to carry out a very substantial rebuilding operation. The ship would be stripped down to a bare-framed shell and work carried out to return what is left to as far as is possible an as-new condition. Work would then continue as if the ship were being newly built with new decks, funnels, aluminium deckhouses and a new foremast. There is also a proposal to fit a rudder at the bow and install a bow thruster to enable deck officers unfamiliar with paddle-steamers to berth the ship more easily.
Experience of regular paddle-steamer operation is becoming a rarity. The intention is to make the vessel roughly as economic to operate as a modern ship of her size. The winter refit costs could be reduced to about a third of present expenditure. Waverley would be brought in line with historic paddle steamers operating in Switzerland and Germany and passenger comfort and facilities would be of a contemporary standard.
Some traditionalists, however, may view the above proposals with concern as Waverley would no longer be a Clyde paddle steamer in original if somewhat worn condition. Will the ship be spoilt by such a drastic rebuilding? If Lottery Funding comes through quickly the paddle steamer will be out of service during the summer of 1998 and we may already have seen the last of the old Waverley on the Thames. It is pointed out that the bow rudder and thruster will not be visible and the original triple-expansion steam engine by Rankin and Blackmore of the Eagle Foundry, Greenock, is to be retained.
The intention is to keep Waverley operational well into the next century, up to say 2020. Rebuilding the Waverley might be likened to the refurbishment that was carried out on the London Routemaster buses and one could argue that by 2020 people familiar with a paddle steamer in the 1950s will be rather thin on the ground and at least a sea-going paddle ship will still be making passenger carrying outings. Do readers have an opinion on this issue? Bob Carr
Website: www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk; www.pswaverley.org.uk
Commercial road carrying in London
The Winter Lecture season got off to a good start in October when Christopher Salaman gave us an outline history of commercial road carrying in London, followed by a more detailed history of McNamaras, one of the leading firms in this field.
Mr Salaman is obviously a McNamara fan and has built up a large archive on the history of the firm, and the vehicles they used. They were innovators and adapted vehicles to carry much greater loads than was intended in the original design. They were pioneers in using diesel engines, notably by importing Mercedes diesels which characteristically were modified to carry bigger loads. McNamaras were also contracted as carriers by the Royal Mail, and Royal Mail vans carried the McNamara name on a small side panel and the letter 'M' in front of the radiator.
This was an interesting lecture on a subject with which I suspect many of the audience were unfamiliar. The slides were perhaps overburdened with road vehicles of various makes and many of them were very similar. I was sorry to learn that little is known about the McNamara family, this would have added a human touch to the story. Overall, however, this was a good start to the winter lectures. Bill Firth
The 1997 Conference of the AIA was held this year at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the area which cradled the W24 development of railways by introducing very early wooden wagonways and later giving opportunities to George M Stephenson and his contemporaries to develop the steam locomotive. The weekend's activities attracted over 150 delegates with many arriving early for the Friday seminar and staying on until the following Friday for an extensive range of lectures and visits. Accommodation and lectures were in the University of Northumbria at the Coach Lane campus s where we enjoyed good catering and lecture facilities.
The pre-Conference seminar on 'Current Research and Thinking in IA' produced a range of interesting and thought-provoking papers which were presented during the morning and afternoon. That evening we went to the Newcastle Discovery Centre and saw the famous Turbinia' amongst many other exhibits relating to Newcastle's industrial history. We then received a welcome to the city from the Lord Mayor and shared buffet supper with the civic dignitaries. This was followed by a lecture 'The IA of Tyne & Wear' given by Dr Stafford Linsley and we returned to the campus by coach.
Saturday started with lectures by Jim Rees ('Working Representations: Replication in Museums') and by Brian Newman ("The IA of Marine Engine Building at Tyne & Wear'). Following coffee we enjoyed our usual Members' Contributions period which demonstrated the fascinating variety of our fellow-members' interests. Before lunch Ian Ayris (one of the local organisers) gave a lecture on the excavations which led to the recent discovery of the remains of an early wooden waggonway in the area. After lunch, we assembled into three groups for excursions. One group went to the Bowes Railway to see a demonstration of rope-haulage systems in operation; another group travelled to the Stephenson Railway Museum and then viewed excavations at Wallsend where archaeologists looking for foundations of the Roman Wall revealed instead the buildings, engine-houses and shaft of Wallsend B pit, dating from the 1780s. The third group saw Woodhorn Colliery Museum, a model farm, and Blyth A power station, the oldest coal-burning main generating station in Britain. We rounded off the day with the formal TO Conference Dinner and drank a Loyal Toast to HM the Queen.
nirali bongobeads to avab odT The AGM of the AIA was held during the first hour of Sunday morning. After this, Dr Victoria Beauchamp bri announced the AIA Recording Awards; these were won by a group who had made an extensive and comprehensive survey of a Welsh slate quarry and associated buildings and equipment (the Best Recording Award), and the Initiative Award went to Paul Vigor, a Master's degree student at the Ironbridge Institute, for his work on re-assessing the perspectives and positions of buildings in the famous paintings of the Bedlam Furnaces. The two 10 winners each gave a lecture on their respective submissions. The Rolt Memorial Lecture followed, and Dr Michael Stratton gave a well-illustrated presentation entitled 'New Materials for a New Age; Steel and Concrete walino Construction in the North of England 1860-1939'. After lunch we again split into three groups - one looked at IA sites and the Tyne bridges on the Gateshead side, one covered a similar tour but on the Newcastle side, whilst the remaining group looked at the Newcastle Quay area. Dinner that evening was followed by Frank Manders' lecture 'Cinemas of Newcastle and Gateshead', an interesting but often ignored IA topic from the entertainment industry.
Monday was spent on visits in the Newcastle area. A guided walk along the Ouseburn enabled us to interpret the industrial remains along the lower riverside and a fascinating aspect was the journey by foot into the Victoria tunnel, a former underground waggonway running 2 miles under the city. A coach tour with stops took us to ad multitude of IA sites in the area, including soap works, coal staithes, mills, Armstrong's Elswick works, a glass cone, bridges and many others. Following lunch at a quayside pub, (a timber-framed former warehouse) we sailed down the Tyne and back, with a commentary about the various sites on the river bank, the south side going down and the north side coming back. The evening provided two lectures from Ian Forbes and David Cranstone on 'The North Pennines Lead Mining Industry'.
Another day out on Tuesday took us to the North Pennines area. On the way we examined Derwentcote steel 2 furnace, a blister-steel producing plant now in the care of English Heritage and carefully conserved with a good nov interpretation centre. We then visited in turn the Killhope Lead Mining Centre and the Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre. The underground tour, which necessitated wading through water about 1 foot deep, at Killhope, was fascinating and instructive with first-class, well-informed guides. After dinner that evening, John Clayson (the other local organiser) presented a lecture on the 1796 cast iron bridge at Wearmouth.
Wednesday took us to the Sunderland area where we saw glassworks, a windmill, a ropery, Ryhope Pumping Station (in steam, with its massive beam engines operating!), a tour of the Pyrex glass works with press-moulding machines, and then seeing coloured glass sheets produced by the traditional method of blowing cylindrical shapes, slitting and then opening up to make flat sheets. A walk along the River Wear footpath enabled us to see the remnants of the former riverside industries and we then made a tour of the railway relics museum at hoiupos over of Monkwearmouth station. Dr Bob Rennison, a well-known figure from the Newcomen Society, gave a well- illustrated lecture after dinner on "The Development of the Ports of the Durham Coalfield'.
qqs dw iw 20881 ad After breakfast on the Thursday we had a full day out, not returning until 9.30 p.m.! Our first 'visit' was a walkw through the Tyne Pedestrian and cyclist tunnels, construction of which was completed in 1951. Souter Point lighthouse was our next venue, claimed to be the first British lighthouse designed specifically for electrical illumination. The huge Marsden limekilns were just across the main road and so we examined these too. Adjacent to this area was the Whitburn Colliery but all traces have now gone, including the miners' housing, the railways and the waste heaps. At South Shields we viewed various nautical sites including a lifeboat station, piers and neut groynes, and a range of guiding lights. On our journey to Seaham harbour we saw the piers, lighthouses, bridges w and docks at Sunderland which we had heard about in the recent lectures. At Seaham harbour itself we were treated to a guided tour which explained the origins and development of this coal exporting port, a project pursued by Lord Londonderry from the 1820s onwards. Friday took us on a visit to the Tanfield Railway workshops, storage sidings (with a plethora of tank engines, coaches, trucks, and other railway equipment in various stages of decay and dereliction), and the station, followed by a journey along the line. We then viewed the celebrated Causey Arch and enjoyed our final conference meal in the Causey Arch Inn.
It was a splendid conference, full of diversity and interest, with fascinating visits and instructive information, and enjoyable amenable company. Our thanks must be expressed to the local organisers, especially Ian Ayris and John Clayson, for arranging such a good programme; to David Alderton as conference secretary for overseeing the arrangements and sorting out such good accommodation; and to Tony and Mary Yoward for their impeccable administration of the booking arrangements in looking after the complexities of so many delegates, mostly booking for varying periods of attendances. It was certainly yet another IA success. Alan Birt
This is going to be a very short and speculative article about a very short and speculative gas works. I only found out about it by chance - a note in Vol.66 (1994-5) of the Newcomen Society Transactions. This was embedded in a really excellent article by Martin Meade and Andrew Saint on 'The Marquis de Chabannes, Pioneer of Central Heating'. I don't know if either author reads the GLIAS Newsletter but I would be grateful if someone would mention to them how much I enjoyed the article. I had known about Chabannes for some time - in connection with the infant briquette industry around 1800 - and their article illuminated many corners of his heterogeneous life.
Anyone trying to tackle a history of the early gas industry in London is faced with having to explain away Frederick Albert Winsor. More than anyone else Winsor founded the gas industry - he was a German who promoted the idea of a gas supply system vigorously and, getting together a band of supporters was instrumental in setting up the first ever gas company. Winsor presents a number of problems for historians. One, because his promotional literature is extremely wild and peculiar, how is it that he was ever taken seriously? He appeared to have money and contacts. What was his source of influence? Who was he really?
word fabib varit om blos asd his The Newcomen article does not help with either of these problems but it does throw some light on another one. West know nothing about Winsor's experience in making gas other than that he tried to contact a successful experimenter in France. His technical knowledge - from his pamphlets - appears to be sketchy. There is also a small amount of contemporary evidence that he was responsible for some small scale gas making plant. What was this? The promoters who joined him to set up the Gas Light and Coke Company must have had some evidence that he could deliver in practice the scheme which he was - so eccentrically - putting forward. The conclusion must be that he had a demonstration plant somewhere.
Meade and Saint have described how the Marquis of Chabannes set up a manufactory for briquettes on Millbank around 1799 and - tracing it through the rate books - they note that by 1808 the site was 'in the hands of another vagabond entrepreneur of talent and ebullience, Frederick Albert Winsor'. So was this site Winsor's demonstration plant? They also note his company name - 'The Westminster Gas Supply Company'. Do they realise what they found here? Is this in fact the first gas company and that the great Gas Light and Coke was really the second. This could start a revolution. At the very least the London Gas Museum will have to amend its displays about the great march forward from Westminster Gas Works to Beckton and North Thames Gas!
One question remains - which I ought to be able to solve. I am not sure exactly which site on Millbank this noted refers to and I am very aware that the Gas Light and Coke Co. had a wharf in that area from about 1814. They seem to have acquired it from a Mr Sergeant, a coal merchant, who was to deal extensively with many of the London gas companies. Was this Winsor's old site? As it happens I have a rather nice picture of what I think is this wharf in the 1880s with what appears to be a dramatic ornamental gateway on the river front. It's a pity the GLIAS Newsletter editor won't accept a nice computer graphic to embed at this point! Mary Mills
In Newsletter 172 (GLIAS Newsletter October 1997), Kenneth Hudson is quoted as describing GLIAS as possibly the earliest local or regional IA society to be established (in 1968). I hesitate to take issue with our Vice-President, an acknowledged pioneer of s industrial archaeology, and I also take no delight in refuting GLIAS's claim to such distinction. Nevertheless, we were not the first.
The Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology was founded in 1963, according to a note in 'A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology in Gloucestershire' (GSIA/Association for Industrial Archaeology, 1992). Certainly it was active in 1965 when I joined it! I am sure other societies were around then, too. I dimly recall that both the Manchester region and Scotland were quick off the mark; anyone interested could chart developments by referring to the early issues of the now-defunct journal 'Industrial Archaeology' (originally published by the Lambarde Press, subsequently by David & Charles).
And in London itself, the Thames Basin Archaeological Observers' Group set up an Industrial Archaeology Section at around the same time, led by the stalwart Paul Carter. Most of the Section's members, including your scribe, helped to form GLIAS in 1968-9. The Group was dissolved shortly afterwards, having been a major player in the development of archaeology in London.
Kenneth Hudson may remember GLIAS in particular, as he was on a small, and frankly select, mailing list of pro-IA luminaries to whom were sent complementary copies of early GLIAS Newsletters. Others on this list included the late Sir John Betjeman and the late Sir James Richards, then editor of the 'Architectural Review'.
Having disputed one of Kenneth Hudson's statements, I am happy to agree wholeheartedly with his description of the current GLIAS Newsletter as 'splendid'. Never mind the blushes of the Hon. Editor and his helpers! Michael Bussell