In this issue:
- From the chair
- Film Night is back by popular demand!
- London's Industrial Archaeology 23
- John Harvey Ashdown MBE (1935-2025)
- Liverpool Street relics at Frinton
- SAFA House
- Paddle Steamer Waverley
- P S Waverley's diversion
- News in brief
- Shoreditch Fire Station
- Greenwich Town Hall — first impressions
- Database spotlight 11
- What are those black stones?
- Books
- 340news.pdf
We've distributed London's Industrial Archaeology No 23 which went out at the start of September but we're already looking for articles for the next issue. Do email journal@glias.org.uk if you have a subject for publication.
Our walks have continued with King's Cross Central Repurposing 67 Acres of London, and Limehouse Cut. Thanks to Caroline Dale and Geoff Cosson for respectively for showing members around. If you have a local area or somewhere of interest to members do get in touch with walks@glias.org.uk; we're already planning for next year.
SERIAC 26 is in the planning stage and, again, if you have a subject you'd like to tell a wider audience do get in touch with chairman@glias.org.uk.
The Gallery has been booked for our lectures in the New Year and, yet again, we're looking for speakers; contact lectures@glias.org.uk with offers.
Keep an eye on the Diary for GLIAS and other local events. Dan Hayton
Film Night is back by popular demand!
Following the sell-out evening last year, GLIAS is again arranging a film evening at the Cinema Museum near Elephant & Castle, this year at 7pm on Wednesday, 26 November. As before, the programme will be put together by Amanda Huntley, the MD of the John Huntley Film Archive. It will include vintage footage of industry, transport and manufacturing in London, with perhaps a few clips from elsewhere. Some will be silent B&W, some more recent, and many are unavailable elsewhere. The evening will take the format developed by John Huntley in the 1970s when he was able to fill the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and similar venues around the country.
Tickets remain at a reasonable ₤10 and are available from www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/topics/events/ (scroll down to 26 November).
BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT! as they say.
London's Industrial Archaeology 23
The GLIAS Journal, London's Industrial Archaeology No 23, is just out and what a splendid issue it is. Well done Martin Adams and Alan Burkitt-Gray for getting this excellent piece of work out on time to a tight deadline. The photograph of Deptford Creek on the back was taken from a moving train in 2021. Bob Carr
Alan Burkitt-Gray writes: It's with some trepidation that I've taken over from Martin Adams as editor of London's Industrial Archaeology, from the next issue, which is due to appear in 2026. Martin had been editor for around 15 years, producing LIA annually. I took over from Ben Weiner as the layout person in 2024, though I've been a member of GLIAS for many years so am familiar with LIA and the world of industrial archaeology.
I joined Denis Smith's group at Goldsmith's in 1976, though I come from a publishing background, having worked as a business and technology journalist and editor for 50 years from 1973 until I stopped two years ago.
What I need from members now is offers of articles and suggestions of articles for LIA, not just the 2026 issue but for subsequent years — though I'm not sure I'll survive in the role as long as Martin did. That would take me to my late 80s.
Drop me an email to journal@glias.org.uk or give me a call on 079 6202 1330 if you'd like to chat.
John Harvey Ashdown MBE (1935-2025)
I was very sad to be informed of the passing on 9 August of John Ashdown, aged 89. His name is probably not familiar to most GLIAS members, but he played an important role in the early development of industrial archaeology in London before moving to Oxford in 1972 to become the city's Conservation Officer, a role he served with distinction until he retired in 2000.
Arriving in London in 1966 to start work, I joined the Thames Basin Archaeological Observers' Group (TBAOG), and soon met both John and the late Paul Carter (who became the first GLIAS Hon. Secretary). They were already active in the Group's fairly newly-formed Industrial Archaeology Section, often arranging Saturday or Sunday visits to various sites — particularly memorable for me being one to St Katharine Docks, shortly before their closure in 1968. Through John's and Paul's enthusiasm, and their knowledge willingly shared, I learned much.
They proposed to compile a gazetteer of IA sites in Greater London, John being especially well-informed on South London from his work in the Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division. Enquiry letters sent by Paul to Greater London Council borough engineers and the like soon yielded valuable new information on sites in their respective areas, which when added to what John and Paul already knew provided the material for a 64-page booklet with concise information on about 360 sites. My principal role was to transfer their hand-written entries into printer-ready typescript and to laboriously set the title page and borough names above the site entries in rub-down Letraset (remember that? — no word processing in those days!). Industrial Monuments of Greater London was published in August 1969. (Had we thought about it at the time, with our three surnames Ashdown, Bussell and Carter, we could have tagged it as The ABC Guide to…)
I wrote more about this to mark 25 years since its appearance in Newsletter 154 (October 1994), and more recently in my piece on the early days of GLIAS in London's Industrial Archaeology 17 in 2019. I like to think that the booklet was helpful in launching GLIAS — formed a few months before it appeared — as much interest in it by the newly-enrolling membership helped the booklet to sell out quite quickly.
John attended initial GLIAS meetings, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Society in its early days, although he declined to serve on its Committee as he was kept busy with his work at the GLC. He was also already the Treasurer of the fairly recently-formed Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, whose interests (certainly in its first few years and before the formation of the AIA in 1974) arguably extended to embrace the archaeology of early industrialisation. John's professional and personal interests seemed to coincide, and were extremely wide in both scope and period: I recall visiting him and his wife Barbara in their Tunbridge Wells home, where I remember looking almost in wonderment at an entire wall shelved with books on architecture, archaeology, and the like.
This would have been not long before they moved to Oxford in 1972, when John became the City's Conservation Officer, a demanding role which he served ably for 28 years as was recognised by his MBE and Honorary MA Oxon. While in post he co-authored Buildings of Oxford with Anthony Kersting (Batsford, 1980). He later became a Vice-President of the Oxford Preservation Trust, and was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
We kept in touch over the years by occasional letters and the odd phone call. His hand-written letters were a pleasure to receive in both content and appearance, in his immaculate italic script. When he and Barbara moved a few miles out of Oxford city some years ago, he suggested I might come and visit them. Alas, I never took this up. Michael Bussell
Liverpool Street relics at Frinton
Frinton-on-Sea on the Essex coast can be reached by train from Liverpool Street in 90 minutes.
One thing you would not expect to see on arrival is parts of the old Liverpool Street station in the station garden.
During the 1988 refurbishment of Liverpool Street station, little of its original 1870s ironwork was incorporated into the remodelling. The rest of it was scrapped except for four pieces which were gifted to Frinton & Walton Heritage Trust to incorporate in its restoration work of Frinton station and its surroundings, and to coincide with the station's own centenary.
There is a wrought iron roof girder, a length of platform barrier, and two early decorative (Gothic style) cast-iron column heads (or capitals).
The larger of the two column heads weighs over half a ton and the smaller some one-third of a ton. The broken edges of the latter enable detailed inspection of the molecular structure of the cast iron and its impurities. They were probably cast in London by the River Thames. During the Second World War much of the decoration of the column heads at Liverpool Street Station was stripped away, but we are lucky in having two of the rare ones with their scrolls, which escaped damage.
Travelling by train westward from Deptford towards London Bridge there was an interesting building on the south side of the line. It was a large Victorian house which as the years went by became more and more derelict and latterly there were even holes appearing in the roof.
At night there was a light in the building and you could see on the top floor facing north towards the railway what appeared to be a bar of some kind. What went on in this building was intriguing. Finally work started to repair and refurbish the building and it is now in a fairly decent state and is being offered for sale as flats.
This is SAFA House in Arklow Road SE14. It was originally built as a social and sports club for the workers at Stone's factory which was immediately opposite across the road to the west. In recent years when there was a light on in the evening the building served as some kind of Caribbean social club.
Photograph (above left) shows the building in its present state, looking south. Opposite is a sculpture of a man holding a propeller under each arm (above right). This sculpture marks the site of the works of J Stone & Co Ltd, marine, railway and general engineers *. This was behind to the west and has now been completely cleared away and the site redeveloped for housing. Both photographs were taken in April 2025.
In the 20th century Stones were famous for their large bronze propellers for ships but these were not cast here, they were cast some way away to the east on a separate site in Charlton. SAFA House has interesting industrial history connotations and you can find out more by Googling SAFA Lady Florence. Bob Carr
* See Nails, Rails and Props: The Stones Story. By Valerie Preston-Dunlop. London: Verve Publishing, 2022. ISBN 978-0-9509859-5-4
This year the paddle steamer Waverley will be in our area, London and the Thames Estuary, from September 23 until Sunday October 12. There will be the usual cruises, and sailings from Tower Pier will take place on September 26, 28 and October 2, 4, 5, 11 & 12. A novelty this year is that Rochester, Limehouse Landing, will be in use and Waverley will visit here on Fridays September 26 and October 3.
For 2025 Waverley will enter our region on Tuesday September 23 with passengers, coming all the way from Eastbourne Pier which they are now reviving. It is a remarkably good bargain to travel all the way from here to Tower Bridge, and then back by coach for an extra ₤10. The whole thing is only ₤79 so I presume this trip will book up quickly. People that have made these long cruises say that for some time you are out of sight of land for a considerable period and this can become rather boring.
The steamer leaves Eastbourne Pier at 10.15 am and doesn't get into London until about 9.30 in the evening so it is a big day but it will be quite an experience to do this, to go round past Dover and the Downs and come all the way into the Estuary past Herne Bay and Sheerness and then go right up to London and have Tower Bridge open for you.
The present owner of Eastbourne Pier, Sheikh Abid Gulzar, has recently also bought the pier at Hastings. He appears to be keen to have passenger sailings from Eastbourne pier and to be delighted that Waverley will be calling there this year.
It would be very nice if some kind of passenger service could be established between the two piers, a small motor vessel about the size of the Yorkshire Belle would be ideal.
Eastbourne pier has an additional attraction, a camera obscura. The photograph of the Pier (below) was taken from the northwest in August 2025. The camera obscura is housed in the gold dome at the top of the buildings towards the end of the pier.
Waverley will pass Folkestone where the Leas cliff lift, built in 1885 and listed grade II*, is now being revived. Some of the buildings at the top of the incline may have been demolished, probably including the booking office; but the Cliff Lift, which is the only water-balance cliff lift on the South Coast, is due to reopen early in 2026. The photograph of the lift in action (below) was taken in August 2004.
Some of our readers will have gone on one of David Perrett's coach trips; we used to have visits to Folkestone to see the water works to the north of the town. After this the coach came into the town and dropped people off; a bookshop was an attraction. People generally had a ride up and down on the Leas Cliff Lift as part of the day out.
You can book tickets for the Waverley by telephone. The booking office telephone number is 0141 243 2224 and the office is open Monday to Friday 9.30 till 4.30. On Saturday it is open 9.30 to 1.00. Bob Carr
It was originally planned for Waverley to sail from Ayr to the Cornish port of Falmouth via the Irish Sea, about 420 nautical miles, to arrive in time for her first passenger cruises on Thursday 28 August. However, following predictions of bad weather it was decided to take a 1,150-mile route round the north of Scotland and down the UK's east coast instead.
It was expected that the longer route would use over 30,000 additional litres of fuel and add at least ₤20,000 to the fuel cost. There would also be berthing and port dues to pay.
Waverley made good progress following her departure from Ayr at 8pm on Monday evening, 25 August. She ran with the tide for much of the initial part of the journey passing through the Sound of Mull at first light before rounding Ardnamurchan. By 9am on Tuesday she was safely berthed at the Railway Pier, Kyle of Lochalsh, for her first fuel and water stop.
On departure from Kyle just after 10am she passed under the Skye Bridge and continued north sailing on the east side of the Crowlin Islands. By midday she was abeam of Gairloch and almost three hours later was passing the Old Man of Stoer.
Just before 5pm on Tuesday 26 August Waverley rounded Cape Wrath and then sailed east following the coastline. Waverley had last sailed along this coast 22 years ago when she travelled in the opposite direction from Great Yarmouth to Glasgow. Following this she headed south calling in at Dundee for fuel and water.
Waverley left Dundee in the afternoon of 27 August and passed the Humber about 9am in the morning of 28 August. The vessel continuing her voyage from Scotland to Devon was reported off Ness Point Lowestoft on Thursday 28.
Much of Friday 29 August was spent in the Thames Estuary, mostly in Margate Roads but Waverley would have visited Gravesend for more fuel and water.
Following this Waverley passed round North Foreland and Dover and sailed offshore along the South Coast. For some of this journey she would have been visible from the shore and certainly for watchers on the cliffs.
On Saturday 30 August she was reported near Swanage about 9:20am and reached Dartmouth about 3pm in time to operate the evening cruise to view the fireworks.
Hopefully this note gives some flavour of the rather remarkable journey recently made by the paddle steamer Waverley, clearly demonstrating that the statement that she is a sea-going paddle steamer is entirely correct.
This account of Waverley's lengthy journey to Devon has been compiled in relative haste from newspaper reports and sightings reported on the internet. Readers with access to more information are welcome to submit corrections and comments. Bob Carr
Stop press: Waverley delayed
Owing to bad weather the paddle steamer Waverley did not reach London from Eastbourne on 23 September. Heavy weather meant that she arrived in the Thames Estuary too late for there to be a bridge lift at Tower Bridge and passengers were disembarked at Gravesend instead. People who had booked a return coach to get home to Eastbourne were taken there by coach from Gravesend.
Waverley's recent sailings have been adversely affected by bad weather; the previous planned sailing from Eastbourne on 16 September was cancelled. Passengers who do not complete their cruise as booked will get a refund. Someone said they would take sea sickness pills next time. Bob Carr
Despite complaints from a number of eminent architects all the buildings at Robin Hood Gardens have been demolished; the last fragments were recently removed. A section of a building from Robin Hood Gardens was displayed at the Venice biennale in 2018.
It is the intention of the V&A to display a representative section of Robin Hood Gardens at their new outstation at Stratford which is currently being completed.
Demolition has been taking place at Mayfield House in South London and by now there is probably nothing left.
At Liverpool Street Station it is still proposed to place an office block of some kind on the current 1980s train shed which presently provides an excellent airy space at the southwest corner of the station. This train shed adopts a lofty elegant style in keeping with the previous style of the station but a new space-development office block which encroaches into the head space of the shed could reduce the headroom enormously and might have a comparable effect to that which happened to the suburban line platforms on the east side of the station where the headroom is now very low and depressing. It would be a tragedy if what had been one of London's great railway termini was to be treated in this way. There have been complaints regarding this proposed development which so far have been successful. Less intrusive schemes by ACME have now been proposed and a revised submission by Herzog and De Meuron is forthcoming.
The old Museum of London at the Barbican will be redeveloped soon. Many readers will remember this site, and the building's interior, and even behind the scenes will be well known to some of us. The photograph of the entrance to the 1970s museum was taken in May 2024. Demolition of the buildings has been agreed upon and is currently planned to take place in 2028.
A building by Sir David Chipperfield has been listed, Grade II. This is Agar Grove Studios, London NW1. The first complete building designed by Chipperfield, it was built 1987-89 and was the home of the practice until 2011. The site had been a scrapyard. Chipperfield (born 1953) studied at Kingston Polytechnic and the Architectural Association. Bob Carr
Shoreditch Fire Station in Old Street is facing potential redevelopment or demolition after recommendation for Grade II listing was rejected by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
The Brutalist-style station was designed in 1959-61 by the LCC Architects Department and opened in 1965.
Greenwich Town Hall — first impressions
Greenwich Town Hall in Greenwich High Road completed in 1939 is a very dramatic building. Built in a modernist style, but following the practise in the Netherlands it is clad in brick. Exposed concrete has never been that popular in England. Its design was influenced by Dutch architecture and in particular the brick-based Hilversum Town Hall of 1928-30 by W M Dudok. Many of the modernist pithead baths built in Britain before the war are in this Dutch architectural style.
Looking at Greenwich Town Hall from a moderate distance, what is most striking is the enormously tall tower, 183 feet high. The building might resemble a factory or a power station but if this is a power station then the chimney is oversized.
There is a viewing platform at the top of the tower and it might be assumed that it was built to allow Greenwich officials of some kind to survey their domain, the views are stunning, but in order to get to the viewing platform participants have to climb 280 steps which would rule out many employees because they would not be prepared to manage that many stairs on a regular basis. In short, no lift was installed, so we conclude that this tower is essentially an architectural folly.
There has been a talk of having visits to the top of the tower with a guide but this would only be viable for younger people able to ascend the number of steps involved. The climbing required is roughly comparable to that required to ascend Boston stump in Lincolnshire where 209 steps are involved. The architect responsible for Greenwich Town Hall was Clifford Culpin; see GLIAS Newsletter 297 August 2018, pages 5 & 6.
Photograph 1 taken in August 2025 shows the town hall viewed from the west. Photograph 2 taken in July 2025 shows the town hall viewed from the east. Nikolaus Pevsner said of this building that it was 'the only town hall of any London borough to represent the style of our time adequately.' Bob Carr
In Michael Bussell's tribute to the late John Ashdown (see above) he mentions the survey of 'Industrial Monuments of Greater London' which they compiled together with Paul Carter in 1969.
This was produced under the auspices of the Thames Basin Archaeological Observers' Group just as GLIAS was forming.
It is possible to search the GLIAS Database using the term 'Thames Basin' and the map generated shows an interesting picture of what has happened to these sites in the intervening years.
The brown pinpoints show sites that have been demolished, and reassuringly there are not too many of these.
Blue and red pinpoints show listed sites, and yellow means the sites are extant but not protected.
White pinpoints show sites where the status has not been determined. This is something that members could help with — if you want to get involved with the Database we need help in checking entries, supplying photographs and expanding on the original text.
To get involved, or to get logon details, please contact us at database@glias.org.uk
The Database was demonstrated at the recent Association for Industrial Archaeology conference in Bradford, where it received positive feedback.
About 30 years ago the following conversation was overheard by a museum attendant at Ironbridge, probably Blists Hill. A mother and child were visiting a reconstructed period house; the child asked 'what are those black stones in that hole in the wall'?
It was a fireplace. The mother replied, that's coal. They used to set fire to them in winter to keep warm. There was an old-fashioned look on the child's face indicating 'pull the other one mummy'.
This was 30 years ago and the world has changed again since. Bob Carr