Prepare for a rant!
Whilst on a cruise some years ago, I struck up a conversation with a chap from the Newcastle area. He was bemoaning the fact that the lifeblood of that city – heavy industry – had almost completely disappeared and the local economy had suffered grievously. When I commiserated with him, he said something along the lines that as a Londoner I had no idea about what he was talking about as London had never suffered that way.
I soon put him right ... but then realised that the history of the Industrial Revolution is not well known to many people, nor that until relatively recently London was a major industrial city. I don't have to look far from where I live to prove that. At one point, the Woolwich Arsenal was the largest manufacturing plant in the world, covered 1,285 acres of land (520ha) and employed close to 80,000 people. There was barely a family in the area where at least one member didn't work in the Arsenal. It finally closed as a factory in 1967, with devastating effects on the local economy from which it is still recovering.
So, what is the rant about?
Quite simply this ... the Royal Borough of Greenwich has shut the Local Heritage Centre and Archives (which are based in Woolwich) and moved their contents into storage, making them the only London borough not to have such a facility. This comes after the demise of Firepower! the Royal Artillery Museum, in 2016 and a planning battle to stop the developers of the Woolwich Arsenal site from demolishing one of the historic buildings in the Arsenal to make way for a taxi rank and open space next to the entrance to the as-yet-to-be-opened Woolwich Crossrail/Elizabeth Line railway station! I understand that there has been a suggestion that some of the old buildings in the Woolwich Dockyard area - most of which has already been redeveloped for housing - should be demolished to make way for more housing. There are also suggestions that the land fronting the famous Woolwich Barracks should be sold by the Ministry of Defence for housing development when the Army moves out of Woolwich in eight years’ time.
Would this happen in the centre of Greenwich? Would they allow houses to be built on land between the Royal Naval College (now the site of Greenwich University) and the National Maritime Museum? Would anyone suggest that Greenwich Park and/or Blackheath should be redeveloped? I very strongly doubt it ... and yet the same people who would not allow that to happen to Greenwich and Blackheath are perfectly happy to allow Woolwich's heritage to be despoiled, demolished, and forgotten.
Heritage: What is it good for? Not very much, apparently when it comes to Woolwich!
Whilst on a cruise some years ago, I struck up a conversation with a chap from the Newcastle area. He was bemoaning the fact that the lifeblood of that city – heavy industry – had almost completely disappeared and the local economy had suffered grievously. When I commiserated with him, he said something along the lines that as a Londoner I had no idea about what he was talking about as London had never suffered that way.
I soon put him right ... but then realised that the history of the Industrial Revolution is not well known to many people, nor that until relatively recently London was a major industrial city. I don't have to look far from where I live to prove that. At one point, the Woolwich Arsenal was the largest manufacturing plant in the world, covered 1,285 acres of land (520ha) and employed close to 80,000 people. There was barely a family in the area where at least one member didn't work in the Arsenal. It finally closed as a factory in 1967, with devastating effects on the local economy from which it is still recovering.
The gates of the Woolwich Arsenal.
Woolwich also had a Royal Naval Dockyard, which had built a large number of ships from the early sixteenth century until the late nineteenth century. King Henry VIII's flagship Henri Grâce à Dieu (Great Harry) was built in Woolwich in 1512, as was HMS Sovereign of the Seas in 1637. HMS Royal George, a first-rate ship of the line whose sinking in 1782 was one of the worst disasters in the history of the Royal Navy, was built in the dockyard and launched in 1756. HMS Beagle the ship that carried the expedition that naturalist Charles Darwin took part in was launched there in 1820, as was HMS Repulse, the last wooden battleship to be constructed for the Royal Navy.A map of the Woolwich Arsenal in 1867. By the 1930s the site had expanded to the east for several miles.
The Woolwich Dockyard was at the forefront of the introduction of steam power into the Royal Navy and was the first of its steam engineering factories. It began manufacturing boilers and assembling the steam engines in 1831, and remained an important manufacturing facility until 1865, when it closed (mainly due to lack of space and the growing size of the new ironclad warships) and most of its plant was moved to Chatham.The Woolwich Dockyard when it was one of the main building yards for Royal Navy ships.
Close to both the Arsenal and the Dockyard there were private foundries, one of which – the Blakely Ordnance Company of London – manufactured artillery for the Confederate Army. Just across the river in Blackwall was the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company Limited, which built the world's first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, in 1860 as well as numerous warships for the navies of the world. The last large warship built by the yard was HMS Thunderer, a battleship that took part in the Battle of Jutland. She was launched in 1911.A map of the Woolwich Dockyard in the 1860s.
So, what is the rant about?
Quite simply this ... the Royal Borough of Greenwich has shut the Local Heritage Centre and Archives (which are based in Woolwich) and moved their contents into storage, making them the only London borough not to have such a facility. This comes after the demise of Firepower! the Royal Artillery Museum, in 2016 and a planning battle to stop the developers of the Woolwich Arsenal site from demolishing one of the historic buildings in the Arsenal to make way for a taxi rank and open space next to the entrance to the as-yet-to-be-opened Woolwich Crossrail/Elizabeth Line railway station! I understand that there has been a suggestion that some of the old buildings in the Woolwich Dockyard area - most of which has already been redeveloped for housing - should be demolished to make way for more housing. There are also suggestions that the land fronting the famous Woolwich Barracks should be sold by the Ministry of Defence for housing development when the Army moves out of Woolwich in eight years’ time.
Would this happen in the centre of Greenwich? Would they allow houses to be built on land between the Royal Naval College (now the site of Greenwich University) and the National Maritime Museum? Would anyone suggest that Greenwich Park and/or Blackheath should be redeveloped? I very strongly doubt it ... and yet the same people who would not allow that to happen to Greenwich and Blackheath are perfectly happy to allow Woolwich's heritage to be despoiled, demolished, and forgotten.
Heritage: What is it good for? Not very much, apparently when it comes to Woolwich!
Bob,
ReplyDeleteYou have done us all an excellent service in providing solid information about real history of London...I understand your concern- it is a very sad reality of recent times that developers are getting hold of historical sites and places -to tear history down and replace it with multi-story unit blocks, shopping mauls, car parks- you name it! Here in my home town I look around it and don't recognize most of it- how I remember it only 60 odd years ago...most of the old town is gone and the main street is now completely ruined by so called 'modernizing'. All the Best. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteWe have a chronic shortage of housing in south east Lodon ... but the sort of homes being built are not aimed at the average purchaser or renter. Many of the homes in the Arsenal site are being bought by speculators (often Russians or Chinese) who either leave them empty or rent them out for very high rents. Crucial workers (teachers, emergency services personnel, nurses, doctors) cannot afford to rent them, let alone buy them.
I understand that the site occupied by the former Heritage Centre is going to become part of a 'thriving performance arts complex'. So history and heritage are going to lose out to something that is much more touchy-feely and all about ourselves than our society.
I could go on ... but unfortunately ranting never changes anything.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteIt is a similar pattern here in Sydney with the Chinese buying up all the real estate units coming onto the market- and we seem to have Governments that are hell bent on increasing immigration to our country to require more development- our city of Sydney's infrastructure isn't coping with the influx of people and the State Government is playing a catch up game on projects which should not have been required if we diffused the current immigrant intake....as you say "I could go on..." Yes, that is rather sad that your Heritage Centre is going to become part of the 'arts complex'...how bad is it. Our Local Art Centre is decidedly hopeless- they won't display Local Artists Work- they will only display 'Known Artists'- try and work out this 'elitist' spin. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteI suspect that almost every city in the world is experiencing these sorts of infrastructure problems in some shape or another. There was a recent demonstration in Dublin because housing costs have risen by 76% in the last five years.
I understand that the arts complex is mainly going to be made over to performing arts such as modern dance, ballet, music (mainly rapping from what I gather), and drama. Most of its users are expected to be in the 15 to 30 age group, with very little aimed at the middle aged or elderly.
How does an unknown artist become an known artist if no one exhibits their work? Sounds a bit odd to me.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteI can assure you that my story about our Local Arts Center is absolutely true- from my own experience...I inquired about my own exhibition of paintings and was told in no uncertain terms..."Oh-we only exhibit Known Artists- however, we do have a once a year- one day exhibit for the general public- you can wait to then and you cannot sell your paintings either..." (Blah-Blah- Blah) etc...that was 2014...it turned me completely off the Local Art Center and I stopped painting altogether...and what they did have on exhibit in the rooms of the Center from several 'Known Artists' was absolute rubbish- unreal hideous stuff- the stuff of night-mares and torture...I've never seen anything like it- and the few people with me were of the same opinion "This isn't Art" etc....(rant over). Yes, it is all a bit odd- totally outrageous. I do not know Bob- what we've arrived at now in 2018- we seem to be run by a minority rule or something at times seems that decisions being made for the general public are all the wrong decisions- I just don't know...I've given up on listening to the news on TV and Radio...it IS all so damn depressing- everything we knew from around 1960-70 seems swamped by radicalism- or something evil as part of some unidentifiable conspiracy to take us over and ruin everything dear that made us Australia and Australians. Regards. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteI totally believed you about what artists your local arts centre would and would not exhibit. It is exactly the sort of insular attitude I've come across from members of the 'artistic' community.
When I worked in a sixth form college, one of the photography lecturers saw some of my photographs of Venice and asked me where I had got them. When I told them that I had taken the photographs myself, they could not believe that I had used a simple digital camera and never been 'trained' in photography. As far as they were concerned, there was no such thing as someone actually having an eye for a subject; people could only achieve that by being trained.
The world is changing, and not always for the better. My particular dislikes are the growth of the cult of dubious celebrity, where people are famous just for being famous, and the trend towards what I think of as intolerance of tolerance, where I can enforce my point-of-view on you ... but can then scream foul if you have the affront to expect me to tolerate yours.
Ranting time over!
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteIt is good to chat about things- and getting things of our chest is healthy for us to be able to vent our likes or dislikes without ridicule. I think you've hit the nail right on the head when you've mentioned "intolerance of tolerance" - with society to-day. A good many fail to open their minds to different points of view and just won't tolerate anything outside their sphere of belief and ideas- however 'rat-bag' those beliefs may be. Political Correctness and all that stifles sensible conversation and ways of doing things etc. Have a great day Bob. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteHow very true.
In his book 1984, George Orwell wrote about two things which I think are very true in modern society.
Firstly, 'he that controls the present, controls the past' (i.e. can re-write history to 'fit' a particular political view) and that 'he that controls the past, controls the future' (i.e. can use the resultant 'fixed' history to justify what will happen in the future).
Secondly, by controlling the language that we use to formulate our thinking (i.e. the creation of NEWSPEAK), certain concepts can be eradicated from our thought processes ... very much in the way that the use of Politically Correct language is supposed to 'enable' us to think in a certain, 'proper', and 'correct' way.
Makes you think, doesn't it!
All the best,
Bob
Once the Fat Cattists cast their glims upon a choice piece of real estate, there is about as much chance of saving it from what they are pleased to call 'development' as getting a crocodile to disgorge its prey.
ReplyDeleteIt was ever thus. You might find accounts of the Agricultural Revolution in England and Hungary equally ... erm ... enlightening. One of the many sins of Charles I was to try to put a curb on enclosures.
Nothing - nothing whatever - will deter a determined profiteer from his profits.
Archduke Piccolo,
DeleteI suspect that you are right, and it has always been thus.
What annoys me is that some of the buildings that are or have been under threat were listed, and supposedly protected from inappropriate development. The protection was supposed to be enforced by local government ... who then failed to do their duty, and allowed the buildings to fall into disrepair. The developers - who were charged with maintaining the listed buildings - then argued that the buildings were unsafe and should be demolished. The local council had to give permission ... and benefitted from a special grant from the developers if they did ... and no one thinks that this is wrong! Luckily some of the plans have been thwarted by local people, but it requires constant vigilance on their part.
All the best,
Bob
For some reason, that reminds me... About 30-odd years ago I heard that the English Civil War was brought about by a certain nobleman (and assorted cronies) whose financial dealing - that would have been called questionable had there been any question about them - went tits-up in such a way that he (and they) ware facing ... uh ... 'capital' retribution (the hempen kind) did the information become widespread.
ReplyDeleteThe upshot was a kind of filibustering exercise to muddy up the waters such that his financial criminality and bankruptcy would never - could never - come to light.
Interesting thesis, but I never followed it up. I hesitate to say who this particular person was, as this was from a conversation with my History professor in the mid-1980s (I don't think she bought the story, actually). But it just goes to show that there are certain types who would see the planet go foom, rather than their profits.
Archduke Piccolo,
DeleteIve never heard that before ... but it's a great story, and one that is not totally unbelievable.
All the best,
Bob
I agree. Military and heavy industry seem to be 2 subjects everyone wants to forget. Yet they were key to making this country what it was. Paul
ReplyDeletePDL (Paul),
DeleteIt is almost as if people see heavy industry - and even light industry - as being something that belongs in the past. Likewise our imperial past is something best forgotten or even apologised for. (I am still waiting for the Italians to apologise for Roman invasions ... but for done reaon they don't seem to think that they have anything to apologise for!)
All the best,
Bob
('What did the British ever do for us?
Well they built the roads and the railways, imposed a legal system that was fair-ish, stopped all sorts of barbaric practices ...
Other than that, what did they do for us?'
(With apologise to the writers if THE LIFE OF BRIAN)
Good morning Bob - reading this yesterday left me feeling somewhat angry too! As you know I spent 18 years living just down the hill from you on Plumstead Common and still feel passionate about the area. I remember when the Arsenal gates were left stranded by the new road that now runs behind it, seemed sad at the time, but to read of whats happened since then is terrible. Woolwich was once THE shopping area for SE Londoners, my parents used to drive from our home in Forest Hill to Woolwich every Saturday to shop and enjoy the market. It was no coincidence that the very first Mc.Donalds that opened in the UK opened in Woolwich!
ReplyDeleteThe housing crisis in the UK is terrible, but as you say the real lack is of affordable housing for young working people, rents are crazy, and for a young couple on just above minimum wage the situation is impossible. Even down in Dymchurch before we left it was a problem with all new housing costing £350 to 400.000, I can't begin to imagine what those houses sell for in London now Bob?
My middle daughter and her partner went to Canterbury council to see if they could get any help with social housing as they were struggling to afford the private rent on a tiny private flat, £800.00 a month. No help to be had at all despite her partner working full time and she at home with two babies. The housing officer actually phoned me for more information and I'm afraid I got somewhat rattled, I said "Jessica's Grandfather was sent to France in 1915 from Canterbury barracks to fight for this country, and you are telling me there is nothing you can do to help her now". I know it was irrelevant, but I was close to tears myself at the time.
I despair of whats happening to our country, partly why we left to live in Spain where things are so different.
'Lee,
DeleteWhen I moved to the Woolwich area in 1975 it was a thriving place. It had two department stores - Cuffs and the RACS - as well as numerous clothes, furniture, and food shops. It also had a large number of small specialist shops. McDonalds chose it for its first High Street location in the UK because it was such a typical British shopping centre.
And then the Council decided to 'help' matters by pedestrianising Powis Street and Hare Street (except for buses) ... and reducing the amount of car parking.
Within a matter of months shops began to shut, and when the RACS and Cuffs closed down, the shopping centre went into terminal decline. The decision that the Royal Artillery and M&S were moving out was the icing on the cake, and nowadays Powis Street seems to be wall-to-wall pound shops, trainer shops, mobile phone shops, and cheap clothes shops. Even the arrival of the DLR has done little to turn Woolwich around.
The building of the dual carriageway that isolated the old Arsenal Gates from the rest of the Arsenal site also signalled the growth of a separate, gated community within the boundary of Woolwich, but not truly part of it. The Royal Arsenal is a town within a town, with its own shops, banks, health centre, sports centre and - when it is opened - railway station. Access is through a single pedestrian entrance and a single road entrance. Housing inside is supposed to be a mixture of luxury and affordable ... but with studio flats (what I would call a bedsit) being 'affordable' for £250,000 (!), it is more like a wealthy persons ghetto. There are even suggestions that a bridge or tunnel be built from the Arsenal site to the two railway stations outside to site 'for the convenience of those living in the Royal Arsenal'. In other words, so that the people living there don't have to mix too much with the people living in the other Woolwich.
The cost of renting social housing - if you can be allocated it - is rising, and the cost of renting privately is ridiculous. Buying even a modest house is prohibitively expensive, and my wife and I could not afford to buy our house even if we were both still working! We paid £60,000 for it in 1985 ... and it is probably worth twelve to fifteen times that much now.
We are thinking about moving, and know that we could sell our house and buy a bigger one on the Kent or Essex coast and put money in the bank. I somehow doubt that people even twenty years younger than we are (those in their mid to late forties) will be able to do that, and youngsters who are just starting out may never, ever be able to buy the home they live in.
I must admit that there are times when Spain or Italy look very attractive propositions as places to live, but I think that we are just a bit too old to make such a drastic move.
All the best,
Bob
I presume you've seen the building in Chatham Dockyard that was re-assembled having been moved from Woolwich? An early sort of wrought iron pre-fab.
ReplyDeleteNigel Drury,
DeleteI think that several buildings from Woolwich Dockyard - along with all of the industrial machinery - was moved to Chatham when Woolwich closed.
It is testimony to the abilities of Victorian engineers that the iron structures they built are not only still standing, but are still in use. I always like to spend time looking at the framework of the Retail Outlet Centre next to Chatham Dockyard. Even today it is very impressive.
All the best,
Bob