Stuart Rankin's Rotherhithe shipbuilding books are available online for the first time

After many years, Stuart Rankin has now managed to secure the copyright on the booklets that he wrote many years ago about shipbuilding and shipyards in Rotherhithe, at a time when the fringes of Rotherhithe were laced with shipbuilding and shipbreaking yards.  Even better, he has made them available online for download.

Stuart's work is the result of years of trawling through archives for original documentation in order to track the history of individual people, ships, buildings and properties, and as a result his research boasts a high level of accuracy.  At the same time, the booklets are very digestible, with many maps and illustrations, and together they provide a brilliant background to Rotherhithe's complex past.

Every one of my own shipping and history posts starts with Stuart Rankin's booklets, and without them I would never have got started.  It is great news that they are now available to everyone.  

Shipbuilding in Rotherhithe – Bull Head Dock to the Pageants – Parts 1 and 2, The Nelson Dockyard, Greenland Dock and Barnard’s Wharf [ebooks]. £5.55 for all four booklets (a bargain).  A payment of 5p per order is made to Help The Heroes.
Here's the link:
http://www.britishtransporttreasures.com/product/shipbuilding-in-rotherhithe-bull-head-dock-to-the-pageants-part-i-to-part-4-ebooks

Stuart Rankin's Rotherhithe History Walks available online

Newly available for download (each priced at £1.05) on the British Transport Treasures website:   

Maritime Rotherhithe History Walk – Transport, Industry and the Docks by Stuart Rankin, Southwark Council 2005.

Maritime Rotherhithe History Walk – Shipyards, Granaries and Wharves by Stuart Rankin, Southwark Council 2005

Rotherhithe Then and Now History Walk by Stuart Rankin, Southwark Council 2005


These are classic little booklets, guided tours of key aspects of Rotherhithe's heritage, with clear directions and maps, good photographs and lots of local history.  Shipyards, Granaries and Wharves was responsible for starting my interest in Rotherhithe's history, and I still use all three of the booklets as starting points when looking up a new aspect of the area's past.  A real bargain, particularly as they are almost impossible to get hold of from anywhere else.

Online e-book available: The Lure and Lore of London’s River by A.G. Linney

http://www.britishtransporttreasures.com/product/the-lure-and-lore-of-londons-river-by-a-g-linney-sampson-low-marston-co-ltd-nd-but-c-1933-ebook/

Stuart Rankin, who has written many local histories of Rotherhithe, has made the following title available on his website:
The Lure and Lore of London’s River.
By A.G. Linney. Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. c.1933. 
Download price £3.95 (5p per download is made to the Help the Heroes charity).

I have this book.  It took me ages to track down a second hand copy, and it is an absolute delight.  Linney writes in a wonderfully evocative style, bringing all he sees and all his personal encounters to life.

Here's Stuart's description on the British Transport Treasures website:

The Lure and Lore of London’s River. By A.G. Linney. Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. nd. but c.1933. Hardback book black cloth binding, 9”x 6”, pp. 242, full page B&W frontispiece, 47 B&W half tone photos mainly by the author.  Many of the pictures are rather small but  nonetheless full of interest like the Surrey Entrance Lock, pinpointing the site of the old entrance to the Grand Surrey Canal. There are 8 pages of sketch maps showing the reaches of the Thames. Linney has particularly good Chapters on Rotherhithe and Limehouse waterfronts and the tribulations of the Lockmaster at Surrey Entrance Lock in the 1860s. At the time Linney was writing the Thames was beginning to change with more modern industries springing up and spreading down river, but there were still the occasional “tall ships” bringing in cargoes from far away and the river was still thronged with the characteristic Thames sailing barges which could navigate on a length of damp flannel up a myriad of creeks and inlets. He is one of those companionable authors whom I would very much have liked to have met “Lure and Lore” like “Peep Show” has many odd facts and anecdotes which I have not seen elsewhere other than in some more recent publications which obviously got them from these.

E-book available online: The Peep Show of the Port of London by A.G. Linney c.1930

Stuart Rankin has been doing more hard work to provide digitized out-of-print books for a nominal fee online.  The latest is one of my absolute favourites.  It took me a while to track down a hard copy, and it is a wonderful and lyrical account of the Port of London in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including enthusiastic sections about Rotherhithe's Surrey Commercial Docks.  Linney was profoundly interested in both the working docks and the scenery around them, had a particular love for the Surrey Commercial Docks, which he calls simply "the Surrey," and his books are completely unique.  I wrote a review of it here, when I had just read it for the first time.

Here's what Stuart has to say on the subject:

The Peep Show of the Port of London by A.G Linney no date but c 1930. Sampson Low Marston & Co. Ltd.

£3.95

The Peep Show of the Port of London by A.G Linney no date but c 1930. Sampson Low Marston & Co. Ltd.  Hardback book grey cloth binding, 9”x 6”, pp. 244, full page B&W frontispiece, 59 B&W half tone photos mainly by the author.  Many of the pictures are rather small but are nonetheless full of interest like the timber steamer at Surrey Entrance Lock,  Deal Porters at work and Acorn Pond.    

I have never seen a photo of Linney but from his style of writing I get a very clear mental picture. He is of medium height, dressed in a comfortable old tweed jacket and cap probably wearing trousers rather than plus two breeches and well-polished brown brogues. As he guides us around the Timber Ponds in the Surrey Commercial Docks, he strides out briskly swinging his ash-plant, this last possibly a relic of service in The Great War as an infantry officer. He is smoking a much-loved old briar pipe which is trailing whiffs of one of those faintly aromatic pipe tobaccos which seem to have gone off the market nowadays – possibly   “ Parson’s Pleasure”… There, that should put readers in the right frame of mind to enjoy this guided tour of the busy Port of London and the riverside communities between the wars.

Please do not let the rather twee title put you off – I think the publishers are the culprits here.

Linney has particularly good Chapters on Rotherhithe and the Surrey Docks contrasting the bustle and activity round Greenland and Canada Docks and the athletics of the Deal Porters at Russia and Albion, with the peace and quiet of the huge acreage of Timber Ponds with their rafts of baulks and logs kept wet to avoid becoming “shaken”. For over a century the water was held within earth embankments and the area was a kind of wild life reserve. At the time Linney was writing that was beginning to change with concrete replacing earth as the 20^th century caught up with this peaceful haven, for which he seems to have had a particular affection.

However there were still a few visits by “Onkers” – battered old sailing vessels from  the Baltic probably only kept afloat by the buoyancy  of their timber deck cargo and the incessant windmill pumping water over the side, making the noise which gave them their name “onker-onker-onker”.

“Peep Show” has many odd facts and anecdotes which I have not seen elsewhere other than in some more recent publications which obviously got them from here. Highly recommended.

Here's the link to purchase your copy for £3.95 (a fraction of what I paid for a hard copy!):
http://www.britishtransporttreasures.com/product/the-peep-show-of-the-port-of-london-by-a-g-linney-no-date-but-c-1930-sampson-low-marston-co-ltd/