Update: Between Bridgers by Mary Wilson

Some blog readers will remember me asking for information about F. Mary Wilson's small book Between Bridgers, which has been out of print for a very long time and is almost impossible to locate by anyone wanting their own copy.  I am delighted to announce that Between Bridgers has now been made available on the British Transport Treasures website for download as a PDF e-book.  The site is run by Stuart Rankin, one of Rotherhithe's most prominent local historians, who has published numerous booklets about Rotherhithe, its docks and its ship building past.  There is a small fee of £1.05 for downloading the book, which helps to cover the hosting costs and day to day running of the website, and for each sale made 5p goes to the Help for Heroes charity.  It's a great opportunity if you would like to know more about the Downtown area of Rotherhithe in the 1960s, when the Surrey Commercial Docks were still open, and when life was unrecognizable to those of us who have come into the area since the closure of the docks.

For readers who didn't see my posts on the subject, Mary Wilson wrote a much-loved book about Rotherhithe called Between Bridgers, which focused in particular on the Downtown area and was illustrated throughout by Mary Want.  Mary Wilson was a resident of Rotherhithe's Downtown area, the Head Teacher of Redriff Primary School and had expert knowledge of the area.  More than that, she had a real feel for the place, its present and its past. The "bridgers" of the book's title are the swing and lift bridges that crossed a number of cuts (links between different docks) in the Surrey Commercial Docks.  Although the book is not exclusively about Downtown, it does take a distinctly Downtown-centric view of things, and that's really refreshing because most books about Rotherhithe focus on the area around St Mary's Church, which is nowadays referred to as Rotherhithe village.

For more books about Rotherhithe available from British Transport Treasures, see the side bar to the right.

Peter Hills School

At number 70 St Marychurch Street, the former Peter Hills School in Rotherhithe village is one of the few 18th Century buildings left standing in Rotherhithe, and is therefore of particular importance to the area's heritage.  Now converted for use as offices, it was established in 1742 as a charity school, having moved here from nearby.  The school itself was established in 1614.

The school was founded by its benefactors Peter Hills and Robert Bell.  Peter Hills, a seafarer, Master Mariner and Brother of Trinity House.  When he died in 1614, he left a sum of money to enable the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a school.  Robert Bell is a more mysterious figure, although he was a friend of the St Mary's Rector, Thomas Gataker, who was undoubtedly a supporter of the project.  

The school was established initially to supply education for 8 sons of impoverished seamen.  Reverend Beck, writing in 1907, describes it as follows: "The schoolmaster had a house of residence and a small yearly endowment that he might in it teach eight boys, sons of Mariners of Redriff.  The sum left by Peter Hills was small, Six pounds per annum, secured as a Rent-charge upon Messuages belonging to him.  One moiety of this sum was to be paid to the Schoolmaster, the other moiety to the Churchwardens for the Poor."  The arrangement continued for a remarkable 280 years until 1900 when the parish and the school were incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, who refused to continue with the arrangement.  The school was located in a building at the east end of the church.  In its first incarnation it was known as the Free School.

In the early 1700s the initial investment in the school was no longer sufficient and additional funds were raised which allowed the school to be hugely expanded, providing education for 65 boys and 50 girls.  An amicable fund set up in 1739 supplied funding to provide for an additional 12 boys.  In 1742 it became known as the Charity School. 

A board survives in St Mary's Rotherhithe that records those who donated money to the school to keep it running when finances ran low, and this way of funding the church was maintained until the early 20th Century.

Following the demolition of the building in 1795 a house was purchased by the vestry from one Richard Vidlar to replace it. This is the building shown on this page, and dates to the early 1700s.  The newly housed school opened in 1797.  The two lovely figures of the schoolchildren that decorate the first floor are made of Portland Stone.  Thankfully, the building is Grade II listed, and been since 1949.  It is described as follows by English Heritage as follows:

The statues were added to the building when the school
was established here in 1797. 
Photograph by Chris Lordan

House, later a school, now an office. c1700. Red brick with stone dressings, parapet with stone coping. 3 storeys and 3 bays. Front with stone quoins and plinth has 6-panel door with decorative fanlight to right, set into timber doorcase with panelled reveals, sunk panelled pilaster jambs supporting entablature with cornice, projecting door-hood long since removed. 1st-floor centre window has stone plaque beneath flanked by scroll corbels supporting figures of boy and girl in period costume of c1700. Ground-floor windows have brick aprons, others brick panels below. Flat, gauged-brick arches to ground- and 1st-floor windows; cambered, gauged-brick arches with keystones to 2nd-floor windows. All are sash windows with glazing bars in flush frames. Blank, brown brick return to right. Rear elevation rebuilt. INTERIOR: retains original panelling and staircase with barleysugar balusters and carved brackets. The plaque indicates that the free school founded in 1613 and instituted in 1742 moved here in 1797.

In 1836 the girls moved out of the building and were educated instead at the new St Mary's School in Lower Road.  An extension of the Peter Hills building in the property's garden enabled up to 150 boys to be educated there by the late 1800s.  By 1901, the Reverend Beck was able to write that "this admirable institution survives to the present day, being incorporated with later foundations of a like character, and it is now a flourishing school of 200 boys doing a most valuable work for the rising generation of our parish."

As other schools became established in the 19th century, many affiliated with local churches, the Peter Hills school became amalgamated into the larger network of education in Rotherhithe.

Apparently the building was used by the fire service in the Second World War.  It became part of St Mary's Rectory in the 1970s and was later converted for use as offices.  The Peter Hills name lives on in local education in the form of the modern Peter Hills with St Mary's and St Paul's C of E Primary School, which can be found at 2 Beatson Walk.  

Peter Hills died on 26th February 1614, a century before the new St Mary's was built in 1714-15.  Fortunately, some of the memorials were taken from the old church and installed in the new one, and the Reverend Beck, writing in 1907, tells how the three portions of a monumental brass dedicated to Peter Hills and embedded into the floor of the old church were taken into the new church and, because they were so badly eroded, were mounted on wood and hung on the wall.  The brass includes a portrait of Peter Hills and both wives and the inscription reads:

Here lies buried the body of Peter Hill, Mariner, one of the eldest Brothers and Assistants of the Company of the Trinity, and his two wives; who while hee lived in this place, gave liberally to the poore, and spent bountifully in his house;  and after many great troubles, being of the age of 80 yeeres and upward departed this life without issue, upon the 26 February, 1614.  

This was made at the charge of Robert Bell.

Though Hills be dead,
Hills' Will and Act survives
His Free-Schoole, and
his Pension for the Poore;
Thought on by him,
Performed by his Heire,
For eight poore Sea-mens
Children, and no more

Photographs of the Peter Hills brass and the subscription board mentioned above can be see on the St Mary's Rotherhithe website at http://www.stmaryrotherhithe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4.

The Church of St Barnabas 1870-2 and the Gomm School of 1874

The church of St Barnabas and the rectory, from
E.J. Beck's Memorial to Serve for a History of the
Parish of St. Mary, Rotherhithe, 1907

In 1870-2 the church of St Barnabas was constructed on Plough Road, today's Plough Way, designed by William Butterfield. 

The building of churches in Rotherhithe mirrors the expansion of settlement along the edges of the Thames, with residential areas squashed into the ribbon between the river and  the ever-expanding mosaic of docks that eventually covered the interior of Rotherithe.  St Mary's, at the heart of Rotherhithe village, has been the parish church since at least the 15th Century.  It remained in splendid isolation until the 19th Century,  when a programme of local church building resulted in Holy Trinity (1837-8), Christ Church (1838-9), All Saints (1839), and St Paul's Chapel (1850).  St Barnabas came relatively late in this sequence, and was established to meet the needs of eastern Rotherhithe, which Reverend Beck, writing in 1907, described as "a new town of respectable streets" that had sprung up without any nearby church.  

Sir William Maynard Gomm, 1873-4
National Portrait Gallery

The church was the first new one in the area to be overseen by Reverend Beck, who took over the parish of St Mary's on the death of Reverend Blick, who had been partially responsible for many of the above-mentioned new churches.  Reverend Blick had forseen the problem of the growing population in that area and had secured land for the church, which was donated by a Mrs Ram from her own estate.  A fund was opened, with Reverend Beck and local timber broker Charles Churchill acting as joint treasurers.  Charles Churchill contributed to the fund as a subscriber, as did the lord of the manor of Rotherhithe, Sir William Maynard Gomm (1785-1875) who gave £1500.00 ("a most munificent contributor" according to Beck), as did other local people.  Sir William also donated the communion plate and Lady Gomm gave the marble font.

Attracting William Butterfield as its designer was quite a coup.  Butterfield is particularly well known for designing Oxford University's Keble College and Rugby School, both built in different colours of brick.  He agreed to work within the small budgetary constraints of the fund, and the foundation stone was laid on St Barnabas Day, 11th June 1870.  The church cost  total of £4000.00.  Beck gives a lovely description of the accompanying ceremony, which should not be tampered with:

The procession started from the mother church [St Mary's] after a short service.  The clergy and choir walked down the Lower Road preceded by a guard of honour of the Rotherhithe Volunteers with their band playing, and their honorary colonel, Sir Wm. Gomm, brought up the rear.  The patrons of the benefice were represented by several Fellows of Clare and by the Clare boat flag borne aloft by the captain of the college boat club.  The stone was well and truly laid by Sir Wm. Gomm. [Beck 1907, p.67]

From the Illustrated London News

The church was not completed until 1872, when it was consecrated by Bishop Wilberforce.  Like all the other local churches of the 1800s the church of St Barnabas was Gothic revival. It was made of yellow stock brick with red brick banding and a tiled roof, a faint but attractive echo of his earlier work at Keble.  It consisted of a chancel with a vestry, a nave, aisles and a porch.  The interior was red and white brick and stone. It was eventually provided with a stained glass window and a Brindley and Foster organ.  There was no churchyard associated with it, because according to the report by the Illustrated London News it was very closely surrounded by houses and yards. From the above photograph, published in Beck, it seems like quite a substantial creation.

The Illustrated London News of 6th January 1872 celebrated the opening of St Barnabas in typically matter-of-fact tones (with thanks to Nick on the Bermondseyboy.net site for posting it):

This new church situated in Plough-road has been built to supply the spiritual needs of a very poor district which has sprung up within the last ten or fifteen year in that portion of the parish of St Mary, Rotherhithe, boarding on Deptford.  The district is inhabited chiefly by the workmen employed in the timer docks, wharves, saw-mills and factories of the neighbourhood.

The former location of the church of
St Barnabas (courtesy Google Maps)

St Barnabas was destroyed in the 1960s and the roads have been so distorted by the redevelopment of the area that it was difficult to pinpoint its exact location at first.  The site is now occupied by Jura House  SE16 2NP.   It could not have been on the site of William Sutton Housing Association offices, which is the location stated in the Diocese of Southwark's records, because that building was erected in 1915, long before the church had been demolished.

A temporary vicar had to be found for the opening of the church, the previous selection having been re-appointed to a parish Yorkshire. The work of the Reverend Herbert Mather "was of a remarkably powerful character," according to Beck.  The first full-term vicar of St Barnabas was the Reverend Robert Russell.  Beck clearly admired Russell with considerable affection, as this rather touching account demonstrates:

The beautiful east window was eventually filled with painted glass, to Mr Russell's great joy.  He would sit in the church and contemplate the noble forms of the Saviour surrounded by His saints, and his face would beam with reverent emotion"

The parish of St Barnabas was constituted in 1873.  Reverend Russell oversaw the construction of the Gomm Schools of 1874.  The foundation stone for the schools was laid on 28th September 1872. The land on which the school was to be built was originally provided by Sir William Gomm, but this was subjected to a compulsory purchase order by the East London Railway.  Instead, the land used was granted by the Surrey Commercial Dock Company at a very low rate.  It cost £2600.00, £2000.00 of which was raised by subscription, including a £1000.00 donation by Sir William Gomm. When completed it too was in a Gothic revival style, designed by Mr G. Legg, and had capacity for 400 children.  I have been unable to find any photographs of the school buildings.

Later, the plan to provide a vicarage was fulfilled, and this was occupied by Reverend Russell with his mother.  The vicarage is shown at the right of the photograph on the top of this post.  Reverend Russell stayed with the church to the end of his life in 1901, and was closely involved during his life with the running of the Gomm Schools, where he taught religious studies, French and Latin. 

St Barnabas

According to the Diocese of Southwark, the parish of St Barnabas merged with the parish of St Katharine in 1956 at which point the church was declared redundant and was converted to a boys' club.  Although a demolition order was raised in 1966 it may not have been demolished until a few years later.   

For anyone who, like me, was unfamiliar with Saint Barnabas, he was born on Cyprus to Jewish parents and was named Joseph.  He was a landowner and gave his possessions to the church in Jerusalem. Following his conversion he was renamed Barnabas and was appointed as the leader of the church of Antioch, seeking the assistance of St Paul to help him carry out the task.  He is highly regarded as one of the earliest Apostles.

The National Archive website provides a detailed list of the records of St. Barnabas.  They were deposited by the vicar in The Greater London Record Office, County Hall SE1 on 23rd February 1967 Further records were deposited in The Greater London Record Office, County Hall, London SE1, by the vicar of St. Katherine with St. Barnabas, Rotherhithe on 6th May 1969.

Recent news items from the newspapers

Oil slick hits dock after Rotherhithe boat sinks

Southwark News writer Jon Surtees reported in this week's Southwark News on the soil slick in Rotherhithe's South Dock, which links both to Greenland Dock and the Thames. It was caused by the sinking of a boat which was moored at the eastern end of the dock last Friday. The oil had already damaged some of the local bird life soon after the slick had formed, and was expected to have a negative impact on fish stocks. The Anglers' Co-Operative Association is looking at the possibility of bringing legal action against Southwark Council. Southwark Council, however, say that they have done everything possible to control the situation in close consulation with the Environment Agency.


Jenny Jones letter re proposed Downtown Development

A letter to the South London Press from Jenny Jones, from the Green Party Group, London Assembly, has raised some of the concerns about the Barratt Homes Downtown development proposals. She writes:

With Southwark Executive's decision to grant Barratt Homes a "new contract" for the sale ot the Downtown site in the north of Southwark, we have moved a step close to losing public land, plus its valuable 300 mature trees. Whilst most people accept that some development is necessary, it seems unwise to do this now, in a time of falling prices and unresolved planning applications with Barratt Homes.

Letters suggest that Southwark News Rotherhithe interview left out key issues

Pauline E. Adenwalla, Chair of the Canada Water Consultative Forum has highlighted various gaps in the interview with Tim Thompson in the June 26th edition of Southwark News. She says that the regeneration interview omitted to mention "a number of very important key issues, namely non river transport, employment, sustainability, poor air quality and commitment to deliver the swimming pool as per the Master Plan. All of which are major inter-related concerns of the current population - before regeneration has really started." Her points about the transport infrastrtucture (or lack of it) are most pertinent, and she adds that the Downtown proposals for over 200 dwellings include plans for minimal family units and limited employment opportunities which would raise overall levels of communter traffic in the area.

Councillors Paul Noblet and Lisa Rajan of the Surrey Docks ward also responed jointly to the interview. Whilst making it clear that they are not against all development discussions they say that they "are opposed to any plans to move Surrey Docks Farm". They go on "We are against plans to redevelop the cinema site and replace it with flats. And if the Quebec Way does not turn out to be the optimum site for the new Rotherhithe Academy, we will oppose any residential scheme which threatens the unique, low rise character of much of the area."

The staff at the Surrey Docks Farm were predictably and understandably angry about the proposals, with Kath Wittham saying that "No one in their right mind would want to get rid of it [the farm] to build another wharf."

See the newspaper for the full letters.


Locations of ten new police bases revealed

David Yuill from Southwark News has reported this week on the new locations proposed for the Safer Neighbourhood bases, to be introduced as part of police modernisation plans. Plans include the Rotherithe police station which will be replaced with a new base "with front counter provisions".


Bermondsey hit by wave of fake £20.00 notes

Southwark News have reported this week that fake twenty pound notes have been cirucalating in Bermondsey.

Leisure Park Developments

I posted about the proposed development of the Leisure Park by Frogmore last week. Southwark News added some details in their 26th June edition - the Odeon cinema, Hollywood Bowl and Gala Bingo, plus the restaurants, would be relocated under the new plans, into a multi-storey leisure complex. This will be located behind the newly enlarged Tesco store and the rest of the land will be taken up with over 400 houses and flats. The full planning application is expected to be unveiled in Autumn.

I still have the Frogmore flyer sitting on my desk - there is no mention of the 400 houses and flats on that page and it will be interesting to see how the space is going to be used when their initial proposals are unveiled on the 11th and 12th July at Alfred Salter Primary School.



Rotherhithe Festival - Saturday 9th August

The main festival is planned to take place in King George's Fields off Lower Road. It will include a live concert, face painting, stilt walkers, a bouncy fun run, Punch and Judy, a balloon race, fancy dress and a fishing competition. There will be food and information stalls which will include police and wardens, Southwark libraries, BL Canada Quays, Barratt Homes, Conrad Phoenix, St Crhisopher's Hospice, Army Cadets and Time and Talents. Opening days on various sites around Rotherhithe will include St Mary's Church, Sands Films, Time and Talents, Brunel Engine House, Lavender Pumphouse, Docklands Settlement, Surrey Docks Farm, Swedish and Finnish churches and Stave Hill Ecological Park.
Nominations wanted for the Our Heroes 2008 awards

Categories for 2008 are

• Child of courage
• Community campaigner
• Young ambassador
• Sport achiever
• Carer of the year
• Good samaritan
• Community project
• Fundraiser of the year
• South London Press Award
• Star of the South, London

Nominations can be submitted online at the South London Our Heroes Awards 2008 web page (or by a form in the newspaper itself). The closing date for nominations is September 19th 2008.

Redriff Primary School Centenary Celebrations

As part of their Centenery celebrations Redriff Primary school are holding two events to which they are inviting past pupils, parents and members of staff. The events are on Wendsday 9th July 2008 and Friday 11th July 2008. They are asking for memorabilia that you might have from any past connection with the school on a strictly loan basis. Contact the School Office on 020 7237 4272.

Monday afternoon in woodland sun

I went over to the Woodland for a potter with the camera at around 3.30pm and took some photographs of the surrounding scenery, partly for the new version of the website and partly for my own pleasure. It was all very beautiful in the glorious sunshine, with birds and butterflies picking their ways between the bright trees and the dense water vegetation, all greens and golds.

There were a lot less people than there were over the weekend, but families were dotted around, women with babies in pushchairs were everywhere, cyclists circled the wide paths, dog walkers walked and individuals with books lay in the grass enjoying themselves.

After a visit to Stave Hill, where the views are always magnificent, I wandered back down and took a route through through Stave Hill ecological park to the Stave Hill Ecology Shed, now that I know where it is, and found the gate open. Rebekka from the Trust for Urban Ecology (TRUE) was there, working hard, so I asked if I could take some exterior shots, partly to show the building and partly to show off some of the work done by the children who volunteered to adorn the building with their lovely creations. She smiled her assent and went straight back to work, leaving me to wander around with my camera. I have added a couple of the photographs below, but I'll be posting more soon.

Next I ambled to Globe Pond where a family of moorhens were swimming, the chicks so noisy for their size, and a large Canada goose was standing on a pontoon preening in the sun.

Moving away I found myself at the bridge by one of the prettiest areas of water in the park and proceeded to try and capture some of its magic with my camera.

As I stood watching some moorhens swimming between the yellow irises I was hailed by a familiar voice and the next moment Steve Cornish and I were comparing cameras, looking at where the new Barratts development would reach if it were allowed to go ahead in its current form, and generally enjoying the scenery. He showed me the images stored on his camera, which are simply excellent - I am very envious! Steve is on intimate terms with the area, knowing some of the animals that live there as individuals, capturing the wildlife in all lights.

Here are a couple of photos of the Stave Hill Ecology Shed, which is the hub of some dedicated activity, both professional and amateur.