Edith's Streets

Riverside.  East of the Tower the south bank. Crossness Engines This posting covers sites on the south bank only Preserved 19th sewage pumphouse complex with amazing beam engines, plus a derelict golf cours e. Post to the northern section of this square. Dagenham Dock Post to the north Dagenham Riverside Post to the east Dagenham Marshes Post to the south Crossness Sewage Works Post to the west Crossness and North Thamesmead Belvedere Road Crossness Works . This covers the area of the original works. The modern works is to the east and south. The works was originally built 1856 having been commissioned by the Metropolitan Board of Works and finished in 1865. It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette, William Webster was the contractor for much of the work and it was opened by the Prince of Wales.  The original facilities of 1862-5 comprised 6 acres of brick- roofed storage tanks and an engine house for pumping out the sewage on the falling tide. These are now disused....

Riverside east of the Tower, south bank Crossness Sewage Works. Huge sewage works serving south London Post to the east Belvedere Marshes Post to the north, north bank only, Dagenham Dock Post to the south Yarnton Way Post to the north Crossness Engines Belvedere Road Crossness Sewage Works . The original sewage pumping station was built here for ether Metropolitan Board of Works in 1865. The original buildings remain and are in the square to the north. By the 1830s and '40s London's polluted river water was causing increasing problems for the public's health, and in 1856 the Metropolitan Board of Works appointed Joseph Bazalgette as Chief Engineer. An Act of Parliament in 1858 enabled the Board to construct the new sewage system and work began in 1859. Here at Crossness the major pumping station for the area south of the river was built along with the Southern Outfall sewer to feed sewage to the works., Built on a 37 acre site, the complex included 20 houses b...

Riverside, south bank east of the Tower. Belvedere Marshes Heavily industrialised riverside and marshland Post to the east Jenningtree View to the north Dagenham marshes Post to the south Belvedere Post to the west Crossness Sewage works Norman Road Belvedere power station . This was a. ‘crisp, no nonsense’ building by Farmer & Dark and the British Electricity Authority.  It was an oil-fired power station with two 420 ft chimneys. The turbine house was rectangular and considered an outstanding industrial monument. 53 acres had been bought here by the West Kent Electric Co in 1919 and the station was built by the Central Electrical Generating Board in 1954, the official opening being undertaken by the Mayor of Erith in 1962. The station was built in two halves with unitised plant where the generators each have a dedicated boiler. The first half was originally designed to burn coal but always ran on oil. Cooling water came from the Thames. The total capacity of the stat...

Riverside east of the Tower and the South Bank. Jenningtree Point Heavily industrialised riverside area Post to the east Rainham Marshes Post to the north Hornchurch Marshes Post to the south Belvedere Marshes Post to the west Belvedere Marshes Crabtree Manorway North The northern end of the road is a footpath to the river on a strip of land. A ditch appears to run along the eastern edge of the strip and there is a shaft linking to a disused former cooling water outfall tunnel in the middle of the strip Burt’s Wharf . This is now an industrial and trading estate. It was a works for Burt Boulton and Haywood, formerly located at a timber impregnation tar works at Prince Regents Wharf, West Ham where they were the largest tar distillers in the world.   There was a large internal tram and rail system here. They are now in Wales. Fishers Way Lidl . This is the chain’s distribution warehouse. Belvedere Industrial Estate . Trading and industry area River Wharf Busines...

Riverside east of the Tower and south of the river. Erith Industrial marshland with new roads including the edge of the community of Slade Green Post to the east Dartford Marshes Post to the south Slade Green Post to the west Erith Post to the north Great Coldharbour Anchor Bay This area was previously saltings. Anchor Bay Dock. This is an open dock 15m wide, cut back into the river bank and which in the 19th served as the main barge dock for Erith Iron Works and Erith Brick Works.  Used by Easton and Anderson and then by Herbert Clarke barge owners.  It was connected to pits by tramways for the export of bricks. It was and renewed in concrete after the Second World War. Erith Iron Works . This was established in 1864 in Anchor Bay. Easton and Amos had had a works in Southwark since the 1830s making steam engines, pumps and similar machinery. In 1864 William Anderson joined the company and planned a new works at Erith. They made pumping machinery of all kinds, cen...

Riverside east of the Tower, south bank. Crayfordness Point out into the river with beacons and nearby scrap yards Post to the south Dartford Marshes Post to the west Great Coldharbour Post to the north Purfleet Post to the east Purfleet Crayfordness Lighthouse.  The lighthouse is18 miles from London Bridge and was originally a stone tower established in the 1950s and replaced in 1967 by a red metal structure. It is on the land side of the flood barrier. It was moved in 1982 as part of the Greater London Council Thames Flood defence system.  It was later demolished and then built in a corrugated iron shed on the PLA radar tower.  The light is visible for three miles. There is a connecting walkway to the radio communication tower. Radar Tower . Port of London authority tower. Monitors between Gravesend and Woolwich. This grey painted 74 feet high metal tower is connected by a walkway to another similar tower, Radio Communication Tower . Connected to the radar ...

Riverside south bank, east of the Tower. Long Reach Hospital Post to the south Long Reach Post to the west Darenth meets the Thames Post to the north Purfleet Post to the east Purfleet Unilever This post covers the south bank only. The north bank in this square is Purfleet Board Mills Bleak riverside stretch where smallpox patients were treated Long Reach Long Reach Isolation Hospital . Built in 1903 for smallpox patients who came by river.  It was erected by the Metropolitan Asylums Board at the end of 1901 to provide temporary extra accommodation during a smallpox epidemic. It was on land adjoining the shore base of hospital ships Atlas, Endymion, and Castalia which were full. It was designed by A & C Harston. Up to 300 patients were to be accommodated in a long row of detached single-storey ward pavilions built of wood and iron. Patients came by river by the Metropolitan Board’s river ambulance service which terminated at the Long Reach pier. A tramway was con...

Riverside east of the Tower, south bank Long Reach Riverside area of marshland now being 'regenerated' with housing following the closure of Joyce Green Hospital. Mainly taken up with the sewage works and defunct power station. Post to the east Littlebrook Post to the north (north bank only) Purfleet Board Mills Post to the north (south bank only), Long Reach Hospital Post to the south Bob Dunn Way Birdwood Avenue New build housing on the site of a development area mainly to the west of this square, on the site of Joyce Green Hospital. Littlebrook D, Power Station Littlebrook D was an oil-fired power station built by Cleveland Bridge Company for the Central Electricity Generating Board, opening in 1981. It was seen as a robust station to have a pivotal role if the bomb dropped. Five fuel oil storage tanks stored the heavy fuel oil which was delivered by tanker to one of two jetties. This generating capacity was enough to power the needs of over 2 million people. ...

Riverside east of the Tower on the south bank Littlebrook This posting only covers sites on the south bank. The section north of the river is Purfleet jetties Old marshland area dominated by the QE Bridge and largely consisting of a business park in defunct power station buildings Post to the east Dartford crossings Post to the north Purfleet Unilever Post to the west Long Reach Post to the south Dartford Crossing and Crossways Dartford Crossing Tunnel Ventilation shaft Dartford tunnel works . The tunnel was begun in the 1930s and the works buildings remained in situ until work could recommence in the 1950s. Littlebrook The Littlebrook is a stream which flows through the marshes to the river. It is now contained in man-made drainage ditches on the marsh. The name is used in Saxon charters Littlebrook Manor Way This once ran from Overy Street in Dartford to the river Littlebrook power station A , This was the first power station on the site. It was coal fired and o...

Riverside south of the river and east of the Tower Stone Marshes Desolate area which once was home to several cement works and is now all modern office blocks plus a new port area. Post to the east Greenhithe Post to the north Dartford Crossing Post to the south Stone Post to the west Dartford Crossing and Crossways Crossways Business Park Reclamation of the land used by the cement works and their railways began in 1979. In 1985 roads were built to access the new ferry terminal. In 1988 Masthead, was completed and in 1988/9 the ASDA warehouse was finished. There are now five business areas :- Masthead, Newtons Court, Edisons Park, Admirals Park and Charles Park                Galleon Boulevard ASDA Distribution Centre . Stone Marshes Area of marshland which was used for a number of cement works in the late 19th and early 20th and since redeveloped as a business park and port area. Albion Portla...

Riverside east of the Tower south bank Greenhithe Interesting riverside industrial village, now just another 'development' area full of identikit housing Post to the east Ingress Post to the north Stoneness Post to the south Greenhithe Post to the west Stone Marshes Charles Street ASDA Supermarket Sails. Sculpture commissioned by ASDA supermarkets to mark the entrance to this shop. It is in stainless steel with fibre optic lighting by Richard Thornton Lafarge Riverside site. This a site producing cement and handling sea dredged aggregates on the site of Johnson’s Wharf.  The address given is King Edward Street which is difficult to locate. The site entrance is off Charles Street. Johnson’s Wharf.   Johnsons Cement works was to the south of this square and a complex of rail lines connected it to the wharf. Split before it gets to the river.  The tramway system and the jetty had originally been built to convey ballast to ships sailing to the Far East. Johnso...

Riverside – south bank east of the Tower. Ingress Abbey Riverside modern housing estate surrounding a mansion with a garden full of follies Post to the north West Thurrock Post to the south Knockhall Post to the west Greenhithe Post to the east Swancombe Marshes Broadness Salt Marsh Black Duck Marsh Bell wharf   19th cement export.  This is the length of wharf that is attached to the land for its full length. It appears to have been built for White’s Swanscombe works which dated from 1825 and at some time a railway was built from here to a jetty in the marsh. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link passes under here. Capability Road The Monks Well . This is in woodland to the south of the road. It is a Garden structure with a well house from the   18th. It has a flint wall with an arch leading to a tunnel and a semicircular chamber with a well shaft. The Ingress Abbey follies are home to three species of protected bats.- they are Pipistrelle, Daubenton, and B...