please empty your brain below
North Woolwich always felt like the ends of the earth to me - I think being surrounded by industry, an airport and the river just makes it seem a bit hemmed in.

Just before the Tate & Lyle factory, you'll have passed an empty block which was once BT's London North Woolwich Earth Station (later the London Teleport - got to love the futuristic names), which was built here in 1984 because it was a site near the City with views of the southern sky that nobody could easily block. It closed in 2004, supposedly so the land could be used for flats - but looking on Street View it seems demand hasn't quite reached here yet.

martin | 12.08.18 - 7:50 a.m. | #

(in case it's not clear from the names, it was a collection of rather large satellite dishes)

martin | 12.08.18 - 7:51 a.m. | #

How are you feeling now,DG? Any bruising appeared? Having collected a severe dent in my dignity a few times,I now try to take care but there are always some trips lying in wait for the unwary. As you said,it could have been worse.
I am of an age now where I would enjoy the peace of being in a deserted place, but I don't for the same reasons you mentioned.

Jo W | 12.08.18 - 7:55 a.m. | #

What a great series. Thank you. Glad to hear you came out of the slipping incident relatively unscathed.

As well as Galleons [sic] Point Management Limited there is also a Galleons Point Freehold Limited (which changed its name from Gallions Lock Freehold Limited in 2003), and several related Gallions Point companies with the correct spelling, including a residents association. Yet these two companies have soldiered on for more than a decade with the incorrect spelling.

I wonder if the "kagouled couple" are readers...

Andrew | 12.08.18 - 9:46 a.m. | #

A Thames riverside park with gates from somewhere else. I was sure it wasn't the only one & then remembered a site close to Lots Road power station.

In fact the gates at Cremorne Gardens have been moved twice.

ap | 12.08.18 - 9:58 a.m. | #

I share Martin’s view of North Woolwich as the end of the earth. I first arrived at the now closed train station in about 1974 on a suitably grey October day to visit Savage Gardens which featured in an incoherent thriller film “Yellow Dog” produced by Terence Donovan the fashion photographer and Japan lover. My sense of the weirdness of this then particularly desolate area was heightened by the appearance of a red London Transport bus to Cyprus. This was pre - DLR and I’d never heard of the London version

Keith | 12.08.18 - 10:44 a.m. | #

North Woolwich used to be on the route of a day out for me with my dad.
Bus from Barking to East Ham Town Hall and then a 101 to the ferry past the docks which were still full of ships back then.
A quick trip across the river and then another bus to Greenwich for the Cutty Sark and the Maritime Museum.
I can just about remember the steam paddle ferry boats but then I'm so old I can remember when there were coal mines in Yorkshire!

SAM
Ryde
IoW

SAM | 12.08.18 - 11:53 a.m. | #

why does a nail bar need an alcohol licence?

Caz | 12.08.18 - 11:58 a.m. | #

Sadly North Woolwich has been condemned by crossrail. Huge concrete walls and absolutely no benefit because it doesn't stop there. It might have been more economical to bore the tunnel under the Thames through to Custom House, avoiding the huge complication of rebuilding Connaught tunnel and eliminating bends and gradients. Then Factory Road could have become one side of a boulevard which would have been attractive to those flats.

kev | 12.08.18 - 12:58 p.m. | #

@ Caz
Varnish remover?

Bob L | 12.08.18 - 4:55 p.m. | #

Funnily enough I moved from Toronto, where the Tate and Lyle site blocked public access to the waterfront, to London, where a Tate and Lyle site is blocking access to the waterfront.

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Greg Wesson | Homepage | 12.08.18 - 5:29 p.m. | #

In response to "kev", I don't think Crossrail could be built "under the Thames" at this point because they are already building a major-size sewer under the Thames ( so says a recent BBC tv programme )

prptram | 12.08.18 - 5:49 p.m. | #

From 1889 to 1965 North Woolwich was an exclave of the County of London, not Kent.

timbo again | Homepage | 12.08.18 - 7:51 p.m. | #

A very interesting part of London which hangs out its history on the washing line in a different way to much of the rest of London, due to the unused plots of land remaining empty for longer between phases of development.

The Layers of London site https://beta.layersoflondon.org/ shows some great then-and-now comparisons with various times past, including wartime aerial photography of the Thamesmead area.

NickW | Homepage | 12.08.18 - 7:58 p.m. | #

You must have passed close to where my boat (along with many others) was built in 1937.

Sarah | Homepage | 12.08.18 - 8:58 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy