A Shy Church In Deptford
On my travels to see the site of the Deptford Church Street Work Site for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, I found a church hidden behind trees and high walls on the north or river side of the Greenwich Rail Line. Ypu can see it on this map.
Deptford Church Street
The church is at the top of the picture. Small it isn’t!
I did get a some pictures, but there seemed to be no obvious entrance.
I thought for a time, that it might be something like a monastery or convent, especially, as there was a Catholic School nearby.
But the church is Anglican and is St. Paul Deptford, of which Wikipedia says this.
St Paul’s, Deptford, is one of London’s finest Baroque parish churches, cited as “one of the most moving C18 churches in London” in the Buildings of England series.
So why is it so hidden away?
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore
King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore is a site on the river at Wapping just to the East of a prominent Rotherhithe Tunnel Ventilation Shaft and will be on the main Thames Tideway Tunnel. On the Thames Tideway Tunnel web site, this is said.
This site will be used to intercept the existing local combined sewer overflow, known as the North East Storm Relief Combined Sewer Overflow.
This is a Google Earth image of the area.
King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore
Note the circular shape of the tunnel ventilator, which is just back from the foreshore in the middle of the park.
This image shows a visualisation of what the finished site could look like.
King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore
I also took a few photographs, as I walked through
It is rather a quality urban park and given the location and the increase in size, when the works are complete, I suspect that any good managers could make more than a fist of this contract.
Deptford Creek Lift Bridge
You don’t see many lift bridges these days and until a few days ago, I hadn’t realised that this one was there on the Greenwich Rail Line over Deptford Creek.
This report in East London Lines gives details on the current state of the bridge. This is an extract.
The bridge has not been used in several decades and the lifting section was welded shut into ‘down’ position over 10 years ago.
Locally the bridge is a popular sight as well a visual reminder of Deptford’s industrial heritage. The rumours did not go down well with some residents.
The rumours were about demolishing the bridge.
I doubt that will happen.
According to Wikipedia this area was the site of the Battle of Deptford Bridge, which was the last battle of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497.
The DLR From Greenwich To Deptford Bridge
I’d never seen the DLR to Lewisham from the outside, so when I travelled it this morning, I took some pictures, as I walked around the viaduct.
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In my view it is a classic concrete viaduct, that has been used to slot the Docklands Light Railway between the two stations.
Thames Tideway Tunnel – Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites
The Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel is a branch tunnel that splits from the Main Thames Tideway Tunnel at Chambers Wharf and goes by way of Earl Pumping Station and Deptford Church Street to Greenwich Pumping Station, from where it will be bored. This map shows the route of the tunnel.
Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel
It would appear that the tunnel is being dug in a single go from Greenwich to the Thames, with most of the route deep under the Greenwich Rail Line.
This Google Earth image shows the rail line between Greenwich and Deptford station.
Deptford To Greenwich Station
The works on Deptford Church Street are just to the north side of the rail line in part of the green space and those at the Greenwich Pumping Station are to the south of the junction, where the DLR branches south from the rail line.
The next site at Earl Pumping Station is just off the main map at the left.
On the page for the Greenwich Pumping Sration, Thames Water say this.
In our application for development consent this site is used to drive the Greenwich connection tunnel, a long connection tunnel which connects the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) at Greenwich Pumping Station, Deptford Church Street and Earl Pumping Station to the main tunnel at Chambers Wharf.
So it looks like Thames Water are sneaking the tunnel into Chambers Wharf.
I doubt they’ll be much disruption from the actual boring of the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel, as it’ll all be dug from Greenwich from a site with water access. As the tunnel is being bored towards Chambers Wharf, it would seem likely that the large amount of tunnel spoil created will be loaded on barges at Greenwich and taken away for disposal, with little disruption to anybody. It would appear to be a smaller version of the system Crossrail used on the Limmo Peninsular in East London.
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Deptford Church Street
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Deptford Church Street
Deptford Church Street is a site that is being used to help construct the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel between Greenwich Pumping House and Chambers Wharf. Specifically, it’s purpose is defined on the Thames Tideway Tunnel web site as follows.
It will be used to intercept the Deptford Storm Relief Sewer combined sewer overflow, divert flows into the Greenwich connection tunnel and to the main tunnel.
This Google Earth image shows the area.
Deptford Church Street
The work site at Deptford Church Street are to the north side of the Greenwich Rail Line in part of the green space and this is a visualisation of the area from the Thames Tideway web site.
Deptford Church Street
The corner at the bottom left of the green space is tucked between the Greenwich Rail Line and Church Street, which runs across the front of the image.
I also took a few pictures of the area.
I think it is true to say that we’re good at landscape gardening in this country and I can envisage a garden design being produced here, that could enhance the whole area. As the image shows, there will be a few smallish structures in the garden.
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Greenwich Pumping Station
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Greenwich Pumping Station
Greenwich Pumping Station is an existing Grade II Listed works and is being used to drive the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel to Chambers Wharf. The Pumping Station lies alongside Deptford Creek, underneath the DLR and the Greenwich Rail Line. This Google Earth image shows the area.
Greenwich Pumping Station
The DLR is the rail line that bends along the Creek and the Pumping Station is to the right. These are some pictures I took of the Pumping Station.
Some were taken from the DLR and they give a good view of the site.
This is another picture that was clipped from the Thames Tideway Tunnel website, which shows how it will look when complete.
Greenwich Pumping Station
The DLR is shown in the foreground and the picture is looking south.
Thames Water say this about the Greenwich Pumping station on the Thames Tideway web site.
Work includes construction of underground structures to connect the CSO to a shaft approximately 46 metres deep with an internal diameter of approximately 17 metres. This shaft will be built within the existing Greenwich Pumping Station compound to the north of the existing pumping station building. The existing Grade II listed East Beam Engine House will be refurbished to house ventilation equipment and electrical and control panels.
Hopefully, this is one of the few sites on the Thames Tideway Tunnel, where some quality visual architecture can be employed. The area between the the Pumping Station, the railways and Deptford Creek could be turned into a leisure area bookended by the Grade II Listed Pumping Station and the Deptford Creek Lift Bridge.
This architectural drawing was clipped from the Thames Tideway Tunnel website.
GreenwichPumping Station Plan
To my untrained eye, it looks like the only new construction between the Pumping Station and the railway lines is the shaft that reaches down to the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel. Will this be flat in the concrete or an odd shape that can’t be used for anything else? But even so there is a lot of space there to create something worthwhile for residents and visitors.
I also can’t believe that the locals will be too inconvenienced during construction. The builders may have problems because of the DLR viaduct, but in London cramped sites are something to which you get used. The builders have also got good water access for difficult supplies and taking out the tunnel spoil.
I also feel, that there might be some excellent views of the construction from the DLR, as most of the heavy work will take place, like the insertion of the tunnel boring machine, in full view of Lewisham-bound trains.
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Earl Pumping Station
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Earl Pumping Station
Earl Pumping Statiuon is going to be upgraded for the Thames Tideway Tunnel. it is currently in use and is tucked away in residential streets to the south of Surrey Docks. This Google Earth image shows the area.
Earl Pumping Station
The Pumping Station is on Yeoman Street and is the rectangular building pointing to the north-east. There are labels and they may help. These are pictures I took of the outside of the pumping station.
It is a building of simple practicality rather than architectural merit. Hopefully the new building works will improve it.
Earl Pumping Station
This image was one I clipped from the Tideway Tunnel site.
This is one of those sites, which if they used some good project planning and got a keen architect to skin and landscape everything properly, they could create a building that fitted in to the area well.
The Electorate Has Changed
Rod Liddle, in a piece in The Sunday Times yesterday started like this.
The British public are not stupid, then. Everybody else, however, is. The politicians, pundits, commentators, psephoologists, me.
He then gives a series of tales of those who got it wrong.
But I think, on the whole the public have thought that the coalition had done a good job in sorting out the mess. So many people, who I would have thought sensible, said to me that they’d wanted a box on the ballot paper for the coalition. Simplistic maybe, but it shows the inherent conservatism (small c) of much of the British public.
The electorate has changed with each generation since mine, being more likely to get a good education and/or go to University. And at University they learn more than their subject. So we’ve probably got the most politically-educated population ever! They also understand about business and economics.
It is also likely that perhaps ninety percent of people in this country, has a close relative, who is well-educated.
Over the last couple of decades, there has been a massive expansion of the self-employed and ideas, and especially ideas disruptive of large monolithic business have proliferated. How many of the children of the so-called working class, are using their brains to earn money, even if as yet it’s not enough?
But many of this educated generation are ambitious and aspire to be rich.
Much of the offerings from politicians didn’t really stand up, but persuasive arguments from nationalists and little-Englanders appealed to some.
But many people looked at the candidates on offer and then voted with their brains rather than their breeding.
I wonder how many life-long Labour supporters, looked at Miliband’s London-centric left-leaning offering, decided it wasn’t for them and voted for someone else.
MacMillan, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair won elections because they gave the people hope that they would have a better life and might even end up well-off by their own efforts.
Miliband’s message to the aspirational for example, was that if you make a fortune by inventing a better mouse-trap, we’ll tax you to the hilt and steal your pension. Well, not quite like that, but he didn’t promise anything worth working hard for.
And to cast everything in stone, was the sort of thing that we might have done at University in the 1960s, to have a laugh in Rag Week.
No wonder Labour lost!
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is one of Joseph Bazalgette‘s cathedrals of sewage and as it lies at the junction of the Northern Outfall Sewer and the Lee Tunnel to the massive sewage works at Beckton, it has been chosen as a junction, where the Thames Tideway Tunnel meets the existing system.
The official site says this about the works.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is an existing Thames Water pumping station site.
In our application for development consent this site receives the tunnel from Chambers Wharf and connects the main tunnel to the Lee Tunnel, which will transfer sewage flows to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
This Google Earth image shows the area.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
The Abbey Mills Pumping Station is clearly marked and the white line running across the image beside it is the Greenway, underneath which is the Northern Outfall Sewer.
I can’t expect that the construction work at this site will cause much disruption, especially as since 2010, they have been building the Lee Tunnel and there doesn’t appear to have been too many protests.
The Anonymous Widower 