In 1662 Greenwich and Deptford, taken together, appear in a list of towns in England as the third biggest centre of population – after York and Norwich. This tells us something about the size and importance of our riverside towns – although it a fairly dodgy statistic with much unclear and the mid-17th century.
This is a time of great transition in Greenwich, and of course Woolwich, as they changed from being a centre of royalty and government into working class industrial towns. The 17th century falls neatly into two eras – before and after the mid-century English Civil War.
In the second half of 17th century Greenwich saw the opening of a number of institutions all which would have repercussions on Greenwich lasting through to the present day and had important industrial connections. These institutions, their buildings and their work, much of which continues today, form an important local legacy from the 17th century of which we should be proud.
Throughout the century some industrial activities clearly remained constant continuing from earlier years. Work on flood prevention and the river walls continued with, for instance, emergency repairs at Deptford Bridge in the 1620s and 1650s. Fishing continued, as did the manufacture of pottery, and glass. Increased building activity led to the manufacture of bricks, increasingly fashionable for new houses. The need for raw materials led to increased quarrying – gravel from Blackheath was used as ballast in ships and the Steers family burrowed under Blackheath Hill for chalk resulting in major problems 350 years later.
Work in the Royal Dockyards been the subject of many studies and despite changes and upheavals in the political world ship building and ship repair continued and grew, for a long time overseen and recorded by diarist Samuel Pepys. At the very end of the century in 1698 the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great himself, stayed in Deptford to see the shipyard, and to learn- international recognition on a grand scale. There were also a growing number of private ship yards in the Deptford area alongside them sprang up trades like the manufacture of rope, sails, etc. Their workforces will have added to the population growth.
We become much better informed about the locality as the 17th century progresses. Parishes began to keep and preserve records about residents and premises. The management of the Greenwich Peninsula, for example, is documented in the Wallscot minute books from the 1620s onwards. In 1695 Greenwich was completely surveyed in great detail by Surveyor General, Samuel Travers.
The century began with the accession of James I and the Stuart monarchy. James’ own contribution by local industry may be his attempt to promote the luxury trade of silk manufacture. In Greenwich, Charlton and Deptford are a number of ancient mulberry trees which may or may not have been planted by James and which may or may not have provided food for the silk worms. Charlton House was built in fashionable brick early in the century and in 1616 the Queen’s House was began, but Greenwich was used less and less as a royal centre by the Stuart monarchs.
It is only after the Civil War that real change it appeared in Greenwich. Royalist supporters returned to England from exile with money and more importantly, new ideas. One great source of information is the diarist John Evelyn who lived at Sayes Court in Deptford and a major source of information about the area in this period. He had lived abroad during the period of the Civil War. There were other such returnees - in 1655 Evelyn was approached by Sir Nicholas Crispe about his ideas to build ‘a mole’ in Deptford. By this he meant a dock that could take “200 ships of sail”. It was never built but the episode illustrates some of the ideas and entrepreneurialism around at the time. Crispe had already set up an industrial area in Hammersmith and, as we will see was soon to be busy in Greenwich.
Evelyn supported other local ventures, wrote a treatise on trees, and on pollution. He was a founder of the Royal Society and planted a notable garden in Deptford. In 1671 Evelyn discovered Grinling Gibbons in “a poor solitary thatched house’ although I am not sure if virtuoso wood carving counts as industry
In Woolwich the earliest parts of the Arsenal date from this time. Tower House had been built on Woolwich riverside an area called The Warren in 1545. Nearby was Gun Wharf used by the Board of Ordnance and an area adjacent to the house which had been used by the government for proving guns. A riverside terrace and battery was built here and the land itself was purchased by the Board of Ordnance in 1671. In Greenwich a barn on the site of the disused tilt yard was used as a ‘laboratory’ and for the manufacture of fireworks. It was moved to Woolwich in 1694 as the site was taken for the Royal Hospital. This was the start of munitions manufacture on the Arsenal site. The Royal Laboratories were opened in 1696 and the recent renovated buildings still stand as the earlies extant buildings in the Arsenal. They are possibly the oldest surviving purpose built industrial buildings in London.
The legacy of the Arsenal itself is obvious – the major role it has played in both the manufacture and research on weapons and in many cases their civilian applications. Almost certainly the largest factory in Europe by the early 20th it has also left a heritage of amazing buildings, now largely converted to housing.
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich was set up in 1675. As a major institution of scientific research it was the first of several such bodies in the area. Clearly scientific research of a different nature was undertaken in the Arsenal and the Royal Military Academy. It should be noted that the Astronomer Royal would often be present at gatherings of academics from these institutions. In the 19th and 20th centuries commercial organisations like Siemens undertook considerable scientific work as did the gas industry – which included the Fuel Research Institute. It may also be that the Observatory was the reason for various scientific instrument makers in the Greenwich area – including Stanley’s of New Eltham which survived the closure of the Observarory in the 20th century.
Morden College was founded as an alms house in 1680 and would thus appear to be of minor interest in industrial terms. It was, and is, however a major land holder and on the Greenwich Peninsula has been a prime mover in the administration of industrial development there.
The Royal Hospital for Seamen was opened in 1692 built on the ruins of what had been the Royal palace. The Hospital and the successive institutions which have used the Greenwich buildings have been an important part of the town. We should also however keep in mind that the Royal Hospital very much still exists and that it continues to administer its Northumberland holdings and mining interests. These now support their public school near Ipswich. In Greenwich Park and often overlooked, is the remains of the water supply system which runs underground in conducts with some visible remaing structures.
Finally In 1690 as a government gunpowder testing establishment was opened on the site now known as Enderby. This remained on the Peninsula for the next 80 years. Its legacy is more difficult to define although there are considerable remains of its successor site in Purfleet.
One of the most important industries to date from the 17th century was the copperas works on Deptford creek. This was described in a paper given to the Royal Society in 1678 and thus has become a benchmark for information on this early chemical industry. The works was then owned by Sir Nicholas Crispe and continued, into the mid-19th century when it was owned by the Pearson family and it marks the start of an important chemical industry on Deptford Creek. Copperas is nothing to do with copper. It is the distillation of liquid in which iron pyrites, picked up on the shores of the Thames estuary, has been soaked. It can be used to manufacture sulphuric as well as a series of dyes and other substances. Sulphuric acid is the basis of many other industrial activities and has been described as “the bedrock of the industrial revolution” and in 1843 it was said that “the measure of a country’s civilization lay in the amount of sulphuric acid it consumes every year”.
Copperas was a ground-breaking and important Greenwich industry. In the 17th century scientific research and the manufacture of munitions joined an already flourishing shipbuilding sector. This was just the start of the innovation in industry over the next three centuries in the area now covered by Greenwich Borough. There was so much going on – does this explain why our area had a population which matched the biggest provincial cities in the 17th century?
GW ???
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