Continuing along the river past riverside gardens we get to Enderby Wharf. This famous site is going to take rather more than one article to describe – its known (and important) history goes back to the 17th century. This is the site where revolutions were made.
In 1694 two government officials, Thomas Littleton and a colleague thought that it would be a good idea to use the Greenwich peninsula for a gunpowder store. They were concerned about the affects of keeping a vast amount of gunpowder in the Tower of London and they thought that it might be safer in Greenwich- although Greenwich residents, it turned out, as thought it would be safer somewhere else – anywhere else, really.
The explosive powder was made in privately owned mills mostly on tributaries to the Thames. The idea was that they sent it off to by water transport, to be tested and distributed to the army and navy - so what was needed was a riverside site near London. Greenwich was ideal with a large damp marsh conveniently near a complex of government buildings.
The land they chose lay alongside Bendish sluice - one of the many drainage ditches, which intersect the marsh. Bendish Sluice was around until very very recently and throughout the period of the Enderby family and the cable works here it emerged from under the existing steps next to the present jetty. It disappeared only when the new housing was built and a new storm drain installed. Before these new buildings locals might remember some penstock apparatus on the riverside path beside the entrance to the cable works on the line of where the rope works had been.
The main building was a 'proof house' where the gunpowder was tested for quality. This was a large square building around a central quadrangle. There were to be ten doors and fifty windows all with shutters. The gunpowder was to be protected from damp by an internal false wall. The roof was three courses of tiles 'laid in loome” – normally in buildings handling explosives a roof would be lightly constructed. The central building had two wings at each side – one with an end chimney and a strange looking spire on the roof.
Only water transport was used as far as possible for safety reasons. This meant that the wharfage arrangements at the riverside were most important. There was a ‘wharf ‘called ‘the bridge and there were two pairs of gates to the waterside. This was an extensive double jetty leading from the depot. It had a widened end and a series of structures in the river down it - '30 fenders of ironworks’. A waterman had to be evicted from the site before work could start. They used ships acquired through press advertisements and they were inspected by someone from the Office of Ordnance. These vessels were supposed to travel downriver in convoy – but often the garrisons down river at Woolwich and Gravesend were just asked to watch out for the powder-laden boats as they passed. This was presumably to make sure they hadn’t blown up on the way down river.
All of this means that thousands of barrels of explosives were passing through Greenwich every year and by in the 1750s all powder for both Army and Navy passed through Greenwich. This must have meant that many clerks were engaged in administration at Greenwich in addition to the skilled workers who tested the powder. These were 'settled labourers’ with a permanent job in government service. They wore special clothing - ‘calfskin leather aprons’ and 'worn pumps' – on site. In charge were two ‘proof masters’ and there was a storekeeper who lived on site. In 1754 the storekeeper was a Robert Furnis, replaced by 1770 by Charles Newton.
Local residents
did not appreciate the presence of this large store of explosives on their
doorsteps, Representations were made to Parliament as early as 1718 and in 1750
petition was presented. This said mentioned
‘the apparent Danger the said Magazine is exposed to, of
being blown up by Treachery, lightning and other Accidents, arising from its
present defenceless Situation and ruinous condition, and the extensive and
scare repairable Damage ……. cannot but cause terrible apprehensions to all who
seriously consider it.
They pointed out that ‘the Inhabitants of the Town of
Greenwich .. must suffer inconceivably … from the Destruction of the Royal
Palace, and that superb building the Royal Hospital for Seamen ….as dreaded consequence
of such an Explosion’ and also ‘his Majesty's Dockyards and Storehouses both
at Deptford and Woolwich, and even the Cities of London and Westminster’.
Also ‘the shock, .. would obstruct the Navigation of the
River; and many ships ,, probably be destroyed”.
The Government set up a commission to investigate. This suggested the magazine be moved to Purfleet and a Bill to enable this work went through Parliament ‘. The text of the Act made out that it was ‘utterly incapable of being effectually repaired'.
The last powder was received at Greenwich in 1768 and the depot closed soon after. By then it had been decided to ignore Parliament’s instructions and it was thought uneconomic to pull it down. The workers were all sent to the new depot at Purfleet except Robert Dyer, who was too ill to attend the Ordnance Board meeting at which made this decision was made. He was superannuated, and was the last man to work on site.
The magazine was demolished in 1771 under the
supervision of Mr. Newton the storekeeper. The materials –brick and old timber
- were all shipped in lighters down river to Woolwich. Newton reported that
‘that the Magazine and Proof House are entirely down and that there remains
only the Office, part of the Guard Room, and the Stage and Bridge Standing.
One small reminder of the depot remained in Greenwich for the next fifty years. In 1846 a pub in East Street (today’s Eastney Street) was burnt to the ground. It was a dreadful fire – one bedridden old lady was only rescued through the ‘bold daring of a young sailor’. The pub’s name was the ‘Royal Magazine’. All you can say really, is that it’s a good job it was the pub that caught fire rather than the depot itself!
No comments:
Post a Comment