Minories Railway Station – Accumulator Tower

On the way to a decidedly average Wetherspoon’s pub meal at Goodmans Field the other week, a group of us were walking under an elevated section of the Docklands Light Railway when I noticed a rather sad a forlorn derelict building on the right hand side. What made this place even more intriguing was the fading white writing on one side of it, where you could just make out the words “Station” and “Stores”.

I must admit I had noticed this place before but it was always hidden behind the locked gates of a temporary car park. Now there were some brand new smart hoardings announcing the Royal Mint Gardens, a new development of apartments.

A quick bit of internet research reveals that this was the last remaining building of the former Minories Railway Station which having gone through various renames and rebirths was finally demolished in 1987 when the Docklands Light Railway opened Tower Gateway Station which stands in the same location. The building in question is apparently the former accumulator tower, hydraulics and bonded stores and if you want to know what might have gone on in the building I’d recommend a quick read of the Urban75 link at the bottom of the page.

The view up Mansell Street to the tower. DLR train in Tower Gateway Station to the left.

The mystery writing did at one time proclaim “London Midland & Scottish Railway City Goods Station and Bonded Stores” but as previously mentioned only a couple of these words can be made out today.

As I noted this as a potential TYSAL candidate I also spotted that the tracks for the DLR ran right by the building so once I’d done a re-visit from ground level I could use part of the lunchtime visit to take a trip on the DLR past the building.

Unfortunately from ground level there’s not much more you can see that what I’d noticed from the first time I’d walked past. Certainly the building is looking very worse for wear with plants growing out of the exposed rafters on the roof. There doesn’t look to be any floors intact from what you can just about see through the windows.

View of the tower along Tower Gateway Platform.

There’s a handy entrance to Tower Gateway Station just over the other side of Mansell Street and this leads you directly out to the platform which although has two sides has just a single track in the middle. By walking down to the end of the platform you can get a good view of the Accumulator Tower although the other sides which are not visible from the road don’t have anything special about them, including any writing.

I hopped on the train that was waiting and was only slightly disappointed to find the best seats in the train, i.e. the “driver’s” seat were already taken by two young boys but I still had a good view of the tower as we travelled past. My original plan was just to go one stop down the line to Shadwell Station and then return but I thought this might look a bit weird so instead travelled to Canary Wharf and spent a pleasant ½ hour strolling around the docks where’s there’s more than a few random statues and art installations to look at and more than a few arrogant banker dickheads to avoid as best you can.

View of West India Quay from West India Quay DLR Station.

A trip to Canary Wharf and West India Quay would be a TYSAL in its own right but I did walk past this very fine looking namesake outside the Museum of London Docklands.

 You would have thought if Robert was deserving of a statue, he'd be deserving of his full name?

The return trip was only eventful in that I hopped on and off DLR trains until finally I got one returning to Tower Gateway from Shadwell and managed to “baggsie” the driver’s seat. Needless to say I got the best view possible of the Accumulator Tower as we approached the station.
It will be interesting to see how the Royal Mint Gardens progress and I hope that the Accumulator Tower becomes an integral part of the new building and isn’t just pulled down to make way for some bland apartments.

Urban75 - Accumulator tower, hydraulics and bonded stores, Royal Mint St, E1
Minories Railway Station - Wikipedia
Royal Mint Gardens

Vauxhall Bridge

The inspirations for the Things You See At Lunch tours are sometimes things I’ve just noticed accidentally on my daily traipses around London, sometimes they are things that I’ve always wanted to see and sometimes they are things I come across on TV or writings which have then piqued my interest and require some further investigation.

Today’s entry was inspired by something I read in that very fine free newspaper, loved by all commuters, The Metro, in which they featured an interview with Sandi Tioksvig where she described some of her favourite places in London. One of the places she mentioned was Vauxhall Bridge and the fact that this very functional piece of the London transport system features 8 huge statues of women along each side. The women, interestingly sculptured by two separate artists, are supposed to represent; Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering, Pottery, Science, Fine Arts, Local Government and Education. 7 of those subjects are reoccurring themes in many works of art but I was interested to see how that exciting and dynamic subject of Local Government was going to be depicted. There’s was only going to be one way to find out………

Vauxhall Bridge - Looking downstream.

Regular readers will know that I work on the north bank of Tower Bridge and those with a passing knowledge of London geography will know that this is way downstream whilst Vauxhall Bridge is quite a way away in the other direction to the west.

The tube journey was simple but rather lengthy. The only exciting thing about the District Line train from Tower Hill to Victoria was the fact I squeezed through the closing door of a train leaving platform 2, which is the middle platform used for a regulating service that doesn’t travel any further east. Hardly the joke of the century but it always amusing to see tourists hurriedly stumbling down the stairs when they realise there’s a train waiting on the platform only to find it’s not leaving for 15 minutes and they’ve now missed the service on platform 1.

The change at Victoria was easy enough without too much of a hike underground between lines and it was then only two stops on the Victoria Line to take me south to Vauxhall station. Interesting point to note on the Victoria Line is the tiled motifs which are used to identify the stations. Vauxhall, where I left the train has an impression of the Old Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

Nice tiles!

Emerging into the bright sunshine I found myself on the west bank of the Bridge with the A202 stretching out over the bridge to the north. There were some handy steps to the side which allowed me to access the Riverside Walk and get a good view of the upstream side of the bridge and the 4 magnificent ladies standing guard on this side. Unfortunately although the statues are a sizable, a hefty 2 tonnes each, at this distance it was impossible to make out exactly who was who.

A202 leading over the bridge.

 

Miss Pottery viewed from the Riverside Walk

Passing under the bridge along the Riverside Walk I could get a view of the downstream side of things but again was too far away to get any sense of detail. That said though the bridge is quite brightly coloured and on a nice sunny day like today, stands out quite beautifully.

Vauxhall Bridge - Looking upstream.

Mounting back up to the top of the bridge I started my crossing on the downstream side and was able by a little bit of acrobatical leaning over the side to get a look at the 4 ladies on this side in more detail.

This is what Miss Science, Miss Fine Art, Miss Education and Miss Local Government look out on.

 

Miss Pottery, Miss Engineering, Miss Architecture and Miss Agriculture get this.

The first magnificent creature was Miss Science and although I could only really see her profile the globe she is carrying was quite clear from this angle. Next in line is Miss Fine Art complete with sculptured nude in her hand. Thirdly is Miss Education complete with protective arm around a child and finally, even though I didn’t realise it at the time is Miss Local Government complete with ledger in hand and an outstretched pointing arm. Perhaps she was showing someone the queue for housing benefit or something?

Upon reaching the North bank I cross the road and made by way back to the start of the bridge to view the statues from the upstream side. The first lady from this point of view was Miss Agriculture complete with wheat sheaf in hand and next to her was Miss Architecture and I could just about make out the model of St Paul’s Cathedral which he holds. Apparently this is known as the smallest Cathedral in the country although I would challenge that with the model of Coventry Cathedral being held by the effigy of Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs on his tomb.

View from the north side. MI6 building in the top left.

 

From L-R: Miss Agriculture, Miss Architecture, Miss Engineering, Miss Pottery.

To end off the visit my plan was to stroll up to Pimlico Tube Station and get the tube back from there. This route took me through the lovely little park of Bessborough Gardens complete with tinkling water fountain. At the north exit I could spot the limp flags of the European Union and Lithuania denoting the Lithuanian Embassy across the road.

Pimlico Station is just around the corner and after a quick photo of their tiled walls (yellow spots denoting the modern art of the nearby Tate Britain gallery, it was time to take the tube back to work. All done is just over an hour………..thanks Sandi, it was well worth it.

Links

Wikipedia
Secret Cities
Victoria Line Tiles

Waterloo and City

I like the London Underground. The names, the connections, the colour-coding of the various lines, the map all appeal to my sense of OCD and for all those who decry its rigid unsociability would surely admit that it’s still a wonderful place for people watching.

My daily Tube route is a fairly basic half loop around the Circle Line from Paddington to Tower Hill, but every once in a while I also mix this up with a quick dive down the Bakerloo Line to Embankment and then a cut across to Tower Hill on the District Line. Variety, as they say, is the spice!

Not even the tourists I seem to bump into every day could get lost on this line.

Even to the casual observer there’s one of the eleven lines which stands out as a little bit special. This is the Waterloo & City line, which with its grand total of two stations is never going to feature on many a tourist’s route map. Never having travelled on this, dare I say, whimsical little line, I thought this would make an ideal episode of Things You See At Lunch.

Those familiar with the Tube layout will quickly realise that from my terminus of Tower Hill I only needed to make the one stop west on the District Line to Monument and then walk through the miles of tunnels to Bank and jump on the targeted turquoise line.

The first job was simply done, delayed only by a sluggish Tube worker who stumbled down the stairs at snail’s pace meaning I missed one tube and had to wait at least all of three minutes for the next one. The route through Monument to the Bank side of this joined station is torturous to say the least. You go down two escalators (stand on the right) along two corridors (walking first on the right then the left) and back up two escalators before taking the “branch” corridor to the Waterloo & City platforms.

Going down the first escalator.

The rather space-age looking corridor to the Waterloo & City Line.

As you would expect, there are still two platforms because although there’s only two stations, it’s not a shuttle service. Taking advice from the sign which told me the next train was coming into the other platform I crossed over and had but to wait a minute or two for the arrival of said train.

Go to the other platform.

Alright I will. The train that took me from Bank to Waterloo.

The trains running on the W&C are only four carriages long, much shorter than the ones serving the other lines, but the actual design of the carriages are the same. I was never the less delighted to see that the bars in the carriage were done in matching turquoise, which is something I think is a must. I’ve still never forgiven the “black” Northern Line for using yellow bars!

Turquoise bars and empty carriages.

I’m guessing the line might be chocca with commuters during rush hours, but on a quiet Tuesday lunchtime there was only a smattering of others in my carriage and the only people watching I could do was the pink boots of the woman opposite.

The view down the tunnel to the depot.

The journey took exactly 4 minutes 14 seconds so before I knew it were had dived 7 metres under the Thames and emerged at Waterloo. At the end of the platform you could take a peek down the rest of the tunnel to the line’s terminus where the trains undergo their repairs and maintenance. One other difference between this line and all the rest is that it’s all totally “underground” and the rolling stock has to be lifted by cane in and out of the line. All the other lines have some part of their route overground, apart from the Victorian Line but even this has its depot overground.

Waterloo Station Clock.

The foot journey into Waterloo station is much quicker at this end and before you could say “nice station clock” I’d walked from my emerging point by Platform 6 and re-entered the underground system by Platform 18.

The platforms at Waterloo work differently to the ones at Bank though, basically from what I can make out, you have an arrivals platform and a departures platform, unlike Bank where you have two platforms both welcoming and dispatching trains.

The "exit" platform at Waterloo.

The train that took me from Waterloo to Bank.

Anyway, this difference acknowledged it was time for the 4 minute journey back in a completely empty carriage, which isn’t very good for people watching at all.

Deciding I didn’t want to traipse back through the corridors and escalators back to Monument I exited through the barriers and took the spectacular 140 metres worth of Travelator back to Bank proper. I then left the station to make my way back overground and promptly got caught in a cloud burst and arrived back at the office dripping!

Travelling the Travelator.

Want some more facts about the Waterloo & City?

• The line opened in 1898 but was the last line to be incorporated into London Underground from British Rail in 1994
• Bank station was originally called City, hence the name of the line.
• The length of the line is 2.37 kms
• The line has the nickname “The Drain”

Will that do? No? Then do your own reading!

The Bank at City.

Links

TFL Website

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Diamond Geezer

Randomly London

Golden Galleons

It’s not just me who’s ever said that by wandering around London with your eyes cast downwards, looking at nothing more than trying to avoid pigeons, idiot tourists and chewing gum (in that order) you miss a heck of a lot of stuff that’s going on at eye level or even higher.

I was reminded of that sentiment the other day when at the bottom of the steps to the entrance to Tower Hill tube station I noticed a shining golden galleon weather vane perched atop of rounded cupola.

The cupola is dead centre - there is a weather vane on the top, honest!

Those instant questions of; what? why? where? leapt to mind so I thought a sort of magical mystery tour to see if I could find the source of the rainbow, or in this case, the weather vane and why the building was deemed important enough to have been crowned so.

From the top of the steps with the entrance to the tube just to my left, I could see that the building was in the centre of two streets which run north from my current location; there was The Minories (or the A1211 to its friends) on the right and Trinity Square running into Cooper’s Row on the left.

Skirting round the remains of the roman walls and the children’s play park I walked up The Minories to a junction on the left called The Crescent which curves back up north along a row of very gracious looking terrace houses.

Weather Vane dead centre again, honest!

The weather vane could still be seen just poking over the roof line and just to the end of the houses I could see a small alleyway leading further into the centre of the buildings.

This short alleyway led to another hidden section of roman wall, quite a sizable chunk to be honest, and the path had been modernised around it meaning you could pass through to a very pleasant courtyard with a couple of shops.

 

Somewhat disappointingly this very short magical mystery tour had ended because on the left hand side of the courtyard was the building itself with the weather vane just visible by craning one’s neck vertically.

That Weather Vane again.

It wasn’t all disappointment though as the wall of the building sported an impressive coat of arms and a plaque declaring it to be “City Heritage Award - Presented by the City Heritage Society and the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers”. This proved rather a puzzle as some internet investigations showed that the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers’ ceremonial hall (Painters’ Hall) is now located quite a distance away in Little Trinity Lane and the coat of arms they have on display here looks nothing like the one I could see in front of me. But there again perhaps the Painter-Stainers were only sponsoring the award and had no relation to the coat of arms on display. Perhaps a puzzle for another time?

 

 

My route then took me through the underpass by the Grange Hotel and I was then almost back to where I’d started at the junction of Trinity Gardens and Cooper’s Row.

View back through the hotel car port to the courtyard.

 

But that wasn’t the end of the interesting things.

Firstly there was a “Ward Sign” which can be spotted all around “The City” marking out the various wards of the city – perhaps there’s another tour in its own right to see as many of these as possible? Secondly there was a Blue Plaque which is always nice to stumble across. This one marked the one-time resident of the Reverend P.T.B. "Tubby" Clayton who was a founder of the Toc H, a respite club for soldiers from the Great War established in Belgium. Finally there was another plaque but this one is set in stone and was a memorial to Viscount Wakefield of Hythe who (according to the plaque) “….. with his wife led tower hill restoration and gave this house for good to church and people MCMXXXVII” and was also a good friend of the afore mentioned Rev Clayton.

 

But of course whilst I’d found the weather vane I was still no further in understanding who owns it or why it was there. The ownership was quickly cleared up as the building is currently occupied by Crawfords & Co, a firm of global insurers, so I can only presume they inherited the building complete with weather vane rather than having installed it themselves.

What I did discover though was that I should perhaps practice what I preach, as whilst I was researching the weather vane, I discovered thanks to the brilliant Secret London website, Trinity House which is on the corner of Trinity Square, almost exactly opposite from Vicount Wakefield’s plaque, also sports another shining galleon style weather vane! And I’d completely missed it! This one’s originals are slightly easier to work out though as Trinity House is the headquarters of “Trinity House” who are the “General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar” no less.

The Weather Vane on Trinity House.

So mystery not quite solved, but shows that it pays to keep your eyes peeled!

Links:

Secret London

Trinity House

St George in the East

It sometimes seems that whenever the work “church” is mentioned within the hearing of the devout, they are quick to claim that the word means much more than the bricks and mortar of the building but instead encompasses the people, community and work of the establishment as a whole. I can live with that definition but have to state that my preference is for the bricks and mortar over everything else every time.

By and large the churches in this country remain interesting and curious buildings, they often have long and fascinating histories and they are a whole variety of shapes, sizes and styles. I’ve often wondered what would happen nowadays if you tried to get planning permissions to build such a building. Leaving aside the question of where you would get the vast funding necessary for building the place, can you imagine the plans going in front of your average local planning committee? “Oh yes, a 300ft steeple? No problems, are you planning a tower as well?”

A Church - With a Tower.

Nicholas Hawksmoor can be rather disingenuously be described as Britain’s second most well-known architect after Christopher Wren – (but Hawksmoor got a mention in Peep Show, which Wren never did) – and he is responsible for 6 churches dotted around London. One of them is St George in the East located on the junction of Cannon Street Road and the A1203 Highway.

It’s a church that I see very regularly as my twice weekly lunchtime jogging route takes me past it and it’s a pleasant and impressive sight that breaks up the monotonous grey of the traffic that rushes down the busy dual carriageway.  Because my running prowess limits me to a modest 5km it’s somewhere that’s easy to reach for a lunchtime visit.

South Side.

Although the church grounds face right onto the A1203 there’s still an almost eerie sense of calm as you step into the grounds even though there’s nothing but a bit of a hedge and wall separating the two. The south side is blocky and almost functional looking and if it wasn’t for the towers you might think you were outside a museum.

A rather slippery mossy path leads round to the east and the grounds proper which display a much more attractive vista with the curved arch of the nave the focal point.

The path lined with gravestones. All are illegible but still rather gruesome

There’s a row of weathered tombstones lining the path which leads down to one of the most interesting bits of the church, the Nature Study Museum. The former church mortuary was converted in 1904 into a nature study centre and museum, which displayed live exhibits as well as stuffed animals, plants and flowers. The building is now in a very dilapidated state but hopes and plans to restore the building are afoot and one can only hope they come into fruition.

The Nature Study Centre - The name can still be made out above the door.

Leading away from the church in the north-eastern corner is a path that takes you up to Cable Street and deposits you right next to St George’s Town Hall (opposite Shadwell station) where the west wall is decorated with a large colourful mural commemorating the “Battle of Cable Street”.
The potted history of this event was the opposition by local Eastenders to a march through the area by the British Union of Fascists (BUF), led my Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts in October 1936. The locals, bolstered by Jewish, Irish, socialist and communist groups held back the march under the slogan “They Shall Not Pass” and it’s widely accepted that this event and ones that happened in the aftermath were the catalyst for the decline of the BUF before the Second World War.

My walk took me along the length of Cable Street, back towards the west and on the junction with Dock Street there’s a Red Plaque which commemorates the event.

A final mention for today’s update, is for the 3 pubs which are spottable along the route. On the junction of the A1203 and Chigwell Hill is The Old Rose, which although boarded up still has a row of shiny brass lamps outside. The former Britannia Tavern at 232 Cable Street is now private housing, but the attractive green and yellow tiles are still present on the outside of the building. Finally on the junction of Cannon Street Road and Cable Street is the Crown & Dolphin. Still complete with signage there’s a fantastic story of the skull of a suspected murderer being displayed in the pub for many years. Poor John Williams, the owner of the skull, was the last person in England to be staked through the heart at his funeral in 1812 when he committed suicide whilst arrested for the involvement in the Ratcliff Highway Murders.

The former Britannia Inn

The Crown & Dolphin

Alas all three are currently closed but I hope that even if they don’t return as pubs, suitable uses will be found for these lovely old buildings.

A final postscript is that on my way to the church I passed a building proudly bearing the sign that it is the "Strangers Rest Evangelical Church" – I reckon this is what you’d end up with if you submitted your plans to build a church nowadays........or even a pub maybe.

Links

Wikipedia
St George in the East Site