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

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