THREAD/Good morning all and here we are (in England at least) back in lockdown once again but as promised, we’re going to do some more virtual walks and other odds + ends to keep us all occupied for the next few weeks. There will be occasions when we cover old ground but I will..

try and keep this to a minimum. Naturally wartime history will come first, but perhaps unlike the first set of walks, this time around I’ll also try and provide some of the industrial and social history of the areas concerned, although this is a tad outside my comfort zone!

We’re going to explore the Isle of Dogs and London’s former docklands and are meeting at the southern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, commissioned by the old London County Council in 1902 to replace the ferry which once ran here which helped to convey the huge numbers..

of workers employed at the West India & Millwall Docks on the Isle of Dogs, as well as the myriad associated businesses strung out along the Thames. Before we enter the tunnel, we can see that the brickwork here contains many splinter scars dating from the Blitz,

which were either caused by nearby bombs or by anti-aircraft shells from the battery that once occupied Mudchute Park on the Isle of Dogs (more of which later). We’ll take the lift down, thus avoiding the descent of 100 steps to the tunnel itself. As we walk through the “pipe”

(as it is affectionately known to older locals), we near the northern end and notice that the diameter narrows considerably, so much so, that a tall person like me has to stoop to avoid a headache. This is a legacy of temporary repairs to Blitz damage and dates from 7 Sept 1940.

On “Black Saturday”, 1st day of the London Blitz, the foreshore here was hit by 4 HE bombs at about 17:30, one of which exploded some 12 yards from the river wall, directly above the line of the tunnel. The Incident Log for the day describes the tunnel as “damaged and leaking”

but by the early hours of the 8th September, the tunnel was filling with water and by the 14th it had completely filled. The LCC Flood Prevention Squad managed to pump the level of water down to begin temporary repairs, which took the form of cast iron segments bolted in place

inside the damaged area, with the gap between these and main structure filled with quick drying concrete. The temporary repairs we complete by early 1941 and so effective were they, these works are still in situ some 80 years later! We now reach the lift at the northern end of

the tunnel and once again, we’ll take the lift in order to avoid the climb of 87 steps (its slightly shallower at this end) and we will emerge in the peaceful oasis of Island Gardens, where we compare views of the former Royal Naval College with that seen in 1750 by Canaletto.

We now head east along the Thames path and instantly notice the change in emphasis from the industry which once dominated the area until the 1980s, to an area with many “des res” addresses facing on to the Thames. As we can see from the 1945 aerial photo and today’s Google image,

we can see the huge changes which have taken place here. In 1969, this process of change was perhaps just beginning and our next stop commemorates an incident which happened at that time and although not wartime-related, is still worthy of our attention. On the river wall, we can

see two memorials commemorating the events at Dudgeon’s Wharf, which once occupied this site. In 1969 whilst demolition work was in progress, a fire started in the petrol storage tanks which once stood here and in the ensuing explosion, five London Firemen (1969 ranks) lost their

lives, as did a civilian demolition worker. This remains the LFB’s worst loss of life in a single incident since WW2 and to older Island residents of the time, must have been reminiscent of the Blitz to them. From here, we now head “inland” via Sextant Avenue and turn left into..

into Saunders Ness Road, where we pause outside St Luke’s Primary School, which in 1940 was simply called Saunders Ness School. At this time, the children had been evacuated to the safety of the countryside and the school buildings were in use as AFS Station 35U as well as

a Civil Defence Services Depot - Ambulance, Rescue & ARP Wardens’ Services. On the night of 18 September 1940, the building received a direct hit from a HE bomb (Island History photos), causing the deaths of 26 people, including two young AFS Firewomen (1940 ranks used),

Joan Bartlett (on right of photo) and her friend Violent Pengelly (seen arm-in-arm with Joan), who were aged just 18 + 19 respectively. These two young girls were amongst the first female Fire Service staff to lose their lives + today they together with those who died with them,

are remembered on a plaque on a wall of the rebuilt school. We continue along Saunders Ness Road for a short distance and turn right into Glenaffric Avenue, passing the Waterman’s Arms, once owned by writer + restaurateur Daniel Farson, whose father James Negley Farson wrote one

of the finest contemporary books on the London Blitz, “Bomber’s Moon”, which contains some great insights as well as delightful pencil drawings by Tom Purvis, an example of which is attached. The book is dedicated to “The Last Nazi” which is a sentiment we can all agree with!

As we walk along Glenaffric Avenue, we pause outside the Church of Christ & St John with St Luke, on the junction with Manchester Road, which dates from 1852 and was built by William Cubitt, at his own expense on land donated by the Countess of Glengall.

The crypt here was used as an air raid shelter during the Blitz, although perhaps because of its proximity to the Thames, it had a reputation for being a somewhat damp and smelly place of refuge. There is a splendid memorial here to the Men of Poplar who fell in two world wars.

We cross Manchester Road and continue along Glenaffric Avenue to Glengarnock Avenue to visit Mudchute Park & City Farm, which during WW2, contained a heavy anti-aircraft battery of 4.5” guns, as we see in the attached photograph. The emplacements for these guns are still in situ

are in use as pens for the animals kept here on the farm, although one of them now contains a 3.7” gun to demonstrate their former use. In the early days of the Blitz, most of the men manning these guns were raw recruits who had never fired their guns in anger.

An information board tells the story of Capt WJS Fletcher, who on the night of 7/8 September 1940 saw his command post destroyed but continued to visit each gun crew, encouraging them and helping to bring fresh ammunition across open ground to the positions.

In the rare lulls, he took a squad of men to search for UXBs and also dealt with incendiary bombs. For his actions, he was awarded an immediate Military Cross, the only one in WW2 awarded for action at home in Great Britain, rather than in action overseas.

We now exit the park via Stebondale Road back into Manchester Road and emerge by the side of Island Gardens DLR Station, built alongside the arches of the former North Greenwich Station, dating from 1872 and closed as long ago as 1926. These arches were re-used when the DLR

opened in 1987 but when the line was extended beneath the Thames to Lewisham, the arches were once again abandoned. Here we can see a former surface air raid shelter which has been rebuilt into a garage but which still has much of the original brickwork and concrete slab roof.

After walking a short distance along Manchester Road, we see Ferry Street on our left which was once the terminus of the ferry that ran across the river to Greenwich before the opening of the foot tunnel. When the tunnel was flooded in 1940-41, a ferry was re-established

here. It is now the home of Poplar Rowing Club but was once known as Johnson’s Draw Dock. The price was 2/- (10p) per person but for this fee, dock workers who lived south of the river could still reach work without having to take a detour via Woolwich Ferry or Blackwall Tunnel.

The temporary ferry was reached by a causeway that was hurriedly erected across the “hard” here and on to some barges which were moored in the river. It would have been a slightly precarious method of embarkation but at least on the south side one could use Greenwich Pier.