How we used to live ........ hop picking and stories from the 19th century researched by Barny

There will be those that can remember spending part of the year hop picking in the Kent fields and  for those who can’t here are some stories collected by Barny.

Hopper's huts, Downs Farm, Yalding,  Kent, 2006

They are a fascinating insight into a world which was still a commonplace activity just half a century ago.

“Picking in the Farnham district will become general during the week, many of the planters having already commenced. 

In the best grounds as much as 7 cwt. to the acre will be produced, but these grounds are exceptional. 

Most of the gardens comprised in what is known as the town district will yield not more than 2 cwt. or 3 cwt. to the acre. 

Indeed, some grounds will produce hardly any that will be marketable. Some hops that have reached fair size are being picked in an unripe state owing to the rapid spread of mould.”*

HOP-PICKERS PAY DAY.

"There was a disgraceful scene at Faversham on Saturday, when about 2,000 hop-pickers received their earnings. Those from Selling were conveyed direct to London by special trains immediately upon being paid off, and thus had no opportunity of getting drunk, but a considerable number from other parishes had to travel by ordinary trains from Faversham. 

These went into the town, and, getting intoxicated, became very quarrelsome and disorderly. Men knocked one another down like ninepins, and women engaged in brutal encounters, scratching one another and clutching each other’s hair unmercifully.

Hopper's huts, Grange Farm, Tonbridge, Kent, 2007

As many as a score of fights were going on at one time; blood was streaming from the heads and faces of many men and women, some of whom had been severely kicked while lying on the ground at the mercy of their antagonists. 

Eventually the police succeeded in quelling the disturbances, and arrested some of the ring-leaders. 

Upwards of 5,000 “foreign” pickers have this year been employed in the Faversham district, and their conduct has certainly been much worse than usual. 

Another year it will be necessary to have a much larger force of police stationed in the district during the “hopping.” It is only by great tact that the little body of constables who have been charged with the duty of looking after the pickers, have been able to preserve order so well as they have done.

At Selling, on one occasion this season, a publican found it necessary to close his house entirely. The departure of the “foreign” hop-pickers has given great satisfaction to the inhabitants of Faversham.”

Of course by "foreign" the journalist means Londoners.

Research by Barny

Location; Kent

Picture; Hopper huts at Downs Farm, Yalding, Kent, Penny Mayes, July10,  2006, and Hoppers' huts, Grange Farm, near Tonbridge, Kent, Dr Neil Clifton, March 2 2007, licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license from Hopper hut, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopper_hut

*Evening News, London, September 12 1888,

**The Times September 15 1884

*** Hoppers' huts, Grange Farm, near Tonbridge, Kent, England. These derelict iron structures are the remains of hoppers' huts, which were used, many years ago, as living accommodation by hop pickers from London who had travelled down to Kent to earn a little money picking the hop harvest. Apparently there are very few similar survivors of these huts.

Just so you don't get lost........ another story from Barny

 from Ogilby's strip map,  1675 

Now, you probably own some sort of Sat-Nav (satellite navigation), to help you find your way around. 

Not so long ago these systems were installed in the dash of many new vehicles, but today, all smart phones are equipped with Sat-nav, Maps, and GPS.

The first satellite navigation system was 'Transit', a system deployed by the US military in the 1960s.

It wasn't always like this!

AA Route Cards - Handwritten - 1910
Originally the AA Route services were introduced in the form of AA patrols. AA patrols could be consulted for verbal directions and advice.

Soon after the introduction of the AA Routes service in 1910, AA paper routes were launched to provide members with reliable directions due to the lack of signposts.

Bagshot to Andover, circa 1930s

AA Route Planner in 1920s
With the introduction of handwritten cards detailing the information between 2 different points the AA Routes became widely used. The increased demand lead to the need for printed cards. As a result 7,000 printed route cards were launched. Also more than half a million routes were added to the AA Routes service every year.

AA Route Planner in 1930s and 1940s
Strip maps introduced in the 1930s resulted in more reliable route information. After a few years after the introduction of Strip maps, progressive mileages were added to them which resulted to the demand of these maps to over 6,000,000 per year. But during the Second World War the demand for these maps decreased rapidly.

AA Route Planner in 1950s
The end of the world war resulted in the rise of demand for AA Routes. The demand also increased at an alarming rate at the time of patrol rationing in the 1950s. An introduction of places of interests was also added to the maps during this time.

AA Route Planner in 1960s
In 1960s, with the expansion of motorways, the 1960s was a remarkable period for AA Routes as the demand rose from 4,000 in 1949 to 221, 387 in 1965.

The 1960s also saw the introduction of AA “through route” maps which were based on the maps of 55 different towns.

These maps showed the routes from the towns to over 500 destinations. This period also saw the evolution of Route Books which was the collection of the most essential routes and also the best driving routes.

So, don't you get lost again!!

Pictures; the Surrey Heath section of Ogilby's 1675 strip map of the route from London to Lands End & Bagshot to Andover circa 1930s courtesy of Barny

Catching the tram ............. another story from Barny

I'm not quite old enough to remember trams, but I can certainly remember the tram-lines that were set into some of the cobbled streets of Deptford.

LCC Tam, 1622,  route 40 from New Cross to Westminster, 2015

The things grabbed the wheels of my bike and threw me off on more than one occasion.

The last tram to rumble along London's streets arrived at South East London's New Cross depot in the early hours of 6th July 1952.

It was driven by John Cliff, deputy chairman of London Transport Executive, who began his career as a tram driver.

Trams had, all week, been carrying banners proclaiming "Last Tram Week" and special tickets carried the same message were also printed.

Conductors punched souvenir tickets and enthusiasts drove or cycled alongside the tram, Car No.1951, for the duration of the journey.

The tram's journey time was extended by almost three hours by crowds of cheering Londoners who surrounded it along the route from Woolwich to New Cross.

At New Cross depot the tram was greeted by LTE chairman Lord Latham.

"In the name of Londoners I say goodbye, old tram," Lord Latham declared as the vehicle entered the tram shed.

The first electric trams appeared on London's streets in 1901 following on from horse-drawn trams which were introduced in 1861.

By the 1930s trams were seen as noisy and dangerous to other road users.

In 1931 a commission of inquiry recommended trams be replaced by trolleybuses. These electrified vehicles did not need tracks, but many trams were temporarily reprieved by the outbreak of WWII.

The final phasing out of the trams followed the closure of the Kingsway tram tunnel three months before.

The tunnel which began in Kingsway and extended under The Strand was opened in 1906, housing two tram stations, Aldwych and Holborn.

Location; New Cross, London


Pictures;  LCC tram 1622, 2015, Crich Tramway Village courtesy of Andy Robertson*

*Crich Tramway Village, http://www.tramway.co.uk/

V Bombs over Peckham and Nunhead ..............a story from Barney

The V1 was one of Hitler’s secret weapons which  he had told his generals would turn the war.

Rolling out a V1, 1944

The V1 was first launched against Britain in June 1944, just one week after D-Day.

The V1 is difficult to classify as a weapon as it was not a true rocket in that it did not leave the atmosphere, but it was also clearly not a plane. Perhaps it could best be described as a winged but pilot-less, fuel propelled, flying bomb.

The V1 was so-called because Hitler saw it as a reprisal weapon – a Vergeltungswaffen.
Wernher von Braun (23 Mar 1912 to 16 Jun 1977) was a German / American aerospace engineer and space architect credited with inventing the V2 rocket for Nazi Germany and later, the Saturn-V for the USA.

V1 & V2 Peckham and Nunhead.

The Peckham and Nunhead areas were badly damaged by "Doodle Bugs", (V1 and V2, flying bombs).
The rockets were to devastate many parts of the capital. Here are just a few examples of the damage and loss of life caused by the V1.

22nd June 1944 at 08:50

After a V1 ....... Upper Norwood, 1944

There was a very serious incident on the corner of Nunhead Lane & Peckham Rye on the 22nd June when 23 deaths occurred when a V1 hit a corset factory.

Many of the casualties were young female workers. The area today has been re-developed as a housing estate. 18 were to die when a V2 hit Waite street on 14th February 1945. This area today is still undeveloped and forms part of playing fields but the original line of streets can still be seen.

The area to the North of Peckham High Street was very badly hit by 10 V1's and 2 V2's.  This is probably one of the highest concentrations of V weapons that I have found anywhere in London. There would have been very few, if any, undamaged buildings in this part of Peckham. This has resulted in the area being more or less totally re-developed post war.

23rd June 1944 at 02:12

50 private houses damaged in Hollydale Road, surrounding property in St Mary's Road, Stanly and Lugard Road, slightly damaged by blast.

Picture; rolling out a V1, 1944, German Federal Archive, and after the V1Men of Civil Defence heavy and light rescue teams and men of the National Fire Service (NFS) listen for survivors as they search a cavity in a large pile of rubble, timbers and debris following a V1 attack in the Highland Road and Lunham Road area of Upper Norwood, 1944, Imperial War Museum, from V-1 flying bomb, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb

Looking for coal holes ....... another story from Barny

In England the precursors of manhole covers are the coalhole covers. 

In the 19th century many buildings in larger towns had a coal hole in the pavement to alllow the coal merchant to empty his sacks into the coal bunker, which was often in the cellar at the front of the house, without the need to enter the house.

The hole was normally between 30 and 60 cm in diameter and was lined by a cast-iron ring and covered by a cast-iron plate. This often advertised the name of the maker.

They were normally given a raised pattern to prevent slipping and some include glass or concrete panels.
Covers are more common from the 1860s onwards but became redundant after the implementation of the Clean Air Acts, (These coal hole covers or plates are also known as Opercula).

Down Memory Lane, Part 227 (Anderson Shelter, Dulwich Baths) .......... Barny remembers

I can recall that sometime in the early 60's, Iwas asking my dad why there was a small notch cut into the scullery (kitchenette) window and a similar notch cut into the frame. 

Dad explained that the notches were made by his father in order to make a gap through which to run an electrical cable to provide power for lighting to the Anderson Shelter that was in the garden during WWII.

Granddad had an electrical business in Talford Road, Peckham. Apparently he was one of a team of men who provided electric lights to Buckingham Palace, so I have royal connections.

The lawn in the garden, where the shelter had been partially buried, had been replaced, but it sagged like a hammock, so I had the unenvious task of helping dad lift the turf, level the soil and replace the lawn.

As we had no bath, we had to trudge the mile or so to Dulwich Baths at Goose Green, to clean up and get some relief for the back ache, with a long hot soak.

Some memories never leave you!

If you wanted an extra long soak, you just called out "more hot in number nn" (where nn=whatever bath cubical you happened to be in), and the attendant would deliver a load of boiling water via an enormous tap.

One small problem. Some unscrupulous bathers would call out for hot water in a different cubicle, so that the occupants looked like lobsters when then came out.

Okay, on occasion, that was m

One small problem. Some unscrupulous bathers would call out for hot water in a different cubicle, so that the occupants looked like lobsters when then came out.

Okay, on occasion, that was me!

Pictures, An old and badly rusted Anderson shelter, that has in it's time been coneverted for use as a garden shed, on display in the courtyard of Bedford Museum, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, January 2007, Simon Speed, in the public domain

Remembering the sounds of of south east London in the 1950s with Barny

I can recall that back in the 50's, the journeymen (and women) of the day would form an almost continuous stream of vendors, peddling all sort of wares, often from horse drawn carts stopping outside the house.

On a typical day, the peace would be shattered or interrupted by the sound of a hand bell, and the call "Shrimps and winkles" (don't remember the "alive alive-o" bit from the song though).

Kids these days wouldn't eat winkles I'm sure? These were often accompanied by stinky Shiphams shrimp paste for tea!

This would be followed later by the milkman, yelling "milko" or something? Can't recall if it was Express or United Dairies, the electric hand cart was red, so probably UD.

My aunt used to call him feet, the assumption was because he always had sore feet from trudging round the streets pulling a cart containing hundreds of bottles or milk and orange juice. I'm sure the electric motor in the cart done nothing to help..

Later on, it would be the coalman. A middle aged friendly man with sooty face. Sacks piled high on the cart, and my dad behind the horse with a bucket and shovel collecting manure for the roses. We wasn't that posh to have a coal-hole to chuck the anthracite into, so the poor coalman had to trudge though the house and out to the back yard to dump our coal-nuts into an old wooden shed, that we called the coal bunker

Next would be shouts of "Paraffin oil".  Later on it was "Any old rags or lumber",  perhaps later still, "knives sharpened", "Fresh fish", "Fruit and veg".

They drew the line at "bring out your dead" though. However, there was a Mrs. Enwistle just up the road that used to "Layout and dress" any poor departed souls...

There was no respite even on a Sunday. I used to like a bit of a lay-in on Sunday, after a busy Saturday helping with the demolition of bombed housing by smashing all the windows with a catapult and making bonfires from anything that would burn.

So, around 9am, about five thousand of the local Salvation Army membership, bless them all, would parade march along the main road not far from my bedroom, banging drums and singing "Jesus want's me for a sunbeam", and the like..

I'm sure we referred to the 1950's as "Peacetime"?

Pictures; Harold Morris, milman from the collection of Jean Gammons and Enoch Royle coalman from the Lloyd Collection

Down in Deptford remembering J Stone and Co ............ another story from Barny

Does anyone remember (or used to work for J Stone and Co Engineering in ​Arklow Road, Deptford?

From 1881 to 1969 the industrial estate was Stone’s engineering works. J. Stone & Co had been founded by Josiah Stone in a workshop in Deptford in 1831, moving in 1842 to railway arches where he made hand pumps and manual fire engines.

The firm moved to Arklow Road in 1881 to make propellers, watertight ships doors, steam pumps, electric lighting systems for railways axle-driven lighting system, and later air conditioning for trains and other engineering products.

There was a Fastener Division, a Boiler Division, a Rail Division, and a Laundry Division. The propeller foundry moved to Charlton in 1916 where it remains.

In 1950 the Deptford works made rail and road transport products, nails, rivets and washers. In 1959 the firm became Stone Platt Industries, and in 1963 Stone Manganese Marine. The Deptford factory closed in 1969.

Stone's Office block. A classical building of 1916, with an extra floor added in 1928






Picture; inscribed name plate, and trade page courtesy of Grace's Guide to Britsh Industrial History, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/

Who remembers getting near hypothermia at Peckham Rye Lido? .............. another story from Barny

Catford Lido, similar to Peckham Lido

Peckham Rye Common north, on East Dulwich Road, was the location of Peckham Lido, (the posh name for "open air swimming pool") opened by the London County Council in September 1923. 

The water was as cold as the council could get it without importing icebergs.

It was freezing, even in the July 76 heatwave.

The fountain

It's almost as if it were topped up every day with a bucket of liquid nitrogen!

It was closed in April 1987.
It appears that only the old fountain remains in situ.

At least Dulwich Baths, just a few hundred yards away was heated all year round.

Incidentally, not very from said Lido, on the corner of Forest Hill Road and Wood Vale, was Honor Oak Cemetery.

The Gothic Lodge

The Gothic lodge is a handsome c1856 British Listed Building described as constructed from "coursed rubble with ashlar dressings", and some other odd stuff.

Both locations were featured in the 1970 black comedy film "Entertaining Mr. Sloan", starring Beryl Reid, then 50, as Kath and Peter McEnery as Mr. Sloane.

Harry Andrews plays Ed, Kath's brother, who drives a 1959 Pontiac Parisienne, Reg. VYP 74, that once belonged to original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett.

Pictures, Catford Lido, the Lodge, and the fountain,  from the collection of Barny

Dark deeds in Nunhead and Blackheath ............... another story from Barny

My dear old dad used to mention, on more than one occasion, a notorious villain that resided in the idyllic hamlet of Nunhead, name of Charley Peace.

Newspaper account, 1879

It was only just a few years ago that I decided to "Google" that name. This is an abridged piece about Mr. Peace.

Charles (Charlie) Peace

Charles Frederick Peace (14 May 1832 – 25 February 1879) was an English burglar and murderer, who embarked on a life of crime after being maimed in an industrial accident when a boy.

After killing a policeman in Manchester, he fled to his home-town of Sheffield, where he became obsessed with his neighbour's wife and shot the husband dead.

In early 1877, he moved to London, where he felt safer from arrest, and sent for his wife and son Willie to join them in a respectable villa at 5, East Terrace, Evelina Road, Peckham),

Charles Peace was a notorious cat burglar and murderer who evaded arrest for over twenty years. Peace was a master of disguise due to his almost rubber like features, and often carried his housebreaking tools inside an old violin case, an instrument on which he was very proficient.

In 1877, while living at Banner Cross Terrace, Sheffield, he began an affair with a neighbour, Mrs Katherine Dyson. Although she was a willing instigator of the relationship, she soon decided that she wanted no further part of it and tried fruitlessly to be rid of him.
Eventually Peace took the hint and left the area. Around this time, Peace shot dead a policeman, PC Nicholas Cock, in Manchester but the crime was attributed to a young Irishman, William Habron, who was convicted and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment on account of his young age.

The execution of Mr Pearec, 1879

During the summer, Peace returned to Sheffield where he again chased after Mrs Dyson. One night her husband caught him as he pestered her and Peace shot him dead. He fled to London and set up with a new name but was soon in trouble again, and while robbing a house in Blackheath he attempted to shoot a police officer.

Peace was arrested and gave his name as John Ward. He was tried for the attempted murder of a police officer and sentenced to life imprisonment but no sooner had he begun his sentence, than he was recognised as being wanted for the murder of Katherine Dyson's husband at Banner Cross, and he was returned to the north to face trial. On the journey, he attempted to escape from the train by throwing himself through a window but was thwarted in his bid.

WINTERINGHAM - and the convict Peace.

Police-constable Robinson, who so successfully arrested Peace at Blackheath, is a native of Winteringham, and was for a considerable number of years employed as labourer at Sand House Farm, near Appleby. That no-one needed telling any more of the story suggests that in the late 1870s, everyone had heard about Peace! Indeed, his life was featured in films (in 1905 and 1949), and even in comics of the 1960s such as Buster. Until Jack the Ripper, he was the most infamous of Victorian criminals.

At 2 am on 10th October 1878, former Winteringham man, PC Edward Robinson, was patrolling the streets of Blackheath when he suddenly saw a light appear at the back of a house in St John's Park, Blackheath, home of Mr Burness.

Quickly realising that there was something untoward, he called for back-up from two of his colleagues and hid in the back garden.

PC Robinson, 1878

One of his colleagues went to the front door and rang the bell. Charles Peace quickly made his way out of a back window and down the path pursued by Edward. "Keep back!" he said, "or by God I'll shoot you!" 

But the courageous Edward did not keep back and when Peace fired once, twice, three times, he still advanced on the double murderer!

A fourth shot was fired and missed PC Robinson, who was now close enough to strike Peace in the face. Peace threatened to "settle" with one last shot, and this time he did hit his target - but in the upper arm.
Despite this wound, Edward managed to fling Peace to the ground, held him, and grab Peace's pistol and hit him on the head with it! The other two PCs ran to help their colleague, and Peace's burgling days were over.

Peace was convicted at Leeds Assizes and sentenced to death, he was hanged by William Marwood after confessing to the murder of PC Cock at Manchester, which resulted in the release from prison and also compensation for William Habron. The sentence of death was carried out in Leeds on the 25 February 1879, Peace was forty six at the time.

Despite his execution for the murder of a Mr Dyson, Charles Peace was ‘primarily celebrated for hid larcenous rather than his murderous achievements’.

Conducting a number of burglaries in Hull, London, Sheffield and the surrounding areas, and on many occasions outfoxing the police, Peace became something of a celebrated and comedic character.


Pictures; supplied by Barny

References

http://www.winteringham.info/Local_History/Police/PC_Edward_Robinson

https://johnjohnson.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/charles-peace-and-kate-webster/

FULL STORY - http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/peace-charles.htm

As others remember .............. Barny and the coach trips to Ewell

The second of an occasional series contributed by readers who also grew up in south east London.

Here Barny remembers the school trips from Samuel Pepys to Ewell playing fields in the early 1960s

Who remembers you say??

How could I forget?

The memories come flooding back from purgatory...

(1) - The outgoing journey, New Cross to Ewell.

The smell of the dust from the old coach seats. Fighting for a back seat (essential for pulling faces and executing various hand gestures to anyone driving behind).

Ten minutes into the journey, that distinctive pong of vomit from those pupils who didn't travel well.

Outbreaks of skirmishes and bickering throughout the remainder of the trip.

(2) - Let the games begin.

Always Cross Country Running in the winter, so you had to suffer inhaling air at Absolute Zero. The pain!!

Hiding in a small wooded area, until joining the run on the last time around. Fag break!

Football, more like a medicine ball, kicked really hard against my soft skin. The agony!!

The abject boredom of being unpicked for a team and left goalkeeping.

Rugby, no fun at all if you're 8 stone (112 lbs or 50kg).

(3) - Cold Showers.

Oh! the joy. Towel flicking from horrible pupils, aimed at the soft parts of my body.

Five minutes to run the gauntlet through the ice cold showers. (time includes getting dried and dressed),

Getting dressed, almost impossible with wet skin and numb from the cold fingers, still covered in mud.

School duffle bag full of junk, deposited by some oiks whilst you were showering.

Pants or one sock missing. grrrr!

(4) - The home journey, Ewell to New Cross.

Fighting for a back seat again. Further skirmishes and bickering. The stink of Smiths Cheese & Onion crisps.
That vomit smell again.

Pupils comparing body parts and functionality, apparently!

Miscellaneous instances of irritating noise and diesel fumes.

It's no wonder that various rouses and schemes were devised in order to give Games a miss. My favourite and one that always worked well, was to leave a penny in one of your socks throughout the previous day.

Then, just before Games, you show the horrible looking bruise on you foot to a teacher, and viola! - excused!! Who remembers you say??

© Barny

Pictures; Banfield Coach, Leyland Tiger Cub, 1959