The Library ..... the pub ..... and the oilman .... with a thank you to Village Eltham

Now I know there will be plenty of pictures of the library knocking around and I dare say some better quality versions of this one which dates from around 1915.

Eltham High Street, circa 1915

But I like it for all sorts of reasons, not least because of the detail it offers of the High Street on a bright sunny day, but also because like many it was somewhere I regularly went to, added to which it was where our Stella worked during the 1970s and into the next decade.

So not surprising then that it crops up on the blog in various stories including some that feature a painting by Peter Topping, who like me has been drawn to it, which is a tribute to the building given that Peter is from Preston and has never visited Eltham.*

But I digress, going back to the photograph along with the Library on the north side of the High Street is The Rising sun whose landlady in 1918 was a Mrs. Shirley Relph who took over the pub after the death of her husband in 1909.  He was a William Relph who offered up beer and cheer from sometime in the 1880s and moved into the new Rising Sun when it was built in 1904.

The Rising Sun, 1915

The old pub according to our historian R.R.C Gregory was about 200 years old when it was demolished and replaced by the present pub .

Nor is that the only thing that intrigues me about William.

I had almost given up hope of finding him and then as you do I came across his widow Julia who was still in charge in 1911, and it was Julia who caught my imagination.

She was born in Cadiz, Spain and of course that raises all sorts of intriguing speculation.

But before I could go off on a flight of fancy I discovered her maiden name was West and like William her father was a publican.

That said her parents were in Spain between the birth of her brother in 1852 and when she was born two years later which may explain why they are missing from the census returns for the middle decades of the 19th century.

Directly opposite between Pound Place and Elm Terrace there was a group of tradesmen, which included Frederick Cook, baker at 142, George Mence Smith, oilman at 144, the coach builders Robert Whittaker & Coin 144a, leaving just William Ryde and Sons who were ironmongers and Thomas Grant Bootmaker.**

I am indebted to Paula Richardson, who along with Gus White and Ian Murdock produced a delightful little book in 1984 entitled Village Eltham, which   included 36 photographs of Eltham and the surrounding district drawn from their collection of old picture postcards.***

The book was sent to me by my friend Barbara who like me attended Crown Woods, and like me left Eltham in the late 1960s, me for Manchester and Barbara for Ontario,

Village Eltham, 1984

All of which means the book has travelled far.

Now ever mindful of copyright I only reproduced one image from the book along with the cover, and expressed the hope that the authors would see the story and grant me permission to use some more of the images.

And so just a few days after I posted the story  Pauls got in touch writing, “Hi Andrew - this brought back memories. We published this privately. Most of the postcards were collected by my ex partner, Ian and his friend, Gus. We were all members of the local history group in Eltham. 

I lost touch years ago when I moved to Australia, but I'm sure as long as you give us credit, it is ok for you to share some images, as the whole point of the book was to take them to a wider audience”.****

So I shall do just that.

*Eltham Library, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Eltham%20Library

**Eltham High Street, 1918, Post Office Directory, London, 1918

***A little bit of Eltham from Ontario in Canada, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-little-bit-of-eltham-from-ontario-in.html

 ****Eltham Village,  Gus White, Ian Murdock and Paula Richardson in 1984 and published by G & Pi Publications Eltham

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 1 the Library

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

Like many in Eltham I continue to remember the library with great fondness.  It was a place I used a lot, borrowing books and records from its collection and spending hours in the reference section.

It was also where our Stella worked and for all those reasons it was the first building I asked Peter to paint using a photograph taken by Chrissy Rose.

Peter and I have been working together on projects for almost a decade including two books and an 80 meter installation along with various smaller displays and plenty of commissions.

And that is all I want to say.

Location; Eltham, London

After all I have written about the library already and its history is well known.*

Painting; Eltham Library © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by Chrissy Rose 2014

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

* The Library on the High Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eltham%20Library

The Library on the High Street

© Chrissie Rose

Now the Library is a special place for me.

It was where I spent many happy hours in the reference room and later where our Stella worked.

And it is also a pretty impressive building.

It was built “with funds from the Carnegie Trust to a design by Maurice Adams.  The classical frontispiece is recessed and on either side are oriel windows and tile hung gables flanked by urns.”*

Next door at nos 183-5 “is the old electricity showroom which was built in the early 1930s by the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich; upstairs at that time was the office of the Council’s Registrar [and] behind it was a building used from the early 1900s as the electricity works, Woolwich being the electricity supply authority at the time.”*

Now the electricity offices may have gone but the Library remains and looks no different from the building I can see in pictures from 1910 and 1971.

So some things remain the same although since I left they have sneaked in the new swimming baths just behind the place but that is for another story.

Picture, the library in 2014 courtesy of Chrissie Rose

*Discover Eltham and its Environs, Darrell Spurgeon, 2000

Posters from the Past ........... no 4 a book opens the world

Now the series Posters from the Past has arrived in Eltham, and where better to settle than outside our Library.

It was built in 1906 and many of us will have fond memories of the place.

Our Stella worked there in the 1970s and ‘80s, and a decade earlier I sat in its Reference Library and was also a regular visitor to its music section while Jean regularly reminisces about her time there.

All of which means the Library is a perfect candidate for the new series which takes iconic buildings we know and love and offers them up again in the style of a poster from the mid 20th century.

I would like to think that Woolwich Borough Council commissioned one of their team to produce a poster sometime in the 1930s or 40s, but in the absence of one, here is Peter’s painting and my caption, with our version.

Poster; Eltham Library, © 2017 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Posters from the Past,   https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

Opening tomorrow ...... our new Library in the High Street

I like the way there is always a story, and here is a good one.

The date is October 20th 1906 and Lizzie has selected this picture of Eltham Library to send to her aunt in Somerset.

The message on the back reads, “This is our Free Library which is to be opened tomorrow, what do you think of the building?”

Sadly I don’t know what Miss Neath of Bridgewater in Somerset thougth of the building and nor have I been able to track down with certainty, either her or Lizzie, although in 1901 there were a few candidates living in the south west and  I found a Mary E, aged 10 in Plumstead who could be our sender.

So for now I shall concentrate on the card and reflect that here is a bit of history, sent the day before the library was opened.

That was on October 20, 1906 and Lizzie had posted it sometime in the evening, although I am a bit confused about her timing given that October 20th was a Saturday.

I won’t be alone in having a soft spot for the building, our Stella worked there and I was a frequent visitor, taking out books and records and sitting for hours in the reference section.

The picture postcards come from the collection of Tricia and she has three more.

The four were sent between October 1906 and July 1908, and one includes a tantalizing picture of a man she identifies as her dad.

All of which makes them very personal, and there may have once been more, given that Lizzie talked “about another for your collection”.

But for now that is it other than to wonder whether any of the young people in the picture were known to Lizzie which of course is something we will never know.

But almost as soon as I posted Matt replied with the comment, "That Library one is one of mine, sent by Elizabeth Ann Neath b1869 Woolwich to her Aunt, fathers side sister, Elizabeth Neath b1841, shown as a servant at Quantock View in 1911". Matt K Minch

Location; Eltham High Street

Picture; Eltham Free Library, 1906, courtesy of Matt K Minch

Eltham Library ………less a story …….. more the appeal

Now we all have fond memories of Eltham Library, where many of us first discovered the joy of being able to get books for free, each week, and sometimes every few days, which later also became LPs, and art work.

It was also where our Stella worked through the 1970s into the 80s.

So I was intrigued when Bob Ives, asked me “Andrew. I have been trying for a few years to discover what has happened to the foundation stone from Eltham library. 

When I was a child I went to school at St Mary’s almost opposite the library. 

I was always fascinated by the stone which was in the wall on the right side of the library, the alley is now called sun yard. 
I saw this stone for many years until I left Eltham In 1974. 

I cannot find any reference to it anywhere, could you help?

Several people have commented that they remember the stone”.

And yes I do to ………. So the appeal is out

Location; Eltham Library


Pictures; Well Hall Road, & Eltham Library, 2014 from the collection of Chrissy Rose

A day in December on our High Street ................. nu 1 the Library

Now if you still live where you grew up the chances are that you take it all for granted.

For those of us who long ago moved away from Eltham that is something we can’t do.

So here for the next few days are a selection of Eltham High street on a December day just before Christmas.

They were taken by Ryan and are not in any order but take me back to the High Street I remember.

And here to start off the series is the Library.

It was built “with funds from the Carnegie Trust to a design by Maurice Adams.  The classical frontispiece is recessed and on either side are oriel windows and tile hung gables flanked by urns.”*

Next door at nos 183-5 “is the old electricity showroom which was built in the early 1930s by the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich; upstairs at that time was the office of the Council’s Registrar [and] behind it was a building used from the early 1900s as the electricity works, Woolwich being the electricity supply authority at the time.”*

Picture, Eltham Library, 2015 from the collection of Ryan Ginn

*Spurgeoon, Darrell, Discover Eltham, 2000