Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Lenox study day: booking now!
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| The study day will be held at the Master Shipwrights House |
Deptford Is.. in collaboration with Build the Lenox is now inviting bookings for the Lenox Study Day on Wednesday 11 July.
The former Deptford Royal Dockyard played a leading role in the development of naval ship-building technology. This role was particularly significant in the Restoration period, when Deptford was the focus of the thirty-ship programme launched by Samuel Pepys in 1677. Lenox was the first of these ships to be built; by 1700, these magnificent vessels were held responsible for elevating the Royal Navy to its position as the world’s leading maritime power.
Build the Lenox and Deptford Is.. have put together a special study day focusing on Deptford's dockyard in the Restoration period, and in particular on the early naval history and ship-building technology which the Lenox represents.
Speakers include the country's leading academics and experts on the naval history of the time; a line-up of the most prominent experts in this field including Peter LeFevre, David Davies, Richard Endsor, Peter Goodwin and Brian Lavery.
We will also present an update on the progress of the Hermione Project in France, which inspired the idea behind Build the Lenox.
The study day will take place at the Master Shipwrights House in Deptford: the former home of John Shish, the king's master shipwright who was responsible for designing and building the Lenox and her sister ships.
Full details of the study day and how to book can be found on the Build the Lenox site. Please note that only 40 tickets are available so early booking is recommended.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Build The Lenox skipper in Thames Pageant
Julian Kingston, the brains behind The Lenox Project, took part in the Thames Jubilee Pageant today. His boat, Cathia, processed in the Lifeboat Section within the larger category of "Historic & Service" in the middle of the 1000-strong flotilla (and terrible weather!).
Twelve years ago, Julian – a boat builder by trade – rescued the Cathia from destruction and brought it back to his moorings in Deptford Creek. With the hull in fine condition, Julian set about rebuilding the main cabin and cockpit, and most recently he has been restoring the fore cabin and galley area to get her into shape for the pageant.
Cathia, with Julian's wife, Jeannie, being made ready this week
The boat was originally a lifeboat, and like many boats of its age (it was built in 1924), it was converted to a motor cruiser in the 40s. "Adam Hart-Davies wrote a book on how to convert working boats into motor cruisers and leisure boats," says Julian. "Standard conversions of ships like lifeboats were very cheap to do". Quite a few working boats were rehabilitated at around that time by amateur enthusiasts for whom sailing and motor cruising would otherwise have been financially prohibitive. But there are very few boats like this remaining, which makes Cathia special enough to be included in the flotilla.
Cathia left Deptford Creek on Friday morning to muster at West India Quay, where they spent the night before progressing to the main mustering area upstream of Hammersmith on Saturday. Later this month, Julian will be travelling to France, eventually to Rochefort where the town will be celebrating the launch of the hull of the replica warship Hermione in early July.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Video of Convoys Wharf Consultation Day
Public Open Day - March 2012 from HardHat on Vimeo.
This short video made by Hard Hat, Hutchison Whampoa's communications team, gives a flavour of the consultation day held in March 2012. You can also read our report of the event here.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Meanwhile, in Deptford Docks...
SALON, the Society of Antiquaries of London, has covered Convoys Wharf in its latest online newsletter (14 May 2012).
The Council for British Archaeology is engaged in another campaign with a maritime flavour down in Deptford Dockyard, in the East End of London, where developer Hutchinson Whampoa have plans to build 3,500 new homes, plus hotels, offices and a cultural centre on a huge site called Convoy’s Wharf. Local people, while welcoming the investment, do not feel that the current master plan for Convoy’s Wharf pays sufficient heed to the heritage of England’s first Royal Dockyard, founded by Henry VIII in 1513, and visited by Peter the Great in 1698 when the Tsar came on a three-month fact-finding visit prior to establishing the Russian navy.
The target of heavy bombardment during World War II, the historic docks were levelled after the war, but recent archaeological work carried out by MOLA has revealed that far more archaeology survives than was thought, including impressive eighteenth-century dockyard walls and slipways and the ground floor and cellars of Sayes Court, home to the diarist and horticulturalist John Evelyn (it was here that Tsar Peter lived during his three-month visit as a guest of the English government, leaving such a trail of destruction that the Treasury eventually agreed to pay £350 to Evelyn in compensation).
Such is the strength of local feeling in favour of retaining and restoring evidence of the site’s past use that Lewisham Council has sent back the initial planning application for further thought, saying that the master plan was not ‘sensitive enough to the unique heritage assets of the dockyard’. As a consequence, the developers, Hutchinson Whampoa, have called in Sir Terry Farrell to look at redrawing the master plan.
The Council for British Archaeology has offered a helping hand and has convened a panel of independent experts from the Naval Dockyards Society, the Garden History Society, the Panel for Historic Engineering Works and the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. Hand in hand with the local campaign group ‘Deptford Is’, the CBA has offered to ‘assist the developers and English Heritage in their understanding and enhancement of the dockyard and its remarkable history … with the aim of achieving a better, heritage-led scheme that delivers wider public benefit and a more sophisticated approach to this internationally important site’.
The events that Deptford witnessed included the refitting of the Mary Rose, the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind in 1581, the refitting of HMS Bounty in 1787, the rebuilding of Cook’s Endeavour in 1768 and the construction of several of the warships that served under Nelson at Trafalgar. Just as importantly, lying beneath the site’s concrete are the avenues, orchards and trial beds of John Evelyn’s garden, where he experimented with the new plants brought back by Deptford ships from all corners of the globe, thus having a enormous influence on garden design and planting in England in the seventeenth century; a re-creation of that garden is certainly one possibility that the group would like the developers to consider.
Thanks to Jon Wright from the Council for British Archaeology for forwarding.
Meanwhile, in Deptford Docks...
The Council for British Archaeology is engaged in another campaign with a maritime flavour down in Deptford Dockyard, in the East End of London, where developer Hutchinson Whampoa have plans to build 3,500 new homes, plus hotels, offices and a cultural centre on a huge site called Convoy’s Wharf. Local people, while welcoming the investment, do not feel that the current master plan for Convoy’s Wharf pays sufficient heed to the heritage of England’s first Royal Dockyard, founded by Henry VIII in 1513, and visited by Peter the Great in 1698 when the Tsar came on a three-month fact-finding visit prior to establishing the Russian navy.
The target of heavy bombardment during World War II, the historic docks were levelled after the war, but recent archaeological work carried out by MOLA has revealed that far more archaeology survives than was thought, including impressive eighteenth-century dockyard walls and slipways and the ground floor and cellars of Sayes Court, home to the diarist and horticulturalist John Evelyn (it was here that Tsar Peter lived during his three-month visit as a guest of the English government, leaving such a trail of destruction that the Treasury eventually agreed to pay £350 to Evelyn in compensation).
Such is the strength of local feeling in favour of retaining and restoring evidence of the site’s past use that Lewisham Council has sent back the initial planning application for further thought, saying that the master plan was not ‘sensitive enough to the unique heritage assets of the dockyard’. As a consequence, the developers, Hutchinson Whampoa, have called in Sir Terry Farrell to look at redrawing the master plan.
The Council for British Archaeology has offered a helping hand and has convened a panel of independent experts from the Naval Dockyards Society, the Garden History Society, the Panel for Historic Engineering Works and the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. Hand in hand with the local campaign group ‘Deptford Is’, the CBA has offered to ‘assist the developers and English Heritage in their understanding and enhancement of the dockyard and its remarkable history … with the aim of achieving a better, heritage-led scheme that delivers wider public benefit and a more sophisticated approach to this internationally important site’.
The events that Deptford witnessed included the refitting of the Mary Rose, the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind in 1581, the refitting of HMS Bounty in 1787, the rebuilding of Cook’s Endeavour in 1768 and the construction of several of the warships that served under Nelson at Trafalgar. Just as importantly, lying beneath the site’s concrete are the avenues, orchards and trial beds of John Evelyn’s garden, where he experimented with the new plants brought back by Deptford ships from all corners of the globe, thus having a enormous influence on garden design and planting in England in the seventeenth century; a re-creation of that garden is certainly one possibility that the group would like the developers to consider.
Thanks to Jon Wright from the Council for British Archaeology for forwarding.
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Lenox study day - save the date!
Deptford Is.. and Build the Lenox are working together to organise a study day which will be held at the Master Shipwright's House in Deptford.
There will be a series of talks given by experts on naval dockyards and the history of the Lenox and her sister ships, and we also hope to be able to bring you the latest news from the dockyard at Rochefort in France where the Hermione will just have taken to the water for the first time!
If there is enough interest from delegates, we will investigate the possibility of visiting the Royal River exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich after the presentations.
The date for your diary is Wednesday 11 July.
There will be a charge for the event will include lunch and refreshments, with any surplus going to the funds for the Lenox project.
The full programme and booking details will be announced on this site and on Build the Lenox before the end of May.
We hope to see you in July!
There will be a series of talks given by experts on naval dockyards and the history of the Lenox and her sister ships, and we also hope to be able to bring you the latest news from the dockyard at Rochefort in France where the Hermione will just have taken to the water for the first time!
 |
| The Hermione under construction |
If there is enough interest from delegates, we will investigate the possibility of visiting the Royal River exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich after the presentations.
The date for your diary is Wednesday 11 July.
There will be a charge for the event will include lunch and refreshments, with any surplus going to the funds for the Lenox project.
The full programme and booking details will be announced on this site and on Build the Lenox before the end of May.
We hope to see you in July!
Friday, 11 May 2012
Build the Lenox forms a CIC
The proposal to build a replica of the Restoration warship the Lenox in the restored King's Yard is one of the projects that comes under the Deptford Is.. umbrella organisation, so we are pleased to announce that Build the Lenox has now been constituted as a Community Interest Company and is starting the process of raising funds and applying for grants.
Build the Lenox already has a project website where you can get more details about this exciting community-led proposal, and has just added a funding page with information about what costs are involved in running the campaign and how they are being met so far.
A Paypal donate button has been included for anyone wanting to support the project, and the team will be announcing specific fundraising efforts in the near future.
Build the Lenox already has a project website where you can get more details about this exciting community-led proposal, and has just added a funding page with information about what costs are involved in running the campaign and how they are being met so far.
A Paypal donate button has been included for anyone wanting to support the project, and the team will be announcing specific fundraising efforts in the near future.
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