Bermondsey Yesterday and Today

In the summer of 1962 or 1963 my 'ickle sister got her head stuck in the railings outside Helen Taylor House in Linsey Street. The fire brigade were called out to use spreader bars to release her and the bars were bent in the process. I've just looked on Google maps and the the bars are still there, and still bent! This must have been a family thing as my big brother got his head stuck in the railings above the area (airey!) on the approach to St James' Road Bridge in 1944ish. Those railings are now long since gone but I recall the bent railings being there until the late 1960s.

If you see bent railings in Bermondsey, spare a thought for the child whose head was stuck there.

Rotherhithe Street

Old houses in Rotherhithe Street with the Swallow Galley public House at number 446  at the far end which closed in 1933.  The houses and pub were opposite the Old Horse Ferry Wharf in Rotherhithe Street
The pub stood where the green wheelie bin stands in the today picture
Todays picture courtesy  and copyright of Chris Lorden with licence to reuse under the creative commons licence

Another view of the Old Miller of Mansfield (from the thread on page 23) which confirms the location.This view is from the early 30s across from Crosby Row towards Snowsfields and shows the distinctive wall of the building between the pub and the Hamilton Square buildings

Hi
I need some help with my family tree and I am looking for Ferrand Street which was where my Mum was born. I think it was perhaps in the Abbey Street area that got bombed in the war, any help greatly appreciated.
Millie

milly

Do a search on the www for Ferrand Street Bermondsey
This will take you to
4 search survey notebook(charles booth on line archives) from this you will see Ferrand Street was around the Alice Street area  but Ferrand Street before 1897 was known as William Street I dont know when it was changed
Looking at the 1916 map found Ferrand Street at  the top end of Alice Street before Decima Street but  its lost on the 1956 street atlas

Joe

milly

Have a look at the picture on Photo Gallery Building and Places page 1 B003 Alice Street

Picture looks north towards Decima Street gives some idea of the place your mother lived at

Joe

Abbey Street -Tower Bridge Road Junction

Picture from the 1970s Abbey Buildings from different direction now all gone

Hi Joe
Many thanks for the information on Ferrand Street I have now sorted out its location and I think it changed to Decima Street in 1912 which would I think be about right as my Mum was born in 1910 and Ferrand Street is on her birth certificate, so thanks to you another box ticked in my research.
Milly

Hi Joe
Many thanks for the information on Ferrand Street I have now sorted out its location and I think it changed to Decima Street in 1912 which would I think be about right as my Mum was born in 1910 and Ferrand Street is on her birth certificate, so thanks to you another box ticked in my research.
Milly

-millylinseyst

Hi Milly
According to the relevant OS maps they are different streets, although Ferrand Street was probably built over with the Decima Road flats after WW1. Ferrand Street was (mostly) parallel and to the south of Decima Street:
Ferrand Street in 1914 & 1894 was formally William Street in 1872.
Decima Street in 1914 & 1894 was formally Edward Street (& Smiths Buildings) in 1872. 

freddie

Mill Street

Vogans Wharf and Mill another Grade II Listed Building.  The business started near to the Old Hays Wharf site in 1815 and moved to St Saviour's Dock in about 1840 when it was being developed.
The site was sold for residential development in 1986 after 150 years in Bermondsey and the business relocated to Cambridge.

St Saviour's Dock has a history of it's own, originally part of the Neckinger River for over 250 years it is one of " The Lost Rivers of London ".  The river in it's time also served the tanning industry in Bermondsey.

Joe, I love the photo with lighters in St Saviours Dock.  Do you have a higher resolution image that you could email to me?

Kathy

Hi Freddie
Thanks for your post the reason I had noi idea where Ferrand Street was because my Mum said she was born in Abbey Street then I found out different.  The map I have dated 1921 starts at Tower Bidge Road and covers to the  east as far as Major Road but up until now every street that my parents families lived were contained in that area. except for Ferrand Street.
Thanks again
Milly

Hi Milly,

Here is a map of c.1897 showing Ferrand Street in blue. This was before Tower Bridge Road was built through Bermondsey Square and linked onto Bermondsey New Road at Star Corner. I could have shown it on the 1914 OS map, but as soon as they notice, the files would be removed:

kathy

I would suggest you have a look at  vmml.co.uk/ on Vogans Mill and Wharf go into photo gallery where you will find a series of pictures and history

Joe

Dockhead and Parkers Row
Picture from the 1950s shows people alighting from the tram, the Swan and Sugarloaf is still open on the right but to the left of the picture we see the W&R Jacobs Bisciuts factory with the biscuit sign at the top of the building and their name over the gate.
Can anyone remember this factory in Dockhead?
In todays picture we find all has not been lost for the facade of the building still remains although slightly changed. The building is now named The Italian Building

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-fosney

I remember Jacob's very well it was bombed during the war round the back
 as kids we always looked to see if anything was worth having 'so we had a number of biscuit tin lids with the biscuits inside .(don't ask why) it was taken over by Marshall's round about 1943 I worked there,they made junkets all sorts of powdered stuff,also we did some packaging for the prisoner,of war food parcels.us girls used to put our names and addresses inside I did hear from one chap in offlag stalag I never forgot his name driver fletcher.

Joe, many thanks for the link to Vogans Mill Management.  I've fired off an email to them asking who I can contact to get a copy of the photo.  Things like this really help to put "flesh on the bones" when researching family history.

My great great grandfather was a "horsehair manufacturer".  This wasn't necessarily stuffing furninture with horsehair, but in his case was using horsehair fabric to cover furniture, or making hair sieves (see Mrs Beeton for references to hair sieves), or, and this may sound surprising, making crinolines.  You see, the early crinolines were a mixture of horsehair and linen - 'crinoline' means just that (French I think).*  These became fashionable around the 1830s when my gt gt grandparents moved down from Holborn, so there must have been textile factories in Bermondsey making crinolines.  The fortunes of these early crinolines waned in the 1840s, when new lighter ones were made of sprung steel hoops, which reached very generous proportions (at least among the well-to-do) before prince Edward's wife influenced fashions in the late 19th century.  By 1849 my gt gt grandfather was as 'general dealer', whatever that means, and in 1851 he was a costermonger, and they lived in London (Wolseley) Street (Jacobs Island), in very poor and grotty housing.  Perhaps the demise of the early crinolines meant that he was laid off.  Eleven years later he was back in the horsehair fabric industry, cutting horsehair fabric, so maybe the factory he worked for before recovered, finding other items to use the fabric on.

Do you know of any books on the industries that used to abound in Bermondsey/Southwark/Rotherhithe?

Kathy

*The horsehair and linen crinolines were hot and itchy, and were also heavy, especially once they increased in size.

Kathy

Do a search " horsehair in Bermondsey " and you will find a few intersting articles of Horse Hair Manufacturers who lived in the Dockhead area. Does the name Coppdock mean anything to you as they were manufacturers who lived in Horslydown in the 1800s so it looks as if the trade went on in this area but I must admit its new to me. Can anyone else throw any light on the subject?

Also do a search " Horse Hair Factorys In Bermondsey " this reveals a lot and tells us the skins were brought to the market with the hair on and it was removed localy

Joe

Mill Street

Unity Wharf c1850 another fine example of a Victorian Warehouse on the west side of Mill Street.  Now another Grade II listed building now in commercial use