Posted by waltersjohnd
I lived in Priter Road until my family moved to Paddock Wood in Kent in !964 I too have fond thoughts with the slide and the many hours I played on it and the swings etc .The only playground with gravestones all around.
Thurland Road
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Downtheblue
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:46 pm
Re: St. James's church
I also have fond memories of the best slide ever, the coconut matt's never vandalised in our day. the width of the slide woe it was such fun , our very own free helta skelta.
Thurland Road
Thurland Road
St James Church
St James Church occupies an open and conspicuous position fronting to Thurland Road and is the largest example of the 'Waterloo' Churches which were built as a national thank-offering for the peace that follwed after the Napoleonic War.
Before the Church was Consecrated on 7 May 1829, the only other Church in the whole of Bermondsey was St Mary Magdalen at the end of Bermondsey Street.
Some three years after the battle of 'Waterloo', in 1818, an Act of Parliament was passed to raise money as a National Thank Offering for Soldiers who had fallen, in the form of so-called 'Waterloo' Churches'. St James was one such church, built in South London. The cost of the Church was £21,412.19s.5d but the spire would cost an extra £2,300, and a 'four facing' clock would be put in the tower for £160. The building would hold some 2,000 persons of which 1,200 could be seated.
The 10 original bells were cast at Mears Foundry in Whitechapel and were made from cannons left by Napoleon at Waterloo.
The organ by James Bishop was one of the largest in the country and while many organs in the country have been modernised by the Victorians, and more recently by others, this one has survived and remains the most complete example of its kind in Britain.
The slide in the churchyard, that we all remember as children, was donated in 1921 by Arthur Carr, Chairman of Peak Frean's Biscuits - but taken down in the 1970s - never to be replaced.
Why? Where is it I ask?
St James Church
St James Church occupies an open and conspicuous position fronting to Thurland Road and is the largest example of the 'Waterloo' Churches which were built as a national thank-offering for the peace that follwed after the Napoleonic War.
Before the Church was Consecrated on 7 May 1829, the only other Church in the whole of Bermondsey was St Mary Magdalen at the end of Bermondsey Street.
Some three years after the battle of 'Waterloo', in 1818, an Act of Parliament was passed to raise money as a National Thank Offering for Soldiers who had fallen, in the form of so-called 'Waterloo' Churches'. St James was one such church, built in South London. The cost of the Church was £21,412.19s.5d but the spire would cost an extra £2,300, and a 'four facing' clock would be put in the tower for £160. The building would hold some 2,000 persons of which 1,200 could be seated.
The 10 original bells were cast at Mears Foundry in Whitechapel and were made from cannons left by Napoleon at Waterloo.
The organ by James Bishop was one of the largest in the country and while many organs in the country have been modernised by the Victorians, and more recently by others, this one has survived and remains the most complete example of its kind in Britain.
The slide in the churchyard, that we all remember as children, was donated in 1921 by Arthur Carr, Chairman of Peak Frean's Biscuits - but taken down in the 1970s - never to be replaced.
Why? Where is it I ask?
Re: Thurland Road
Posted by taxi105
I ask the same question many times Joe, where did the slide in the church go,
I had hours of fun on that slide as a Kid and my mother, Mary Baker picture enclosed was employed as playground keeper looking after the slide in the 1970s.
Can anyone confirm the reason for the slides removal it was a great shame, like you Joe I would like to know what happened to it.
David
I ask the same question many times Joe, where did the slide in the church go,
I had hours of fun on that slide as a Kid and my mother, Mary Baker picture enclosed was employed as playground keeper looking after the slide in the 1970s.
Can anyone confirm the reason for the slides removal it was a great shame, like you Joe I would like to know what happened to it.
David
Re: Thurland Road
Posted by freddie
Re: the slide by St James's church. My memory isn't 100% on this but I think it fell into disrepair due to vandalism. It may have been set fire to (twice?) and it was closed/roped off and later demolished by the council.
Re: the slide by St James's church. My memory isn't 100% on this but I think it fell into disrepair due to vandalism. It may have been set fire to (twice?) and it was closed/roped off and later demolished by the council.
Re: Thurland Road
Posted by bermondseybeat
Like freddie and If I remember correctly,too (?) it kept getting vandalised and at that time the Council didn't give a monkey's about the up keep of the slide. Firstly the council removed all park keepers who used to look after the kids and the playgrounds, for cost-cutting reason and with the 'Mat Slide' being made mostly of wood it got set on fire. But instead of lovingly restoring this beautiful structure
it was left to fall beyond repair and then demolished. The Bermondsey people, including me, should have done more to protect it, but we didn't and now its gone forever. I suppose the current Health & Safety regulations would have thrown the book at it, implementing safety helmets and harnesses!!!
Phil (Bermondsey Beat)
Like freddie and If I remember correctly,too (?) it kept getting vandalised and at that time the Council didn't give a monkey's about the up keep of the slide. Firstly the council removed all park keepers who used to look after the kids and the playgrounds, for cost-cutting reason and with the 'Mat Slide' being made mostly of wood it got set on fire. But instead of lovingly restoring this beautiful structure
it was left to fall beyond repair and then demolished. The Bermondsey people, including me, should have done more to protect it, but we didn't and now its gone forever. I suppose the current Health & Safety regulations would have thrown the book at it, implementing safety helmets and harnesses!!!
Phil (Bermondsey Beat)
Re: Thurland Road
Thanks to everyone for giving the reasons about the disappearance of the slide.
I feel that if the area had still been controled by Bermondsey Borough Council the slide may have been saved if Only given listed building status and given to English Heitage for Posterity
I feel that if the area had still been controled by Bermondsey Borough Council the slide may have been saved if Only given listed building status and given to English Heitage for Posterity
Re: St. James's church
When I was a lad, Mr Tibbitt of 53 Rouel Road told me this tale - around 1966.
He was a firewatcher or ARP or something like that during WW2. Lord Haw Haw came on the radio to say that St James' Church in Bermondsey was to be bombed that night, proving the accuracy of Luftwaffe bombing. Sure enough, St James' took a hit that night and part of the church was blown open to the elements, including the crypt. Mr Tibbitt was on duty that night with a young lad and the attended the church. There was so much bombing going on around and about that Mr Tibbitt left the young lad at the church to ensure that nobody or any animals got in. The bomb had blown open the crypt and some coffins and there were bones and bodies lying about. The young lad, whose name I don't remember (if I was ever told his name), stayed all night with the decaying corpses and by the time he was relieved in the morning he was jibbering wreck.
Can anybody add any veracity to this tale?
He was a firewatcher or ARP or something like that during WW2. Lord Haw Haw came on the radio to say that St James' Church in Bermondsey was to be bombed that night, proving the accuracy of Luftwaffe bombing. Sure enough, St James' took a hit that night and part of the church was blown open to the elements, including the crypt. Mr Tibbitt was on duty that night with a young lad and the attended the church. There was so much bombing going on around and about that Mr Tibbitt left the young lad at the church to ensure that nobody or any animals got in. The bomb had blown open the crypt and some coffins and there were bones and bodies lying about. The young lad, whose name I don't remember (if I was ever told his name), stayed all night with the decaying corpses and by the time he was relieved in the morning he was jibbering wreck.
Can anybody add any veracity to this tale?
Re: Thurland Road
- Arthur Carr chairman of Peak Frean's Biscuits opening the slide in 1921
- St James Church, Arthur Carr. Peek Frean 1921
Last edited by kiwi on Thu Apr 20, 2017 2:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Thurland Road
On the way out of the gents' toilet in Thurland Road there was a sign which confused me -- bear in mind I was only about six or seven at the time -- which read "Please adjust your dress before leaving". Surely the people wearing dresses were next door in the Ladies' toilet!
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