Docklands History Group meeting Wednesday 4th April 2012 Maritime Greenhithe By David Challis

David explained that his talk would cover maritime Greenhithe primarily between 1750 and approximately 1880 - part one of the story. It was difficult these days to understand how important Greenhithe had been in the past, to the chalk extraction and cement industries, as today only a few very large holes remained. He had grown up in Greenhithe where his family ran a bakery, and had been fascinated by the history of the place.

In 1300 it was a stop for the long ferry and from there an horse ferry crossed the river Thames. Before the reformation it was thought Dartford Priory had owned the Ingress estate and that the ferry was used by pilgrims heading into Kent or north to Walsingham.

The making of Greenhithe had been the chalk outcrops of the North Downs . The cliffs rose to 100 feet and even 150 feet in places and to quarry the chalk the top soil had first to be removed. The companies that worked the chalk sold whatever they could and David produced a company letter head which showed that the top soil was for sale, along with sundry other materials. Jonathan Smith, the owner of the Ingress estate in the early 1700s, extracted chalk and built his house in the grounds, on previously excavated land. It was thought he had used the lower causeway in the village to ship out the chalk. In 1750 William 2nd Earl of Bessborough, later Baron Ponsonby, Lord of the Admiralty, owned Ingress house and park and he subsequently sold it in 1760 to John Calcroft MP.

Evidence that structures were being placed in the river for shipping in raw materials and exporting chalk and flint can be found in the Corporation of London River Committee Minutes from 1770. The Corporation in those days acted in a role equivalent to the river planning authority.

In 1780 James Parker leased a plot of land beside Northfleet Creek, and by 1796 had developed his "Roman Cement". He was granted a patent for Roman Cement in 1796. Ebbsfleet, which fed the tidal creek, was once an important Roman centre, and is now better known for the Ebbsfleet International Station.

In 1787 Thomas Pennant, a traveller comments on his visit to Greenhithe, was exporting chalk to Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The price in those days was 16 shillings per load. A lot of flint was shipped to China for the potteries and also to Staffordshire for the potteries there. At first flints were broken up by hand at Wedgewood's works to make the glaze, but eventually it was realized that this was the cause of many deaths among the workers.

The Admiralty was a regular user of what it described as "Greenhithe Bay" and in 1805 John Rennie came up with a scheme for a Naval dockyard on the Swanscombe Marshes peninsula between Greenhithe and Northfleet. David showed us a plan for the dockyard with its 87 acres of main docks. After the battle of Waterloo the plan was dropped as being far too expensive. In 1831 the dockyard land which had been acquired was put up for sale. It was sold in 25 lots and so led to a major change in the land ownership in the area and the breakup of Ingress Park and the Hive Estate at Northfleet. Ingress park was bought by James Harmer, a barrister, and he had the present house, which he named Ingress Abbey, built using stone from old London Bridge.

After Parker's patent for Roman Cement expired in 1810 several makers entered the market and it became widely used, including (later) by Marc Brunel on his Thames Tunnel. In 1822 James Frost was granted a patent for "British Cement", which unlike Roman Cement was a mixture of chalk, clay and water. Joseph Aspdin of Leeds took out a patent for his "Portland Cement" in 1824. It basically required a mixture of three parts chalk two parts blue clay and water. This was mixed into a fine slurry, heated in kilns until it formed "clinker" and then cooled and ground to a powder. Cement was packed in large barrel type casks and was shipped this way by barge. The coal for the kilns was brought in by river and then the colliers loaded chalk as ballast cargo for their return voyages. When the local clay was exhausted sailing barges, known as "muddies", went to Cliff and the Medway Estuary and brought back cargos of mud (clay).

Joseph Aspdin's youngest son William manufactured his Portland Cement at Parker's old works at Northfleet Creek from 1846, but it was unsuccessful. Robins eventually acquired the business and it continued into the twentieth century. Aspdin gave his method of Portland Cement manufacture to a George Sturge who opened another works at Northfleet in 1853.

James Frost built the first cement works at Swanscombe in 1825. It was sold to Francis and White in 1833 and was then acquired by John Bazley White in 1837. Isaac Johnson, who was appointed works manager in 1838, developed his version of Portland cement at White's works around 1844. Due to lack of local demand White's sought contracts abroad and supplied thousands of tons of cement for concrete to build many French harbours. In 1862 there were 750 men working at White's works. Isaac Johnson left White's in 1852 and opened a cement works at Frindsbury and then at Gateshead. He later bought John Tilden's chalk ballast site at Greenhithe and in 1874 opened a new cement works which was famous for a very tall chimney known as "Long Tom". J. B. White's cement works, which opened in 1825, remained in continuous production until 1990. In 1865 the Northfleet Ballast Company was formed at Northfleet Creek and provided the chalk, mud and coal for cement companies that rented land. In 1874 a similar operation was formed up river, the Stone Court Chalk Land & Ballast Company. It eventually serviced four cement works, a whiting works and block paving works, all connected by an industrial railway.

The Thameside cement industry made a major contribution to the industrial revolution and was a major exporter of cement recognized round the world for its reliability; the historic importance of this industry should be better appreciated.

The North Kent Line railway between London and Strood opened to Gravesend in 1849 with a station at Greenhithe, which provided unwelcome competition to the recently opened deep water pier in the village. In 1856 Greenhithe ecclesiastic parish was formed from parts of Stone and Swanscombe. The famous cookery book compiler, Mrs. Beeton, lived at Mount Pleasant on the high ground above the village, until her death aged 28.

David showed us an extract from Havell's Greenwich to Ramsgate panorama, which showed Admiralty hulks moorings off Greenhithe. These panoramas were a feature of the steam packet boat pleasure trade up and down the Thames. Greenhithe was a favourite stopping off place for the Victorians.

In September 1861 the great battleship HMS Warrior, built at the Thames Ironworks, was moored off Greenhithe in the deep water channel to load armaments and munitions and then set the compasses on the swing buoys in St Clements Reach. Shorne Church Kent side and St Clements Church Essex side, were used as landmarks for setting the compasses. The river off Greenhithe formed a protective bay and over the years various training ships were stationed here. The first was Chichester which arrived on 18 December 1866. Access was obtained to the ship via the coastguard jetty. The Coastguard had had a base and moorings at Greenhithe from 1822. In 1871 HMS Worcester came as a training ship and finally TS Arethusa in 1874, a companion to the Chichester now run by Shaftsbury Homes. The Cutty Sark was also moored there in 1938. David said the influx of young lads to the training ships led to mass baptisms at St Mary's church!

In 1873 Alfred H Keep acquired the barge yard at Greenhithe, and launched his first vessel around 1874. His foreman shipwright or barge builder was a Frederick Thomas Eberhardt.

David concluded by showing a picture of the frozen Thames at Greenhithe in 1895. He then, with the aid of photographs, explained the basis of his second talk which will bring the story up to date.

© Sally Mashiter/David Challis