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I
got stopped by a builder at the
P and B site...
Paynes & Borthwick II
So I told him I just like taking pictures 'Why?', and he looked a bit disappointed and said 'Well, we've had a lot of trouble with this site. People complaining about everything, about the noise and… all sorts of things.'
So, Borthwick Quay - or The Pains of Borthwick as someone from a group called Creekside Forum suggested.
The Borthwick part is now a pile of rubble, held down by fluttering red and white ribbons and grazed upon by yellow diggery things - the very picture of a Peter Greenaway film. Its yellow and white walls look rather exposed, doors like open mouths, wondering what's going to happen next, as if somehow it had a right to be there blocking up the waterfront like that.
Once upon a time there were huge flocks of birds here in amongst the reeds, picking at the brown shrimp on the water's edge. And if you asked nicely you could get a boat across the river and hitch a ride on a cart up the main road to London thereby avoiding the toll charges on the bridge. But then there was that trouble with the Spanish, and the Dutch, and they wanted more boats so Deptford got bigger. And some people of course did rather well out of it.
'Change' depends on what your parameters are doesn't it? Not so long ago the riverfront here was the site of Sayes Court, described by Samuel Pepys as one of the most beautiful gardens in England. It was trashed by the rather drunken Peter the Great and later built on by the navy who turned it into a giant storehouse to feed Jolly Jack Tar whilst fighting the French. And just down the road there's a rather ordinary looking street called Deptford Green which you can find on a map of 1623 by John Evelyn in which seems it was actually the village green.
Heritage is an emotive word. It's about value and meaning and both are subjective. Heritage takes account of the past, it's a judgement, and it's a lot easier than judging the future. Thirty years ago who could have imagined the Isle of Dogs as it is now? And thirty years before that who could have foreseen the riverside without cranes?
The question is not Where have we been? but Why were we there?
The
PandB building from across the river.
see also:
Paynes and Borthwick - PandB Showcase
links:
www.pandbshowcase.com