London Districts: Thamesmead (Documentary)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Subtitles available under video via CC button. Series Soundtrack available at yeththar.bandc.... Watch #LondonDistricts on TV @ Sky 117, Freeview 8, Virgin Media 159 and YouView 8 via London Live.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Series Playlist - bit.ly/2CcZFSA
Facebook fanpage - LondonDistricts/
Twitter - / dewyneuk
Instagram - dewynelindsay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Episode transcription (truncated):
Thamesmead is 11 miles from Charing Cross on the south bank of the River Thames straddling the border which divides the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley.
Tavy Bridge estate has been in decline at varying degrees for some years. Much of it has now been evacuated awaiting destruction. Soon we will see Peabody’s redeveloped blocks of 525 homes along with shops and a new library. It was originally thought up with futuristic ideas for solving social problems; restoring the close-knitted nature of working-class communities.
Before Thamesmead was Thamesmead, it was collectively the Erith and Plumstead Marshes. The Augustinian monks from nearby Lesnes Abbey, constantly drained the land to reclaim it and stopped it from flooding completely. By doing so, they could level the ground to cultivate their crops and rear domestic animals.
Gallion's Reach park features different clusters of man-made hillocks built-up as viewing platforms with the most domineering being the 20-metre high, conical mound of Gallions Tor. A helical pathway spirals around it twice before leading to its summit which is a paved plateau in the form of a compass. These hills are made out of engineered fill and subsoils recycled from contaminated land of the former Royal Arsenal. In the distance, old military buildings still remain from the days when these marshes formed part of Woolwich Arsenal.
The ecopark is an area of sustainable, affordable social housing built to high energy efficiency and modern environmental standards. The homes feature advanced insulation and their water supply is heated via solar panels in the roofs. Gallions is named after 14th-century family the Galyons who owned property on both sides along this stretch of the river. This is the reason why the seemingly associated Gallions Reach DLR station is north of the river in an entirely different district.
Connecting Plumstead to Thamesmead is a 3 mile footpath owned by Thames Water called Ridgeway. It exists as a pleasant way to obscure the Southern Outfall Sewer, which is why most of it appears as raised land. It comprises a mix of grass and dirt tracks plus paved paths and is meant to accommodate cyclists since the route is relatively flat. A similar path called the 'Greenway' covers the Northern Outfall Sewer.
The Great Stink terrorized London for two months of an exceptionally hot summer in 1858. For years, an inadequate sewer system channelled all human waste and industrial effluent directly into the Thames. Sewage smells horrible, but the stench is considerably more putrid if it is allowed to ferment in such long stretches of heat.
To extinguish the miasma (the smell), Victorian civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette had an idea to route the sewage by gravity flow and steam-powered pumping engines as remotely as possible seawards during the ebbing tide. The plan introduced the Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments to London inside which the sewers would need to run. This initiative brought an end to the Cholera outbreaks and we still rely on that same sewerage system today to service our city of 9 million people.
The engines however, were decommissioned in the fifties. The cost of dismantling them was so enormous, they just left them idle. The astonishing industrial building is a particularly special example of Victorian engineering of its time described as “the cathedral on the marsh”. The Crossness Pumping Station is now a museum for those wishing to marvel at the solution to that revolting situation.
Many of Thamesmead's angles can either be a very useful or a 'pleasing to the eye' aspect of its infrastructural layout. Stanley Kubrick decided Southmere was perfect for his dystopian cult classic film of 1971, 'A Clockwork Orange'. Channel 4’s BAFTA award winning series 'The Misfits', was filmed on location here in its entirety, and the super disturbing nightmare music video "Come to Daddy" by electronic musician Aphex Twin, chose this area in 1997 for its ultra gritty backdrop.
This channel deserves more than 6.7k subscribers. Excellent channel.
Working on it!
Yes i totally agree.
Almost double that now!
I was an Emergency Handyman for Thamesmead Town council 35 years ago.
Ive been in every inch of that place.
So many memories.
😊
Dam remember thamesmead town lol
Grew up in thamesmead and loved every minute.. Gonna miss the old estate!
Went to Thamesmead for a 3hr walk last afternoon and now checking your video..which made me think I hadn't done justice to the place on my walk!
You should do more videos! Appears that you have stopped.
Ah memories, I grew up in Abbey wood from '66 to' 76 and used to spend a ton of time in Thamesmead, mostly on my bike, good memories, been in Australia since '76. Thanks for the vid.
Fair dinkum remember the wildfowler 😂
wow thats another blast from the past, i know those streets and side walks and under/over passes like the back of my hand. from the pegasus to the bargepole to the wild fowler, from abbeywood comp to the riverside, from sewell rd to tavey bridge, from the adventure playgrounds to the milk round before school so i could buy myself 10 lambert and butler...for 90p. must be 34 years ago, feels like someone elses life.
And the cutty sark do you remember the pyramid club 🤔 and gogis 😅
I do went parkway windrush then waterfield lived stage 10 stage 1 and stage 3
Great - as usual. Learnt more about Thamesmead in 11 minutes than as many years. Thanks for your succinct yet detailed work again.
Appreciated - stay tuned.
All currently being bulldozed now (Thank God!) Well done on another fantastic video, keep doing us proud!!
Thank you Blue Bunny
Amazing. I live in Thamesmead for now and I’m enlightened. Your descriptions are beyond compare and your voice is wonderful
I'm honoured :)
Yes totally right about Dewyne's voice.
I used to live in a similar area called New Addington back in 1995. Like Thamesmead it was first planned as a new town way back in the 1930s. But development did not get really underway until the late 1940s and 1950s. It was completed at the end of the 1960s but quickly became a rundown crime ridden estate.
my nabour
I always wondered what Thamesmead looked like, and this excellent video has shown me. I really like your visual inflections, the wipes and short reversals, plus a self-made soundtrack - really good work.
Awesome, thank you for that!!
@@LondonDistricts A pleasure, great channel
Couldn't agree more. Wish you had more subscribers as your channel documentation skills are exemplary. Great music too.
Thanks for your great documentaries, music and research. Recommending them to anyone I can.
I lived in Thameo for about 15 years or so during the late 70’s to mid 90’s. I had some fun times there as a kid, the 1’o clock club near riverside. Saturday morning pictures at the Pyramid Club. Saying that, the amount of junkies and gluey’s knocking about in the parking garages along with the stench of urine was crazy. There were a few suicide cases of people throwing themselves off the high rise apartment blocks near Yarnton Way. There were a number of frequent Paedo attacks too. I escaped the clutches of one myself. A man followed me right up to a friends front door and only took off when he heard they owned an Alsatian barking loudly. I think at that time Thanesmead took in pretty much anyone across London willing to live under those conditions. It did bring in a community spirit but I’m so glad I got out.
I live on thamesmead and it's basically turned into a mini Lagos 😂
I enjoyed this video. Came to it after viewing the original Thamesmead promotional video from 1970. Seeking updated information and personal stories in the comment section. Anyway greetings from the US.
Me too. An excellent and informative update; beautifully narrated by Dewyne. Thamesmead It looks nicer here that in other videos.
Never visited Thamesmead but I should. It looks photogenic. You have a great eye for images.
You are one clever Humanaut! Love yer voice, info, eye, music, walkin' ...👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻...big up from California!
Why thank you Jools. All the way from Cali, nice!
Cheers Dewayne really enjoyed that as it was one of my old stomping grounds 👍
Really nice video! Learnt to sail on Southmere Lake and went to school in Thamesmead some nearly 20 years ago.
Again, nicely presented and filmed.
Great video with a well balanced view of thamesmead another new town like basildon in essex that looking back failed eventually which is a shame as the idea of the towns was excellent
Well said
Great narration and cinematography.
I enjoy Thamesmead as a location Really nice camera work
There's nothing wrong with the architecture of Thamesmead. It's the neglect that followed after it was built that caused it to be a no-go area. Both in terms of upkeep and looking after the tenants in so many ways..
Really interesting! Thank you for this.
Excellent video.
Thanks. One of my faves too!
Excellent video. It's always good to learn more about your neighbourhood
As part of the comprehensive amenities they have Belmarsh prison to accommodate the criminals of Thamesmead. A useful feature so that local families can visit their loved ones easily.
You talk crap that prison is for terrorists 🙄
Good video.lived in Thamesmead mid 80s.Gary Oldman film Tbe Firm used wildfolwer pub for some scenes.
I don't think i've seen that film. Have to have a butchers.
The film "The Beautiful Thing" was also filmed at Thamesmead.
Began working at Thamesmead around 1969,designing and laying out landscaping,not sure about living there though.
Interesting and informative, nice one, thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Love the videos covering the different areas of London. Please can you make a video about Welling, I would love to find out more. Keep up the good work
Well done. It was nice to see this approach to an area that was a colossal failure. I reckon had they build the tube stop, DLR stop, overgound stop - any transportation hub and proper shopping from DAY ONE the fait of this area wouldn't have become so dire. Thank you for your lite-version of this area of very south London. Cheers
it's such a shame that the awesome original 60's archetecture was pulled down, boy do i wish it stayed, shame it wasn't listed :(
I would like to agree with you, but the old estate was just too unsafe. Consecutive govts hadn't done enough to help, unfortunately it had to go. I do hope the new Peabody led district is a success rather than just a developers dream with empty flsts like Olympic park in Stratford has become.
They were listed … for demolition!
@@michaellondonxxx4860don't give up your day job 😂
@@racosinpeashoddy as we call them in thamesmead are a joke! new builds are falling apart and new flats for 3/4 of a million pounds 🙄 plus you have to pay part rent have shared ownership then service charges and flats are leasehold so in 40 years time it will be deja vu again 😢
0:32 Whoa! What is that yellow building? Has that always been there? Don't remember seeing that before moving away from Thamesmead in 2010. But then, we lived at number 17 and never really went further down Wolvercote Road (Hinksey Path).
I was a plumber when thamesmead was very first built! And the last houses I worked on were on Ampleforth road number 64, 😮Mike.
How fascinating and insightful.
The part near the beginning where you talk about the estates reminds me of the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. That's built in a similar way with the flats being elevated. They also used to have elevated walkways (they called it the deck level) which became hotbeds of crime back in the day. I understand the area has improved a lot since the infamous riots in the 80s though.
Interesting! The built environment has a say in these things.
Absolutely fascinating thanks
I love living here ❤
Rlly enjoy u vids mate. I grew up in Brixton and now live in Bromley and have a lot of south east London. Ur narrating and cinematography is rlly great and hope u continue 👍
Nice one Moe. I'll be in your new area soon.
@@LondonDistricts cheers matey
Dewyne, I'm watching you on London live as we speak 😂
Oh sweeet. stay tuned :)
Great video, really really interesting.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful Thing..
Super interesting as usual! Would love if you could do Vauxhall :)
Coming soon! Thank you Nahuel
Can you do Charlton?😊❤
A great film. It’s not the Thamesmead that I remember from 30 years ago. Please make another video on Thamesmead. It should be one of the best places to live in the UK because of its design but the occupants have ruined it. Such a shame.
The architecture is fascinating , it reminds me of Alexandra Rd and Rowley Way estate . That one got grade 2 listed !! So why not Thamesmead ??
Great video
Great video 👍🏾 Do you make any other video content?
Amazing. Please do one on Forest Gate.
Stanley Kubricks Clockwork Orange ran for 2 hrs and 18 mins. Only about 5 mins of it were filmed on Thamesmead.
I love your videos, your shot composition is incredible, what kind of set up are you using? And you do all the music yourself as well?! Do you make any other kinds of music that is available to listen to?
Thanks Rory, DM me on IG for the long answer...
It's true... It's really beautifully done.
Check out the new London Districts Soundtrack here yeththar.bandcamp.com/follow_me
Brilliant.
You forgot the movie "A Beautiful Thing", that was made in Thamesmead.
The new flats and maisonettes that will replace these buildings will not have these large balconies and generous size rooms !! Prime location for gentrification right by the river .
I need to live there!
Concrete dystopia, just like Milton Keynes, Irvine, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and all the other “new towns”
Sublime.
Did they film scenes from the misfits here ?
The entirety of the misfits was filmed here
which part of london do you live in?
Tavy Bridge Estate 0:18-0:56, 9:31-10:31 was the residence of the hate crime victim Rolan Adams (21/3/1975-21/2/1991) the murder occured on Bentham Road. 10:31-10:41 the largest national minority group is Nigerians.
Its now a no go area for everyone else
I lived in Thamesmead for 10 years now I live in Eltham.
Was it so bad?
@@Martindyna wdym? Bad...
@@da31d70 Can you enlarge? Did you feel unsafe, were the flats really difficult / expensive to heat? etc. / were the buildings falling apart or leaking?
I used to live in thamesmead
So did I.
there can only be one Jago Hazzard!
Very interesting but it must be horrible living there. Starmer is talking about New Towns and being a YIMBY,never heard such garbage in all my life.
😎
Clock work orange estate (film)
True
A truly dismal; a place to live it seems. I think you have captured well its character featureless, Not a place to attract me. Shame the dream of a government died because of other political figures. Well done for the hard work you put into your videos.
Appreciated Paul.
Do Kingston
Shitty public housing was a staple of all political parties.
Even the well intended was ruined with underfunding, under planning and wholesale graft from top to bottom.
this guy was talking about drugs but he is already on them 😂
R u stalking me i live around there and i lived in crystal palace and catfird
Hmm eerie. I assure you, there is nowt stalking going on!
OMG U ANSWERED
I lived near 09:00
It's 12:37pm now, are you still alive?
These days the native British are the minority. No need to travel to Africa, just visit Thamesmead.
music sounds like a kid practicing on a keyboard they got for Christmas
the horse 😂 in all seriousness I know Thamesmead is starved of transport and beauty but its going to be different not seeing the interesting designs of the times
Thamesmeads never been racist it was just more white than black people who lived here
Thamesmead itself was never racist...
Although in the overlapping decades of its diverse population, a certain percentage of its residents made life uncomfortable for everyone who just kept their heads down...
C18 was a thing there, and you had the national front headquarters in welling, justifying a certain pattern of behaviour towards non English residents...
But then that was also all over the country, but it was highlighted in thamesmead due to Rohit dougals stabbing and death...
Your right and the killing of lee rigby was also racist yet was not called a RACIST KILLING strange how its only a racist killing when the murderers are white
@@mattyboy584 yes I agree it was racist...
But it wasn't called a racist killing because it got put into an even worse category....
Terrorism...
@@gpethst24 yh i agree actuslly
Who else come from storrors vid
That's where the film "Beautiful Thing" was filmed in '95/'96, and to think I was going to try to go there to spot the exact places where scenes were filmed. I wouldn't go there now. However, this is an example of how communism fails.
it’s not a question of communism here (private effort was involved here, ruling out communism) more of urban planning
@@alisa2702 Government funded housing is communism or collectivism take your pick.
Sorry mate i spelt your name wrong on previous comment ,bloody dyslexia 😬
And thamesmead now is more racist than ever as the black people are racist towards whites so in your next video be sure to include that part cheers
And yeah there may be an element of that now but the video is of the history of places...
And remember....
We reap what we sow...
@Craig wells in the 2011 census it was 50 percent black and 40 percent white
Thamesmead used to be a nice place now its just shit
@@JA-zg2cb so who’s fault is that...? Is that racism? I’m confused..
wicked