the church doors were constrained to bear in their hands a wax taper
of six pounds weight. That it is only thirty-two years since a woman
convicted of the offence of brawling in church, stood, by sentence of
the Ecclesiastical Court, in a white sheet and with a candle in her
hand, _coram publico_, in a church in Devonshire. By the superstitious
in olden times in England the rescued parts of Candlemas tapers were
supposed to possess supernatural virtues. "Candlemas Bleeze" was until
recently, a bonfire festival still observed in sequestered parts of
Scotland. A "winding sheet," a "thief" in the candle, etc., were
regarded as evil omens, and anxious fears excited if suddenly a hollow
cinder were ejected from the fire to know whether it resembled a cradle
or a coffin!
About a century ago London was so infested with gangs of highwaymen
that it was dangerous to go out after dusk. In 1705 an Act of Common
Council was passed for regulating the nightly watch of the City. A
number of strong able-bodied men had to be provided by each Ward. Every
person occupying any shop, house or warehouse had either to watch in
person or pay an able-bodied man to be appointed thereto. Watchmen were
provided with lanterns and candles and armed with halberts; to watch
from nine in the evening till seven in the morning from Michaelmas to
the first of April, and from ten till five from the first of April till
Michaelmas. Thus they went their nightly rounds calling "Lantern and a
candle! Hang out your Lights!" for during dark nights a certain number
of householders in each street had to hang out lanterns with a whole
candle, and the Watchman thundered at the door of those delinquents who
neglected to do so. The total number of Watchmen appointed by this Act
was 583.
Facing Price's Candle Factory was a field which was rented by the
Company and used as a cricket ground for their employés. Queen's
Terrace and streets adjacent now cover this portion of land.
Among the State Papers is a letter dated August 22, 1580, from
Archbishop Sandys to John Wickliffe, keeper of his house at Battersey,
in which he directs him to deliver up the house to the Lords of the
Council so that it might be turned into a prison for obstinate papists.
During the Commonwealth, York House was sold to Sir Allen Apsley and
Colonel Hutchinson for the sum of £1,806 3s. 6d., but it was reclaimed
by the See after the Restoration.
Brayley in his History of Surrey says, "Besides this Mansion (near
York House) there are several handsome seats fronting the river and
various large manufacturing establishments, Chemical works, and
melting furnaces, etc. are extensive along its banks, greatly to the
annoyance of the market gardeners and florists who complain grievously
of the injury they sustain by the smoke and noxious vapours of the
numerous steam engines now employed in this hitherto rural district.
The establishment here for the preservation of timber from the dry
rot, called _Kyanizing_ from the name of its inventor, was destroyed
by fire on the 20th of March, 1847; and the conflagration extended
to other neighbouring works. The process was carried on by forcing
tar through the pores of the wood, and here was a large pond of that
fluid, the blaze of which set fire to immense piles of timber which had
either undergone the process, or were in a state of preparation for
it."--_Brayley, Surrey Mantel_, _Vol. iii. P._ 447.
A very useful thing is that dentated instrument called the _Saw_. Pliny
says that the saw was invented by Dædalus. According to Apollodolus
Talus invented the saw. Talus it is said having found the jaw-bone of
a snake employed it to cut through a piece of wood and then formed
an instrument of iron like it. Saw-mills were erected in Madeira in
1420. At Bresdan in 1427. Norway had the first saw-mills in 1530. The
Bishop of Ely Ambassador from Mary of England in the escort of Rome
describes a saw-mill there 1555. The attempts to introduce saw-mills
into England were violently opposed, and one invented by a Dutchman in
1663 was forced to be abandoned. Saw-mills were erected near London
about 1770. The excellent saw machinery at Woolwich Dockyard is based
upon the invention of the Elder Brunel, 1806-13. Sir Mark Isambard
Brunel was the son of a Normandy farmer, and born at Hacqueville, near
Rouen, on the 25th of April, 1769. He early shewed an inclination for
mechanics, and at school preferred the study of the exact sciences to
the classics. In 1786, he became a sailor in the French Navy. In the
revolutionary period of 1793, having involved himself by his political
opinions he escaped from Paris to the United States. Brunel's career as
an engineer began 1794 when he was appointed to survey for the Canal
which now connects Lake Champlain with the river Hudson, at Albany. He
afterwards acted as an architect in New York. On his return to Europe
in 1799, he married the daughter of William Kingdom, Esq., Plymouth,
and settled in England. Here he soon established his reputation as a
mechanician by the invention of a machine for making block pulleys
for the rigging of ships. The erection of steam saw-mills in Chatham
Dockyard, a machine for making seamless shoes for the army, machines
for making nails and wooden boxes, for rolling paper and twisting
cotton hanks, and lastly a machine for producing locomotion by means
of Carbonic acid gas, which however though partially successful was
afterwards abandoned. "But the great work by which his name will be
transmitted to posterity is the Thames Tunnel which, though almost a
complete failure as a commercial transaction is nevertheless a wondrous
monument of engineering skill and enterprise. It was commenced in
March, 1825, and opened to the public in 1843, after a multitude of
obstacles and disasters." He held extensive premises at Battersea on
the site now occupied by the Citizen Steam-boat Company, where his
celebrated saw and veneer mills were burned down about the year 1814.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814; was appointed
Vice-President in 1832. He was Knighted in 1840. Died Dec. 1849, in his
eighty first year, universally respected.
Sir Richard Phillips, who had an opportunity of inspecting Brunel's
machinery at Battersea, eulogizes his fame and speaks of his merits and
scientific genius thus:--"A few yards from the toll-gate of the Bridge
on the western side of the road stand the workshops of that eminent,
modest, and persevering mechanic Mr. Brunel, a gentleman of the rarest
genius who has effected as much for the mechanic arts as any man of
his time. The wonderful apparatus in the Dockyard at Portsmouth with
which he sets blocks for the navy, with a precision and expedition
that astonish every beholder, secures him a monument of fame and
eclipses all rivalry." At Battersea Works Sir Richard witnessed four
circular saws, two of them 18-ft. in diameter and two of them 9-ft.
in diameter, besides other circular saws much smaller used for the
purpose of separating veneers. He saw planks of mahogany and rosewood
sawn into veneers the 16th of an inch thick. By the power that turned
those tremendous saws he beheld a large sheet of veneer 10-ft. long by
2-ft. broad separated in ten minutes "so even and so uniform that it
appeared more like a perfect work of nature than one of human art." In
another building Sir Richard was shown Mr. Brunel's manufactory for
shoes, where the labour was sub-divided so that each shoe passed by
aid of machinery through twenty-five hands complete from the hide as
supplied by the currier. By this means a hundred pairs of strong and
well-finished shoes were made per day. He remarks, "each man performs
but one step in the process, which implies no knowledge of what is
done by those who go before or follow him. The persons employed are
not shoemakers, but wounded soldiers, who are able to learn their
respective duties in a few hours. The contract at which these shoes are
delivered to Government is 6s. 6d. per pair, being at least 2s. less
than were paid previously for an unequalled and cobbled article." The
shoes thus made for the Army were tried for two years but afterwards
abandoned from economical views.
Sir Richard Phillips in his "Morning Walk from London to Kew" (page
42) says, "at the distance of a hundred yards from Battersea Bridge
an extensive pile of massy brick work for the manufacture of soap has
recently been erected, at a cost it is said of sixty thousand pounds. I
was told it was inaccessible to strangers and therefore was obliged to
content myself with viewing it at a distance." This soap factory stood
by the water side, a little to the east of the Bridge, erected by Mr.
Cleaver. There were some large turpentine works in this parish, which
belonged to Mr. Flocton.
Battersea has three bridges across the Thames communicating with
Chelsea.
The history of the Ferry prior to the erection of the OLD WOODEN BRIDGE
at Battersea can be traced back some two or three centuries. It was
much used as a means of transporting passengers, goods, etc., over
this part of the river. At the commencement of the reign of James I.
the Ferry from Battersea to Chelsea or Chelchehith Ferry was in full
operation. When James I. ascended the throne "by Letters Patent for the
sum of £40, the King gave his dear relations Thomas Earl of Lincoln,
and John Eldred and Robert Henley, Esquires, all the ferry across the
river Thames called Chelchehith Ferry, or Chelsea Ferry." In addition
to which some grants of land were included and the Grantees were
empowered to transfer their rights to "our very illustrious subject
William Blake." In 1618 the Earl of Lincoln, who owned Sir Thomas
More's house in Chelsea which Sir Thomas More had purchased from Sir
Robert Cecil, sold the ferry to William Blake. In 1695 it belonged
to one Bartholomew Nutt. The ferry appears to have been rated in the
parish books in 1710 at £8 per annum. Between the year 1765 and 1771
the ferry produced an average rental of £42 per annum. Sir Walter St.
John by virtue of his manorial rights held possession of the ferry,
at his death in 1708, the ferry with the rest of the property went to
his son Henry, who died in 1742 having left the family estate to his
son Henry the famous Viscount Bolingbroke, at whose death in 1751,
in consequence of his having no issue or progeny of his own, the
estates with the title descended to his nephew Frederick (son of his
half-brother, John Viscount St. John) who obtained an Act of Parliament
in 1762 to sell his estate, which, as we have already observed, was
purchased in 1763 by the Trustees of John, Earl Spencer. Earl Spencer
being anxious to replace the ferry with a bridge, in 1766 obtained an
Act of Parliament which empowered him to build the present bridge.
The bridge is in Battersea and Chelsea Parishes (the marks defining
the boundary line of these Parishes meet in the centre) it was not
to be rated to the land tax, or any public or parochial rate; nor
deemed a County bridge, so as to subject the Counties of Surrey and
Middlesex to repair the same. In the event of any casualty occurring
to the bridge thereby rendering it "dangerous and impracticable" the
Earl had to provide a convenient ferry at the same rate of tolls as
the bridge. Some old writers who have written on the Antiquities and
History of Surrey, state that the bridge was built at the expense of
fifteen proprietors each of whom subscribed £1,500. Mr. Walford says
in 1771, "Lord Spencer associated with himself seventeen gentlemen,
each of whom was to pay £100 as a consideration for the fifteenth share
of the ferry and all the advantages conferred on the Earl by the Act
of 1766. They were also made responsible for a future payment of £900
each towards the construction of a bridge. A contract was entered into
with Messrs. Phillips and Holland to build the bridge for £10,500. The
work was at once commenced, and by the end of 1771 it was opened for
foot passengers and in the following year it was available for carriage
traffic. Money had to be laid out for the formation of approach roads,
so that at the end of 1773 the total amount expended was £15,662. For
many years the proprietors realized only a small return upon their
capital, repairs and improvements absorbing nearly all the receipts. In
the severe winter of 1795 considerable damage was done to the bridge by
reason of the accumulated ice becoming attached to the (timber) piles
and drawing them on the rise of the tide, and in the last three years
of the eighteenth century no dividends were distributed." The bridge
is 726 feet long and 24 feet wide. It originally had 19 openings, the
centre opening had a space of 31 feet, and the others decreased in
width equally on each side to 16 feet at the ends, but in consequence
of the serious hindrances which the structure caused to navigation
on the Thames within the last few years the bridge has undergone
alterations in order to widen the water-way, four of the openings have
been converted into two and strong iron girders have been introduced.
The centre opening is now 75 feet wide with a clear head-way of 15
feet at Trinity High Water Mark. In 1799 only one side of the bridge
was lighted with oil lamps. "In 1821 the dangerous wooden railing was
replaced by a hand rail of iron, and in 1824 the bridge was lighted
with gas the pipes being brought over from Chelsea although Battersea
remained unlighted for several years afterwards." In the year 1878, the
bridge, which had hitherto remained in the hands of the descendants or
friends of the original proprietors came into the possession of the
Albert Bridge Company under their Act of Incorporation. Its revenues
in 1792 were about £1,700. About nine years ago its yearly income was
estimated at £5,000.
Battersea Bridge Tolls by Act of Parliament 6° George III. 1766.
For every description of vehicle drawn by one horse,
ass, mule or other beast 4d.
" two 6d.
" three 9d.
" four 1s.
For every horse, ass mule or other beast laden and
not drawing 1d.
For every hackney carriage with plates returning
empty per horse 1d.
For every foot-passenger whatever ½d.
For every drove of oxen or neat cattle per score l0d.
and after that rate in any greater or less number.
For every drove of calves, hogs, sheep or lambs per
score 5d.
and after that rate in any greater or less number.
On a Notice Board dated 6th October, 1824, are the following words:
"Notice is hereby given that no trucks, wheelbarrows or other carriages
will be permitted to be drawn upon the foot-paths of this bridge. By
order of the Proprietors."
The Bridge though convenient has an unsightly appearance and unworthy
its position across a river spanned by some of the finest bridges
in the world. At the foot of the Old Bridge is a toll-house with
walls twenty inches in thickness, facing which is a painted board
with charges for tolls headed "Old Battersea Bridge Tolls by Act of
Parliament 6° George III., 1766."
ALBERT SUSPENSION BRIDGE, conceived originally many years ago by the
Prince Consort, it was not until 1864 that an Act for its construction
was obtained. Although the works were commenced soon after the
necessary powers were conferred upon the Company, they were retarded
by the action of the Metropolitan Board of Works. That body proposed
to embank the river from Pimlico to Battersea Bridge, Chelsea; the
execution of that work would involve questions affecting the bridge
level and approaches. Not until 1867 did the Board obtain their Act,
and not until the Autumn of 1870 did their engineer determine the open
question affecting the approaches and levels of the Albert Bridge. In
the mean-time the powers of the Bridge Act expired, but were revived
on application to Parliament on condition that the bridge should be
constructed on Mr. Ordish's rigid suspension principle. This principle
is now generally well known, it having been carried out in practice
on several instances, notably in that of the Francis Joseph Bridge
at Prague, which is 820 feet long and has a centre span of 492 feet,
and two side spans of 164 feet each. The Ordish system consists in
suspending the main girders which carry the road-way by straight
inclined chains, which are maintained in their proper position by being
suspended by vertical rods at intervals of 20 feet from a steel iron
cable. The total length of the Albert Bridge is 710 feet and 41 feet
in width between the parapets, which are formed of the main girders,
which are of wrought iron 8 feet deep and continuous; the upper portion
is perforated in order to lighten and improve the structure. The main
girders are connected transversely by cross girders placed 8 feet
apart, on these the planking is laid for the carriage road-way, which
is formed of blocks of wood placed with the grain vertically on the
planking. The roadway is 27 feet in width. On either side is a foot-way
7 feet wide, paved with diamond-shaped slabs of Ransome stone 12 inches
square and 1½ inches thick, laid on the planking with a layer of tar
and asphalted felt interposed. The slabs in the centre of the footpath
are of a grey color with an ornamental border. The four towers carrying
the main chains of the bridge are placed outside the parapet girders;
they are placed in pairs, each pair being connected at a height of 60
feet from the platform level by an ornamental iron work. The towers are
of cast-iron and consist each of an inner column 4 feet in external
diameter, and surrounded by eight 12-inch octagonal columns placed
12 inches from the central shaft, the whole group being connected
together at intervals by disc pieces of collars of cast-iron. The
straight chains are composed of rolled iron bars, united end to end by
riveted joints and having swelled heads only at the extreme ends. The
curved cable from which the straight chains are suspended to preserve
their equilibrium is of steel wire and is 6 inches in diameter. It is
composed of a series of strands of straight wires, about 900 in number,
bound together by a coiled wire of smaller diameter. The bridge is
divided into a centre with two side openings, the former a span of 400
feet, and the latter 155 feet each. There is a clear headway of 21
feet at the centre of the bridge from the under side of the platform
to Trinity high water mark, the height being reduced to 10 feet at the
abutments. The piers carrying the four towers are formed of cast-iron
cylinders sunk down to the London clay and filled with concrete. The
foundations of the piers consist also of cast-iron cylinders, the
bottom or cutting ring being 21 feet in diameter, 4 feet 6 inches high
and 1 3/8 inches thick. The next ring above this is 5 feet high and
tapers from 21 feet at its junction with the cutting ring to 15 feet
at the top, from which point the pier is constructed with cylinders
15 feet in diameter up to the level at which the towers commence. The
thickness of the metal in the coned and upper rings is 1¼ inch. The
bottom or cutting rings are noticeable as being the largest cylindrical
castings ever made in one piece. One of the chief peculiarities in
the Albert Bridge is the method introduced by Mr. Ordish in forming
the anchorage. The arrangement is perfectly independent of the great
mass of masonry generally employed in anchorages the anchorages being
contained within an iron structure. It consists of a cast-iron cylinder
20 feet 6 inches deep and 3 feet internal diameter enlarged at the
bottom into a chamber 5 feet diameter for anchoring the chains. The
cylinder is water-tight, and is provided with a manhole and steps, so
that the anchorage can be examined at any time, and cleaned and painted
when necessary. This cylinder is set vertically in a surrounding bed
of concrete, the bottom being 26 feet below the road-way bed. From
this proceeds a vertical anchorage chain, connected to the end of
the main girder, to which is also connected the principal back chain
and the wire cable. The horizontal strain is thus taken through the
main girders and the vertical lift by the mass of concrete in which
the cylinder is embedded, and which is about one-tenth the quantity
required in ordinary anchorages. The bridge commands an extensive and
picturesque prospect, having on the one hand Battersea Park and on the
other the Thames Embankment. Messrs. Williamson and Company were the
contractors for the bridge and Mr. F. W. Bryant was their engineer. The
cylinders for the piers were cast by Messrs. Robinson and Cottam, of
Battersea; the cast and wrought iron work for the superstructure was
supplied by Messrs. A. Handyside and Company of Derby and London, and
the steel wire cables by the Cardigan Iron and Steel Works, Sheffield.
There are twenty upright lampposts in keeping with the character of
the bridge each bearing a lamp. One rather taller than the rest stands
in the middle of the road approaching the bridge, at the base of
which toll-bars are swung on iron hinges to obstruct the carriages,
the others are placed at certain distances apart opposite each other
on either side of the pathways. There are also four small lodges at
which to receive carriage and foot tolls. The bridge was opened 31st
December, 1872, at 1 p.m.; re-opened the 23rd of August, 1873, at
12.30 p.m. Estimated cost of bridge with approaches, etc., etc., about
£90,000. Battersea Old Bridge belongs to the Albert Bridge Company.
Off Park Road, Battersea, is an antique cottage, the birthplace and
residence of Mr. Juer, who for several years discharged the duties of
Overseer and other Parochial offices in a manner creditable to himself
and highly satisfactory to the parishioners. From family records he has
been able to trace that his ancestors have occupied this dwelling for
the last three centuries. Mr. Juer died Nov. 30, and was interred Dec.
6, 1878, in the family vault in St. Mary's Church-yard, where there had
been no burial for 25 years. Canon Clarke read the burial service, and
many of the old parishioners were present who respected the memory of
the deceased.
CHELSEA SUSPENSION BRIDGE is an elegant structure on the suspension
principle, (from the site of Ranelagh to Battersea Park): it measures
347 feet between the towers and 705 between the abutments. It was
made at Edinburgh and erected in 1857 after designs by the late Mr.
Thomas Page, the architect of the New Bridge at Westminster, at
a cost of £85,319. It was opened on the 28th of March, 1858. The
roadway is suspended upon chains, which hang from two massive and
ornamental piers in the river, the ends being firmly secured by solid
masonry on the shores. On a portion of the iron-work of the beautiful
arches connecting the towers of this magnificent bridge, beneath
the escutcheon representing the Royal Standard, are emblazoned the
following Latin inscriptions in old German characters:--_Anno Regni
Vicesimo Victoria, Anno Domini_, 1857, _Gloria Deo in Excelsis_. The
large globular lamps at the top of the piers are lighted only when the
Queen sleeps in London.
Tolls paid for passing over this Bridge were:--
For every foot-passenger ½d.
For every description of vehicle drawn by one horse
and other beast of draught 2d.
For each and every additional horse or other beast
drawing 1d.
For every horse, mule or ass not drawing 1d.
For every wheelbarrow or truck not drawn by any
horse or other beast 1d.
For every score of oxen or neat cattle and so in
proportion for any greater or less number 8d.
For every score calves, sheep or lambs, and so in
proportion for any greater or less number 4d.
Hackney coaches and licensed cabs without passengers, waggons, carts
and drays unladen with two or more horses, to pass over the bridge upon
payment of half the above toll. And all post chaise returning without
passengers and return post horses, to pass over the bridge free. By
virtue of an Act of Parliament 9th and 10th Victoria, cap. 39. By order
of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings, 1858.
Office of Works, 12, Whitehall Place, Westminster.