Gloucester Docks

A fascinating challenge this week ~ to share a photograph that signifies transitions and change, to explore the ways in which a single photograph can express time, while only showing us a small portion of any given moment.

I spotted this man building a sand sculpture at Gloucester Docks recently. It was to celebrate the Tall Ships festival, which was taking place over the weekend. He worked, oblivious to all around him, with patience and skill. It was wonderful to see his pile of sand change into a beautiful work of art. I was mesmerised.

I have written about Gloucester Docks before as it is one of my favourite places locally. The whole area signifies transitions and change to me. The wonderful old warehouses, which were once the thriving heart of business in the area are now recycled as accommodation for students, restaurants, museums, or offices.

The old Mariner’s Church in the background of my photo tells its own story of how the area has changed over time.

In Victorian times a visitor to Gloucester would have found the docks teeming with sailors from all over the world as well as British emigrants preparing to set off for a new life in North America.

Spanish seamen brought onions to Gloucester and sold them in the streets to local housewives. A local newspaper account in 1860 describes the many nationalities that could be seen and heard at the Docks:

‘Here we see a Frenchman from the rich vine districts of Brittany, an Italian from the fertile plantations around Palermo or a swarthy Negro escaped from the Slave States of America. These, with a few Americans and a sprinkling of Norwegians, Danes, Dutchmen and Germans, compose the motley crews of the arrivals in our port’.

In those days, seamen and bargees were distinctively dressed and there was a social barrier between them and other citizens, especially on Sundays when citizens would wear their Sunday best to go to church. It was decided by a local wealthy businessman that the mariners needed a chapel in which they could be welcomed regardless of language or dress. And so it was that the simple Mariners Chapel was built in 1848, primarily for the workers at Gloucester Docks and crews of vessels moored there.

The first chaplain, Rev James Hollins, must have been an inspirational man. He organised services in foreign languages when necessary, and used a portable organ for services on the quayside. There was a Sunday school for boatmen’s children. Religious tracts were given out in many languages, including Welsh, Hindustani and even Chinese. In its first five years, 2,000 copies of the Bible and over 14,000 leaflets in 12 different languages were distributed.

The local watermen and families were often uneducated and living very basic lives. Drunkenness and bad language were common social problems among them. In 1884, an old cheese warehouse with two flats was purchased nearby, for use as a meeting hall. Mariners church started up a coffee bar there, and gave reading and writing lessons. The hall also provided a place simply to relax.

Today this is where I take my granddaughter to a ‘mini-mariners’ playgroup. it is also where the Galley serves hot lunches every Friday to the local homeless community, or anyone needing help for whatever reason.

Mariners is a proprietary church, independent of the local diocese. It was set up specifically to meet the spiritual needs of the docks’ community. There was no dress code and no language or social barrier. Just a christian desire to help and support the community. Today this work continues.

Enjoy some of my photos from the tall ships weekend.

Mariners Church Gloucester Docks

Tall Ships Festival 2017

The Matthew

Inside the Mariners Church

The Pulpit in mariners Church

Stained Glass Window showing history of the Docks

Sand Sculpture

I had quite a nautical June as I also went to Bristol Quays on a day trip. The SS Great Britain is fully restored sitting proudly by pleasure boats, ferries and old warehouses now turned into luxury flats.

Anchor

. “A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea”, written by Allan Cunningham, is one of the best British sea-songs, although written by a landsman.

A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea

A Wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
And bends the gallant mast;
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
While like the eagle free –
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
Old England on the lee.

“O for a soft and gentle wind!”
I heard a fair one cry:
But give to me the snoring breeze
And white waves heaving high;
And white waves heaving high, my lads,
The good ship tight and free –
The world of waters is our home,
And merry men are we.

There’s tempest in yon horn’d moon,
And lightning in yon cloud:
But hark the music, mariners!
The wind is piping loud;
The wind is piping loud, my boys,
The lightning flashes free –
While the hollow oak our palace is,
Our heritage the sea.

2013 derelict and abandoned but still beautiful

Roof collapsed and interior destroyed

In previous blogposts I’ve described my love of water and written about days at the seaside, by rivers, or admiring springs and waterfalls and lakes that are special to me. I could be happy near any of them. Beside water I can relax and be at peace. I am often inspired to write by the sheer beauty and elemental power of water. But today I would like to bring canals and docks into the mix.

Being born near the great River Tyne, I have been fascinated from the earliest age by ships, bridges, and the industrial buildings that line the banks around docks, ports and quaysides. Of course many have now been lost to us through disrepair. Others have been restored as wonderful museums, like the Gloucester Waterways Museum, or art galleries like the Baltic Mill in Gateshead. Many have been converted into luxury homes and offices like Butler’s Wharf on the River Thames in London. But some have just aged gracefully, and stand majestically observing the changing world around them.

One such building, close to where I live, is the old ‘Llanthony Provender Mill’ or ‘Foster Brothers’ Oil and Cake Mill’ on Baker’s Quay. It faces the Gloucester and Sharpness canal, which is served by Gloucester Docks.

Opening in 1862, the 6 storey warehouse played an important role in the industrial development at the docks in the late 19^th century. In fact it is listed by English Heritage because of its important place in Gloucester’s history. Originally, the mill crushed linseed and cottonseed, extracting the oil from the seeds and then forming the remainder into seed cakes for cattle feed. According to the civic society, the business remained in the hands of the Foster family for 4 generations, until 1945, when it was sold to West Midland Farmers as a storage and distribution depot. In the last two decades much of the area has been bought up by developers and some areas have been dramatically changed by the building of the shopping centre and the College on opposite sides of the canal. However, so much is unchanged, that the area has become a magnet for film makers who use Baker’s Quay as a film set.

Last year Tim Burton’s film, ‘Through the Looking Glass’, was filmed there. It starred Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham-Carter. It was an amazing sight with Tall Ships in the misty docks ~ very atmospheric. Sadly I was not invited to be an extra on this occasion, disappointing as they filmed on my birthday!

The warehouses at the docks are all built of red brick several storeys high. Inside there are wooden beams and cast iron pillars. Outside they look very impressive with lots of small windows covered with metal bars. Many of the warehouses still have faint painted signs showing their original dates, names and uses. They were mainly for storing grain or salt and had wooden loading bays facing the quay. Some have very impressive covered areas supported by pillars jutting out to the canal or quayside.

The docks area, the bridges, and the warehouses are utterly fascinating to me. I have delighted in taking my grandchildren over there by car, bus or train over the years, then going on boat trips down the canal to Sharpness. Thankfully I have taken lots of photos too as last weekend (3^rd October) there was a dreadful fire which partially destroyed this wonderful historic building. The local people are devastated by the loss of this much loved building, and local photographers and artists have been sharing their thoughts and feelings.

One local artist, Claudia Araceli was drawn to go over to the docks and paint that very building on the day that it was destroyed. She was there until early evening completing a beautiful painting before leaving at 6.45pm. The fire caught hold at 9pm and took fire crews all night to extinguish.

The photos at the top of this post show before and after the fire. One was taken a couple of years ago when I took my grandchildren on a boat trip along the canal. The other was taken this week after the fire. Here is Claudia’s stupendous and serendipitous painting