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Established in the 1700s, the industrial area on the
east side of the Greenwich marsh had expanded down river by the early
1800s. The site on which a gunpowder store had originally stood was acquired
in 1829 by the Enderby family, Bermondsey tanners who had made money from
a white lead manufacturing process and then married into the whaling trade.
On this site in Greenwich, less than a mile from the
town centre, the Enderbys built a ropewalk (a long work area used for
making ropes) and a factory for making sails and cordage, Enderby's Hemp
Rope Works. On the riverfront they built Enderby House, dating from the
1830's. In the 1850's the site was bought by Glass Elliot, a pioneering
company in the the new submarine cable industry, and here the first Atlantic
cable was made. Submarine cables were made at Enderby's Wharf until 1975,
and part of the site is still in use today by its present owner, Alcatel Submarine
Networks.
For a more detailed history of the site, see Allan
Green's article: 150 Years
Of Industry & Enterprise At Enderby's Wharf and this 1949 article on Enderby House from the Telcon house magazine.
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Location of the Telegraph Construction
& Maintenance Company's works at
Enderby's Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula, a site of approximately
16 acres
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This aerial view of Enderby's Wharf
in the 1960s, looking eastward from the river towards Marsh Lane, shows the
factory buildings, Enderby House, and cable being loaded
on to CS Mercury
[see detail below]
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[1980s] Looking up-river from Enderby's Wharf
Image courtesy of David Watson |
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[2004] The cable machinery at Enderby's
Wharf, looking
up-river from
the east bank of the Thames. |
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Detail of the 1960s photograph showing
the machinery in
use, moving cable out from the works and on to CS Mercury
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| [2004] Close-up views of the cable
holdback machinery |
[2007] Cable holdback machine
Image courtesy of David Watson |
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The Wharf was renovated
for the Millennium, but vandals and neglect have quickly
taken their toll. These descriptive plaques are weathered and paint-sprayed. |
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| Two views of Enderby House in 2004,
built in the 1830s and now a listed building |
2009 Update
Despite its listed building status, the owners of Enderby House are doing little to maintain it. This photograph taken by David Watson in 2009 shows very obvious deterioration in the five years since my photographs above. |
May 2011 Update
In May 2011 Enderby House is now far worse. Most windows are broken, the door is hanging open, paint is peeling, the grounds are unkempt and littered, and the building is in generally poor condition. |
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June 2011 Update
After seeing the deplorable condition of the building, I emailed Rebecca Duncan, the Senior Conservation Officer at Greenwich Council. She immediately took steps to require the site developer to secure the building. David Watson's recent photograph above shows the present condition. |
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"The green water
of the Thames today laps freshly-carved steps depicting the rich
industrial heritage of the Greenwich Peninsula. The Enderby Wharf
Ferry Steps are now owned by telecommunications giant Alcatel and
their refurbishment was an initiative of Carol Kenna from Greenwich
Mural Workshop. The official opening took take place in September
2001.
"Historically, the
steps were used by the ferrymen who rowed crew out to the cable
ships. The new steps were carved by Deptford-based sculptor Richard
Lawrence, funded by the environmental regeneration charity Groundwork,
Alcatel and Greenwich Council."
[from Carving
out history: The regeneration of the
Enderby Wharf Ferry Steps, by Berni Cunnane
The steps seen from the wharf
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Looking up to the bank ...
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... and down to the river
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Another view of the Enderby Wharf ferry steps, by Adrian Mars |
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This repeater is of the
type that is used in transoceanic telecommunications systems.
The repeaters are spaced
approximately every 50km along the cable and contain optical amplifiers
which boost the optical signal that is being transmitted.
The repeaters are designed
to operate for at least 25 years, without maintenance, and sit on
the ocean bed to depths of 8000 metres.
The site in front of you
has been involved in submarine cable systems since the first cross-channel
cable in 1850. Submarine cable systems are used to carry Internet
data, video traffic and telephone conversations. Today, a system
is capable of transmitting enough words to fill 1 million copies
of the Bible every second!
2000 AD
ALCATEL
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Alcatel viewed from Marsh Lane
(see
map above)
in 2004,
looking west towards the river
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Aerial view of Telcon from Marsh Lane, looking west towards the river
Thanks to Jim Jones for supplying this image |
For an inside view of cable
making at Enderby's Wharf, see
Jim
Jones - Cable Work at Greenwich: Telcon, STC, & Alcatel
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