Leonard Bentley
Waterloo
This is a Raphael Tuck postcard in their “Town and Country” series printed in Holland and published in 1904. The view shows the South bank of the River Thames just east of Waterloo Bridge, the north bank and Blackfriars Bridge with the looming presence of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The photograph was taken from the Maltby shot tower on the west side of Waterloo Bridge the southern approach to which can be seen bottom centre. There were two shot towers on the south bank, the other was the middle “chimney” in the group of three shown. It was built in 1790 and was of course not a chimney but a new way of making lead shot, there was a furnace at the top of the tower which melted lead which was then poured through various sizes of sieves to drop into a tank of water thereby making the perfect spherical shot or musket ball. It is claimed that this method came to a man named Watts in a dream. The previous method relied on the water to cool the lead and the shot was often misshapen, it was the long drop in air which cooled the lead into the spherical shape which was required. At the time of the photograph the tower belonged to a company called Lane & Nesham but it was sold a few years later to “Dewar”, the whisky distillers for their London warehouse, the tower was demolished in 1934. The tall chimney on the right belongs to a Refuse Destructor which was built in 1900 by the Strand office of building works, later to become part of Westminster City Council. The plant was an early “Green” attempt to burn rubbish without the mess and pollution, it was known as the Horsfall system, six furnaces could burn twelve tons of rubbish per day. The chimney can be seen in photographs of the Festival of Britain but was demolished during the 1950s to make way for the National Theatre which was eventually built here in the early 1970s. The shot tower from which the photograph was taken was built in 1826 and was owned for most of its life from 1839 to 1949 by Walkers, Parker Co. In 1951 it became part of the Festival of Britain site, searchlights and a Radio Beacon were installed at the top of the tower. In the early 1960s the tower was demolished to make way for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Best viewed with the zoom feature.
Waterloo
This is a Raphael Tuck postcard in their “Town and Country” series printed in Holland and published in 1904. The view shows the South bank of the River Thames just east of Waterloo Bridge, the north bank and Blackfriars Bridge with the looming presence of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The photograph was taken from the Maltby shot tower on the west side of Waterloo Bridge the southern approach to which can be seen bottom centre. There were two shot towers on the south bank, the other was the middle “chimney” in the group of three shown. It was built in 1790 and was of course not a chimney but a new way of making lead shot, there was a furnace at the top of the tower which melted lead which was then poured through various sizes of sieves to drop into a tank of water thereby making the perfect spherical shot or musket ball. It is claimed that this method came to a man named Watts in a dream. The previous method relied on the water to cool the lead and the shot was often misshapen, it was the long drop in air which cooled the lead into the spherical shape which was required. At the time of the photograph the tower belonged to a company called Lane & Nesham but it was sold a few years later to “Dewar”, the whisky distillers for their London warehouse, the tower was demolished in 1934. The tall chimney on the right belongs to a Refuse Destructor which was built in 1900 by the Strand office of building works, later to become part of Westminster City Council. The plant was an early “Green” attempt to burn rubbish without the mess and pollution, it was known as the Horsfall system, six furnaces could burn twelve tons of rubbish per day. The chimney can be seen in photographs of the Festival of Britain but was demolished during the 1950s to make way for the National Theatre which was eventually built here in the early 1970s. The shot tower from which the photograph was taken was built in 1826 and was owned for most of its life from 1839 to 1949 by Walkers, Parker Co. In 1951 it became part of the Festival of Britain site, searchlights and a Radio Beacon were installed at the top of the tower. In the early 1960s the tower was demolished to make way for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Best viewed with the zoom feature.