All about Battersea. Henry S. Simmonds
[1] All workmen employed by the London Gas-light Company (unless hired on other terms) are engaged on weekly hirings, and are required to give, and entitled to receive, a week's notice before leaving or being discharged from the Company's service, except in case of misconduct, for which a workman will be discharged without notice.
By order of the Board,
A.J. Dove, Sec.
13th March, 1876.
On a recently-exposed Section at Battersea.
Extracts from a Paper read before the Geologists' Association, March 1st, 1872, by John A. Coombs, Esq.
"This section was exposed on a piece of ground recently acquired by the London Gas-light Company for a Gas-holder Station. It is situated to the north of the Prince of Wales' Road, Battersea, between the high-level lines of the London, Brighton, and South-Coast, and the London, Chatham, and Dover Railways, near the point of their separation after crossing the Thames near the Chelsea Suspension Bridge. The excavations were commenced at the latter end of last year, for the purpose of constructing two gas-holder tanks, each 185 feet inside diameter. The total length of the excavation, therefore, was about 400 feet, by about 200 feet in width, and 30 feet in depth, the direction of the longest distance being very nearly from N.W. to S.E.
The average surface of the ground was 12-ft. 9-in. above the Ordnance Datum Level, or 8 inches above Trinity High Water Mark. The general Section was as follows:—
| Alluvial Soil and Vegetable Mould | 2 feet |
| Thames Valley Gravel | 22 " |
| Altered London Clay (brown) | 1 " |
| London Clay (excavated) | 5 " |
An interesting series of mammalian remains were obtained from the Valley Gravel, which, considering the limited extent of the excavation, and the number of specimens destroyed in the removal of the material, shews this section to be fully as prolific in these remains as the long-worked pits of Erith or Crayford. The specimens have been examined and identified by William Davies, Esq, of the British Museum, who kindly undertook to compare them with those in the national collection. The following is a list of these remains:—
Elphas primigenius, Blum. Portion of lower jaw and tooth, and the shaft of a humerus of a young individual.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Cuv. Part of a cranium, a lumbar vertebra, a right metatarsus, and a left metacarpus.
Equus caballus fossilis, Linn. A right metacarpus, a right radius, and an upper molar.
Bos. sp. Cervical vertebra.
Cervus elaphus, Linn. Portion of left ramus of lower jaw, and portion of a right radius.
Cervus tarandus, Linn. The base of a shed antler. (This had suffered considerable attrition).
There were also found a rib and a portion of an ilium of a Cervus (species indeterminable), besides many other fragments too small or too much mutilated for recognition. But the most unusual fossil found in such deposits was that of Pliosaurus, a portion of the paddle bone of which was found associated with the remains above mentioned. This fossil, which was probably derived from the Kimmeridge Clay, shewed evident signs of attrition, but not so much as to efface the marks of muscular attachment; it was, moreover, charged with peroxide of iron. Search was made in the anticipation of shells of Cyrena (Corbicula) fluminalis being associated with these remains, but without success.
Immediately beneath the Thames Valley Gravel was the London Clay, possessing all the typical features of that formation, without any of the loamy gradations found in higher parts of the metropolis. The top of the clay, however, to a depth varying from 9 to 12 inches, was of a brown colour, resembling the brown (altered) London Clay found at Hampstead and elsewhere.
The clay was excavated only to a depth of a few feet, thus preventing a great number of fossils being obtained. Those found, however, are sufficient for comparison with the zones of fossils found in larger sections, and thus may afford evidence of the amount of denudation to which the clay had been subjected at this spot before the deposition of the gravel. By far the most abundant fossil found in the London Clay was the Pentacrinus sub-basaltiformis, which was obtained in the rounded angular, as well as the perfectly cylindrical form. The following Mollusca were also obtained:—Nautilus regalis, Pyrula Smithii, Fusus bifasciatus, Voluta Wetherellii, Pleurotoma teretrium, Natica labellata, Dentalium, sp., Leda amygdaloides, Nucula Bowerbankii, Cryptodon angulatus, C. Goodallis, and Syndosyma splendens. Teredo borings, Serpula, and teeth of Lamma complete the list of organic remains.
Septaria were abundant in the clay, many of which contained drift-wood, bored by the Teredo, one contained a Nautilus regalis as a nucleus, and several exhibited the usual crystallizations of calcite, heavy spar, and iron pyrites. Selenite, however, was very scarce in the clay, being found only in small crystals, and these by no means numerous."
In Nine Elms Lane resided Mr. Sellar, a respectable tradesman who kept a tea and cheesemonger's establishment, and who for five years discharged his parochial duties as an overseer. Greatly deploring the irreligious condition of the spiritually-benighted poor of the neighbourhood, he had erected at his own expense, a hall at the back of his premises in Everet Street, to be used for religious and secular educational purposes. Subsequently the hall was rented by the Wesleyan Methodists, and was used by them as a preaching station, Mr. Farmer acting as steward and superintendent of the Sunday school which he commenced there. When the Sunday school was opened in 1871, not more than 20 per cent. of the children who presented themselves for admission could read, and their knowledge of the sacred contents of the Holy Scriptures was nil. However, though the task was difficult, for seven years Mr. John Farmer, assisted by his small staff of Christian teachers:—
Plodded hard, and labour'd well
As many in Nine Elms can tell.
The hall is now engaged by the Metropolitan Tabernacle Evangelization Society. A Sunday school is still held in the place and evangelistic services conducted there every Lord's day evening.
In this neighbourhood stood Phillips's Fire Annihilating Machine Factory. The public were frequently invited to come and see the working of the machines. At the time appointed an improvised cottage was set on fire; when fairly alight, the machines were brought to bear upon the flames and with marked success. A man and his wife had charge of the factory. One Sunday morning the man went out into the fields with his gun, leaving his wife to prepare dinner. Soon after the composition in the factory exploded, and immediately the building was enveloped in flames—the man hastened back to save his wife, but failed in his attempt to rescue her—the poor woman perished.
BRAYNE'S POTTERY for Stone-ware manufacture has been pulled down, on the site adjoining is Laver's Portland Cement Works. The Lime Kilns which had stood nearly two centuries have long since disappeared. The Whiting Works which mark the site remain among the oldest structures in this vicinity were established in the year 1666. At the entrance to the Works stood the rib bones of a Whale which the proprietor fancifully had placed there. One of the Whiting sheds formerly stood higher up the river. Mr. Laver is the owner of these works. Where Lloyd and Co's Manufacturing Joinery Works are situated were the house, timber yard and premises, owned by Mr. Robbins, father of Mrs. Cooper, Dairy, New Road. Near the spot where now stands the Royal Rifleman tavern, was a timber dock. Moored close to the river's bank was a barge house or cabin called "Noah's Ark." In the dock adjoining Noah's Ark was an old steamboat said to have been one of the first that "ran" on the Thames. The river about this part offered great