Good Night, Golden Mile - # 08/61

The lights of the modern offices on the Golden Mile flicker in the waters of the old Grand Junction Canal; the tiny white dots in the sky at the back are planes on track for Heathrow, landing at the rate of one every 90 seconds. The offices are populated by well known world-wide companies. The old canal, also part of a living, clean, fast-flowing river sweeps on. The Industrial Revolution has come and gone and the Knowledge Economy now faces turmoil on world capital markets. The Brentford series draws to a close.

Brentford rising - the Stunner of The Great West Road - # 08/53

Stand at the southern end of the dock basin in the late afternoon and look north. The enormous grey-blue glass mass of the GSK building reflects the afternoon sun. The strange golden towers are the mirrored reflections of the modern office blocks which stand opposite this magnificent glass creation.

I've chosen to show it in the context of the remaining derelict of sheds and a touch of old canal water below, with some tree cover on the right. The very old alongside the ultra modern world-HQ of Glaxo Smith Klein.

For another impression of sky and sunlight on glass see - http://richmonduponthamesdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/07/hard-forms-hard-nature-soft-sentiments.html

Camera: Olympus E3

The Bar Fly gets "clever": another in the occasional series - #08/53

"And the first question is...." Quizz night is in full swing, in this homely and deservedly popular small Brentford pub. The Waterman's Arms, has been on the site close to the river barge wharves in Ferry Lane since 1751.

Camera: Olympus C7070 WZ

Brentford rising - a walk around the "new dockland" #3 - # 08/52

The 19th C Lock Keeper's Office (naturally, still in regular use) has been carefully refurbished. I admire the human scale and warmth of these 19th C working buildings. It's hard to believe that this architecture was created at a time when the dock area was surrounded by slums and squalor......or are we being misled? Sometimes I'm puzzled. But even our own times also show shameful contrasts.


FreeFalling (a regular visitor) has asked about services and water on the house boats. There are extensive "environmental service" stations all along the canal to provide water, battery charging and sanitary services. Of course most barges use wind and solar power for electrical services. See also "the Coal Lady # 179" http://richmonduponthamesdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/07/coal-lady-179.html


Camera: Olympus C7070 WZ

Brentford rising - a walk around the "new dockland" #2 - # 08/51

I have enjoyed my recent walks around the new Canal Harbour that I think it is worth sharing in full. This view is looking East. The stunning "Turner Sunset" was taken from the bridge in the distance.

The grey clouds lit by the late sun, and the golden light on the bricks are spectacular. The water takes on a very special appearance.

This is the "Gauging Dock" where barges were assessed for their cargoes and fees calculated.

Brentford rising - a walk around the "new dockland" #1 - # 08/50

Here is the environment enjoyed by those fortunate enough to live around the Brentford dock basin.

The converted canal boats are surrounded by the apartments designed to look West towards the sunsets. In the background are the remains of some old work shops and sheds, and far back in the mist, the impressive blue glass wall of the GlaxoSmithKline building (more later).

Brentford's gift to the young painter, J.M.W. Turner - # 08/49

Close by the canal dock is a house (now a pub/restaurant called The Weir) where the young Turner lived from 1785-87. Here, inspired by the local countryside and waterways, young Turner started to paint his first water colours. His work is now priceless. Turner was known as "the painter of light" and is regarded as the "Father" of the Impressionist style so wonderfully practised by the great and much loved French painters 100 yrs later.

http://www.j-m-w-turner.co.uk/artist/turner-methods.htm

Imagine my amazement, when, walking a way from the house I turned a corner and was unexpectedly confronted by a stunning sunset reflected as golden light in the waters of the River Brent (now part of the Grand Junction Canal Dock basin).

I have tried to capture that sunset and its reflection in this photograph - a tribute to Turner.

Camera: Olympus C7070 WZ

The 2,000 yard Gas Works - # 08/45

Here it is (or was: on this very site). The "Thing" to make you Afraid! The Brentford Gas Works. The Gas Works closed in 1963; at its largest the works covered 8 1/2 acres on both sides of the High Street. The Brentford Gas Company was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1821. Its main works lay on either side of Brentford High Street, with a long frontage to the River Thames. Consequently Brentford was one of the first towns to have fully lit streets - the peak of modern city living!

Imagine! Brentford was 1/3 giant Gas Works, 1/3 giant Water Pumping and Filtration Station, 1/3 Canal and Railway Goods Transfer point, and a mass of bad housing for 19th Century manual dock labourers and barge sailors. The "Do-Good Charities" of the 19th Century were tearing their hair out over poverty, child education and schooling and poor health and housing. A town once described as "a paradise", became "the filthiest in England".

Yet on the other side of the river was Richmond, with its royal palaces and accolade as the "most beautiful town in England".

But it's not all bad..........read the official website comments.

http://www.brentfordhighstreet.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=57&Itemid=40

http://www.brentfordhighstreet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=47

Your private world? Your choice - # 08/36

So which would you choose? A barge on the main Thames river channel, or something locked deep inside this 200 yr old canal wharf, surrounded by the "old stuff" and the encroaching saplings and bushes?

Your benefit will be the wonderful impact of the sunset hitting the derelict building and reflecting back into the water. The basin faces south, so you are assured of some extra warmth at noon. But those English Novembers and Februaries are sure to be rather damp.

I took several snaps trying to catch the golden reflection, the shadows and the shining mud, and the green mould on the bricks. It was hard to capture it all, but this version makes the point. The colourful barges always help. But I fear it's less romantic than it looks.

Camera: Olympus C7070 WZ

Angles, textures nooks and crannies - # 08/35

As we wander deeper into the old Brentford canal docklands we encounter narrow alleys and bridges over dock entrances. We see light and shadow, weeds, wire, metal, wood, bricks and mud. We see the hard and the soft and the passage of 200 years. It's a walk back in time and an urban historian's delight.

Camera: Olympus E3

Back to 1805 - # 08/34

Moving from the Thames riverside into the old canal docks we come to the weir where the overflow from the canal pours out. The junk of ages can be seen in the mud. Very old sheds are still in use and the repair yard is thriving and full of work converting old Dutch motor barges into floating homes. On the other side the huge area that became a railway cargo terminal in 1849 is now a housing estate built in the 1960s/70s when the dereliction was cleared.

The "Industrial Age" brought great wealth to Britain, but for Brentford it was a mixed blessing.

Stop here for a great canal-side walk - # 08/31

"Goat Wharf": what a name to conjure with! It immediately calls up dark mysteries and tales of "the Olden Days". This is THE bus stop for your entrance into the old canal docks of Brentford - a photographer's delight.

Brentford resident - # 08/24

The old canal harbour area is a strange mixture of brand new urban development ("luxury" flats), ancient decay awaiting renewal, and 1950s post-war recovery stuff that is falling back into decay, no doubt waiting to become more "luxury" flats. These derelict sites are ideal for our much loved feathered friends, who act as feeding stock for the peregrin falcons of the area.

Grand Junction - # 08/08

Let the furnaces open and blind us with their light! Let them pour forth their streams of molten metal! Let metal goods display the spectrum of light that guides the skillful eye of the foundry master! Let stanchions be cast and and tubes of miraculous alloy be rolled, and stone and pottery be fired! Let England's mighty indutrial heart wax strong and pour out its manufactures and ship them to the Great Metropolis of London and out into the World!

It is 1801 and the Grand Junction Canal reaches Brentford and enters into the Thames. This is a significant event in economic history. The great canal enters the Thames at the point marked by the silver monument mentioned yesterday. (The Thames is behind me, and the Thames Lock, last on the system - or first - is at the far end of this picture). You can read something about it here: http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/grandjun.htm and in other historical references.

Tomorrow we go to a temple and spend some days worshipping the Great Titan......STEAM.

Regarding some questions asked yesterday:
@MarydeB.....this picture is exactly as it came from the camera. There is no tweaking.

@Freefalling.....no it is not usually smelly. The river is cleaner today than it has been for centuries. Salmon can be caught (sometimes).

@Oldmanlincoln........the tide rises and falls, as you say. The community of Strand on the Green that I featured some time ago, with its spectacular rises and falls and quayside houses, is about one and a half miles further down river from here.

Camera: Olympus C7070 WZ