Fences on East Dulwich Estate -Dog Kennel Hill (Another history one!)

[plimsoul]

hi neighbours! i thought that the derelict flats were owned by sainsburys and the council, part of the weird planning gain agreements when sainsburys moved in. my brother in law (who also lives on ivanhoe) said that he saw plans for the new block at the council and that they have been approved.

i think the bombed out house was the one that is on the corner of the terrace and is now a 3 floor block on the end. my neighbours tell me that years ago they would go in and start fires in there for fun.

when the council came by i just told them that the white boards surrounding the empty block were dangerous as drivers coming down bromar can't see what's coming. they listened and removed part of the white boards, but this didn't solve any of the problems. what does anybody think to the idea of some kind of traffic measures being put in to stop people bombing down the hill or through ivanhoe road? just a thought...

[Jeremy]

Hi neighbour #2!

I was wondering why they changed the white boards on the corner - shame it didn't really help, but I suppose it's nice to know that they listened to your concerns. Good news that the new plans have been approved, I think we'd all rather have a new building and some new neighbours rather than a horrid derelict building.

We definitely need some traffic calming measures, cars occasionally drive through that junction at stupid speeds. (Also think I need double glazing at the front of the house to keep out the sounds of all those enormous sub-woofers which people like to install in their clapped out Ford Fiestas).

[plimsoul]

boom boom, the sweet sound of summer ;)

i was thinking a mini roundabout at bromar and ivanhoe intersection and another one by hoopers junction. then maybe make that little stretch of ivanhoe between the 2 one way and the same for the top road (name escapes me now)

i do like all the work that they're doing on the estate, i have friends in there and the work done inside is good too.

[Jeremy]

There's not a lot of room for a mini roundabout... maybe if they used some of the corner where the flats are?

Yep, the estate is looking so much better, should look nice when it's all finished. I always said that the buildings are OK, they just need maintaining properly.

[plimsoul]

there are some great stair cases in there, when you go from playground to playground (that's what you do with twins that want to climb everything) you come across some great architectural details that are lost.

i was thinking that if they planted hedges along the fences it would soften the whole look of the blocks and look much greener. do the council have any funds for adding greenery to public spaces?

[Santerme]

We're trying to get public spaces to greenery here!!

[bbbenny]

Ultraconsultancy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My understanding is that this is an urban myth

> started by getting the cart before the horse.

>

> These fences were designed and erected in the 60s

> and 70s to be used as stretchers in time of

> emergency, either fire or civil defence. This was

> a product of the same paranoia that created the

> much loved Protect and Survive.

>

> Metal was scarce in both WW1 and WW2, and

> stretchers were made of wood and canvas with

> leather buckles and metal clips.

>

> If you look closely at the 'stretchers' you will

> see that the thechnology in the mesh, the extruded

> tubes and the welding is much more modern.

>

> The need to have a ready supply of stretchers near

> blocks of flats has IIRC been superceded by

> developments in the fire service, who now have

> inflatable slides like those fitted to airliners.

>

> Of course I stand to be corrected on all of this;

> I was having precisely the same conversation with

> a chum of mine in lovely SE5 just last week,

> probably the same ones as you, ratty.

>

> Ultraconsultancy

My family lived in the flats during the war and my brother told me the original cast iron railings were cut down and removed for the war effort.

[computedshorty]

The Iron Strechers were uaed in the war they conformed to fit into ambulances, air raid shelters on to the existing wooden two tier frames ( to replace the wooden and canvasone ones ). These were mass produced a stock pile existed at Camberwell Dopots, and the other ones that were being taken and sold for old iron, to prevent this a solution was that the iron stretchers could be used to act as fences, these were taking up so much capacity in depots, they were painted green and built as a fence with a small brick pier to support each one, to the public it solved the enclosurer of the green spaces but we knew that they were the old stretchers that might have had the casualties or those who died on them, so they were unpopular. The depot that housed most of the stretchers was called Grove Vale Dopot, it has long gone it was opposite the East Dulwich railway station following the railway tracks.

We as kids loved seeing the council Steam Road Rollers going about with the wooden workmans caravan on tow, they would stop for a refill of water at a Hydrant ( a metal Grating ) lifted in the pavement to expose the valve a three inch pipe could be screwed onto the waterboards emergency stand pipe, that suppied water to the nieghbours if a house had its normal supply worked on.

Plenty of hissing and steam while the water tank refilled the fire under the boiler raked clear of the dying embers and the ash dropping into the tray beneath and sparks and black smoke, when the roller was ready it chugged away with the kids following it to find out what it was going to be used for. where the Roller had stood while it had been there remained water everywhere in the curb on the pavement and in the road now splashed onto pedestrians, with the coal dust and grey ash.

Fred Dibner Had one of these.

[ruthmct]

The iron stretchers in the fence look just like the one we used to have when I was a St John Ambulance cadet back in the 1960's. You have to know what you are looking for though - it too kme a while to spot them when i first heard about it. Think of a tubular rectangle, with four V-shapes bent into the long sides, which acted as the feet when the stretcher was put down. (haven't been able to find a picture on the web yet)

Ruth