a frame for the war record of a knight

Those seeking to spruce up their interiors with framed photographs, artwork or mementos would do well to look to Frontispiece at Cannon Workshops for assistance.

The business, owned and run by Reginald Beer, was recently commissioned to frame Sir Michael Caine’s medals and military record from his time in the Royal Fusiliers as a 90th birthday present from his wife. Before going on to become one of Britain’s most revered actors, Rotherhithe-born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite served in the army from 1952 to 1954 including a period on active service in the Korean War, coming close to death and eventually contracting malaria. Frontispiece, which recently framed photos for King Charles III, also sells antique maps and prints from its vast collection. Go to mapsandantiqueprints.com for more information

Time Lines

Greenwich Peninsula l 16th century - Greenwich Peninsula is drained by Dutch engineers for use as pasture land. In the 1600s it becomes notorious as a place where the corpses of convicted pirates are gibbeted as a deterrent to others considering a life of crime on the high seas. l 1694 - Government officials determine Greenwich Peninsula the ideal spot for a store of gunpowder and the area’s first industrial site is created on an area of marshland. Eventually this is removed in the 1770s to allow locals to set up their own businesses. l 19th century - The Peninsula is steadily industrialised with companies making everything from heavy guns to chemicals, submarine cables and iron and steel. l 1870 - Shipbuilders on the Peninsula construct two sister clippers, the Blackadder and the Hallowe’en. The former’s miserable maiden voyage, complete with failures in her masts and rigging and multiple collisions, led her owner to take 18 months of legal action against the builders for poor construction after insurers refused to pay out because she was deemed to be unseaworthy. The sorry vessel was eventually wrecked in 1905 having changed ownership. l Late 19th century - The area becomes home to industries such as boiler making, cement production, linoleum manufacture and the East Greenwich Gas Works. The latter becomes (by the 1960s) the biggest gas works in Europe and possibly the world. l 1897 - The Blackwall Tunnel opens, linking the Peninsula to the north bank of the Thames for the first time. With no passenger railway connection, the area will have to wait more than 100 years until the first Tube trains start running to North Greenwich station when the Jubilee line extension opens in 1999. l 20th century - The Peninsula continues as a largely industrial area until the march of progress sees many of its businesses become obsolete. The closure of the gasworks and other industries leaves the area a largely barren wasteland with much of the land contaminated and requiring remediation.

how homes on sale at Greenwich Millennium Village are built on a wealth of social and industrial heritage

by Jon Massey

This is an article about history, so it may seem incongruous to begin with a paragraph about 2023’s latest Tube strike. One of the walkout’s consequences was that I wound up travelling to Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV) for an interview with the scheme’s project director Chris Genner by bus – the 108 from Poplar, instead of the usual single-stop Jubilee line journey from Canary Wharf.

This trip provided both reassurance that Greenwich Peninsula remains pretty easy to get to, even without the Tube and a reminder that successful regeneration is usually powered by efficient, convenient transport. Today it’s additionally served by road, cable car and river bus.

GMV itself is a development by Countryside Partnerships and Taylor Wimpey London in association with the Mayor Of London, set to deliver up to 3,600 new homes when complete.

But to understand its inception, the more than two decades of progress so far and what that means for buyers today – it’s important to look at the history of this remarkable, singular site on the banks of the Thames.

live there ways to buy at GMV

>> GMV has a final few homes still available at The Observatory with prices ranging from £519,995 to £654,995. These are ready to move into immediately.

For buyers who reserve one of these remaining apartments, the developers are offering to pay up to £1,000 per month towards mortgage repayments for 12 months. First-time buyers will also have their legal fees and stamp duty paid – terms and conditions apply for both offers.

>> Alternatively, prices at The Galleria, which offers both apartments and maisonettes, start at £449,995.

Scan this code for more information about homes at GMV further back

As seen through the lens of GMV, there are two distinct periods in the history of Greenwich Peninsula.

The first covers the area’s transformation over several hundred years from anonymous boggy marshland into an industrial powerhouse, before its decline into a contaminated wasteland. The second begins in 1997 – exactly 100 years after the Blackwall Tunnel first connected the north bank of the river to the south as the Victorians attempted to supercharge the area with a transport link. However, with many of the industries having fallen obsolete and shuttered by the 1980s it was English Partnerships’ purchase of 300 acres of land on the Peninsula that started the GMV story. More of that later.

“One of the reasons that the proposition to create a new neighbourhood on the Peninsula in the 1990s was so exciting was that it had never been designated for significant amounts of housing before,” said Chris, who has been working on the project since 2018.

“If you look back through the historic maps it’s been a little bit of everything – very industrial with a brick works and the largest gas works in Europe, but also as marshland for grazing.

“Because of the industries that developed here, it was also a strategic target for bombing during the Second World War, so its history has been chequered.

“The chance to turn a place like this into somewhere that’s suitable for people to live is rare.

“In the past it had been quite an isolated location with very limited infrastructure. What’s really interesting is that during construction we have come across many old structures – not necessarily important from an archaeological perspective, just bits of concrete buried in the ground or buildings that have been demolished and covered over – but you look at the historical maps and you can make sense of them. Theory turns into reality and we can explain what we’re finding as work continues.

“Several of our residents are really interested in how the Peninsula evolved to become what it is today and how it will go on to evolve as regeneration moves forward.”