Historic ship for Deptford - July 13th talk

You’ve seen the Lenox posters up, but they’ve puzzled some people, so here’s some explanation.

The Convoys Wharf development site

Convoys Wharf is a 40-acre development site, near the Dog & Bell pub in Deptford, on land where Henry VIII’s dockyard used to be. The developers, Hutchison Whampoa, have got planning permission to build about 3,500 new homes, including 38- and 48-storey buildings.
 
A group of local ship enthusiasts have also got permission to build, in among the high-rise waterfront flats, a full-size (52 metres) sea-going Charles II warship, a replica of The Lenox which was built there at the king’s yard in 1677. They are backed by Dan Snow and Joan Ruddock, and led by Julian Kingston, who lives on a boat in Deptford Creek.

Another group, led by Roo Angel, has plans to recreate Sayes Court Garden in the same Convoys Wharf development. At the moment only a very small part of the garden exists as a park. First planted in the 1650s by diarist John Evelyn, the garden was later trashed by tenants like Peter the Great with his penchant for high jinks in wheelbarrows. Much later it was crucial to the creation of the National Trust.

The Lenox - artist’s impression

The plan for The Lenox is to give the ship a permanent home on the site, when it isn’t sailing, and to provide a marine crafts visitor centre, and both a wet and a dry dock, so that other historic ships can be repaired there. Not much is left above ground of the ancient dockyard except the Master Shipwright’s House and a large warehouse. But below ground structures remain - a large basin, mastponds, slipways and a large double dry-dock.

There are still issues to settle in all these plans, and Julian Kingston and Roo Angell are coming to the Ash on Wednesday 13th July at 8pm, to tell us where things stand at present.

Artist’s impression of proposed Sayes Court Garden

The talks will take place either in the Ash back room or under tent cover in the Ash back garden according to numbers. So, to predict numbers, it would help us a lot if you’d book a free place in advance: imogenerussell1@gmail.com