November 18th - Day 214

I was set to go to a public violin masterclass at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama today, but had to change my plans, because Daisy was poorly and didn't go to nursery. I had a child-free couple of hours in the afternoon during which time I rocked up to Deptford Town Hall to watch a clarinet recital by Goldsmiths student Donia Moore. The Town Hall, now belonging to Goldsmiths, is a very grand hundred year-old building on the A2 in New Cross that I have managed to pass hundreds of times without noticing. The stately room that Donia and pianist Richard Black performed in was the former council chambers. Behind the musicians was a large wooden panel listing the former Mayors of Deptford up to 1965 and then it stopped. I wondered why and hit google. I didn't find out, but my guess is that the post of Mayor of Deptford cease to exist after that date.

I did discover, however, that Deptford Town Hall has a somewhat controversial and unsavoury history. Many of the ornaments and figures carved into the stonework inside and outside the building reflect the area's naval history, specifically Deptford's Royal Naval Dockyards which closed in 1869 after 356 years of business. The four statues carved in Portland stone on the front of the building, seen in the bottom photograph watching people walk past without noticing them, are famous naval figures. Atop the Town Hall, in the form of a weathervane, is a golden ship. "This is not a surprising symbol for Deptford considering its 400-year history at the centre of British overseas trade," says a piece on the Mediashed website, but "we are left asking, “What kind of ship is it? A warship? A trader? A slave ship?”. We could see implications for any or all of these types of ships as the four figures in question are Sir Francis Drake, Robert Blake, Lord Horatio Nelson and a composite figure that represents a typical admiral of the Edwardian period when the building was completed. It is well documented that Drake was involved in capturing and selling slaves. Blake and Nelson were less directly implicated but have had a hand in the British slave trade by association". And more, "As the weathervane on Deptford Town Hall reminds us, the area was a thoroughfare for ships and shipping. Ships were built and launched, refitted and repaired, unloaded and restocked on the Deptford waterfront. Many of those enriched by the African Caribbean trade began and ended each trip at Deptford. They brought with them slaves, symbols of wealth. Deptford became a key area for these newly arrived individuals whose number would increase as the trade developed. Still other slaves may have found themselves in the vicinity via other routes. As sales or gifts, black people may also have come through a number of other ports before reaching Kentish London."

Read more at mediashed.org/?q=DeptfordTownHall