Old Ford Locks 19 - The Stable

I had the opportunity to go inside the left hand side of the buildings by Old Ford Locks 19 today. The sanitary station is still out of action, and although there is some progress being made, it's not helped by boaters desperate to empty their chemical toilets levering up a manhole cover and dumping crap directly into the drains.

The electricity is being restored next week so workmen will be able to begin reinstating the smashed (vandalised) facilities there. In the meantime, back to the next door part.

This was, in the past, rented to a small fishing club, and then briefly squatted when the lease ran out (hence the anti-CRT sentiments expressed on the chalkboard.) To prevent vandalism the steel door of the building was (until recently) welded shut but inside the actual building is in very good repair.

Well preserved stable bits!

I was surprised to see it was set up as a stable and the smell of horses and hay was amazingly still perceptible. There are two stalls with hayboxes and windows above, a small storage come kitchen area to the side, and a fairly substantial loft for storage above. Tim, CRT's ecologist, pronounced the building free of bats, although there were a few rodent droppings around (standard for any London building.)

On the wall above the chalkboard the tattered remains of a horse collar still hang. I imagine CRT's heritage folks would like to hang on to that!

The plans for this part of the building are for it to become a CRT Welcome Station, providing shelter and information for passers by,  and it will also be a refuge for volunteer lock keepers for Old Ford Locks and for the nearby Carpenters Road lock. It's hoped that the presence of CRT volunteers will help keep the reinstated sanitary station from becoming as grotty, unloved and vandalised as it has been in the past.

I took some extra time to help CRT staff clearing up the refuse area on the other side of the lock. Jay, the unofficial artist-in-residence is moving on, and CRT are eager to tidy the far side of the locks and remove the old fishing club's scruffy and rusting-to-bits shipping container. There was a lot of rubbish to move and the hopper, now moved to the manual lock chamber, rapidly filled up.

I'm going to watch the progress on this site very closely.