I love Nick Drake, so was very excited when I stumbled across a series of photographs purporting to be of him in New Cross. They were taken in 1970 by Keith Morris (1938-2005 - obituary here) as part of the shoot for the Bryter Later album. The caption says: 'Taken high above New Cross and overlooking the industrialised Thames estuary'. Only trouble is you can't see the river from New Cross, and there aren't any hills by the river in Deptford either. So where were these pictures taken? Presumably somewhere in SE London, maybe more Charlton/Woolwich way or even further East?
Any idea where were they taken?
© Estate of Keith Morris |
© Estate of Keith Morris |
© Estate of Keith Morris (this image was used in Mojo, March 2012) |
© Estate of Keith Morris © Estate of Keith Morris Update Sunday 12th May: debate in comments and on twitter has swung between the location being Maryon Park in Charlton and the churchyard of St Mary Magdelene in Woolwich. I think the former now looks more likely, specifically the area of the park known as Cox's Mount/Gilbert's Pit above the railway tunnel. Clincher for me is this 2010 picture taken from there by Stephen Craven showing what is now the Industrial Estate in Charlton down below. Also somebody who used to live in the houses in Woolwich Road next to the park reckons they are the houses shown. |
Compare also this 1905 picture from Ideal Homes - 'New Charlton and Charlton Vale from Cox's Mount, Maryon Park. The typical "School Board for London" school on the right is Maryon Park School, opened in 1896 and now part of Greenwich Community College. The road running towards the river is Hardens Manor Way with the "Lads of the Village" public house about half way down on the left. This pub is now called the "Thames Barrier Arms", named after the Thames flood barrier (opened 1983) which crosses the river at the left of the picture. The large factory on the riverside is Siemens Brothers Telegraph Works.Behind the factory can be seen the masts of the "Warspite", a training ship for boys run by the Marine Society':
So why did the photographer choose this location? I wonder whether there's a connection with Blow-Up? Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film famously used the park for key locations. The central character in the film is a photographer loosely based on David Bailey. And in the mid 1960s Nick Drake photographer Keith Morris served an apprenticeship with Bailey - he would certainly have been aware of the film, wonder whether his involvement went any further?
0 comments:
Post a Comment