Temple Mills
Encyclopedia
Temple Mills is a northerly part of Stratford
, south of Leyton
, located within the London
borough of Newham
in east London
Today, Temple Mills is surrounded at present by former railway tracks and works belonging to the Great Eastern Railway
. Temple Mills Lane is to the north of the London 2012 Olympic Park
was almost entirely rural with much land owned by Sir Thomas Mead. Agriculture and related trades were the main forms of employment. Arable crops were grown, such as beans, wheat, oats and barley. This created a need for milling of the grain, and there were several mills in Hackney. Temple Mills were water mills belonging to the Knights Templar
, used mainly for grinding corn from their extensive lands in Homerton
and the Marshes
. The mills straddled the River Lea and so were partly in Hackney and partly in Leyton.
During the 17th century and 18th century, the former Templar mills were used for a variety of industrial purposes. These included grinding rapeseed
for oil, processing leather
, making brass
kettle
s, twisting yarn
, and manufacturing sheet lead. Gunpowder production at the mills led to a tragedy on the night before Easter 1690, when Peter Pain (a Huguenot
refugee from Dieppe) was blown up together with two of the mills, three stone houses, and a vast quantity of gunpowder manufactured by him for the government. His family, and a French minister, also died in the blast.
Temple Mills was the also the site of Chobham Farm, a meat cold storage warehouse. A strike and picket of the site in July 1972, led to the arrest and imprisonment of five trade unionists known as the Pentonville Five
. The dispute spread nationally becoming a cause celebre for the trade union movement and created a political crisis.
As Temple Mills is located in part of the Lower Lea Valley
, it is often subject to flooding.
the railway entrepreneur and it was the location of the Eastern Counties Railway
's and then the Great Eastern Railway
's railway works
.
Located at Temple Mills, the first locomotives built in 1850, were passenger tank locomotive
s, designed by J.V.Gooch, brother of the GWR
's Daniel Gooch
. There was also the first recorded attempt at a compound locomotive
using a modified two-cylinder goods engine. The works was the primary locomotive building plant for the GER
, but after the grouping
it was wound down by the LNER
and its main occupation was then repairs and major overhauls, and as a carriage works.
The main depot and works closed in 1963.
The residual diesel repair shop closed in 1991. A small Traction Maintenance Depot
survived for EWS
and Railtrack
for a period, but that was closed in 2007. The depot code was TD.
Temple Mills is the site of the £402 million replacement maintenance depot for all Eurostar
sets in the UK. Located near Stratford International
and on the edge of the Olympic Park
, it replaced the North Pole depot
over the course of late 2007, with operations to coincide with the opening of the new international terminal at St Pancras
.
Temple Mills depot is designed to house eight train-roads. The overall dimensions of the 8-road shed is just under 450m long by 64m wide, with a floor to ceiling height of approximately 12m. High level walkways in the trusses provide access to the shed services and facilities.
on High Speed 1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and in 2012 the location of the main Olympic Park
, which will contain a significant number of venues to be used in the 2012 Summer Olympics
, including the Olympic Stadium
, Aquatics Centre, and London Velopark
.
Stratford has been a focus of regeneration for some years and as of 2006 the seventy three hectare brownfield railway lands to the north of the town centre and station are to be redeveloped in a multi-billion pound scheme called Stratford City
, centred on Temple Mills. This will form a new purpose-built community of 5,000 homes, offices, retail spaces, schools, public spaces, municipal and other facilities. It is hoped that this will become a major metropolitan centre for East London. Part of Stratford City will serve as the Olympic Village
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
, south of Leyton
Leyton
Leyton is an area of north-east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, located north east of Charing Cross. It borders Walthamstow and Leytonstone; Stratford in Newham; and Homerton and Lower Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney....
, located within the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
borough of Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
in east London
Today, Temple Mills is surrounded at present by former railway tracks and works belonging to the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
. Temple Mills Lane is to the north of the London 2012 Olympic Park
Olympic Park, London
The Olympic Park in London is a new sporting complex currently under construction, adjacent to the Stratford City development in Stratford, Bow, Leyton & Homerton in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics....
History
Medieval HackneyLondon Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....
was almost entirely rural with much land owned by Sir Thomas Mead. Agriculture and related trades were the main forms of employment. Arable crops were grown, such as beans, wheat, oats and barley. This created a need for milling of the grain, and there were several mills in Hackney. Temple Mills were water mills belonging to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, used mainly for grinding corn from their extensive lands in Homerton
Homerton
Homerton is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south.-Origins:...
and the Marshes
Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marshes is an area of grassland on the western bank of the River Lea in the London Borough of Hackney. It was incorporated into the Lee Valley Park in 1967...
. The mills straddled the River Lea and so were partly in Hackney and partly in Leyton.
During the 17th century and 18th century, the former Templar mills were used for a variety of industrial purposes. These included grinding rapeseed
Rapeseed
Rapeseed , also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rappi, rapaseed is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae...
for oil, processing leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, making brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
kettle
Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...
s, twisting yarn
Yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
, and manufacturing sheet lead. Gunpowder production at the mills led to a tragedy on the night before Easter 1690, when Peter Pain (a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
refugee from Dieppe) was blown up together with two of the mills, three stone houses, and a vast quantity of gunpowder manufactured by him for the government. His family, and a French minister, also died in the blast.
Temple Mills was the also the site of Chobham Farm, a meat cold storage warehouse. A strike and picket of the site in July 1972, led to the arrest and imprisonment of five trade unionists known as the Pentonville Five
Pentonville Five
The Pentonville Five were five shop stewards jailed in July 1972 by the National Industrial Relations Court for refusing to obey a court order to stop picketing of a container depot in East London....
. The dispute spread nationally becoming a cause celebre for the trade union movement and created a political crisis.
As Temple Mills is located in part of the Lower Lea Valley
Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley, surrounding the River Lea , which runs along the boundary of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on its western bank and the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest and Newham on its eastern bank, into the River Thames. The river forms the...
, it is often subject to flooding.
Railway works
Modern Stratford was built as a 'new town' initially called "Hudson' Town" after George HudsonGeorge Hudson
George Hudson , English railway financier, known as "The Railway King", was born, the fifth son of a farmer, in Howsham, in the parish of Scrayingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, north of Stamford Bridge, east of York. He is buried in Scrayingham...
the railway entrepreneur and it was the location of the Eastern Counties Railway
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway was an early English railway company incorporated in 1836. It was intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then on to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in late March 1837 on the first nine miles, at the London end of the line.Construction was...
's and then the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
's railway works
Stratford Works
Stratford Works was the locomotive-building works of the Great Eastern Railway situated at Stratford, London, England. It was opened in 1847-1848 by the GER's predecessor, the Eastern Counties Railway...
.
Located at Temple Mills, the first locomotives built in 1850, were passenger tank locomotive
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
s, designed by J.V.Gooch, brother of the GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
's Daniel Gooch
Daniel Gooch
Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet was an English railway and transatlantic cable engineer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885...
. There was also the first recorded attempt at a compound locomotive
Compound locomotive
A compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...
using a modified two-cylinder goods engine. The works was the primary locomotive building plant for the GER
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
, but after the grouping
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
it was wound down by the LNER
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
and its main occupation was then repairs and major overhauls, and as a carriage works.
The main depot and works closed in 1963.
Temple Mills TMD
51°33′44.1"N 0°1′43.3"WThe residual diesel repair shop closed in 1991. A small Traction Maintenance Depot
Traction maintenance depot
In the United Kingdom, a traction maintenance depot, or TMD, is a railway depot where locomotives are serviced and maintained. A traction and rolling stock maintenance depot, or T&RSMD, is a maintenance depot where locomotives, multiple units and rolling stock are serviced and maintained. Each rail...
survived for EWS
EWS
DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...
and Railtrack
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from its formation in April 1994 until 2002...
for a period, but that was closed in 2007. The depot code was TD.
Eurostar depot
51°33′36.4"N 0°1′21.8"WTemple Mills is the site of the £402 million replacement maintenance depot for all Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
sets in the UK. Located near Stratford International
Stratford International station
Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in northeast London, United Kingdom...
and on the edge of the Olympic Park
Olympic Park, London
The Olympic Park in London is a new sporting complex currently under construction, adjacent to the Stratford City development in Stratford, Bow, Leyton & Homerton in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics....
, it replaced the North Pole depot
North Pole depot
North Pole depot was the London depot for Eurostar from 1994 until 2007. It was used for maintaining and stabling the fleet of British Rail Class 373 trains...
over the course of late 2007, with operations to coincide with the opening of the new international terminal at St Pancras
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
.
Temple Mills depot is designed to house eight train-roads. The overall dimensions of the 8-road shed is just under 450m long by 64m wide, with a floor to ceiling height of approximately 12m. High level walkways in the trusses provide access to the shed services and facilities.
Future
2009 saw the opening of Stratford International stationStratford International station
Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in northeast London, United Kingdom...
on High Speed 1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and in 2012 the location of the main Olympic Park
Olympic Park, London
The Olympic Park in London is a new sporting complex currently under construction, adjacent to the Stratford City development in Stratford, Bow, Leyton & Homerton in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics....
, which will contain a significant number of venues to be used in the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
, including the Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (London)
The London Olympic Stadium will be the centrepiece of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The stadium is located at Marshgate Lane in Stratford in the Lower Lea Valley and has capacity for the Games of approximately 80,000 making it temporarily the third largest stadium in Britain behind...
, Aquatics Centre, and London Velopark
London Velopark
The London Velopark is a cycling centre which was built in Leyton in east London, United Kingdom. It will serve as one of the 'Big Five' permanent Olympic and Paralympic venues for the 2012 Games. The Velopark is situated at the northern end of London's Olympic Park...
.
Stratford has been a focus of regeneration for some years and as of 2006 the seventy three hectare brownfield railway lands to the north of the town centre and station are to be redeveloped in a multi-billion pound scheme called Stratford City
Stratford City
Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, London, owned by the Westfield Group. The centre opened on 13 September 2011. With a total retail floor area of , it is one of the largest urban shopping centres in Europe. It is the 3rd largest shopping centre in the United Kingdom by...
, centred on Temple Mills. This will form a new purpose-built community of 5,000 homes, offices, retail spaces, schools, public spaces, municipal and other facilities. It is hoped that this will become a major metropolitan centre for East London. Part of Stratford City will serve as the Olympic Village
Olympic Village
An Olympic Village is an accommodation centre built for an Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, athletic trainers, and other staff. Since the Munich Massacre at the 1972...