Day 63
Neasden - Newbury Park - New Cross - New Cross Gate
A new day, a new letter, and some new (in name at least) stations to visit. Yes, we're on to the 'Ns' - it's the second half of the alphabet folks!
And, continuing the theme of recent weeks, they're a wide-spread bunch today - from North West, to way out East, and ending up south of the river in Deptford.
The first station of the day is Neasden, the calibre of which you might be able to hazard a guess at if I tell you that it was once the subject of a satirical song by the late, great Willie Rushton (who we encountered, if you recall, on my last trip out, at Mornington Crescent).
The song, simply entitled 'Neasden', can be heard here - but its sentiments can be summed up in the following brief excerpt:
"Neasden!
You couldn’t want a better reasden...
Oh you will not fail to thrill, when you hear at Dollis Hill,
That the next stop on the line, is the place that I call mine,
Is it Sodom or Gomorrah? No it’s God’s own Borough!
Neasden!......"
Obviously things were very different in 1972 when the song was released, but I think it's safe to say that it was with tongue very firmly in cheek that Mr Rushton listed the many 'attractions' to be found in Neasden.
As I exit the station onto Neasden Lane, and am faced with a selection of warehouses, industrial units and offices, I think even Willie Rushton would be hard put to find anything to sing about these days.
You can - just about - see the top of Wembley Stadium in the distance, and a little further away from the station the warehouses give way to rows of terraced houses, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it a singularly drab and uninteresting sort of place.
But in fact it is also the location of an edifice which is the antithesis of those two adjectives.
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London (or 'Neasden Temple' to give it its more common name) is, quite simply, magnificent.
I approach it via the back streets and through a small park, and for most of the walk the temple is completely hidden from my view. So it's a bit of an eye-opener when you turn the corner and are faced with the ornate splendour of the temple building across the street.
It was built over two years in the early 1990s using traditional methods and materials, and funded entirely by the Hindu community. The project cost £12 million and used 4,500 tonnes of concrete, 2828 tonnes of Bulgarian limestone and 2,000 tonnes of Italian marble.
As if that weren't ambitious enough, all of the stone and marble was first sent over to India to be carved by a 1,526 strong team of sculptors. Every piece was numbered, so that when it arrived back in Neasden it could be assembled like some kind of enormous Airfix model.
I don't enter the temple itself, although it does welcome visitors. Since I'm not religious myself, I would get nothing from it personally, and since I would have to adhere to the restrictions on not taking photos within the buildings, I feel it would be somewhat pointless in relation to this blog. Nevertheless, I imagine it would be just as impressive inside, and - for those who believe - an expression of man's devotion to the divine.
My walk to and from the temple takes me alongside the busy North Circular Road, on which there is a rather more modern temple - dedicated to the Norse god of laminated flat-pack furniture, Ikea.
Another temple I try and avoid entering at all costs...
***
So, on to my next stop - Newbury Park - and boy is it a long old trek.
We're back out east on our old favourite, the Fairlop Loop section of the Central Line, and sadly, this area has even less in the way of attractions than Neasden.
In fact, if you want to see the most interesting thing about Newbury Park, you don't even need to venture any further than the station car park. The huge curved roof over the station entrance is actually a bus shelter, built in 1949, and is not only Grade II Listed, but also collected an architectural award at the 1951 Festival of Britain. (Is it just me, or did that last sentence conjure up an image of an Oscars style awards ceremony, with a succession of glamorous, cocktail-dress wearing buildings all pouting at the cameras on the red-carpet outside the theatre...?)
I do walk along the main road for a short way and pass the Ilford War Memorial Gardens. The memorial itself is an impressive, if fairly standard, example of its kind, though at the moment it is surrounded by bags of building material as there seems to be some work being done on the entrance to the gardens.
I'm sure I've mentioned before how interesting it can sometimes be (thanks to the wonders of our digital age) to look at places under the 'microscope' of the satellite view on Google Maps. The overhead perspective thus given can often reveal details and features you might otherwise miss with only a ground-level view. These gardens include one such detail, which you'll see if you zoom in on them from above as I've described.
Now, it may be that the shape of the flower-bed behind the memorial is discernible as you walk around it, but I do think it's something best seen from above to get the full effect.
***
And so, we reach the final two destinations for today.
And I'm lumping them together, not just because they're only ten minutes apart, but because (historically at least) they've both actually shared the same name.
The first 'New Cross Station' (if only by ten years or so) is the one now called 'New Cross Gate', and is therefore the second one I'll be visiting this afternoon. The two stations were originally owned by separate and rival railway companies in the mid 19th Century, and it wasn't until these two companies were brought together under the combined ownership of the 'Southern Railway' company in 1923 that they sorted out the confusing names.
Both stations are now on the London Overground network, with New Cross being at the end of short branch off the main route to Croydon.
The station is just off the main New Cross Road and the 'cross' in question was apparently the 'Golden Cross' coaching house (long since gone) which stood near the site of the current New Cross House pub, about halfway between the two stations. Originally the area was called Hatcham, and the name probably changed some time in the 17th Century.
The area has an unfortunate history of violence and bloodshed - some home-grown, some the result of wartime attacks.
In 1944 a German V-2 rocket hit a Woolworths store on the main road, killing 168 people. Though it's semi-hidden by shop awnings and aerial cables, a plaque commemorating the event is still visible. (The store is now a branch of Iceland).
In 1977 New Cross Road was the starting point of a march by the far-right National Front, which aimed to march to neighbouring Lewisham. Anti-Fascist counter-protesters from both areas decided to disrupt the march as best they could, and managed to break through the police cordons protecting the NF marchers.
The resulting clashes became known as the 'Battle Of Lewisham' and although the counter-protesters did succeed in preventing the NF marchers from reaching their ultimate destination of Lewisham town centre, over 100 people were injured and over 200 were arrested during the riots.
Today the area suffers more from the modern scourge of Knife Crime. Just two days after my visit the television news tells of a confrontation involving knife-wielding teenagers on the main road - exactly where I stand taking my various photos. This confrontation was apparently stopped by a group of local women (including one with her baby strapped to her back!) who stepped in to break the gangs up. By the time police arrived, the gangs had all fled the scene.
It's not all doom and gloom here though.
Further along the main road, almost opposite New Cross Gate station, is Goldsmiths, University of London.
This institution is perhaps best known for producing some of the most famous artists, designers, musicians and performers of modern times. Among others who have studied here are Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Mary Quant, Damon Albarn, Julian Clary, Lucien Freud, Neil Innes and Malcolm McLaren.
This 'artistic' connection is clearly, and flamboyantly, seen in the design of one of its newer buildings, the Ben Pimlott Building:
Pimlott was a political biographer and historian and was Warden (or head) of the college from 1998 to 2004. Despite this rather 'bookish' CV, he was passionate about Goldsmiths place in the field of creative arts, so it seems he would have appreciated the 'scribble in the sky' which adorns the building named after him.
I think it's great - very playful - but I can also see how for many it would very much fall into the 'my two-year-old could do better than that' category of modern art. (On the other hand, I'm sure if your two-year-old got paid as much for their doodles as the architects no doubt got paid for this building, I'm sure you wouldn't be quite so vociferous in your criticism.)
And that's just about it.
I leave the area from New Cross Gate - about which there isn't really much to say.
The name comes from a toll-gate that once stood on the same site (during the early 18th Century) but since, as I've already explained, this name wasn't used until 1923 it seems disingenuous to extol the historical connection too vehemently.
And so we end this first foray into the delights of the letter 'N'. From now on it's all points 'North' (except of course they aren't all in the north - that would be too easy) - so I'll see you next time as we kick off with North Acton. Toodle-pip!
And, continuing the theme of recent weeks, they're a wide-spread bunch today - from North West, to way out East, and ending up south of the river in Deptford.
The first station of the day is Neasden, the calibre of which you might be able to hazard a guess at if I tell you that it was once the subject of a satirical song by the late, great Willie Rushton (who we encountered, if you recall, on my last trip out, at Mornington Crescent).
 |
| Neasden |
The song, simply entitled 'Neasden', can be heard here - but its sentiments can be summed up in the following brief excerpt:
"Neasden!
You couldn’t want a better reasden...
Oh you will not fail to thrill, when you hear at Dollis Hill,
That the next stop on the line, is the place that I call mine,
Is it Sodom or Gomorrah? No it’s God’s own Borough!
Neasden!......"
Obviously things were very different in 1972 when the song was released, but I think it's safe to say that it was with tongue very firmly in cheek that Mr Rushton listed the many 'attractions' to be found in Neasden.
As I exit the station onto Neasden Lane, and am faced with a selection of warehouses, industrial units and offices, I think even Willie Rushton would be hard put to find anything to sing about these days.
You can - just about - see the top of Wembley Stadium in the distance, and a little further away from the station the warehouses give way to rows of terraced houses, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it a singularly drab and uninteresting sort of place.
 |
| Neasden Station, and Wembley Stadium |
But in fact it is also the location of an edifice which is the antithesis of those two adjectives.
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London (or 'Neasden Temple' to give it its more common name) is, quite simply, magnificent.
 |
| Neasden Temple |
 |
| The Mandir (temple) Building |
 |
| Roof Detail |
 |
| The ornate carving is breath-taking |
 |
| Wall Detail |
I don't enter the temple itself, although it does welcome visitors. Since I'm not religious myself, I would get nothing from it personally, and since I would have to adhere to the restrictions on not taking photos within the buildings, I feel it would be somewhat pointless in relation to this blog. Nevertheless, I imagine it would be just as impressive inside, and - for those who believe - an expression of man's devotion to the divine.
My walk to and from the temple takes me alongside the busy North Circular Road, on which there is a rather more modern temple - dedicated to the Norse god of laminated flat-pack furniture, Ikea.
Another temple I try and avoid entering at all costs...
***
So, on to my next stop - Newbury Park - and boy is it a long old trek.
 |
| Newbury Park |
In fact, if you want to see the most interesting thing about Newbury Park, you don't even need to venture any further than the station car park. The huge curved roof over the station entrance is actually a bus shelter, built in 1949, and is not only Grade II Listed, but also collected an architectural award at the 1951 Festival of Britain. (Is it just me, or did that last sentence conjure up an image of an Oscars style awards ceremony, with a succession of glamorous, cocktail-dress wearing buildings all pouting at the cameras on the red-carpet outside the theatre...?)
 |
| And the award goes to... |
 |
| Bus Shelter - Grade II Listed |
I do walk along the main road for a short way and pass the Ilford War Memorial Gardens. The memorial itself is an impressive, if fairly standard, example of its kind, though at the moment it is surrounded by bags of building material as there seems to be some work being done on the entrance to the gardens.
 |
| Ilford War Memorial |
Now, it may be that the shape of the flower-bed behind the memorial is discernible as you walk around it, but I do think it's something best seen from above to get the full effect.
***
And so, we reach the final two destinations for today.
And I'm lumping them together, not just because they're only ten minutes apart, but because (historically at least) they've both actually shared the same name.
The first 'New Cross Station' (if only by ten years or so) is the one now called 'New Cross Gate', and is therefore the second one I'll be visiting this afternoon. The two stations were originally owned by separate and rival railway companies in the mid 19th Century, and it wasn't until these two companies were brought together under the combined ownership of the 'Southern Railway' company in 1923 that they sorted out the confusing names.
Both stations are now on the London Overground network, with New Cross being at the end of short branch off the main route to Croydon.
 |
| New Cross |
The station is just off the main New Cross Road and the 'cross' in question was apparently the 'Golden Cross' coaching house (long since gone) which stood near the site of the current New Cross House pub, about halfway between the two stations. Originally the area was called Hatcham, and the name probably changed some time in the 17th Century.
The area has an unfortunate history of violence and bloodshed - some home-grown, some the result of wartime attacks.
 |
| Site of V-2 Bombing |
In 1977 New Cross Road was the starting point of a march by the far-right National Front, which aimed to march to neighbouring Lewisham. Anti-Fascist counter-protesters from both areas decided to disrupt the march as best they could, and managed to break through the police cordons protecting the NF marchers.
The resulting clashes became known as the 'Battle Of Lewisham' and although the counter-protesters did succeed in preventing the NF marchers from reaching their ultimate destination of Lewisham town centre, over 100 people were injured and over 200 were arrested during the riots.
Today the area suffers more from the modern scourge of Knife Crime. Just two days after my visit the television news tells of a confrontation involving knife-wielding teenagers on the main road - exactly where I stand taking my various photos. This confrontation was apparently stopped by a group of local women (including one with her baby strapped to her back!) who stepped in to break the gangs up. By the time police arrived, the gangs had all fled the scene.
It's not all doom and gloom here though.
Further along the main road, almost opposite New Cross Gate station, is Goldsmiths, University of London.
This institution is perhaps best known for producing some of the most famous artists, designers, musicians and performers of modern times. Among others who have studied here are Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Mary Quant, Damon Albarn, Julian Clary, Lucien Freud, Neil Innes and Malcolm McLaren.
This 'artistic' connection is clearly, and flamboyantly, seen in the design of one of its newer buildings, the Ben Pimlott Building:
 |
| Ben Pimlott Building |
I think it's great - very playful - but I can also see how for many it would very much fall into the 'my two-year-old could do better than that' category of modern art. (On the other hand, I'm sure if your two-year-old got paid as much for their doodles as the architects no doubt got paid for this building, I'm sure you wouldn't be quite so vociferous in your criticism.)
And that's just about it.
I leave the area from New Cross Gate - about which there isn't really much to say.
 |
| New Cross Gate |
The name comes from a toll-gate that once stood on the same site (during the early 18th Century) but since, as I've already explained, this name wasn't used until 1923 it seems disingenuous to extol the historical connection too vehemently.
And so we end this first foray into the delights of the letter 'N'. From now on it's all points 'North' (except of course they aren't all in the north - that would be too easy) - so I'll see you next time as we kick off with North Acton. Toodle-pip!
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