Bricklayers' Arms

Bricklayers' Arms roundabout and flyover.

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the approaches to London Bridge, including the Bricklayer's Arms and Willow Walk goods yards and associated approach lines.

Bricklayers' Arms is a busy road intersection between A2 and the London Inner Ring Road in south London, England. It is the junction of Tower Bridge Road, Old Kent Road, New Kent Road and Great Dover Street; Old Kent Road and New Kent Road east-bound are connected by a flyover.

The area is named after a local coaching inn that was situated at the junction. It is also the former site of a large railway facility.

Coaching inn

There have been inns situated at this site for more than six hundred years, and excavations during the rebuilding of the inn in the 1890s came across several previous foundations and a hidden hoard of ancient coins. It was the point at which coaches travelling along the Old Kent Road to or from the City of London set down or picked up passengers travelling to or from the West End. The inn was situated on land owned by the City of London Corporation and its sign was the Coat of Arms of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers.

Flyover

A flyover of the Bricklayers' Arms roundabout was built in the 1970s to cope with the increase in traffic in the area. Initially it consisted of two lanes for traffic, one into and one out of London; however, the London-bound lane was later closed after a number of head-on collisions on the flyover, which was hence reduced to east bound only route.

In the 1970s there was a plan by the Greater London Council for a road to go between the Bricklayers Arms roundabout and the northern entrance of the Blackwall Tunnel, crossing the Thames in two tunnels (one adjacent to Tower Bridge and providing a link to London Docklands.

The rather over generous proportions of the roundabout which includes pedestrian underpasses from the adjacent roads onto it was a result of London Underground route safeguarding for future proposals of an extension of the Bakerloo Line from its terminus at Elephant and Castle Tube Station along and under the main road route and thence underneath the trackways of the old main line station to join surface services at South Bermondsey station. The roundabout would have been the site of a station, similar in layout to that at Old Street. The route is still safeguarded but has no prominence in current proposals. The pedestrian underpasses were not attractive and involved quite circuitous walks via the island, surfacing and descending again to the various entrances; in 2009 these were supplemented by Pelican Crossings at the junctions with New Kent and Old Kent Roads, introduced because pedestrians preferring to cross there were causing more accidents. In 2013 the underpasses were filled in and levelled becoming wider pavements at these points.

Railway facilities

Adjacent to Bricklayers' Arms was a 26-acre (110,000 m²) site, connected to the main line between London Bridge and Croydon which was formerly of considerable importance to the history of railways in south London.

Derelict Bricklayers Arms branch line on the South Eastern Railway.

Bricklayers' Arms branch

The line was one mile and 56 chains (2.7 km) in length and was constructed in 1843–4 as a result of concerns by the South Eastern (SER) and London and Croydon (L&CR) railways about the charges being imposed by the London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) for the use of their terminus at London Bridge and its approaches. The two railways constructed a new passenger terminus and goods station on the site, thereby removing the need for them to use the Greenwich Railway facilities. According to Charles Vignoles, 'the making of Bricklayers' Arms station was a matter of compulsion in driving the Greenwich people to reasonable terms'. It had the desired effect and the L&GR agreed to more reasonable terms, as a result the L&CR ceased using the station in March 1845.

Plans to extend the line from Bricklayers' Arms to a new South Eastern Railway terminus at Hungerford Bridge, closer to the centre of London were never implemented. The railway introduced a proposal to extend the line to Waterloo Road in 1846 which was rejected by a committee of Parliament. In 1846 L&C became part of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the SER had leased the L&G line the previous year; future passenger developments were at London Bridge.

As part of a series of agreements of 1848 and 1849, the LB&SCR sold its inherited share of the facilities to the SER in the latter year whilst retaining the right to use the branch and to construct its own 15-acre (61,000 m²) goods depot on the site for an annual rent of one shilling (£0.05).

In the early 1890s the SER again proposed building an extension of the branch, but this time to Charing Cross and thence to Cannon Street but the plan was deferred about 1894, and was not later proceeded with by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Management Committee.

The line is historically significant as it was the first in the world to be controlled by a signal box. The signals and points installed by Charles Hutton Gregory and were the first to contain some elements of interlocking. A boiler explosion by a SER locomotive on 11 December 1844 caused a bridge collapse and killed two staff.

Passenger terminus

Cubitt's facade at Bricklayers' Arms Station c.1845

The terminus building was designed by Lewis Cubitt with an imposing facade resembling his later design of King's Cross railway station, and costing £89,000. From 1844 the SER transferred all of its services to this new terminus, whilst the L&CR operated services from both termini. As mentioned above the L&CR ceased using the station in 1845 although its successor (the LB&SCR) retained running powers over the branch.

The station was never commercially viable as a passenger terminus due to its location in a poor working-class neighbourhood on the Old Kent Road and its distance from the centre of London. Also its raison d'etre largely disappeared after the South Eastern Railway took over the operation of the London and Greenwich Railway in 1845. A shunting accident during August 1850 caused the collapse of a large part of the station roof, killing a porter. The SER therefore closed Bricklayers' Arms terminus for passenger traffic in 1852 and transferred all of its services back to London Bridge. Thereafter it was occasionally used for special trains, such as a Royal train carrying Queen Alexandra on 3 March 1863. It was also used for passenger excursions trains from 1932 until circa 1940, and occasional enthusiasts' specials until closure of the line in 1981.

Bricklayers' Arms Goods Depot

Bricklayers' Arms Goods Depot interior in 1959

After closure of the passenger facilities the original goods station and the surrounding site proved to be ideal for the development of the main SER goods depot in London. New sidings were laid and the former passenger station was converted into a goods station.

Willow Walk Goods Depot

The LB&SCR inherited the L&CR running powers over the branch line and established their own independent goods facilities on the contiguous site at 'Willow Walk' in July 1849. These replaced the former L&CR facilities at New Cross.

The LB&SCR facilities were enlarged in 1854 after the Brighton company entered into an agreement with the SER's rival, the London Chatham and Dover Railway to handle their goods traffic at the depot. Further extensions were built in 1865 and 1902. The Willow Walk depot was officially merged with the Bricklayers' Arms depot by the Southern Railway in March 1932.

Motive Power depot and repair shop

Motive power depot in 1959

The South Eastern Railway also opened a motive power depot at the site on 1 May 1844, with a turntable large enough to turn the engine and its tender together. This rapidly grew over several buildings and became its principal locomotive depot. It was responsible for an allocation of over 100 locomotives. It operated for nearly 120 years, supplying locomotives and crews for goods and suburban passenger services, as well as the more prestigious express trains from London to the South Coast. It closed on 17 June 1962.

The other important role was to provide refuelling facilities for visiting trains that had worked services into London. Once uncoupled from their coaches, locomotives from Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge stations usually ran tender-first down to Bricklayers Arms' shed to be turned round on the large turntable, rewatered and recoaled. Once this was completed they again ran tender-first back to the terminus to rejoin their train for the return journey out of London. Access to and from Bricklayers Arms' complex on the South Eastern side was via a branch line down a long slope which dropped below the viaducts to either side of it.

The original two-road (two tracks) engine shed lasted from 1844 until 1869. It was supplemented by a nearby four-road shed in 1847, which in turn was enlarged by an adjoining four-road shed in 1865. After 1869 these two sheds became known as the Old Shed and survived until closure. A fourth shed with six roads was opened in 1869, which was known as the New Shed. This was badly damaged during bombing in the Second World War when it lost its roof, and was never repaired. A fifth engine shed with four roads was converted from a carriage shed in 1902 and was known as St Patrick's shed. This lasted until closure.

This sign in Mandela Way stands directly over the site of the main locomotive shed

Following the grouping of Britain's railways in 1923, the Southern Railway modernised the depot and in 1934 built a locomotive repair shop. However the facility was badly damaged by enemy action during the Second World War and was never fully repaired afterwards. When British Rail converted from steam to diesel traction in the 1960s the shed became surplus to requirements and closed down, but the goods sidings continued in use up until 1981, when the whole complex was sold to developers.

The wheel drop from the repair shop and the turntable from the shed were rescued for the Watercress Line, in Hampshire. The former has been installed at Ropley shed and the latter has been exchanged (summer 2010) for a tank engine.

Current use of the site

The area occupied by the goods sidings is now covered in houses, whilst the site of the old shed has become an industrial estate, crossed by Mandela Way.

External links

• Maps & pictures of Bricklayers' Arms locomotive depot today