The other, north side of Prospect Cottages to that shown in a previous photograph. This is the only part that remains of an area of working-class housing. The industrial development of the area had begun in the 1630s, but these houses are probably from the 1850s or 60s (and are certainly on the 1866 map).
 
Point Pleasant, the street leading off along the side of the cottages and going down to Prospect HOuse and the River Thames was also then lined with working-class housing, though by the time I visited these had been replaced by industrial buildings, and on the wall at extreme right you can see the edge of signs listing the various companies with premises down Osiers Rd, including the very recognisable Shell logo for their oil depot. Until the late nineteenth century this area was a large area of marsh and reed beds as far as Bell Lane Creek to the east and the River Thames at its north. The first factories there was a fireworks factory, 'The Osiers', owned by Harry J Cadwell, where an accident in 1889 made the news and Parliamentary Paper. This factory or another close by also made 'caps' for toy pistols and 'snaps' for Christmas Crackers. Later came a Morganite Works and the Shell Oil Terminal and a number of small industries.
 
Although this and some other pictures from the area appear in my contact sheets for 1982, I'm not sure whether these and the pictures previously posted were actually taken in December 1981 or January 1982 or whether I made two visits to the area in both months. I used to develop black and white films in batches of perhaps six at a time which might mean they were not developed for a few weeks after taking them, and if a film was not completed on a particular trip it would stay in the camera to be finished on the next occasion I photographed. In later I marked up the contact sheets much more carefully, including actual dates and usually street names and grid references to the nearest 100metres abd sometimes other details I thought relevant.