wildcornerz: Lewisham's White Deer - Seen by the Old Catford Dog Track

Started January 2010 [by Jack Thurgar]

This is a scrapbook dedicated to the study of London's weeds and the wild places where they grow. Wildcornerz also looks at the languages, cultures and mythologies that develop in these cracks.

What is a Wildcorner?

A Wildcorner is a term referring to a piece of land that has been left to grow wild in a man made landscape. To be a true Wildcorner, the land has to be restricted from public access. Many are hidden from public view altogether. A common type of wildcorner is referred to by govements and local authorities as a 'brownfield site'.

Wildcorners and corridors* are dotted all over the capital and vary in content, depending on their location and history. In this blog we focus particularly on the Wildcorners of south east London.

* Wildcorridors are networks of pathways that run through the city and facilitate the propagation and growth of weeds. Many are restricted from public access such as railway embankments and urban rivers. In the suburbs, footpaths such as the Green Chain connect public green areas by a network of alleyways and passages that skirt between houses and private land. It could be argued that these are also wild corridors.

Urban and Suburban Weeds

By the term 'weeds' we are of course referring to the cities wild plants and flowers. But their are also two other weeds that grow in the city.

'Graf' like its botanical relation, has many families and strains. Both of these weeds can often be found together, sharing many qualities including their adaptive nature and unregulated status. Both in many cases, originally entered and populated the city using the railway network.

Another 'weed' that historically flourishes in London is invisible and uses the tops of tower blocks to propagate. Pirate radio like its weed relatives, grows away from the public eye and is constantly adapting to exploit these same gaps across the cities FM radio spectrum, fighting and flourishing in-between the commercial stations.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Lewisham's White Deer - Seen by the Old Catford Dog Track

Here are the photos from the new sighting of the solitary spirit, on the edge of one of the borough's larger wildcornerz. He can be seen from Ladywell Park, stooping to look through a whole in the old fence that boards off the old Catford Stadium.

The former dog track was opened in 1932 and became a famous landmark, being highly regarded in the sport. It was well known for its buzzing atmosphere and infamous Boxing Day races. In later years, its audience dwindled as betting shops opened and the sport became less popular. The managing operator Wembley closed it down in 2003.

In 2005 a huge fire gutted the stadium's buildings and tore around its seating platforms. Its is now fenced off from public access [as well as being cut off at either side by two train lines] and lays quietly for the wild to reclaim.

Among many other weeds, tall bushes of Pampas Grass [a native of South America], grow from the ground where the track used to be.