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.

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Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Revisit to Wildcorner Beacon, Isle of Dogs

I first discovered this special corner back in 2007. Since then i have asked around and searched on the net for information about the beacon but to with no joy.
The tower stands tall above the thick weeds arounds it. Ivy crawls up its sides and it rules the corner with a silent majesty. From the street the sealed off corner looks like a fortified other world and the beacon, a relic from this other place and time. Perhaps it is a lighthouse of the wild, signalling at night to the underground, to the spirits that can read its code. Or perhaps it holds some kind of mysterious unknown function or posses an ancient magic.
 After a recent failed attempt at finding the corner again, I went back home and put my thinking cap on. Thanks to some detective work, I got a rough idea of where it was. Then I searched the area on good ol' 'street view' and to my delight I found it. I was excited to see the land was still wild and the beacon still standing. Was this still the case though? The google camera car could of passed there years ago for all I knew.
 So i was equally amazed to find the corner on a field trip over the river a few days later, still fenced off and untouched. 
Well .. apart from one thing.






Sadly the lantern at the top was not insight. I found the remains of it underneath thick Brambles and Knot Weed as I searched around the base. 
It could of been the Buddleia gradually prised it up and then the strong winds finally dislodged it.
Or was it the work of human hands?









 Once i got home that evening I searched on the net again for the beacon. Now I knew what to look for I soon came across a blog by a local guy who was asking for information about it. 
He had consulted old maps of the area and pointed out the beacon is 100 mtrs away from the water edge. He found the corner would of been at the edge of an area known as 'Popular Dry Dock' which was used approx up until the 1950's and then in the 1970's renamed Empire Wharf. His theory was that the beacon would of been used to guide ships into dock. 
 This though a well thought out theory, looks like it was just a theory as comments under his post suggest. It looks as though the area was once part of the Christ Church garden. When the police station was built sometime in the 80's the land was going to be turned into their car park, but a local man protested against this. This man was the legendary Ted John's the Island campaigner who was at the forefront of its unilateral declaration of independence in 1970. They say he campaigned with local residence for a community garden and won. The beacon apparently was a kind of folly in the garden in reference to the areas maritime history. 
 If this true, it is kind of disappointing that the little lighthouse isn't Victorian and was never used as an actual beacon.
 The tower still has its place in the history of the the area though and could be looked at in another way as a reminder from the past, standing as a beacon for people power and community spirit.


Monday, 6 January 2014

Lewisham's epic Shopping Centre Mural - 1996 [B. Williams]

The incredible mural at the back of Lewisham Shopping Centre was unveiled back in 1996 but still certainly deserves a mention in Wildcornerz. Bruce Williams and Gary Phillips's stunning piece of work is vibrant education resource to passers by. 
 Among many historic scenes there are the three arms of the metropolitan boroughs of Lewisham and Deptford and the amalgamated London borough of Lewisham [featuring the white stag.]




96 - The green dragon on a post, at Sydenham Wells Park was the sign of one of Sydenham’s medicinal springs. 

Saturday, 4 January 2014

Deer sprit spotted Northbrook Park SE12

Iv have been sent these photos by 'Pete from SE4' which were apparently taken at the end of the summer. I visited the park myself just before Christmas and it took a while to find him.
.. but there he was, hidden away, grazing by an old disused gate.




Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Old Wildcorner Beacon - Millwall

I was going through my phone photo archive and found these pictures from 2006. I took these on a field trip around the Isle of Dogs. On the south of the island known as Cubitt Town, I found an old fenced off wildcorner.
 In the middle of the corner I found this old structure shrouded in weeds. 
It appears to be an old beacon for the river [which is now obscured by a new housing estate.]
 A rare relic from a by-gone era of the thames and the east end.
 I cannot find any record of it online. I am going to try the Island History Archive in Millwall.
I assume it has been demolished and the land, long since built on. I will revisit and post a report back soon.