Swallow Gardens

[sdreid]

Philip, can anyone walk in there or is there a door across the front? From this angle, where was the body?

[George Hutchinson]

Heh - neither of you need to worry. It's not coming down. It can't - there's a train line on top of it from Fenchurch Street station! I managed to get in there through some exploring, detective work and permission.

Stan, Barney's Seafood moved out of there some time ago - a year, at least. It's been unoccupied since then.

PHILIP

[Celesta]

Wow, Philip, that's great. Were you able to get in because of some sort of transition or has it been cleaned out because they're tearing it down? I hope not. Very cool. Thank you.

[sdreid]

Thanks Philip! It looks good to me. What happened to all the stuff that used to be in there? I hope it's not up for demolition.

[George Hutchinson]

How do, all.

Now, you won't have seen this often so here's a photo I took of the INSIDE of Swallow Gardens just over a week ago, looking towards the Chamber Street entrance. Yep, I got myself in there.

It's not great quality because it's pitch black inside and I've used PhotoShop Elements to restore some brightness, which has affected the grain. Still, you won't have seen this before!



PHILIP

[WARSPITE]

I agree Andrew. I was reminising through Swallow Gardens last weekend,staying at the travellodge down the road,and it really is eerie walking through after dark. No signs of Frances though....pity.
Thanks for the photos

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi Andrew

Super photos there, especially the first one.

From these and the ones you recently put on the East End Photo thread it's obvious that you really know what you're doing with a camera.

[Andrew Firth]

With regards to the sinister nature of Swallow Gardens and Chamber Street, when approaching from Mansell Street, I have to agree that even in broad daylight, the covered areas under the railway have a certain atmosphere of their own.....





All the best

Andrew

[John Bennett]

Kensei

Here's a link to the photo archive where you'll find a number of Board School shots taken by Rob Clack in the 1980s.

http://photos.casebook.org/thumbnails.php?album=1&page=2

[George Hutchinson]

I think you may have to trawl through the EE pics thread! I don't have copies myself - quite probably John or Rob took shots when they were in the locale before it was all done up.

PHILIP

[kensei]

Hi Phil. I have not seen post-fire pics of the Board School. Where can they be found?

[George Hutchinson]

^ It's actually Martin Fido who said it was his personal creepiest London murder site - we just concured with the view by saying that it is very dark and enclosed as you walk towards it (from Mansell Street) even today. I've not actually been in Durward Street at night - far too sensible!

If you think the Board School is scary now, have you seen photos of how it looked after the 1980s fire? That'll give you nightmares!

PHILIP

[kensei]

Hi Stan

If it was in Spitalfields you'd be right. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people on Ripper tours over the years but this place is slightly too far away and only gets visited by hardcore enthusiasts.

I don't know if this will resurrect this thread after more than seven months, but I visited Swallow Gardens last September while vacationing in London and taking a very thorough solo Ripper tour. I guess that makes me a hardcore enthusiast. I had Hutch & Clack's book with me, and its photos to use for reference, but I still had to ask around a bit once I got to the overhead railroad. I knew I was close, but it took some figuring out, and the whole time someone up on the railroad was jackhammering or something, plus there was the intermittent noise of the trains going by. Extremely noisy. I first asked for information in a rent-a-car place, and then a model-making shop, which were within a few yards of each other. It was in the model shop that a man thought he recognized one of the Swallow Gardens photos in the book and pointed me in the right direction, just a hop skip and a jump away. I found it. There were two trucks and a van parked very tightly in front of it. I stood videotaping it while narrating the story for a few minutes, and then went in to leave a rose quartz stone at the site, which I had been doing to commemorate every murder site on my tour. Only then, as I squeezed in between the vehicles, did I see that there was a man sitting inside the van. I just nodded at him and said hello, without any response from him, as I tossed my stone up against the closed metal door. That was my memorial to Frances Coles. Then I was off to Berner (Henriques) Street a few minutes later.

In Hutch & Clack's book they describe Swallow Gardens as being the creepiest feeling of all the Ripper sites. I didn't get that feeling at all, but I was there at midday. I'm sure a night time visit would be much different. To me, I think the Board School at the Polly Nicholls site was the creepiest.

[John Bennett]

Hi Stan

If it was in Spitalfields you'd be right. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people on Ripper tours over the years but this place is slightly too far away and only gets visited by hardcore enthusiasts.

Indeed. I have been visiting the East End since 1982 and the first time I went to Chamber Street (and Pinchin St for that matter) was 2006!

D minus - must try harder.

[Stephen Thomas]

I was not entirely jesting. It would seem that some money could be made showing the site after a bit of tidying.

Hi Stan

If it was in Spitalfields you'd be right. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people on Ripper tours over the years but this place is slightly too far away and only gets visited by hardcore enthusiasts.