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The Greyhound

5&9Models

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A bit of history

 

The earliest record of a tenant in The Greyhound public house was a Mary Stiff in 1822. The Upper Grange Road (now Dunton Road) Bermondsey was likely a relatively quiet lane leading off the Kent Road before the arrival of the Bricklayers Arms Extension Railway in 1843/4. At first it was suggested that the railway should cross the road on the level, but the contractors Grissell & Peto constructed a bridge to carry the road over the four running lines. The inconvenience to the occupants of the Greyhound and the neighbouring houses in Greyhound Place is well recorded in the Committee Minutes of the BAER held in the National Archives at Kew. Significant amounts of compensation was paid out for the inconvenience of having a large brick structure right outside the front of the dwellings. The owner of the Greyhound, William Rolls received £2310, a huge sum in 1844. The tenant at this time was William James Peirse and his four daughters.

 

The Greyhound itself was significantly altered as a result of the rising road in front of it and the public rooms were moved up to the first floor on a level with the new road. Thankfully one photograph exists taken at the end of the 19th century which just about shows this unusual arrangement. Access to the six houses further along was via a walkway underneath the frontage.

 

The model

 

The basic shell of the building is in 3mm perspex which I find very robust and resistant to warping over time. Brickwork is embossed styrene, windows in clear styrene with fine strips of styrene overlaid to produce the window frame. The sash windows at the back actually work, a completely unnecessary indulgence! It is not known what the back yard looked like. An aerial photograph taken in the 1930s gives a rough idea but it is so indistinct as to be of no real help. I added a stable block which is rather unlikely but in studying the history of the Greyhound and it's tenant W. J. Peirse, who left the tenancy in his will "to my four dear daughters", I grew rather fond of him and thought he deserved such a luxury.

 

The figures are from scratch, perhaps William's eldest daughter Martha is telling the potman just how queer the rocking motion of the carriages on the new railway made her feel on her recent trip to Croydon. The yard surface is decorating filler with the cobbles scratched in. There are further buildings to come, particularly those of Greyhound Place, and of course the Upper Grange Road Bridge itself which is in the process of construction.

 

292567568_GH01.jpg.6cec3c3feb6af7be8c96f4ff1c935d0f.jpg

1342124487_GH02.jpg.b80b59053fcf7b48309eb747bc2a8c35.jpg213311295_GH03.jpg.34344ba465253149d64f14400cf4afe0.jpgGreyhound_Yard_05.jpg.9c30fb4dc143a39dfb501c83d924733b.jpg

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Mikkel
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That is excellent modelling. I like the colour scheme, it does a lot to capture the period feel. Not often we see figures from scratch either.

 

The paving in the yard, can I ask how you did that?

Edited by Mikkel
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5&9Models

Thank you. The background story to the building is all true by the way. This model is a result of quite a lot of really enjoyable research at Kew. I have to be careful not to enjoy the research more than the modelling though!

The paving is a thin layer of decorators filler, left to dry and then scribed with cobbles or paving stones depending on requirements. The street in front of the houses in Greyhound Place, (not in the photo because I haven't made them yet), is also profiled before scribing. So the filler was applied a bit thicker in the centre of the road, cut away to model the fall to the gutter, then thicker again for the pavement. this will be a bit clearer once I've done those houses and posted a pic or two. Paintwork is Humbrol grey with a wash of tea. In other words, a tea bag soaked in a little warm water, squeezed out and then brushed over the whole lot. It gives a lovely varied grime but you have to be a bit careful as it re-hydrates the filler which goes soft again until it all dries. Dry tea straight out of the bag with finely chopped straw coloured cotton makes excellent old horse manure by the way. Also makes the model smell nice for a bit!

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Hi 5&9models, That's a really nice bit of model making, initially when I clicked the blog I was hoping for L.S.W.R. Drummonds Locomotive the Greyhound, but still I wasn't disappointed, kind of reminds me of Pickwick Papers.

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Mikkel
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2 hours ago, 5&9Models said:

Thank you. The background story to the building is all true by the way. This model is a result of quite a lot of really enjoyable research at Kew. I have to be careful not to enjoy the research more than the modelling though!

The paving is a thin layer of decorators filler, left to dry and then scribed with cobbles or paving stones depending on requirements. The street in front of the houses in Greyhound Place, (not in the photo because I haven't made them yet), is also profiled before scribing. So the filler was applied a bit thicker in the centre of the road, cut away to model the fall to the gutter, then thicker again for the pavement. this will be a bit clearer once I've done those houses and posted a pic or two. Paintwork is Humbrol grey with a wash of tea. In other words, a tea bag soaked in a little warm water, squeezed out and then brushed over the whole lot. It gives a lovely varied grime but you have to be a bit careful as it re-hydrates the filler which goes soft again until it all dries. Dry tea straight out of the bag with finely chopped straw coloured cotton makes excellent old horse manure by the way. Also makes the model smell nice for a bit!

 

Many thanks, very useful. I like the tea bag trick.

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Northroader
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Lovely looking job, I would have thought the pub frontage would have received more than just the pub name, like brewers, ales and stout, etc.,painted on over the bare brickwork?

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5&9Models

Thanks Ullypug and Snitzl, I'm a huge Dickens fan so that's a big compliment, exactly the atmosphere I'm trying to achieve.

Thanks Mikkel, we could call it a PG tip!! (See what I did there?!) ;-)

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5&9Models

Good point Northroader. The Greyhound certainly did have the City of London Brewery Company painted across the front and also BASS ale signs between the windows. However, not in 1844, it's too early. The breweries didn't start buying up pubs until the latter part of the 19th and in the early to mid 19th advertising was still fairly primitive. Plenty of monochrome paper bills slapped up on the walls but not the fancier stuff we're used to seeing in photos. It's very tempting to add the signs but it wouldn't be quite right for the period I'm modelling. 1844 is ridiculously early. Nothing like making a rod for my own back!

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wenlock
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A splendid bit of modelling!  The windows, both the sashes and the ones around the pub entrance are fabulous. Very atmospheric and definitely Dickensian:-)

 

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