How has Erith changed? (From News Shopper)

Erith history: Henry VIII is thought to have spent a night there on his way to France

11:10am Friday 13th January 2012 in Bexley By Kelly Smale

Over the last eight years Bexley Council has been looking at ways to regenerate Erith. Reporter KELLY SMALE finds out what the area used to be like.

ERITH'S history is based around the River Thames - changing dramatically from a busy manufacturing area to what it is today.

As historian Ken Chamberlain said: "It's not an industrial town any more, that's the biggest difference. Road transport has taken over from the river."

Henry VIII, who is thought to have once spent a night in the town on his way to France, founded part of his naval dockyard at Erith, at the eastern end of West Street - where the Riverside Gardens are now.

His famous Great Harry warship was fitted out there in 1515.

Mr Chamberlain, who is Erithian born and bred, said: "During the 18th century it was a very important port for the men coming across from the Indies.

"They off-loaded their cotton and spices because their ships couldn't get up to London in the shallow water."

Industry in Erith

Erith Iron Works was established in 1864, in Anchor Bay, by engineer William Anderson. It shut in 1903.

From 1881 the area was home to a large cable works founded by William Callender. It became renowned around the world for supplying high-class cable to Sydney, Chicago and South Africa.

This became British Insulated Callender's Cables and eventually Pirelli, which announced its partial closure in 2003.

During the First World War Erith was an important area for the manufacture of guns and ammunition, due to the large Vickers armaments factory.

The area suffered heavily from bombing during the Second World War because of its proximity to the river and the weapons factory at Royal Arsenal Woolwich.

Mr Chamberlain said: "Problems started in the 60s/70s when we ceased to be a manufacturing nation. Erith was a manufacturing town and it suffered just like all the northern towns and their mining villages."

Erith Pier

1842 - A 444ft wooden pleasure pier was built.

1844 - The Pier Hotel was built followed by the opening of the Pleasure Gardens in 1845.

1896 - Coal wholesalers on the river front got together to build a pier. It joined up to the wooden pier and was extended beyond it so ships could moor up alongside.

1956 - The wooden pier had declined so the present concrete pier was built around the outside of the structure. It then laid derelict until Morrisons took it over in 1999.

Famous people from Erith

Alexander Selkirk - On October 14, 1711, the sailor arrived in Erith after being rescued from an island off the coast of Chile. His experiences became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. The castaway is also the reason for having roads called Friday, Crusoe and Selkirk in Erith.

Edward Butler - He built the first motorcycle, Butler's Petrol-Cycle, in Erith in 1884 - two years before Karl Benz built the first motor car in Germany.

Wendy Cope - The poet, author and humorist was born in Erith in 1945. Her parents owned Mitchells of Erith, formerly a large store in the town. In a 1998 BBC Radio 4 poll she was the listeners' choice to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate.

Linda Smith - The comedienne and radio panellist was born in Erith in 1958. She was voted Wittiest Living Person by Radio 4 listeners in 2002.