A new pathway is being laid under the archway at Twickenham House …
to the Old Gaol the other side – for this is now all part of one complex.
Girders and steel ties lay ready to be used as the skeleton for new buildings.
Older buildings are being merely refurbished.
It will be interesting to see how the barred windows look when people live up there as luxury dwellers – not prisoners.
It was not easy for this lorry to reverse through the gate at Twickenham House. It came within inches of the houses opposite in East St Helen Street, then within inches of cars parked either side, and just fitted through the gates. But the driver managed it without injury as far as I am concerned.
That was last week, and since then a trench has been dug and services laid through to the new Old Gaol development. I can imagine the lights flickering and going dim all the way along East St Helen Street when the new Old Gaol restaurants are first opened.
The old Abbey Press works on Thamesview, just over the fence from the Abbey Gardens, look as if a bomb has hit it.
The old print works have been ‘To Let’ since the Abbey Press moved to near Fairacres about five years ago. Some of the adjoining building was used until recently. I think it was an MOT centre. But now the whole lot is being demolished – quite possibly for a care home.
The war memorial area has been reopened and the area around looks bright and clean in the early May sunshine. The memorial has been stabilised and cleaned, and the surrounding area improved.