An illustration from The Manual of British Rural Sports: Comprising Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Fishing, Hawking, Racing, Boating, Pedestrianism, and the Various Rural Games and Amusements of Great Britain (1856) by Stonehedge (John Henry Walsh, 1810-1888), a classic Victorian sporting manual. “Wild” should be spelt “Wyld”.
6 December 2023
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch goes down Lambeth Way.
I recently discovered The Manual of British Rural Sports reproduced in full online via Google Books. The section on rowing runs from page 472 to 489. It is a wordy piece covering: Varieties of Boats, Rowing and Sculling, Steering, Training, Regattas, Rules, Racing and The Purchase of Boats. First published in 1856, the early editions came at an important stage in the development of amateur rowing, a time when gentlemen were actively distancing themselves from working men in working boats.
Another picture of Wyld’s Boatbuilding Yard in Lambeth, South London, from The Manual of British Rural Sports.
What most drew my attention looking through The Manual was not so much the detailed text but two illustrations of Wyld’s Yard, Lambeth. I remembered that Wyld’s had an association with Westminster School and found the recent history of the school’s boat club, In The Pink, first reference the place when recording an eight built by Noulton and Wyld for the race against Eton in 1845 (Noulton left the partnership in 1854). Looking at the newspaper archives, Wyld’s was very much part of the boom in aquatics for twenty years in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Bell’s Life in London, 8 August 1847. Noulton and Wyld “acquaint gentlemen amateurs and others” of the recent successes of their boats. The approximate location of Noulton and Wyld Fore Street boatyard in Lambeth is shown on a map of 1860.Bell’s Weekly Messenger, 7 July 1851. By Royal Appointment.A probably not too accurate illustration of the “handsome boat” built by Noulton and Wyld for the Prince of Wales.A more realistic depiction of the Prince of Wales’ boat.Nottinghamshire Guardian, 9 January 1851. Noulton and Wyld put Victorian innovation on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851.The 1851 Great Exhibition was a fantastically successful fair of culture and industry held in the specially constructed “Crystal Palace”, a cast iron and plate-glass structure covering 92,000 square-metres. The Exhibition was visited by the equivalent of a third of the British population in its four-and-a-half months.
As this extract from the “Naval Architecture” section of the Great Exhibition Catalogue shows, Noulton and Wyld were not the only builders of racing boats to have a display.
The Field, 17 March 1855. Gentlemen Amateurs patronise Wyld. The London Evening Standard, 2 August 1855. Professionals patronise Wyld.Bell’s Life in London, 21 March 1858. Wyld caters for all.
After 1858, nothing about Wyld appeared in the press. The old Lambeth waterfront was swept away between September 1865 and May 1868 when the Albert Embankment was built.
The Palace of Westminster, sited opposite Lambeth on the North Bank, pictured in 1865 before the construction of the Albert Embankment.This 1866 woodcut shows a view of the construction of the Albert Embankment from the present site of Lambeth Bridge.Lambeth waterfront with old Lambeth Bridge on the left and the river frontage of buildings in Lower Fore Street, photographed c.1866 just as the timber piling had commenced for the construction of the Albert Embankment. Edward Wyld is on the right and the Ship Tavern on the left is occupied by Wentzell, another boat builder.Bell’s Life in London, 2 March 1867. It seems that Wyld preferred to sell out rather than undertake a forced move when the new embankment was built. Clasper and Bain moved directly across the river to Millbank on the North bank where they taught “The art of rowing… in a few easy lessons on moderate terms”.
Fortunately, the old Lambeth waterfront was photographed in detail before its destruction, particularly Fore Street, the home of Wyld’s Yard.
One view of the old Lambeth riverfront. Rear of properties fronting the Thames at Upper Fore Street.Timber piling along Fore Street as part of the preparations for the new embankment. The building marked with the red arrow is Robert Bain, mast, oar, scull and pump maker. The building with the green arrow is Edward Ayling, also an oar and scull maker, established in 1859 and later to become famous in rowing circles.Robert Bain’s yard in a close-up.Looking down Lower Fore Street, Lambeth, to the railings which mark access to the free dock. A sign reading “R Bain” can be seen on the far left.Some famous boatbuilding names in Fore Street.Fore Street was not all aquatic. Alfred Hunt’s Bone boiling works sold liquefied fat rendered from dead animals for soap or candle production. The smell was unbearable.Industrious types in Fore Street.An advertisement of 1792 for another Lambeth boatbuilder, Roberts. Wyld was not, of course, the first or even the most famous of the area’s boatbuilders. I have previously written about Searles and other boatyards that operated between Westminster and Vauxhall Bridges before the coming of the Albert Embankment swept them away – though also eradicating a terrible slum.
A plaque sited close to where Fore Street once was recording the Lambeth Cholera Epidemic of 1848-1849. It was only one of many such outbreaks over the years.
