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The Memorial Park was, in the late 1800s, the recreation ground for the Thames Ironworks Shipbuilding employees and the home of their works football club. In 1900 the team turned professional and became West Ham United, later moving from this site to the Boleyn Ground in Green Street. Their emblem today still carries the image of the hammers used by the riveting gangs who built many great steel ships in one of Britains most important shipyards.
West Ham and Plaistow New Deal for Communities have been working on an extensive programme regenerating the Memorial Park, building the Grassroots community centre and upgrading the sports facilities. They wanted a landmark sculpture in the Park, not only as a point of reference but also as an opportunity to tell the history of this unique site.
Mooch was commissioned in 2007 to research and create the installation. Fe26 were selected as fabricators for the steelwork being not only skilled tradespeople but trained as sculptors too. Two interns from Middlesex University also worked on the project, bringing valuable professional experience to their portfolios. This memorial sculpture was finally completed in April 2008.
The eleven steel posts are laid out on the construction lines of the deck of HMS Albion, a cruiser built by the Thames Ironworks. At its launch in 1898 into Bow Creek, 38 people died as the tidal wave created by the launch caused chaos for the spectators close to the water. Many of the dead from this tragic event are buried in the cemetery next to the Park . This kinetic work is a memorial to those victims but also marks a once great local industry and the craft of its workers, bringing back the clang of hammer on steel.
The sound of the riveting gangs of the Thames Ironworks is gone forever but the heritage is still celebrated today in the fans chant:
The Hammers against the backdrop of Canary Wharf
View showing the shape of the Albion's deck
Greenwich Maritime Museum plan of the same class of ship
Materials arrive on site at Memorial Park
Final snagging of the Hammers by Fe26
Hammer heads as seen in West Ham United's logo
View across to the Grassroots community centre
Rivet detail, a reference to the craft of the shipbuilders
The sun sets over the sculpture