Beckton Alp towards a typology of the unnamed and unrecognised
reclamation | urban landscapes by ruth oldham
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The Beckton Alp is an unexpected hill amidst the flat grey brown sprawl of London’s eastern suburbs. It rises on the left as one drives into London from Essex on the A13. It barely registers, just a small hill covered in scrubby vegetation – a blip – a minor interruption to the landscape of low lying rectilinear buildings and car parks. The Alp began life as a slag heap of waste generated by Beckton Gasworks, amongst the largest of such sites in Europe, in operation from 1870 until 1969. When the gasworks were up and running the presence of a large mound of rubble was easy to justify. It was a part of an interconnected whole, alongside retort houses, condensers, chimneys, gasholders. The gasworks sustained a whole community, generating employment and creating spin-off industries.
Today all the buildings and structures have been demolished, their traces erased by new retail parks and roundabouts. Only a reduced part of the original slag heap remains. It could be described as an accidental hill. It wasn’t planned; no one ever set out to bequeath Beckton with an Alp. Rather, it appeared ; the by-product of a once-mighty industry. It is just one example amongst thousands; our post-industrial landscape is littered with waste mounds and abandoned, polluted, land. Industries close down, move elsewhere, but people continue to live amongst their ruins and remains. Such sites have become an important part of our landscape; I’m interested in the relationships we build with them.
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