from industry to illustration: New River Head

Exciting news in the London neighbourhood of wonder | wander | women as English icon meets London landmark. Beloved Roald Dahl illustrator Quentin Blake founded the House of Illustration, which opened an exhibition space in Granary Square, Kings Cross.

  

Now the House of Illustration is rebranding as the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. The Centre is expanding, and now it's found an amazing piece of London history to house it - the Engine House at New River Head.

In a country as old as late Roman history, the word "new" is relative. The New River was opened in 1613, a man-made river created from natural springs to help pipe fresh water into London homes.

Signboard showing an illustration of New River Head from 1665

New River Head was the building complex in Islington that included the Thames Water Board offices and the water treatment plant that processed the New River water. The new Centre will be installed in the former plant: the Round House, the Engine House, and the coal storage buildings that fed the Engine House.

The Round House

The remnant of a windmill that powered the plant, the Round House became an exhibition space introducing the renovation project and the history of the New River and of New River Head.

New River Folk Museum exhibition,
Laura Copsey and Phillip Crewe

The new artists-in-residence at the Centre told the story of three London citizens who lived by the New River: a tankard-bearer providing clean water to dock workers, a mole-catcher who managed the invading wildlife, and a well-keeper who used the water as a spiritual healing tool.

Tiles and clay tankard with illustrations telling the story
of "Joan Starkeye" a tankard-bearer

The stories and objects are based on real artefacts found in the river: water tankards, clay pots, and saws, among other things. Visitors circled the room of the Round House, navigating the close walls and rough floor as the former owners of these things would have done.

The main interior of the Engine House was closed, but we enjoyed the exhibition set up in the large entrance: abstract artworks made from photographic paper that had been left soaking in the New River, then treated with different substances that were cleaned up from the ancient waters.

New River: Immersions, by Laura Copsey and Philip Crewe

In the Storage Room artist Sharpay Chenyuè Yuán contributed a huge mural of New River history, illustrating the changes over the years and the future of the site as a nurturing hub for illustrators.

Lost Springs, Coming Spring by Sharpay Chenyuè Yuán

Visitors filled in an art "questionnaire": answer questions on where we heard of the project and what we would like to see. Each multiple-choice answer was a little sticker of a different colour and shape, and we sat down with Sharpie pens to draw a little illustration of ourselves at the site getting our wish.

We pinned the illustrations to a board and received a small postcard drawing in exchange. Together the board and drawings formed a map of the site and the thriving community in it.

This is how Londoners appreciate and participate in history. Old institutions form new communities, and we continually re-create ourselves and our city in new forms. We're looking forward to being a part of this new House and the home it makes.

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