The creation of the East Ham Nature Reserve centre
About this record
Designing a nature reserve centre and new educational building in a space associated with a historic church was a visionary task. Arthur Watson, Project Officer, London Borough of Newham, recalls how the building was conceived and the challenges they faced being adjacent to a graveyard.
The architect had come down from Birmingham and was pottering around and I was around too. We sat down in the vicar’s front room and talked about it for some time and that’s when the idea started evolving.
Making space for an education centre
In the 1970s new curator Ian Robertson came up with the idea of a nature reserve, but there was some confusion as to what a nature reserve is and how it should be used, as Colin Plant who later became Head of the centre’s Biology Department explains. There was also the challenge of moving dead bodies!
It only really took off when we decided that we’d build this interpretive centre and turn it into a teaching facility. We had to exhume the graves underneath, we were reliably told they’d be about a dozen bodies – I think we were about 5 or 600 out!
The Queen’s Visit
In 1981 Queen Elizabeth II visited East Ham Reserve. Colin was amongst the team who were there to greet her. He recalls what she said.
We stood by our appointed stations and the queen came in and smiled and shook hands. She peered down the microscope and said…
Additional record details
- Contributor: Matt Ponting
- Type: PhotographsSoundsWriting
- Date created: May 2024
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