Bust

Wall of the Ancestors - leftmost

Erection date: /9/1997

According to the plaque these are, clockwise from top left: Pete Pope, Tony O'Leary, Grinling Gibbons, Shirley Stewart.

Transpontine confirms that these heads are correctly identified, but gives Shirley's surname as Steward.

Site: Wall of the Ancestors (3 memorials)

SE8, George Beard Road, Aragon Tower, north-east (riverside) wall of

This tower was erected in the 1960s/70s as part of the Pepys Estate.

From the platform one could get some good pictures of these 16 heads, but the platform is inaccessible; you can go up the steps at the left but no further, hence our rather unsatisfactory photographs.

A small plaque at the left reads:
"Wall of the Ancestors" Pete Pope, Tony O'Leary, Dave O'Hara, Tommy Marin; Shirley Stewart, Grinling Gibbons, Metrina, Sir Francis Drake. www.Martin-Bond.Supanet.com

A small plaque at the right reads:
"Wall of the Ancestors" Debra Lee, Phineas Pett, Tsar Peter the Great, Dr Burnhart Gloss; Queen Elizabeth 1st, Olaudah Equiano, Michael Hamilton, Catherine of Aragon. Thanks to Berkeley Homes, Deptford Discovery Team, Sustrans.

We believe each plaque is attempting to identify the 8 characters nearest to it, left to right, top row first, then bottom row, but that there has been some confusion. Taking the plaques at face value (ha, ha): Phineas Pett, a 17th century shipwright is wearing a crown; the Tsar is looking rather humdrum and 20th century; Metrine (a girl's name currently popular in the black community) seems to be wearing a  medieval headdress, as does Debra Lee.

The faces were probably correctly identified when first erected but the building and this artwork have been "renewed" and in the process we think the heads suffered a random shuffle.

The block was erected in 1964 as social housing. The Wall of the Ancestors was added in 1997. In 2002-6 the Tower was renovated, reclad, extended upwards and sold as private flats. As part of this work the heads were reconfigured and new plaques provided. We've also read that the heads were recast at this time. See the original arrangement here. The heads are made of cream cast stone and each is about a metre high.

More information at Walking the Wall of Ancestors and Wall of the Ancestors, Deptford Strand.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Wall of the Ancestors - leftmost

Subjects commemorated i

Grinling Gibbons

Born Rotterdam. Wood carver and sculptor. Other works in London: a marble fon...

Read More

Tony O'Leary

Resident of the Pepys Estate, active in the community.

Read More

Pete Pope

The Picture source and Transpontine explain that Pope was a local activist an...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Wall of the Ancestors - leftmost

Created by i

Michael Bond (sculptor)

We can't identify this sculptor.  

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Wall of the Ancestors - leftmost

Also at this site i

Wall of the Ancestors - middling

Wall of the Ancestors - middling

According to the plaque these are, clockwise from top left: Dave O'Hara, Tomm...

Read More

Wall of the Ancestors - rightmost

Wall of the Ancestors - rightmost

According to the plaque these are, clockwise from top left: Debra Lee, Phinea...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Caxton Hall - head 2 - Caxton

Caxton Hall - head 2 - Caxton

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

Normally both Chaucer and Caxton are shown with full beards but the facial hair on head number 6 looks slightly more like Chaucer's, whic...

1 subject commemorated
Old Westminster Library - head 2- Shakespeare

Old Westminster Library - head 2- Shakespeare

SW1, Great Smith Street

The foundation stone is immediately to the right of the central entrance. Above the entrance: "Westminster Public Library, The united pa...

1 subject commemorated
Cornhill head 1

Cornhill head 1

EC3, Cornhill, 66-67

These 4 portrait medallions are above the ground floor windows. We have numbered them left to right (west to east); two men and two women...

Spencer Perceval bust - Pitzhangar

Spencer Perceval bust - Pitzhangar

W5, Mattock Lane, Pitzhanger Manor

Unusually neither of the memorials is visible in our photo of the location, but we hope you agree that the house is worthy of a picture f...

1 subject commemorated
Queen Charlotte at Trinity House

Queen Charlotte at Trinity House

EC3, Trinity Square

Trinity House, was designed by architect Samuel Wyatt and built in 1796.  The following year the Great Tower Hill Act enabled the creatio...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Sir Wiliam Fairbairn

Sir Wiliam Fairbairn

Born Kelso. Structural engineer. Worked in shipbuilding and boiler design. Died at a relative's house at Moor Park, Farnham, Surrey.

Person, Engineering, Scotland

1 memorial
Teddy Baldock - plaque

Teddy Baldock - plaque

E14, Bright Street, Langdon Park DLR Station

When we first visited, September 2014, there was no plaque, just two holes drilled in the front of the plinth to indicate that there had ...

1 subject commemorated
Peter Sellers - Elstree and Borehamwood Station

Peter Sellers - Elstree and Borehamwood Station

WD6, Allum Lane, Station forecourt

The plaques are around the station forecourt, either on frames or laid into the pavement. The gold lettering on the marble effect on the ...

1 subject commemorated
Anthony Adolph

Anthony Adolph

Genealogist, writer and broadcaster.  Author of a book on Henry Jermyn.

Person, History, TV & Radio

1 memorial
James Esdaile
1 memorial