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Crete Hall Road, DA11 9GL

On the left is the former W T Henley AEI Cable Works.

Crete Hall Road, Gravesend, DA11 9AA on the River Thames Tideway

Now disused offices of the cable works that used to be here.

Disused art-deco style office building.

No part of Gravesend is more run down at present than the area along by the river to the west of the centre, in the area known as Rosherville. Rosherville Gardens were laid out in 1837 in one of the disused chalk pits next to Crete Hall Road, and covered an area of 17 acres. Their full title was the 'Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Institution’. In the Victorian period they became a favourite destination for thousands of Londoners, many travelling by paddle steamer down the River Thames to disembark at the pier built to service the gardens. In the 1850s up to 20,000 visitors passed through the turnstiles in a week. By 1880 the gardens had reached the peak of their popularity and in 1901 they were closed. In 1924 five acres of the land was sold to W T Henley’s Cable Works, which had occupied the land between Rosherville Gardens and the Thames since 1906. In 1939 Henley’s bought the rest of the land and the site was completely cleared. Most of Henley's Works has in turn been cleared, but the former offices built in the 1930s in art deco style remain as seen here on the corner of The Shore and Crete Hall Road. Henley's ship emblem can be seen below each of the first floor windows. The area will soon be redeveloped again as part of the Thames Gateway but hopefully this building can be saved and put to use again.