This handsome old fire station near the river at 42 Thames Street in Hampton Village entered service in 1898. The area’s Volunteer Fire Brigade was formed in 1885 by businessman and sportsman Robert Graham, who served as the brigade's captain for 36 years. Partly obscured by ivy these days, (not visible here), echoes of the past scar the brickwork to the old station's flanking wall, betraying signs of buildings long ago removed at what would have been numbers 44 and 46.
An action filmed from 1908 staged a fire at the nearby Red Lion Inn, scheduled to be demolished at the time for road widening. Named 'Fire at the Historic Inn at Hampton' the 16 minute long silent film can be viewed online via the BFI Player, with sequences showing horse-drawn steam pump carriages and hand-pushed ladder equipment emerging from the arched carriage doorway shown in the photograph accompanying this post.
Here it is: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-fire-at-the-historic-inn-at-hampton-1908-online
If, for any reason, the link above doesn’t work, please try typing the name quoted in the second paragraph above as the search argument into your search engine.
Old fire station in Hampton Village
Listed locally as a Building of Townscape Merit, the old station is now used as the offices of BPS Broadcast and Production Services.
As for the roll call of the first three firemen of the Trumpton fire brigade informing the title of this post, I’m sorry if it’s a bit obscure for some; it’s for readers of a certain age. The last three firemen are saved for another fire station still to come. Here are all six, plus the Commander, just in case your memory needs a jog.
Left to right: Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub being inspected by the indomitable Fire Brigade Commander Captain Flack.
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