Slag

Take the path from Putney Park Lane at The Pleasance leading to Woodborough Rd.

From the path you emerge into the late 19th century villa development of the Putney Park Estate. This area was developed by builder Henry Scarth as a commuter belt as soon as the railway was opened.

In order to attract Londoners out to Putney, the area was carefully planned with attractive architecture taking influences from the local Arts and Crafts movement. You will see the architectural traits of each street. Each street is different. Some have yellow brick houses on one side of the street and red brick houses opposite. Others alternate the brick down each side of the street. The garden walls feature a dented oblong pattern, typical of West Putney.

The pavements are dressed with granite kerbs and the streets are framed with two rows of blue brick.

This blue brick is called Scorria blocks (glazed engineering bricks). ‘Scoria' comes from the Greek word meaning 'excrement or dung'. It is a strange choice of name, because in reality the bricks are made of slag, a byproduct of iron production. Scoria apparently was used to make the brick sound more refined and scientific.

At the time iron foundry manufacturers in the North East were drowning in slag. One ton of iron produced one ton of slag and other companies charged fourpence a ton to cart it away. In the 19th century the furnaces of Cleveland were producing 2.5 million tons of pig iron a year. So one furnace owner decided it was cheaper to build a second factory that would turn the slag into bricks.

Scoria bricks were very hard to break, very durable, and waterproof. Their hey day was between 1872 and 1917 when car drivers wanted a smoother ride.

So the streets of London may have been famous for being paved with gold, but in Putney they are lined with Middlesborough slag!