page_title: Erith
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Erith / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Erith Library This Grade II listed building in Walnut Tree Road was opened on 7 April 1906 to a design by a local architect, William Egerton, with financing from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. It was re-furbished and re-opened in September 2000. The building also houses Erith Museum which is currently open on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.
context_page_description: Erith is an area in south-east London, England, 13.3 miles east of Charing Cross. Within the historic county of Kent, it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley since 1965. It lies north-east of Bexleyheath and north-west of Dartford, on the south bank of the River Thames. The population is 45,345. The town centre has been modernised with further dwellings added since 1961. The curved riverside high street has three listed buildings, including the Church of England church and the Carnegie Building. Erith otherwise consists mainly of suburban homes. It is linked to central London and Kent by rail and to Thamesmead by a dual carriageway. Erith has the longest pier in London, and retains a coastal environment with salt marshes alongside industrial land.
context_section_description: The town's first library, designed by local architect William Egerton, and funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, opened in 1906.
  Engineering became an important industry around Erith, with armaments and cables being the main products. Vickers was a major employer and was linked to the Royal Arsenal at nearby Woolwich.
  During the First World War Erith was an important area for the manufacture of guns and ammunition, largely due to the presence of the large Vickers works.
  The town suffered heavy bomb damage in the Second World War, mainly due its position on the riverside near the Royal Arsenal. The bomb damage and a gradual decline in local trade prompted major redevelopment in the 1960s.
  In 1961, plans were put forward to redevelop Erith into a modern, sleek shopping and working environment. This involved clearing the sub-standard housing by the riverside and altering the street layout. Some of the buildings erected, particularly the social housing tower blocks, are of a brutalist form that typified the overspill estates put up by almost all councils in England's major cities as an affordable way of clearing the slums.
  In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, Erith became part of the London Borough of Bexley.
  Demolition of the old town started in 1966 and continued in phases until 1980, leaving only a few reminders of the old town centre. Many of the original Victorian buildings were lost, but some of the original townscape remains, including the White Hart in the High Street and St John's Church in West Street.
  Erith is the site of the Erith Oil Works, originally British Oil & Cake Mills (BOCM). It now processes various seeds into vegetable oils.
caption: The Old Library, a Grade II listed building in Walnut Tree Road by William Egerton, opened on 7 April 1906.
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