Downstream

past, signs of industry and
battle, even of England’s old
place in the world. And now
at last, after nearly thirty
years, the public is allowed to
come here again.
Someone once found a
Roman oil lamp, Graham tells
me, and there are plenty of
clay pipes. ‘That red stuff,’ he
gestures down at my feet, ‘is
brick or kiln material.’ ‘What,
like this?’ I ask, picking up a
big chunk. ‘That,’ he says, ‘is