Routes of Wreckage: A Walk and Talk with Peter Nicholls

Cement Fields

Join Peter Nicholls for a walk and talk through Gravesend to the site of a previously unrecognised slave ship wreck.

Gravesend Library

Join Peter Nicholls, co-founder of the Thames Estuary Sunken Slave Ships Project, for a walk and talk through Gravesend, from the Library and Archives to the site of a previously unrecognised slave ship wreck.At the site, we’ll hear a story, informed by archival documents and Creole poetics, that reaches for what can be known or imagined about those trafficked on board, and traces the ship’s transition into an oceanic entanglement of wreckage that maps history and memory across a diasporic world.From the shore of the Thames, we will return inland, following the recovered traces of the ship, until we arrive back at Gravesend Library and Archives.This event is part of Exodus Crooks <a href="https://cementfields.org/projects/why-live-anywhere-else-exodus-crooks/" title="https://cementfields.org/projects/why-live-anywhere-else-exodus-crooks/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">why live anywhere else?</a>, which has been commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Creative Estuary, Gravesham Borough Council, and Ebbsfleet Development Corporation through the Northfleet Place Partnership. With additional support from Northfleet School for Girls.Details about the walk:10-15 minute walk, a pause for 30 minutes, and another 10-15 minute walk back again.The walk will take us down the High Street towards the seafront, taking a left onto Globe Yard before heading down Princes Street and onto Church Street. We will then take a right onto West Street, continuing on as it becomes Crooked Lane and Royal Pier Road before finishing at the seafront by Gravesham Arts. After stopping there for a short while, we will return to Gravesend Library following the same route.As we will be stopping at the pebbled shoreline, suitable footwear and trousers are recommended when going down the short steps to the water's edge. The walk will be accessible for wheelchair users, who can remain on Royal Pier Road whilst Pete continues his talk just a few steps below