GRAVESEND

Fourth Portal at St Andrew's, Royal Pier Road, Gravesend, DA12 2BD

Welcome

The Past and Future always meet in the Present

Website page being updates
January 2025

Showcase List Glance

Laserium set up at Fourth Portal Lab, Gravesend, for Funki Porcini performance, 26-28 January 2024..

Our beautiful chilled-out Fourth Portal, nestled by the river Thames in Gravesend, is slowly teasing out the town's innovators, creators, entrepreneurs and curious.

Business Studies Master students from the University of Sheffield visited Gravesend and were fascinated by the Fourth Portal.

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FOURTH PORTAL - Creating Memories
Beautiful way to finish a Friday, kids and Granddad trying to find the badges on the stained glass

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The famous Neil, founder of one of the oldest online blogs covering the history of South East London, Transpontine.

South East London blogzine - things that are happening, things that happened, things that should never have happened. New Cross, Brockley, Deptford and other beauty spots. EMAIL US: transpontineblog at gmail.com Transpontine: 'on the other (i.e. the south) side of the bridges over the Thames; pertaining to or like the lurid melodrama played in theatres there in the 19th century'.

Darren brought Jack and Jasmine from Jasmine to enjoy the fair and see the Fourth Portal. The children decided to spend more time in the Fourth Portal :)

Tony was Chief Papermaker at the Empire papermaking factory in Greenhithe and provided a great lowdown on the entire paper and print factory set up from Northfleet to Dartford. He will become part of our print industry series of events.

Yunus, Aliyah, Abdul found the Fourth Portal amazing and Addul bought himself the Compact Etymological Dictionary from our bookshelf, which will prove useful when he starts Oxford studying Classics.

In comes Luna, pushing her pram all alone. She parked her pram and went upstairs to chill with a book on the bed. Mum and Nan arrive to say Luna decided she wanted to return to the Fourth Portal

Tia, Ellise, Olivia, Chloe, Nula, Jorja and Dylan are a growing band of teenagers returning to the Fourth Portal.

Chello player Clementine and daughter Camden are becoming regulars to the Fourth Portal and were fascinated by the pipe organ.

Gravesend fire eater Rebecca, who is off to Glastonbury to perform, stumbled on the Fourth Portal with local creative Jasmin who styles hair in the town. They both embraced the concept and the vibe before enjoying our CBD drinks sitting by the beach.

Darren took a few visits before finally deciding that the Kingfisher print by artist Kevin Gavaghan was certainly for his living room wall.

Curator of the Homage to the Homebrew Computer Club, Mark Gladwell, along with fellow enthusiasts Jon and Claudia and a busy room.

Fourth Portal engineer Graham explained the 3D printed monotype tape reader he designed, its purpose and how it will extract data using a mobile phone from punch holes to Ben and Sam.

Tess immediately began dancing on seeing herself on the virtual stage in the Fourth Portal Lucia House. On hearing the gramophone she danced in circles for the entire record.

Mo and Barry, who chaffaurs the Gravesend mayor had a good morning in the Fourth Portal, enjoying the coffee and Dawn Cole's work.

Franco Teez and Zoe loved the gramophone and everything about the Fourth Portal. Memories triggered the links to the future were apparent.

Photo captures the Fourth Portal really becoming a place where the generations just begin to talk.

Auto Engineer, Colín returned with a story from his time on the Thames and that of his father, a tugboat pilot. Possibility of Colin becoming involved with one of our emerging projects.

Badges, computer games, books and everything of intrigue were in the family frame of reference.

Ian and Harriet were in Gravesend for a wedding and spent a good chunk of the afternoon in the Fourth Portal. The Lindisfarne album had the now lost view of Newcastle from their home window of the riverfront.

It is not difficult to really begin liking people in Gravesend when people come in with such positive energy.

Chris, Lauren and Tonto live locally with Chris' parents Susanna and Stephen, visitors from Hong Kong. Lauren loved the idea of there being a refill station so close to home, having had the Fourth Portal recommended by Päivi from LV21. All found the place cool, particularly Tonto, who enjoyed the chews.

The former seafarers chapel has transformed into a relaxed social space and venue introducing advanced technologies surrounded by an eclectic array of furnishings, books and retro computers.

There are Macs free to use, fast internet, a licensed bar, coffee roasted in HMP Mount purchased directly from the growers, and much more, all under stunning stained glass windows.

Rethinking how materials are made, adapted and recycled will be a prominent component of the emerging technological revolution and is central to public engagement at the Fourth Portal.

For summer and autumn 2023, the Fourth Portal Lab focused on paper before moving on to textiles for winter and spring 2024.

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Fourth Portal stimulates knowledge exchanges by bringing technology, social gathering and innovation to life.

Using specially selected objects that coalesce with local history, rich conversations have emerged, leading to collaborations and learning.

01:21

Review by Kitizo | 13 April 2024

Kizito, a civil engineer from Gravesend, had never seen the Fourth Portal before and was intrigued as he parked up outside. He found space as something special and that there should be more attention as it allows the locals to express themselves.

00:58

Review by Tim and Liz | 14 April 2024

Tim and Liz were taken by surprise when coming across the Fourth Portal on their Sunday afternoon walk. Guitar teacher and musician, Tim became fascinated by the innovative music technology and the diversity of the Fourth Portal audience.

03:41

Review by Harriet | 19 January 2024

From our inspired page. Local born and bred Harriet Hammond began coming into the Fourth Portal in the early summer of 2023 and was soon developing the Hypermedia event series along with co-founder Joe Clarey.

Review by Elvin | 28 January 2024

INSPIRATIONAL AND INNOVATIVE Elvin nails the Fourth Portal in 50 seconds. Walking along the Thames Path with his partner, he wandered into the Fourth Portal and sees the robots. Head of Data Analytics for a FinTech company, Elvin immediately made the link between play, robots, learning, knowledge exchange and more. Fabulous review. https://www.fourthportal.com/event-documentation/

00:34

Review by Jaye | 30 Nov 2022

Jaye reflecting on the Fourth Portal test site in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, from July-December 2022. See more on the Fourth Portal Great Yarmouth page.

Review with Ravi | 15 March 2024

Objects stimulate the majority of the reviews about the Fourth Portal. Ravinder Singh here holds a Tights Ball made using 320 pairs of nylon tights and weighs around 10kg. This is how much landfill 320 pairs of nylon tights take up and there are around 2.5 billion pairs made each year. This ball will not begin to break down for at least 1,000 years! (Head Chemist, SwissRe Insurance, 2014). Video by Jagdev Verdee, guest Ravinder (Ravi) Singh, founder of Khalsa Aid International Background Tights Ball stories (2012-2015) https://re-imaginingtights.tumblr.com/

OPENING TIMES

BUILDING ST ANDREWS

How to find us and opening times.

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Opening times

OPEN WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY FROM 12:30

Address

FOURTH PORTAL LAB

St Andrew's Arts Centre, Royal Pier Rd, Gravesend, Kent,DA12 2BD (MAP)

Train

7 mins walk from Gravesend train station

Kings Cross (22mins)

Lewisham, Deptford, London Bridge (35-40mins)

Margate, Folkestone (55-70mins)

Ferry

From Essex, Tilbury Port

Monday to Saturday, 7am - 7pm | 6mins

Not Sundays | Adult £5.50 return | Concessions |

Drive

8 mins from A2 (various junctions)

10-12 mins from M25 (Dartford junction)

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Address

FOURTH PORTAL

Former St Andrew's Waterside Mission Church at Gravesend

Royal Pier Rd, Gravesend, Kent,DA12 2BD (MAP)

Train

7 mins walk from Gravesend train station

Kings Cross (22mins)

Lewisham, Deptford, London Bridge (35-40mins)

Margate, Folkestone (55-70mins)

Ferry. (PRESENTLY SUSPENDED)

From Essex, Tilbury Port

Monday to Saturday, 7am - 7pm | 6mins

Not Sundays | Adult £5.50 return | Concessions

Drive

8 mins from A2 (various junctions)

10-12 mins from M25 (Dartford junction)

Bike or walk

Gravesend Riverside, follow signs for Thames Path or Tilbury Ferry

Our venue.

St. Andrew's Waterside Mission Church, Gravesend

The primary missionary purpose of the church was transferred to Tilbury when the docks were built, with services continuing until 1971 despite ongoing problems with damp. The Diocese of Rochester decided to close the church because of the cost of repairs, but it was rescued and purchased by Gravesham Borough Council in 1975 and transformed into an Arts Centre.

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Ceiling

Representing the upturned hull of a ship

Windows

By Clayton and Bell around 1870, Regents St, London

Plaques

Various including Franklin, Singh and Beaufort

The emerging Fourth Portal as it settles into the St Andrews Art Centre, Gravesend

St Andrews Art Centre ceiling represents the hull of a ship.

The slow emerging Mind Space at St Andrews Art Centre, Gravesend.

St Andrews Art Centre working pipe organ keyboard.

St Andrews Gravesend Victorian Italian tiles

First view of St Andrews Art Centre approaching from Gravesend town centre.

St Andrews Art Centre main entrance from Royal Pier road.

A mosaic representing St. Andrew 'who became associated with protection at sea and is now considered a patron saint of sailors'.

Beach and St Andrews Art Centre looking towards Essex across the Thames.

Stain glass representing St. Andrew and St. Peter at St Andrews Art Centre.

Stain glass representing the saints and Virgin Mary at St Andrews Art Centre

Etching from Discover Gravesham website of St Andrews Art Centre

Stain glass of Christ's crucifixion over the exit of St Andrews Art Centre.

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Andrews Art Centre chapel and bell tower next to the Mission House, which is now offices.

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BUILDING HISTORY MORE

Notable history and architecture.

SIR FRANCIS BEAUFORT

The Beaufort Scale was created by Sir Francis Beaufort, an Irish-born Royal Navy officer and hydrographer, in the early 19th century. Beaufort developed the scale as a way to standardise the reporting of wind conditions for the British Navy, which he served in for many years

MAHARAJA SIR DULEEP SINGH

Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire" was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur.

JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

HMS Erebus and Terror were two Royal Navy ships captained by Sir John Franklin during his ill-fated expedition to find the Northwest Passage in the Arctic in the mid-19th century.

The expedition is notable for the innovative technology and equipment onboard the ships, some of which were groundbreaking for their time, including steam power, air-tight food containers, a portable observatory and desalination apparatus.