> "John Rowland" journeyflow.spamspam.demon.co.uk> wrote in
> message news:g6ffl1$omo$1$830fa7b3@news.demon.co.uk...

>>
>> In Thames Rd aka Strand On The Green, just west of the railway
>> bridge is an alley called Post Office Alley which contains a
>> small old floodgate at the river end. Set into one wall of this
>> alleyway is a line of solid metal knobs which are shaped like
>> carpentry dovetails. The line is level (i.e. level with a
>> spirit level rather than level with the rather sloping ground).
>> There is nothing in the other side of the alley. I presume they
>> serve some flood defence purpose but I can't figure it out. Any
>> clues?

>
> Photograph here:
>
> http://americangrey.co.uk/index.php?showimage=489

> It looks to me like they may just have been some sort of fixing
> for shuttering when the render was applied to the brickwork - but
> why is the rendering higher on that wall than the opposite wall?
> Either that, or there's a mezzanine floor inside the building,
> and the dovetail joints are exactly that!