A remarkable photograph taken in 1938 shows a group of men unloading huge piles of esparto grass from barges on the River Thames. In the smoggy background is Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. The grass was shipped from the Murcian town of Aguilas and was probably destined as cellulose to produce high quality paper for book printing.
Before the arrival of synthetic fibres, Aguilas was the chief distribution centre for esparto, exporting shiploads across the Mediterranean and to northern Europe.