Category: Updates

Walton-on-Thames can now claim to have hosted the earliest recorded game of baseball.

Proof that the game is English comes from baseball historian David Block who used a new search system to find the reference in a 1749 newspaper stored in the British Museum.

The Prince of Wales and Lord Middlesex were among the players enjoying “bass-ball”.

The site is Ashley Park Avenue which is turning off the road approaching Walton Bridge.

The discovery was mentioned last week on BBC SouthToday and has now appeared in several papers including the Daily Mail.

John Inglis and Jill Sanders who live on Garrick’s Ait near Hampton are working on Thames panoramas old and new.

First they are proposing to put online Samuel Leigh’s 1829 panorama of the Thames from London to Richmond. It was published for people to enjoy whilst being rowed on the river so few copies have survived in tact.

As a film maker John is well placed to also make a new photographic version which will start at Tower Bridge and go upstream as far as Hampton Court.

Jill is a journalist from the Kingston area and her former colleague June Sampson has been taking to the couple for the Surrey Comet.

Greenwich’s tourist information centre has won a Gold Award in the Visit England Awards for Excellence 2013.

This is the highest accolade which Visit England can bestow.

Staff at the centre speak over ten different languages.

The Greenwich TIC is the first one which walkers come upon on their walk upstream.

It allows local history publications to have a place on its shelves and also carries vital information on places beyond Greenwich which are reached later on the walk.

This award is good news since some councils, including Southwark, have closed their TICs.

The presentation was made by Penelope, Viscountess Cobham, Chairman of VisitEngland, who enjoys a view of the Thames path from her central London home.

Prince Charles today announced that Chimney Meadows has been designated Oxfordshire’s Coronation Meadow.

There is one in every county although more are due to follow by being seeded from these first ones which mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Thames Path runs through lonely Chimney-on-Thames which lies between Newbridge and Lechlade.

Within living memory the meadows, one of the largest areas of unimproved meadowland in England and rich in wild flowers, were managed by two sisters who did not care for visitors or walkers. The area is now in the care of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

St Bride’s Church has a wedding cake steeple but at present it is covered up.

The church is seen from Bankside and the South Bank.

A new landmark has appeared in the river at Limehouse.

It’s life-size metal figure of a man from Antony Gormley’s Another Time series and stands on a mooring post near the shore.

The residents of Narrow Street on the north bank have the best view.

The man, who at high tide today did not disappear, could be thought on occasion to be standing or walking on water.

The best view from the Thames Path on the Rotherhithe bank is at Pageants Stairs  near Lavender Dock entrance. The figure is seen just downstream from The Grapes pub opposite.

Eel Pie Island is holding its Summer Open Studios on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 June 11am-6pm.

This is an opportunity to explore the island, which has a boatyard, and to buy original artwork directly from the resident artists. Credit cards are not accepted.

Access is from the Twickenham bank and not the towpath.

You will find Thames Crossings on Radio 4 at 1.45pm all this week from 20 April.

It could be described as a bit of  a ramble with Piers Plowright but those know the Thames well will find the references in the first episode fascinating.

Eyot House on D’Oyly Carte Island near Shepperton is for sale.

The Sunday Telegraph featured the carefully restored house which was made to look like a Swiss chalet by Richard D’Oyly Carte in the 1890s.

The article includes the interesting information that the narrow bridge was only added in 1964 which explains why so many people claim to remember having to ring the bell at the lychgate on the towpath to attract attention.

The Deptford Jack in the Green really will be in Deptford on May Day 2013.

Some years the figure surrounded by musicians has been seen upstream in Borough Market.

On Wednesday 1 May the Jack will leave the Dog & Bell in Princes Street in Deptford at 12 noon.

The Thames Path passes the door.

Dressing the Jack takes place at the Dog & Bell the night before and on Wednesday the pub will open at 11am.

Last year’s Southwark pictures are here.

This year’s programme has been published on the Fowlers Troop website.