Clink Street, running under Cannon Street railway line bridge, used to be a delightful Dickensian road between warehouses. It may be too light soon.
The details are on the London SE1 website.
Although this stretch of the Thames Path, just west of Southwark Cathedral, is not alongside water it was thought to be an important part of the river experience in London when the national trail was planned in the 1980s.
This year is the 200th anniverary of Johan Zoffany’s death.
The artist, closely associated with the River Thames, died on 11 November 1810.
It seems that the bicentenary exhibition planned appropriately for Thames-side Tate Britain has been cancelled for fear that it will not attract enough people.
The Royal Academy of Arts has stepped in but cannot fit it in until 2012. Fortunately that will be the 250th anniversary of Zoffany’s arrival in England from Germany.
But this year there is publication of a book Johan Zoffany: Artist and Adventurer by Penelope Treadwell (PHP £50; paperback £30).
This seems expensive but the book is a delight and has 200 colour illustrations.
The author is an expert in her field and was fired to write the book by living in Zoffany’s riverside house at Strand-on-the-Green.
When Zoffany lived in Covent Garden he had a country home at Chiswick. Its church is depicted in The Sharp Family painted in 1779. The family are on the towpath opposite with the Thames and church seen to one side of the group.
He knew Hampton well and in 1762 had painted David Garrick and his wife taking tea by the river. He also depicted them outside the Shakespeare Temple, again with a river view.
The artist is most associated with Kew where he is buried in the churchyard on the green. His tomb looks out to the Thames and his house beyond at Strand-on-the-Green.
See pages 54, 55 & 68.
Southwark marks the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity not with a service or talk but an ecumenical walk.
It was a pleasure to join in visiting first St Hugh’s, Guy’s Chapel and La Salette Church near London Bridge. After walking along the river, and looking for the seal as we crossed St Saviour’s Dock, we were received at Dockhead Convent in Parker Row.
Here we saw its permanent exhibition about the convent, Dockhead and the sisters’ work with Florence Nightingale.
January is deep winter with no tourists so the landlord at The Angel was away. The temporary staff did a splendid job in producing fish and chips at short notice. The pub, where Whistler sketched the river from the back, is at the start of Bermondsey Wall West and a good place for lunch now that Surrey Docks Farm has closed its cafe.
We ended in Rotherhithe where Fr Mark Nicholls showed us round St Mary’s Church and pointed out that we had to climb steps because the floor is above flood level. This year is the 700th anniversary of the appointment of his predecessor, the first rector.
See page 25.
I sometimes mention Vincent Van Gogh teaching at Isleworth although this was only for a short time.
The Real Van Gogh exhibition opening at the Royal Academy of Arts on Saturday reminds us that the artist knew the river downstream at Lambeth and Westminster much better.
On display is a letter written in Paris in 1875 where he writes: “I crossed Westminster Bridge every morning and evening and know what it looks like when the sun’s setting behind Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and what it’s like early in the morning, and in winter with snow and fog.”
He was recalling the previous year when he had spent twelve menths crossing the bridge daily on his way to work at an art dealer in Southampton Street off the Strand.
Van Gogh was living at first in Brixton and then in Kennington Road from where it was a short walk up Westminster Bridge Road.
In 1876 he was back in England teaching at Isleworth for a few months. In November he preached at Petersham Methodist Church which he sketched.
The exhibition’s full title is The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters so there are none of his English paintings as these do not feature in his letters. But this is a major show. I have never seen so many people at an RA press view.
There was even a media frenzy around his self portrait when members of the Van Gogh family appeared.
The souvenir shop is fun with mugs, bags, fridge magnets, trays and Oyster card wallets.
The exhibition runs daily from Saturday 23 January to Sunday 18 April.
Since Sunday there has been at least one seal in St Saviour’s Dock next to Butler’s Wharf.
Updates are appearing on the London SE1 website which has a picture.
See page 27.
Good news this week for lock keepers on the Thames which is good news for all of us who care about the river.
Over twenty lock keepers and their families will keep their riverside accommodation thanks to a deal negotiated by UNISON. Last May the Environment Agency had planned to sell the cottages.
“Having lock keepers living close to the water also means they can be first line of defence in case of flooding” says UNISON regional organiser Jeanette Roe.
“For the lock and weir keepers and their families, this is the news they have been waiting for.
“They have been on tenterhooks, facing the prospect of uprooting their families from homes they have lived in for up to thirty years. Now they can start the New Year knowing they can stay in their homes.
“The deal also gives lock and weir keepers improved job profiles and formal arrangements for their standby and call out duties.”
The plan to let the cottages as holiday homes was opposed by many including Reading MP and keen angler Martin Salter.
Information to Editors:
I am sorry that the new owner of Swinford Bridge wants to remain anonymous.
I have never objected to the owner being allowed to avoid tax as upkeep of an 18th-century structure can be expensive and the obligation to provide a ferry if the bridge becomes unsafe would also be costly.
The mystery buyer paid £1.08m. Cars and lorries pay 5p so the annual income from the crossing is about £190,000. Before decimalisation cars used to be charged 5d which was based on five wheels including a spare one on the back of early cars.
The 1797 Swinford Bridge Act allowed Lord Abingdon to build the bridge and collect tolls tax free. This was thought to be an improvement on a ferry and an unreliable ford. The Talbot pub on the left bank opened a few years later in 1774.
Swinford Bridge , which has a lovely balustrade, only passed out of the Abingdon family in 1979.
See page 178.
An engraved paving stone has been laid in the pavement outside 54 Festing Road in Putney where David McKee created the Mr Benn cartoon series.
David, who now lives in France, called the street Festive Road and has Mr Benn living next door at number 52.
Festing Road is the last turning off Putney’s Embankment before the Thames Path crosses Beverley Brook.
See page 49.
Candida Lycett Green takes a look at Inglesham Church as part of her ‘Unwrecked England’ series in Christmas issue of The Oldie.
The writer, who is the daughter of John Betjeman, recalls joining her parents rowing up from Lechlade past the Roundhouse and landing at the farm behind the church. This is the same stretch enjoyed by an earlier poet Percy Shelley.
Her description and appreciation of the river and church is a delight.
See pages 196-197.
Last August I wrote about the pleasure of lunching at the Surrey Docks Farm cafe. Now it’s closed.
The cafe is shut “until after Christmas” I am told by farm manager Kath. There are not enough winter visitors.
But it’s worth calling in on Sunday 13 December for the Christmas Fair when the cafe will be open.
See page 21.