A hundred years ago today, on Tuesday 7 June, George V accompanied by Queen Mary arrived by carriage with a mounted escort to open Southwark Bridge. The spans were designed to line up with those of London and Blackfriars Bridges. Work on pulling down the first bridge, designed by John Rennie with just three arches, […]
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Mast Quay in Woolwich has two 14-storey buildings erected in 2004 and after much delay a third block of flats at the downstream end is under construction. The Thames Path diversion from Woolwich Ferry to the side of Jigger Mast House will probably remain in place for some time. Weeds are growing on the fenced-off […]
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Election Day 6 May is the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower returning from America to Rotherhithe. This year and last, when it was the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower sailing, should have been big moments for Rotherhithe’s Mayflower pub. But the Pilgrim Fathers’ celebrations have been muted by the virus on both sides of the […]
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Members of Parliament looking across the river from the refreshment tent on the Commons terrace may not enjoy the view as much as in the past. There is now a long red line running across the bottom of St Thomas’ Hospital. It is a reminder of the pandemic dead. During the Easter recess, the Covid-19 […]
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Riverside Enderby House on the Greenwich Peninsula opens today Tuesday 13 April as a Young’s pub. The Enderby family, whalers who gave their name to Enderby Land in the Antartic, first occupied the Enderby’s Wharf site in 1776. Enderby House was built on the wharf about 1835 with an upstairs angled bay-window giving a view […]
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Thames Clippers will be operating the Hammersmith ferry from later this summer. The TfL ferry is a replacement crossing for Hammersmith Bridge which is closed and unlikely to be repaired for some time. The ferry will cross downstream of the bridge from Harrods Wharf on the right bank. Operating hours will be 6am to 10pm […]
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With lockdown keeping us from the River Thames it’s probably the best time to catch up on books about the river to plan ahead. One of the loveliest new ones is Chloe Dewe Mathews’ Thames Log where her photographs speak for themselves. The only writing is the foreword by Marina Warner. The pictures in this […]
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The Tablet reports that best-selling novelist Ken Follett is donating all earnings from his book Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals to a cathedral in Brittany. Sales of the book will help to save St Samson cathedral in Dol where St Samson, who died in 565, is buried. One of the few […]
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Eighty-one year old Michael Parkinson of Nottingham was one of the first to suffer from Covid in March last year. Having recovered he published his book Thames Path Walk which he had been working on since 2014. It began with a desire to see water at the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire. Having seen […]
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The 900th anniversary of Reading Abbey’s foundation by Henry I is next June. Will we be able to walk into Reading from the Thames Path in June? Or up the Kennet from Horseshoe Bridge? Marooned at home during these winter months gives us an opportunity to discover more about the heritage along the river and […]
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