The Thames Path by Leigh Hatts

A statue of Virginia Woolf has been unveiled on the Thames Path at Richmond.

The writer lived in the town for a decade from 1914 and liked to walk along the Thames every day.

Now she is depicted sitting on a long seat where today’s walkers can join her to look at the river.

Virginia and her husband Leonard lived at Hogarth House in Paradise Road where they founded the Hogarth Press on the kitchen table.

At first the couple published their own work on a small hand-printing press but later expanded the business to include work by emerging authors such as Katherine Mansfield.

The first UK edition of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland was published a century ago by the Hogarth Press with the typesetting for the 450 copies being undertaken by Virginia.

The bronze figure is by Laury Dizengremel and was unveiled by Virginia Woolf’s great great nieces Sophie Partridge and Emma Woolf.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday afternoon as the tide fell to one of its lowest levels during the current draw-off when the lock gates are left open to allow for the riverbed to be exposed.

The seat with Virginia Woolf can be found up a few steps on Richmond Riverside opposite the former Jesus College Oxford barge immediately downstream of Richmond Bridge.

Day’s Lock Meadow beside the River Thames has been voluntarily registered by landowner Keith Ives.

Mr Ives bought the land in 2020 and, as a person with a strong sense of community, agreed voluntarily to register the site so that it can continue to be enjoyed by the public.

Thanks to a long campaign by residents of nearby Dorchester-on-Thames and the Open Spaces Society, the meadow has been added to the village green register.

The struggle began in 2016 when an earlier landowner of Bishops Court Farm erected fencing.

Keith Ives has also made it possible for the nearby ancient Dyke Hills, crossed if walking into Dorchester, to be registered at the same time.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, says: ‘We are delighted to have helped secure people’s access to these special place for ever. 

‘We congratulate the residents for their perseverance and determination, and we thank Mr Ives most warmly for his gift to the community.  He is a fine example to other landowners.  The society is encouraging landowners voluntarily to register their land as greens to protect it for public enjoyment.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, current favourite to win the Conservative leadership and become Prime Minister, is a descendant of the City of London’s famous Navigation Clerk of Works Charles Truss.

Truss’s Island in the River Thames is named after him.

The island, restored in 1992 with water again on all sides, is on the right bank between Laleham and Staines.

The stone, bearing the City Corporation shield and the island’s name, was placed in the centre in 1804 but has the date 1774 which is the year Charles Truss was appointed.

The City, responsible for the Thames as far as Staines, had allowed the river to become so obstructed and towpaths so eroded that it was in danger of losing its ancient rights.

Truss spent 36 years restoring the river, which saw a huge increase in traffic with the opening of the Thames and Severn Canal.

The island is largely inhabited by swans and Canada geese leaving little room for visitors seeking out the blackberries hanging down to the water.

The towpath is on the left bank and although from a distance the wooded island on the right bank appears to merge with the background it’s easily located by the swans. They often cross the river tempted by a constant offering of bread from walkers despite a recently posted notice from the Queen’s Swan Marker asking people to desist from feeding.

Another descendant of Charles Truss is The Revd Richard Truss, Liz Truss’s uncle, who has served in riverside parishes of Shepperton and Waterloo.

It is like a sudden return to the recent past to find the new path at Wandsworth’s Riverside Quarter closed after being able to enjoy it.

Bur construction is not over.

After crossing the River Wandle go right with the Wandle to reach the confluence with the Thames. But on turning upstream on the Thames you must divert.

Bear half left up shallow steps to join Eastfields Avenue. Go right along the road as far as the post box (right). Here turn right past the shop to return to the river at Wandsworth Riverside Pier.

The diversion does offer the opportunity to easily visit the award-winning Cat’s Back pub. To do so continue past the post box for a few yards into Point Pleasant and look left.

The diversion is likely to be in place until at least the autumn.

On Tuesday Greenwich Council is being asked to approve a planning application which will result in the loss of riverside willow trees on the Thames Path.

The application is for the construction of conveyor belts over the Thames Path at Tunnel Wharf and associated refurbishment works to the jetty.

Tunnel Wharf is next to the north side of Morden Wharf on Greenwich Peninsula.

The report to the planning committee confirms that ‘as a result of these works the existing willow trees that are growing into the revetment will be felled’.

Planned ecological improvements include possible unspecified replacement trees and a widening of the Thames Path.

Transport for London, which is not objecting to the application, has expressed satisfaction that there will be no detrimental impact on the amenity of the Thames Path.

The report before councillors claims that the willows are not of a high quality
with the Royal Borough confirming that it has no objection to their felling.

Comments should be sent by Friday to [email protected] marked Planning Case Reference: 19/3298/F

Which is the best pub on the Thames Path at Windsor?

Once, arriving in the town from Staines, one might have ended the walk by dropping thankfully into The Donkey House at the end of Romney Walk. It was on the river next to the towpath and within sight of the bridge.

But that pub became The River House and is now The Boatman. Despite the tables on the road it feels like a restaurant.

The alternative is over Windsor Bridge to Eton and first left with the Thames Path into Brocas Street.

Here is The Watermans Arms dating from 1682 and full of history. It’s also full of books and information. It probably wins as the best stop for walkers wanting a quick or long lunch.

The food is good. There are real ales and water is no problem.

It is good to find the pub still there and with the same name at a time when we learn that 7,000 pubs have closed during the past decade.

The towpath between Barnes Bridge and riverside Jubilee Gardens in Mortlake is likely to remain closed until early October.

The work by the Environment Agency , which began last month, involves strengthening flood defences.

The diversion means that walkers approaching Barnes Bridge must go under the road arch. Beyond the bridge there is only a pavement on the left hand side side of the road.

On entering Mortlake it is at present possible to go along the waterfront at the Ye White Hart but there is then an immediate return to the road.

Beyond the pub walk on the right hand side of Mortlake High Street to continue past Tideway Yard (with Rick Stein’s restaurant). Just past Jubilee Gardens (opposite Avondale Road; left) go right down a narrow passage to return to the river.

It is probably too hot walk along the River Thames for a few days.

Hammersmith Bridge is being wrapped in foil to protect the ancient structure and Tuesday’s Doggett’s Coat & Badge scullers’ race from London Bridge to Chelsea is postponed.

Stretches which are like woodland walks in summer, such as Putney to Barnes and Ham House to Kingston, do offer some shade (as does Hartslock Wood beyond Pangbourne) but there are still many open miles.

Dipping into the river for a paddle or swim is not advised. Every ordinary year sees a number of deaths.

If you must go on the Thames Path then treat your walk to the Source like the pilgrimage to Santiago. Much of that is in hot Spain where pilgrims tend to set out in early morning at first light with the day’s walking done by lunchtime.

Poet Percy B Shelley was drowned at sea and cremated on an Italian beach 200 years ago. The anniversary of his death is Friday 8 July.

Shelley was more used to the waters of the River Thames and places associated with him can be found in the upper and lower reaches.

He first lived with his future wife Mary at 2 Nelson Square near Blackfriars Bridge.

A little later they were living on the edge of Windsor Great Park from where in 1815 the couple, with Charles Clairmont and Thomas Love Peacock*, rowed up the Thames.

They got as far as Inglesham intending to join the Thames and Seven Canal but were prevented by the £20 toll. Instead they drifted on past the Round House at the canal entrance towards Inglesham church where the reeds became too thick and the water too shallow to continue.

The party stayed at the New Inn in nearby Lechlade where today Shelley’s Walk runs past the church. The path is named after the poet because he walked along the path before writing his poem A Summer Evening Church-Yard inspired by his view from the east end of the churchyard looking towards the sunset.

Two years later in March 1817 newly married Percy and Mary moved to Marlow.

Albion House in West Street was to be their home for a year although at the time they intended to stay longer having purchased a 21 year lease. But Mary found the house to be damp and lacking direct sunshine.

They sowed seeds brought back from Switzerland where Mary had begun to write Frankenstein. Now pregnant Mary prepared a new handwritten copy for the publisher.

In between there were boat trips up and down the river to nearby Medmenham Abbey, Henley and Maidenhead.

Visitors included Claire Clairmont and her baby Allegra by Byron who was in Venice, Mary’s father William Godwin and Leigh Hunt with his family.

In September Mary gave birth to Clara and finished the couple’s travel narrative A History of a Six Weeks’ Tour which was published under Percy’s name in November. New Year’s Day 1818 saw the publication of Mary’s Frankenstein. By March the family was on its way to Italy. Percy never returned.

***Thomas Love Peacock, who organised the boat trip from Windsor to Lechlade in 1815, wrote The Genius of the Thames poem. He lived in Marlow when the Shelleys were there and later at riverside Peacock House at Shepperton.

***Although Shelley died in a storm late on the night of Monday 8 July his body was not discovered on Viareggio beach until Wednesday 17 July. It was Sunday 4 August, his birthday, when news reached London. His cremation on the beach took place on Thursday 15 August.

LECHLADE: During August this year, as the anniversaries pass, work will be taking place in Lechlade to renew the cobbles on Shelley’s Walk. They date from 1830, just fifteen years after Shelley’s visit, and many of the original setts will be retained in the resurfacing.

It is possible that the work will be completed by the first week in September which is the 206th anniversary of Shelley’s visit.

The rest of the path is known as Church Path or Bridge Walk and runs to The Trout Inn at St John’s Lock. It makes good circular walk if you return to the town along the towpath.

The church is taking the opportunity to reopen as its its main entrance the lovely early 16th-century porch known to Shelley.

The Royal Barge Gloriana is part of the Tudor Pull on Saturday when cutters take part in a 25 mile row down the Thames from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London.