On Thursday 17th November 2022 I caught the train to London Bridge to walk another section of the Thames Path. I have walked some bits of this many times before but not as a continuous walk. I left the station and walked down to London Bridge.
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old stone-built medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of timber bridges, the first of which was built by the Roman founders of London.
The current bridge stands at the western end of the Pool of London and is positioned 30 metres (98 ft) upstream from previous alignments. The approaches to the medieval bridge were marked by the church of St Magnus-the-Martyr on the northern bank and by Southwark Cathedral on the southern shore. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston upon Thames. London Bridge has been depicted in its several forms, in art, literature, and songs, including the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down", and the epic poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.
I walk down the Nancy Steps to Montague Close where I see Bermondsey Bierkeller, too early for a beer and was closed anyway but I will make a effort to come back for some German Beers!
Built within the vaults of London Bridge, the New Monster Bar makes for a versatile event space with their exposed brickwork, freaky décor and 2000 years of real history.
I look back at the Nancy Steps I just came down and read the blue plaque sited next to them.
The plaque has the facts wrong; in the novel Nancy is murdered in her house. It is in the 1960 musical Oliver! that she is murdered at steps leading to London Bridge. However the steps are mentioned in the novel as explained at Lost Industry.
I walk on along Montague Close and pass Southwark Cathedral.
It has been a place of Christian worship for more than 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905.
Between 1106 and 1538 it was the church of an Augustinian priory, Southwark Priory, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, it became a parish church, with the new dedication of St Saviour's. The church was in the diocese of Winchester until 1877, when the parish of St Saviour's, along with other South London parishes, was transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The present building retains the basic form of the Gothic structure built between 1220 and 1420, although the nave is a late 19th-century reconstruction.
I walk on turning into Cathedral Street and through to The Golden Hinde.
The Golden Hinde (launched 1973) is a full-size replica of the Golden Hind (launched 1577). She was built using traditional handicrafts at Appledore, in Devon. Like the original ship, she has circumnavigated the globe.
Golden Hind was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as Pelican, but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden hind (a female red deer). Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage.
I walk on along Clink Street to Winchester Palace.
Winchester Palace was once one of the largest and most important buildings in all of medieval London. Built in the early 13th century as a home to the powerful Bishops of Winchester, the palace was mostly destroyed by fire in 1814.
I walk on reaching the Clink Prison, I visited here some years ago. It is worth a visit.
The Clink was a prison in Southwark, England, which operated from the 12th century until 1780. The prison served the Liberty of the Clink, a local manor area owned by the Bishop of Winchester rather than by the reigning monarch. As the Liberty owner, the Bishop kept all revenues from the Clink Liberty, and could put people in prison for failing to make their payments. As the Bishop, he could also imprison heretics. The Clink prison was situated next to the Bishop's London-area residence of Winchester Palace. The Clink was possibly the oldest men's prison and probably the oldest women's prison in England.
It is uncertain whether the prison derived its name from, or bestowed it on, the Liberty that it served. The origins of the name "The Clink" are possibly onomatopoeic, deriving from the sound of striking metal as the prison's doors were bolted, or the rattling of the chains the prisoners wore.
The name has become slang as a generic term for prison or a jail cell.
Walking on, I walk under Cannon Street Railway Bridge.
It was originally named Alexandra Bridge after Alexandra of Denmark who was the wife of the future King Edward VII.
The bridge was designed by John Hawkshaw and John Wolfe-Barry for the South Eastern Railway. It was opened in 1866 after three years of construction. In its original form, it carried the railway over the Thames on five spans standing on cast-iron Doric pillars. It was subsequently widened between 1886–93 by Francis Brady and extensively renovated between 1979–82, which resulted in many of its ornamental features being removed and the structure taking on an even more utilitarian appearance than before.
It was the scene of the Marchioness disaster in 1989.
Walking on a short way I reach Southwark Bridge.
The original Southwark Bridge (formerly known as Queen Street Bridge) designed by John Rennie was completed in 1819. Its official opening was held at midnight to publicise a striking innovation: lighting provided by 30 gas lamps. The bridge was the largest cast iron structure of its era, but it was underused and lacked the strength to carry heavy goods vehicles.
Bridge House Estates bought the structure from the failing Southwark Bridge Company in 1866 and eventually demolished it in 1913. The new bridge, designed by architect Sir Ernest George and engineer Basil Mott, opened in 1921 after significant construction delays during the First World War. Unlike London and Blackfriars Bridges, Southwark Bridge does not have silver dragons to mark the city boundary on the southern bank of the Thames, as its construction was privately financed.
The bridge consists of cast iron arches with abutments and balustrades of grey granite and is painted green and yellow, with sentry-box like structures on the turreted pier headings. The arches and piers are directly aligned with those on the west side of Blackfriars Bridge to ease the flow of the river, reducing the risk of crosscurrents.
Below the bridge on the south landing you can still see some old steps that were once used by the Thames watermen as a landing dock to moor their boats and wait for customers. Before there were many bridges to cross the Thames these watermen provided the main form of transport across the river.
On the north bank of Southwark Bridge runs a pedestrian tunnel with a wall mural that depicts scenes of the Thames frost fairs. In several winters between the 17th and early 19th centuries (known as ‘the Little Ice Age’), the Thames froze over giving Londoners the opportunity to set up festivals with food stalls, shops, sporting events and even temporary pubs on ice. The piers of London Bridge were spaced so tightly together that they disrupted the flow of the river and allowed the Thames to freeze over.
I walk on to The Globe Theatre.
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and grandson, Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and stayed open until the London theatre closures of 1642.
A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre.
I continue on along the South Bank.
I reach the Millennium Bridge that spans the Thames from The South Bank over to St Pauls Cathedral.
The pedestrian-only Millennium Bridge opened to the public in 2000, linking St Paul's Cathedral on the north bank of the Thames with Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe in Southwark.
The bridge is a great place to take photos of the river, with its magnificent views of some of the most iconic London landmarks.
The footbridge’s famous tremor has now been fixed, but the “wobbly bridge” nickname endures.
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is located in the former Bankside Power Station, in the Bankside area of the London Borough of Southwark.
Tate Modern is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. As with the UK's other national galleries and museums, there is no admission charge for access to the collection displays, which take up the majority of the gallery space, whereas tickets must be purchased for the major temporary exhibitions.
I walk on passing under Blackfriars Bridge.
The original Blackfriars Bridge opened in 1769 and was designed by Robert Mylne, a Scottish architect, then aged only 26. Mylne had studied architecture in Rome, and his design for the bridge was influenced by Piranesi, elegant and classical in style with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone. With St Paul’s Cathedral in the background, the bridge became the subject of a number of 18th century oil paintings, notably William Marlow’s view of St Paul’s from the South Bank, completed in the early 1770s.
Originally known as William Pitt Bridge (after the prime minister), it was changed to Blackfriars when Pitt fell out of favour. The name commemorates a 13th century Dominican monastery that had once stood nearby (Dominican monks were also known as black friars because of their dark cloaks)
The toll-booths that originally operated on the bridge were destroyed in the Gordon Riots of 1780. The bridge underwent extensive repairs between 1833 and 1840, however erosion from the polluted water flowing out of the nearby River Fleet and into the Thames had irreparably damaged the bridge masonry. Owned by the Bridge House Estates, they soon called for a new bridge of a more durable material.
Queen Victoria opened the current Blackfriars Road Bridge on 6 November 1869, almost exactly a century after the inauguration of its predecessor. Following the ceremony, the Queen travelled up to Farringdon Road where she opened the Holborn Viaduct.
Blackfriars Road Bridge was designed by Joseph Cubitt and consists of five elliptical wrought-iron arches (the first bridge to use this design) so as not to create cross-currents and disrupt river traffic. Massive granite piers topped with pulpits serve as a reminder of the ancient monastery from which the bridge took its name. The bridge is painted red, white and gold, with gold emblems fixed into the supports. Said to be the tidal turning point, it is decorated to the east (downstream) with images of seabirds and to the west (upstream) with fresh water birds. The bridge also marks the boundary of the historic City of London, with its southern landing guarded by a statue of a silver dragon.
The bridge was widened in 1910 to allow trams to cross, and to accommodate the high volume of traffic. Since May 2016, it has also carried the north-south Cycle Superhighway 6. Used by approximately 54,000 vehicles a day, at 105 feet, it is now the widest bridge over the Thames in London.
Robert Mylne’s original design can still be seen on the decorative tiles in the bridge’s southern pedestrian subway.
I walk on pass the OXO Tower and its many shops and up to Gabriel's Wharf.
Gabriel’s Wharf is a riverside shopping and dining destination on London's South Bank.
I walk on along the South Bank and pass the newly put on Christmas Market.
I pass the National Theatre and the area underneath used by Skateboarders.
I reach Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges either side.
There has been a walkway crossing the river Thames at this point since 1845 when Isambard Kingdom Brunel opened his suspension footbridge.
Brunel's Hungerford footbridges connected the Southbank, now the Queen’s Walk, with the 180 year old Hungerford Market on the Northbank of the Thames. The market closed in 1860 to make way for the new Charing Cross Railway Station.
With walkways added on either side and opened in 1864 the Hungerford Railway Bridge, known today as Charing Cross Bridge, combined pedestrian and rail use.
By the end of the 20th century the original narrow walkways had become so neglected and in a state of disrepair a competition was held to replace the pedestrian crossings with a more suitable structure, one which would be fit to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Year.
Opened in 2002 the Golden Jubilee Bridges complex design, by architects Lifschutz Davidson, won the 2003 specialist category in the Royal Fine Art Commission 'Building of the Year Award'.
I walk on towards the London Eye and views across to Westminster. Nice to see the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben finally unwrapped of its scaffolding afters years of renovation.
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The official name of the tower in which Big Ben is located was originally the Clock Tower, but it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-Gothic style. When completed in 1859, its clock was the largest and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world. The tower stands 316 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 40 feet (12 m) on each side. Dials of the clock are 22.5 feet (6.9 m) in diameter. All four nations of the UK are represented on the tower on shields featuring a rose for England, thistle for Scotland, shamrock for Ireland, and leek for Wales. On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower's 150th anniversary.
Big Ben is the largest of the tower's five bells and weighs 13.5 long tons (13.7 tonnes; 15.1 short tons). It was the largest bell in the United Kingdom for 23 years. The origin of the bell's nickname is open to question; it may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or heavyweight boxing champion Benjamin Caunt. Four quarter bells chime at 15, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour and just before Big Ben tolls on the hour. The clock uses its original Victorian mechanism, but an electric motor can be used as a backup.
I walk on under Westminster Bridge and pass the Houses of Parliament.
The Old Westminster Bridge of 1750 designed by Swiss engineer Charles Labelye, was originally funded by a lottery. Or at least, it was supposed to be. Although the funder originally hoped to raise £100,000, in the end the lottery only generated £40,000. This debacle led novelist Henry Fielding to call Westminster the ‘Bridge of Fools’, a reference to the gamblers who sunk money into the state lottery but also to the government at the time who had to put up the rest of the funding.
Fearing the loss of ferry traffic and trade, Westminster Bridge met fierce opposition from the Church, the City and the watermen when it was first proposed. Nevertheless, the completed bridge – with fifteen semi-circular arches in Portland and Purbeck stone – was regarded as a triumph, being the first stone bridge to cross the Thames in 500 years. Many artists were inspired to paint the Old Westminster Bridge, among them Samuel Scott, William Marlow, Canaletto and Claude Monet. The bridge was illuminated at night by 32 oil lamps, which were replaced in 1814 by gas lamps, and subsequently by electric lighting in 1898.
In 1831 the derelict old London Bridge was demolished, which increased the flow of water causing scouring that undermined the foundations of the piers of Westminster Bridge. A Parliamentary Act was passed in 1853, transferring the bridge to the Commissioners of Public Works and allowing a new bridge to be built, with Thomas Page, the Commission’s engineer, appointed to design it. Sir Charles Barry, the architect responsible for re-building the Palace of Westminster after a fire in 1834, was taken on as architectural consultant, so that the bridge would blend in with his new Houses of Parliament. The new bridge opened on Queen Victoria’s 43rd birthday – 24 May 1862 – with a 25-gun salute to honour her 25 years on the throne.
At 827 feet long with seven elliptical cast-iron arches and abutments of grey granite, Westminster Bridge has the most arches of all the Thames bridges. The Gothic revival detailing on the cast-iron parapets and spandrels was made to Barry’s designs. The bridge is painted verdant green in homage to the leather seats in the House of Commons, the closest part of the Palace of Westminster to the bridge. A portcullis, the cross of St George, a thistle, a shield and a rose – symbols of parliament and the United Kingdom – appear in the decorative ironwork. The bridge is lit by octagonal lanterns, grouped in threes.
Here there is the National Covid Memorial wall.
The National Covid Memorial Wall in London is a public mural painted by volunteers to commemorate victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Started in March 2021 and stretching more than one-third mile (five hundred metres) along the South Bank of the River Thames, opposite the Palace of Westminster, the mural consists of approximately 150,000 red and pink hearts, intending to have one for each of the casualties of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom at the time of the mural's commencement. The intent was for each heart to be "individually hand-painted; utterly unique, just like the loved ones we’ve lost".
I continue along the Thames reaching Lambeth Palace.
Lambeth Palace is the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, his family and two religious communities. It is the centre of his ministry, worship and hospitality.
The Palace is also used as an events venue for organisations and charities. During the summer the beautiful garden is often host to receptions and outdoor activities.
In the grounds of Lambeth Palace, you will find Lambeth Palace Library, which houses the largest religious collection outside of the Vatican.
Walking on I pass by Lambeth Bridge.
Designed by architects Sir Reginald Blomfield and G. Topham Forrest with London County Council engineer Sir George Humphreys, Lambeth Bridge was officially opened on 19 July 1932 by George V and Queen Mary. It is a five-span steel arch structure, adorned by decorative obelisks at either end and with piers and abutments clad in Cornish granite. Above each pier are the carved London County Council coats of arms, flanked by dolphins. Carrying four lanes of road traffic, the bridge is 776 feet long and 60 feet wide and cost nearly £1 million to erect. The colour scheme emphasises red, the colour of the leather benches in the House of Lords, which is near the bridge’s northern landing.
The obelisks at each end of the bridge appear to be topped with pineapples. What these fruits represent has been much debated. Some believe they are actually pinecones, an ancient symbol of hospitality. Others believe they are Masonic emblems of enlightenment. A popular theory is that they are a reference to the Tradescant family who settled in Lambeth in the 17th century. Father and then son attained the title of Keeper of His Majesty’s Garden, managing the Queen’s palace grounds at Oatlands, near Weybridge in Surrey. It was here that John Tradescant the Younger cultivated the first pineapple to grown on British soil.
The Lambeth Bridge Company commissioned engineer Peter William Barlow to design the original Lambeth Bridge, which was opened in November 1862 by a local businessman named Mr Hodges travelling across in his new fire engine. The 828-foot-long suspension bridge supported two 32-foot towers and crossed the river between Market Street, Westminster (which later became Horseferry Road), and Church Street, Lambeth. The bridge was largely used by pedestrians paying a day toll, since the approaches were too steep for heavily laden horse-drawn carts. The tolls were dropped in 1879 once the Metropolitan Board of Works had purchased the bridge. In 1911 the bridge had become visibly unsafe with one of the piers tilting and the iron structure rusting, and all traffic was banned from the bridge, which eventually led to a call for its replacement.
Before the Old Lambeth Bridge was constructed, a horse ferry operated here for centuries. Owned by successive Archbishops of Canterbury, the profitable ferry was the only location in London where you could cross the Thames with a horse and cart. The horse ferry was far bigger than most ferries of the time although it was not always failsafe. Through the years Oliver Cromwell, James I and at least one Archbishop are all rumoured to have fallen in the water here.
It seems the boxer David Haye is staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel here on Albert Embankment.
As I walk along I see Battersea Power Station in the distance. A icon that I can't look at without seeing the Pink Floyd album cover Animals with its inflatable pig flying above.
I have to leave the Thames and walk inland a bit to navigate around and then back up to Battersea Power Station.
The iconic Grade II listed Battersea Power Station is now open to the public.
This legendary London landmark and surrounding area has been brought back to life as one of the most exciting and innovative mixed use neighbourhoods in the world – a place for locals, tourists and residents to enjoy a unique blend of shops, bars, restaurants, entertainment venues, parks and historical spaces.
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of Leonard Pearce, Engineer in Chief to the LPC, and CS Allott & Son Engineers. The architects were J. Theo Halliday and Giles Gilbert Scott. The station is one of the world's largest brick buildings and notable for its original, Art Deco interior fittings and decor.
The building comprises two power stations, built in two stages, in a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built between 1929 and 1935 and Battersea B Power Station, to its east, between 1937 and 1941, when construction was paused owing to the worsening effects of the Second World War. The building was completed in 1955. "Battersea B" was built to a design nearly identical to that of "Battersea A", creating the iconic four-chimney structure.
"Battersea A" was decommissioned in 1975. In 1980 the whole structure was given Grade II listed status; "Battersea B" shut three years later. In 2007 its listed status was upgraded to Grade II*. The building remained empty until 2014, during which time it fell into near ruin. Various plans were made to make use of the building, but none were successful. In 2012, administrators Ernst & Young entered into an exclusivity agreement with Malaysia's S P Setia and Sime Darby to develop the site to include 253 residential units, bars, restaurants, office space (occupied by Apple and No. 18 business members club), shops and entertainment spaces. The plans were approved and redevelopment commenced a few years later. As of 2021, the building and the overall 42-acre (17 ha) site development is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors.
I leave the Power Station and walk back to The Thames where by the front of th Power Station is a Xmas Fair and Ice Skating.
I walk on away from Battersea and follow The Thames beneath Chelsea Bridge and up through Battersea Park.
Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea and was opened in 1858.
The park occupies marshland reclaimed from the Thames and land formerly used for market gardens. The park is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Prior to 1846, the area now covered by the park was known as Battersea fields, a popular spot for duelling. On 21 March 1829, the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea met on Battersea fields to settle a matter of honour. When it came time to fire, the duke aimed his duelling pistol wide and Winchilsea fired his into the air. Winchilsea later wrote the duke a grovelling apology.
I reach The London Peace Pagola in Battersea Park.
The London Peace Pagoda was completed in 1985 . Permission to build it was the last legislative act of the Greater London Council.
A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most, though not all, peace pagodas built since World War II have been built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujii (1885–1985), a Buddhist monk from Japan and founder of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist Order. Fujii was greatly inspired by his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 and decided to devote his life to promoting non-violence. In 1947, he began constructing Peace Pagodas as shrines to world peace. The first was inaugurated at Kumamoto in 1954.
Peace Pagodas were built as a symbol of peace in Japanese cities including Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the atomic bombs took the lives of over 150,000 people, almost all of whom were civilian, at the end of World War II. By 2000, eighty Peace Pagodas had been built around the world in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
I follow The Thames Path onwards Albert Bridge.
Opened in 1873, Albert Bridge was designed by Rowland Mason Ordish and uses the Ordish-Lefeuvre system, a form of cable-stayed bridge. In 1884 Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated design elements of a suspension bridge to stabilize the structure and in 1972 the Greater London Council added two concrete piers to support the central section of the bridge. The bridge’s many cables are covered with some 4,000 lamps so that at night the bridge is bathed in light.
The bridge still has its old toll booths at the North and South landings. Tolls for crossing the bridge were collected until the 1877 Metropolis Toll Bridges Act enabled all London bridges between Hammersmith and Waterloo to become emancipated.
There have been multiple attempts to close and demolish Albert Bridge since it opened in 1873, primarily due to concerns around its structural integrity. It was nicknamed the “trembling lady” due to its propensity to shake. A sign on the bridge can still be seen instructing soldiers not to walk in step at each end of the bridge; no doubt a response to the marching soldiers from nearby Chelsea Barracks.
The latest attempt to demolish and rebuild the bridge was made during the 1950s, but these proposals were defeated by a collection of local residents, led by the late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman.
I walk on to Battersea Bridge.
The first Battersea Bridge was a toll bridge. Although a stone bridge was planned, a cheaper wooden bridge was built instead. Designed by Henry Holland, it was opened to pedestrians in November 1771, and to vehicles in 1772. The bridge was poorly designed. Iy was dangerous to its users and to passing shipping. Boats often collided with it. To reduce the dangers to shipping, two piers were removed, and the sections of the bridge above them were strengthened with iron girders.
Although dangerous and unpopular, the bridge was the last surviving wooden bridge across the Thames in London. It was the subject of paintings by Turner, Cotman and Whistler.
In 1879 the bridge was taken into public ownership, and in 1885 demolished and replaced with the existing bridge, designed by Joseph Bazalgette. It is the narrowest surviving road bridge over the Thames in London, and one of London's least busy Thames bridges. The position on a bend in the river makes the bridge a hazard to shipping, and it has been closed many times due to collisions.
In June 2012, the bridge was highlighted on the route of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames. The Battersea Bridge area marked the official start of the parade of ships and boats moving towards Tower Bridge.
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| In Town, John Ravera, Battersea Bridge, Wandsworth, 1988 |
Sadly this sculpture is no longer intact, and the dove for which the young child is reaching – the real climax of the piece – has gone.
Walking on I pass Chelsea Harbour and its Houseboat across the river.
I walk under Imperial Wharf Rail bridge and I can hear a helicopter taking off.
I am now walking up to London Helicopter at the Pod Building and I have to leave the river again to walk around.
Sightseeing helicopter tours £160 per person for a 20 minute flight!
I re-join the river an walk under Wandsworth Bridge and onto Fulham Railway Bridge and Putney Bridge.
Putney Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north. The bridge has medieval parish churches beside its abutments: St Mary's Church, Putney is built on the south and All Saints Church, Fulham on the north bank. This close proximity of two churches by a major river is rare, another example being at Goring-on-Thames and Streatley, villages hemmed in by the Chiltern Hills (the Goring Gap). Before the first bridge was built in 1729, a ferry had shuttled between the two banks.
The current format is three lanes southbound (including one bus lane) and one lane (plus cycle lane/bus stop) northbound. Putney High Street, a main approach, is part of a London hub for retail, offices, food, drink and entertainment. Putney Embankment hosts Putney Pier for riverboat services immediately south-west of the bridge as well as the capital's largest set of facilities in rowing. The Pier in the sport marks one end of the Championship Course.
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| Putney Bridge |
I walk pass St Marys Church at Putney on my way back to the river.
There has been a centre of Christian worship on this site from at least the 13th century, and the church is still very active today. It is also noteworthy because in 1647, during the English Civil War, the church was the site of the Putney Debates on the English constitution. It has been Grade II listed since 1955.
I pass Putney and continue along the river, now much changed from Central London and home to rowing clubs now.
I pass the London Rowing Club boathouse.
As I walk along Craven Cottage home of Fulham Football Club comes into view across the river.
CRAVEN COTTAGE
The Club (church) bought Craven Cottage in 1894, which took two years to prepare. Volunteers helped clear a derelict house and clean the area before building a club house changing room facility.
The first match to be played at Craven Cottage was on 10 October 1896 when Fulham beat Minerva 4-0 in the Middlesex Senior Cup.
Walking on I pass Harrods Furniture Depository on my left.
The Harrods Furniture Depository buildings flank the south bank of the River Thames near Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes, London, built on the site of an old soap factory in 1894 as a storage centre for the larger items that could not be taken into Knightsbridge to the Harrods department store. The present salmon-pink terracotta-clad buildings date from 1914. The architect was W. G. Hunt.
The buildings, which are Grade II listed, are no longer owned by Harrods but retain many of its original external features. In 2000 the conversion to a residential estate was completed, consisting of 250 townhouses and penthouse suites known as "Harrods Village". William Hunt Mansions, the main riverfront building, is a key marker post on the annual Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race between Putney Bridge and Chiswick Bridge.
The buildings can be seen in the music video of the Verve's 1997 song Lucky Man, which were filmed opposite.
I walk on reaching Hammersmith Bridge and cross over to the North Bank.
The current bridge, which is Grade II listed and was designed by civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, is the second permanent bridge on the site, and has been attacked three times by Irish republicans.
The bridge was closed indefinitely to all motor traffic in April 2019 after cracks were discovered in the bridge's pedestals. The closure was extended to pedestrians and cyclists between August 2020 and July 2021 when limited use resumed. In October 2022, Hammersmith and Fulham Council agreed to lodge a planning application to temporarily double-deck the bridge to speed up its restoration, with the council's construction and ongoing operation and maintenance costs set to be eventually funded by tolls.
I walk pass The Dove Public House in Hammersmith.
A public house has stood on this site since the seventeenth century. Throughout these years our sturdy bar has propped up some of the finest figures of English history. The poet James Thomson composed the familiar strains of ‘Rule Britannia’ here. Charles II romanced and dined his mistress Nell Gwynne here. And in the famous novel ‘The Water Gypsies’, author A P Herbert features it under a cheeky pseudonym; ‘The Pigeons’.
In more recent years the pub has played host to some of the finest actors, writers and politicians in London. If you have a moment to spare in between beverages, have a look at the framed list of patrons that hangs over the lower bar’s fireplace. It reads like a Who’s Who guide of the last few decades.
The small space to the right of the bar, reached through an extra entrance only the eagle-eyed will spot, went into the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest bar room in the world. Step inside it and you’ll see the brass plaque that marks the height the waters reached in the great flood of 1928.
I didn't stop for a drink, I wanted to push on and try and make Kew Bridge before dark. My legs are really aching now after having walked without a break so far.
The London Corinthians Sailing Club dinghy racing starting box.
I continue onto Hammersmith Terrace,17 elegant Georgian houses dating from the 1750s which stood alone in open countryside when first built.What we see are the back of the houses, the fronts face the river.
I continue onto Chiswick Mall, where the most expensive properties sell for10 million plus. I am now leaving Hammersmith and am entering Chiswick. Chiswick's name is derived from Old English for 'Cheese Farm'. Probably a trade carried out in the medieval meadows beside the river.
I reach Fullers Brewery where I decide to take a quick break with a drink.
The original brewery was in the gardens of Bedford House and was founded in 1701. It became known as The Griffin Brewery in 1816. In the 19th century it had financial problems and raised money from John Fuller who later entered into partnership with Henry Smith and John Turner and their families remain involved to this day. Best known for beers such as London Pride, Chiswick Bitter, ESB and London Porter.
I stop for a Red Fox Red Ale and a gales HSB Bitter.
I leave the brewery and continue along The Thames.
After a lot of walking I reach Barnes Bridge.
It was opened on 12 March 1916 on the Surrey side of the River Thames on the embankment leading to Barnes Railway Bridge, from which it takes its name.
Here I have to divert inland a bit and then back down on myself on the other side of the railway tracks.
I cross the bridge and walk on the South Bank Again,
Across the bank is where Budweiser in the UK is brewed.
I walk reaching Kew Bridge and then a long walk back to Kew Gardens Station as it just gets dark for the journey home. A long but good 15.5 miles walk!
