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THAMES UNCOVERED U N I Q U E FAC T S P E O P L E A N D L A N D S C A P E S
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TEDDINGTON TO - NORTH BANK 33 ½ MILES | SOUTH BA
THAMES BARRIER NK 31 ¾ MILES | 4M ABOVE SEA LEVEL -
“ TWENTY BRIDGES FROM TOWER TO KEW, WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE RIVER KNEW, TWENTY BRIDGES OR TWENTY-TWO, FOR THEY WERE YOUNG AND THE THAMES WAS OLD, AND THIS IS THE TALE THAT THE RIVER TOLD: I WALK MY BEAT BEFORE LONDON TOWN, FIVE HOURS UP AND SEVEN DOWN. UP I GO TILL I END MY RUN AT TIDE-END-TOWN, WHICH IS TEDDINGTON. DOWN I COME WITH THE MUD IN MY HANDS AND PLASTER IT OVER THE MAPLIN SANDS.
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R U DYA R D K I P L I N G , T H E R I V E R ' S TA L E , 1 9 1 1
The Thames Path from Teddington to the Thames Barrier can, in part, be walked on either bank, the southside being slightly shorter. We start this section of the walk at Tide-End Town, so called because it is the last point at which the Thames is affected by the tides. It is here that we meet Teddington Lock which is the largest and longest lock system on the Thames with a barge lock measuring an impressive 650 feet. It was built in 1904 and designed to accommodate a steam tug and six barges. It can still cope with the three-tier pleasure cruisers that now plough back and forth along the river. The Thames gets into the blood of many that work on the river. Ferrymen, watermen, boatbuilders, dockers, whole families and organisations have been bound, through their work, to the Thames for many generations. One such family ran Tough Bros Ltd, a firm of small boat builders and repairers based in Teddington. In May 1940 Douglas Tough was authorised by the Admiralty to find and requisition boats from along the Thames for Operation Dynamo. Assisted by colleague Ron Lenthall, he collected together more than 100 private boats and crew from the Upper Thames and moved them to Sheerness where naval officers and experienced volunteers sailed them to Dunkirk to rescue the beleaguered British Expeditionary Force and French troops. Famously known as the ‘Little Ships’ they played a key role in the evacuation of some 388,226 troops from Dunkirk. The operation galvanised the nation to defeat a seemingly implacable enemy. ‘The Dunkirk Spirit’ reflected a nation united working against impossible odds towards a successful conclusion.
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A short distance further down-river, on the south bank, a stone obelisk marks the point where the Port of London Authority assumes control of the Thames. Up-stream, as far as Trewsbury Mead. is the responsibility of The Environment Agency. This stretch of the river is surprisingly rural and the view looking west from Richmond Hill is almost the same as seen in paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds and JMW Turner. This is mainly due to ‘The Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act’, promoted by Lord Dysart and passed in Parliament in 1902. This Act barred riverside land from Kingston to Petersham from being developed. From Richmond Bridge, this rural aspect continues with the wooded Eel Pie Island, the world famous Kew Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the beautiful landscaped park of Syon House. Next comes what was once one of the country’s most important canal junctions: Brentford Gauging Lock. It was one of the busiest places on the Grand Union Canal and River Brent as they merged into the Thames, which was then the main highway for goods to London. The path is not such an easy walk as one has to navigate around the wharves, boatyards, creeks and inlets and modern developments. However it is worth the effort with views to the south over Kew Gardens and an opportunity to visit the London Museum of Water & Steam: a quaint but very interesting museum.
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As an aside, I have walked most of the Thames Path’s 215 miles but not sequentially. I walked between Barnes and Putney in reverse after a brutally hot day’s work one summer. It was whilst walking into Barnes that I truly experienced the therapeutic effect of what is known as Shinrin-Yoku, or forest bathing, taking in the forest atmosphere during a leisurely walk. The wooded towpath between Barnes and Putney may not seem that dense, but on that late summer’s evening I emerged from the woodland refreshed and rejuvenated. There has been a bridge at Kew since 1758. The present bridge was opened by King Edward VI and it is from here the journey into London ‘proper’ begins. From Kew Bridge the path travels past the Strand on the Green, Dukes Meadow and the Chiswick Mall and leads into Hammersmith, definitely ‘a winner’ based on its riverside pub count!
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The original Hammersmith Bridge, which opened in 1827, was the first suspension bridge over the Thames and was plagued during it life by concerns about its strength. Not surprising really, as when some 11,000 spectators crowded onto the bridge to watch the 1866 Boat Race, it caused the bridge to sway side-to-side. The current bridge was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and opened in 1887. Its ornate wrought iron parapets now painted green and gold as originally intended. It is a beautiful feat of Victorian engineering. At high tide the clearance is just 12 feet, making it the lowest bridge over the Thames. Undoubtedly, this 4.2 mile stretch of the river between Putney and Mortlake is best known for the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. Behind the start line at Putney is the Church of St Mary the Virgin. It was here in October and November 1647 that the Putney Debates took place. These discussions between factions of the New Model Army and the Levellers were based upon the then radical thinking of one-man-one-vote, plus amongst other things, the idea that authority was to be vested in the House of Commons rather than the King and Lords.
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The oldest boat race in the world is the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager. It first raced in 1715 and has been contested by Watermen and Lightermen for more than 300 years. Lightermen carry goods and cargo. Watermen carry passengers. The Wager is still raced from London Bridge to Cadogan Pier in Chelsea. Until 1873, competitors rowed against the tide and there are stories of the race taking over two hours to complete! Since then it has been rowed with the tide and is usually completed in 25 to 30 minutes.
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The summer of 1858 saw the "Great Stink" overwhelm London caused in the main by the huge volume of raw sewage entering the Thames daily. A bill was rushed through Parliament in just 18 days, to provide money to construct a massive new sewer scheme for London. The task fell to Joseph Bazalgette, Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, he of Hammersmith Bridge fame. His plan was for an extensive underground system to join up the patchwork of existing municipal drains and open sewers. The new system would funnel the waste far downstream away from the City of London, eventually dumping it into the Thames Estuary at high tide. A vast undertaking, the plan involved building 1,100 miles of drains under London's streets that would feed into 82 miles of new brick-lined sewers. The use of the relatively new Portland cement, is one of the factors that has helped the Victorian sewer system survive to this day. Interestingly, the demand for workers drove up bricklayers' wages by 20%. There was a by-product to these endeavours. Several large new embankments were built along the river. The Victoria, Chelsea and Albert embankments reclaimed 22 acres from the Thames and they hid the sewers that would run along its riverbank. As you walk along the Victoria Embankment, there is a row of mooring rings in the shape of large lions heads. Superstition has it that “When the lions drink, London will sink. When it’s up to their manes, we’ll go down the drains”.
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Two very contrasting bridges span the next stretch of the river. The super streamlined Millennium footbridge (for a while dubbed the ‘Wobbly Bridge’) is a synergy between art, design and technology. A blade slicing its way across the river. It is followed by the Southwark Bridge. The original bridge constructed in 1819 was an impressive feat of engineering for its time. An iron bridge of only three spans, its central span at 240 feet is the largest ever achieved in cast iron. Nothing lasts forever though. After 100 years its current five span replacement was opened in June 1921.
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London Bridge - probably one of the most famous bridges in the world - is one of several that have crossed the Thames at, or near, its current position, since Roman times. In 1014 the Saxon King Ethelred the Unready, in an attempt to regain the crown from the Danes, sailed up the Thames, tied his boats to the then wooden bridge and rowed away on the tide pulling the bridge down behind him. This gave rise to the famous nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’. Gruesomely, during the Tudor time, the heads of traitors were impaled on poles at the bridge gatehouse. Famous amongst them were William Wallace, Thomas Moore, and Thomas Cromwell.
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In 1722 there was so much congestion on London Bridge that the then Lord Mayor decreed that all vehicles should keep to the left, which later of course was adopted as the rule for all roads in Britain. The current bridge, completed in 1973, is minimalist in appearance. Its sleek granite exterior now makes a perfect canvas to show the effects of a lighting art-installation by New York-based artist Leo Villareal. ‘The Illuminated River Project’ hopes to light the 14 bridges along with 2.3 miles of the Thames. Once completed, it will be the longest public art project in the world. London Bridge offers a great view of both HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge. Dawn and dusk views from this bridge can be quite breathtaking. This view would have been very different in the 1790s. Stretching for two and a half miles downstream was the Pool of London, a stretch of the Thames that was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing in coastal and later overseas goods. The wharves created there were part of the original Port of London. The Pool of London ends in the Lower Pool area, at Limekiln Creek. The river would have been crowded with hundreds of ships and barges predominantly moving along the Upper Pool, which ran from London Bridge to Garden Pier near Rotherhithe. Under a mile in length, there was mooring for 500 or so ships. Unfortunately it was hugely oversubscribed, with often as many as 800 ships and boats attempting to off-load their cargos at the same time. The overall chaos meant there was extensive pilfering which, in 1798, led to the creation of the Marine Police, the oldest organised police force in the world.
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M OTO RWAY M A I N ROA D M I N O R ROA D RIVER T H A M E S PAT H P O I N T O F I N T E R E ST
PA D D I N GTO N
M A RY
V I C TO R I A4
M
02
B R E N T FO R D
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HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE
STEAM MUSEUM
CHISWICK S YO N H O U S E
CHELSEA
CADOGAN
FULHAM
BULLS HEAD KEW GARDENS
M O RT L A K E PUTNEY BRIDGE
RICHMOND
WA N D S WO RT H
RICHMOND HILL A3
T E D D I N GTO N
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08
ST R AT FO R D
S H O R E D I TC H
LEBONE M I L L E N I U M FO OT B R I D G E
A13
LO N D O N B R I D G E
LOW E R P O O L
L I B E RT Y P O I N T
TOW E R B R I D G E O2 DOME
IA EMBANKMENT
T H A M E S BA R R I E R
UPPER POOL
BERMONDSEY MERIDIAN LINE
D E P T FO R D
GREENWICH
N PEIR A202
B R I X TO N
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If London Bridge is the most famous bridge then surely Tower Bridge is the most iconic! Often confused with its neighbour, it is a combined bascule and suspension bridge. It was built between 1886 and 1894 and crosses the river close to the Tower of London.
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The river meanders on until the Old Royal Naval College appears on the south bank. Beyond it is Greenwich Park. Mainly a hill: at its top is The Royal Observatory and the Greenwich Prime Meridian - Longitude 0 degrees. It is a fantastic viewpoint with grand views of the architecture of Canary Wharf, the Royal Museums Greenwich and of course the Old Royal Naval College. Greenwich is a UNESCO World Heritage site and birthplace to both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The Virginia Quay Settlers Monument is visible on the north shore, just to the left of the O2 Dome, and marks the embarkation point of the first English settlers to North America. This is where Captain John Smith set sail in December 1606, eventually establishing Jamestown Virginia in April 1607. He had three ships in his flotilla: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery.
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The Thames Path for this last part has to be walked on the South bank, but with the cable car running between both sides of the river it can be explored relatively easily. The vast Docklands of old have been transformed into fantastic riverside residential developments. This is especially true of the Greenwich Peninsula and Silvertown, both of which bear little relation to their maritime origins. After the 1953 flooding forced over 30,000 people from their homes and left over 300 people dead across Britain, serious consideration was made to building a flood defence capable of holding back extraordinarily high surge tides on the Thames. A surge is caused by the synergy of a high spring tide and strong winds which can funnel huge volumes of water up the Thames Estuary. These surges could be as high as 3.5 metres (11.6 feet) and inundate 45 square miles (117 km2) of land in and around London putting hospitals, power stations and the London Underground out of action. The stunning Thames Barrier was the result of these deliberations. Construction work started in 1974 and the Queen duly opened it on the 8th May 1984. Operationally, up to June 2020, there have been 193 flood defence closures. It has twice averted a catastrophe similar to that in 1953.
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