Month: June 2021

Last May as we battled Covid most of us missed the 250th anniversary of Thames Conservancy’s predecessor.

Where Smooth Waters Glide is an online exhibition by the Berkshire Record Office which holds the archive of the Thames Conservancy.

There are fascinating documents and pictures as well as a clear explanation of river governance.

Thames Navigation Commissioners first met in Henley in 1771.

The Thames Conservancy was formed in 1857 and lasted until 1974 when Thames Water took over.

But this change did not anticipate the privatisation of water supply so the National Rivers Authority was hastily formed in 1989.

In 1996 this became today’s Environment Agency.

The Navigation Commissioners were appointed 250 years ago to make the Thames into a highway. This resulted in the creation of the towpath which at the end of the 20th century become the basis for the Thames Path.

It is interesting to find that it was the Thames Conservancy in 1961 which recognised that the river had become ‘essentially a pleasure river’.

But it was during the stewardship of Thames Water that there was the first formal co-operation with the Countryside Commission in producing a feasibility study for a ‘Thames Walk’.

Twenty-five years ago the Thames Path was eventually opened in July 1996.

The exhibition reminds us with dramatic photographs that floods are not new.

We learn when and where flash locks gave way to pound locks.

Thames people include the Treacher family who built locks and bridges.

The most famous figure is maybe Lord Desborough who has given his name to the Desborough Island which he helped to create at Shepperton.

The title, Where Smooth Waters Glide, is taken from a poem of about 1845 attributed to Joseph Tubb which describes the view from Wittenham Clumps near Dorchester.

The Anglo-American Mayflower anniversary celebrations came to a quiet end on the River Thames in central London on Friday.

By coincidence this was the same day as President Biden was Britain agreeing a New Atlantic Charter.

A much reduced flotilla escorted the Edwardian from Rotherhithe to the Houses of Parliament to deliver a copy of the Mayflower Compact which had arrived in Rotherhithe on board The Excelsior, representing The Mayflower.

As Joe Biden begins his first visit to Britain as President of the United States of America there will be a ceremony on the River Thames to mark the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower returning to Rotherhithe.

Last year, despite the Covid restrictions, there were several low-key events to mark the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower sailing from Rotherhithe to America carrying the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’.

An illuminated scroll signed by the Speaker of the House of Commons was taken by water to Rotherhithe before being forwarded to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington.

Next Friday afternoon 11 June a ‘message from the Settlers’ will be delivered to the Houses of Parliament in the form of a copy of The Mayflower Compact, the Founding Fathers agreement for governance which was signed on board The Mayflower in autumn 1620.

The Compact is considered a foundation of the US Constitution which also embraces democratic principles debated at Putney’s riverside church in 1647.

The message is being brought into London on board sailing-smack Excelsior which will be representing The Mayflower.

This year the sail training vessel is celebrating her centenary during which she rescued the entire population of Bodo in north Norway from the Nazis in 1940.

Excelsior is expected to moor outside the riverside Mayflower public house in Rotherhithe for 48 hours and be lit up at night.

Shortly after 2pm on Friday afternoon the Mayflower Compact copy will be transferred from the Excelsior to MV Edwardian to be taken upstream to Westminster.

MV Edwardian, with an escort of Metropolitan Police Marine Unit, RNLI and London Fire Brigade launches, is expected to pass under Westminster Bridge at 3.25pm.

The Speaker and Admiral Lord West, representing the Lord Speaker of the upper chamber, will be waiting on the Commons terrace with the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of the City of London.

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, had begun six years before its centenary in 1919. However, the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 slowed progress and by 1917 all work had been halted.

The new bridge was designed by Basil Mott but the distinctive windows were added by Sir Ernest George who was present at the opening.

The Royal carriage drove over the bridge south from the City to Southwark and returned to Buckingham Palace by way of Westminster Bridge.

London SE1 news website has Tweeted a film of the 1921 opening and the anniversary lighting.

The first bridge, a toll crossing, was declared open in the middle of the night because of the company’s lack of funds.

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 path.

On crossing the ferry approach one must follow Woolwich Church Street from the roundabout to go behind Mast Quay.

Take the very first turning on the right which is a double bend access to the two existing blocks. Head to the upstream side of Jigger Mast House to walk along the side of the drawdock. At the river go left.