Author: Leigh Hatts

The new owner of Harrods Wharf is offering its use for a temporary ferry service whilst Hammersmith Bridge remains closed.

The dock, in front of the Thames Path at Barnes, was purchased last month by local businessman Jamie Waller.

“Harrods Wharf was used in the past by large boats to drop off and pick up storage containers from the Harrods Depository and there is no reason that it can’t be used again, but this time for people,” suggests Jamie Waller today.

“I would be amazed if a temporary Ferry service could not be set-up in the space of a few weeks ready for children returning to school. With the right amount of energy and application this could be achieved. As a local resident I can see the need, and as a father I feel for those that have younger children about to start school.”

He adds: “As such I am prepared to offer the use of the site for free, if others involved in the project will do the same. This is a time to do something for the community.”

Hammersmith Bridge was deemed to be in dangerous state and likely to collapse when new cracks were observed during recent hot weather. Navigation is also banned with small craft being advised to use canal links. The Thames Path which passes below the structure has also been diverted.

In mid July 1620 The Mayflower set sail from Rotherhithe and, after putting in at Southampton and Plymouth, arrived off America’s Cape Cod in November.

The landing of the Pilgrim Fathers and their first harvest in 1621 is recalled in the USA every year at Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November.

The great commemorations and celebrations long planned in Rotherhithe have been postponed by the virus as has the arrival anniversary ceremonies in America.

Now Rotherhithe is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of The Mayflower’s return next year on Thursday 6 May.

On the Thames Path is The Mayflower pub which is claimed to be next to The Mayflower’s original mooring.

Look right on passing the churchyard to see the monument to Mayflower captain Christopher Jones who brought the ship home.

These are uncertain times but the few walking between Windsor and Maidenhead this week will find quite a long signed diversion at the motorway bridge near Bray.

The towpath here will also be closed next weekend between 8pm on Friday 5 June and 6am on Monday 8 June.

The closure is to allow for major work on the bridge.

The Thames Path is being extended downstream to the Isle of Grain in Kent.

This is the effect of a decision announced today by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice.

The minister has approved the remaining sections of the England Coast Path on the Thames south bank between Grain in Kent and Woolwich Ferry in London.

This does not mean that there is now a direct riverside path. For example one must turn inland for some distance at the River Darent to find a crossing as the flood barrier does not provide public access.

But this decision to bring the coast path upstream will enhance the status of the Erith to Thames Barrier section which is outside the National Trail but increasingly enjoyed.

It also means that the England Coast Path is on course to eventually take the Thames Path down to Long Nose Spit beyond Margate.

See map here.

Transport for London is proposing a free ferry linking Rotherhithe with Canary Wharf.

The new service would be a turn up and go eco fast ferry with new specially designed boats and piers.

The proposal follows TfL’s decision in July last year to no longer pursue a bridge idea between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf due to costs.

TfL has appointed the consultant Steer to assess different operating models on how TfL would run the service, including whether sponsorship and subsidy of the service could be used to make it free to customers.

The design work is also assessing suitable models for construction so that work can commence as quickly as possible in the future.

The ferry point is the pier at the Hilton Hotel next to Nelson Dock. A public consultation will be held this year.

Today Thursday 20 February the new Twenty Pound bank note is available at banks and post offices.

The note features the artist JMW Turner with his most famous painting The Fighting Temeraire in the background.

He was capturing the moment the great ship, made famous by its role in the Battle of Trafalgar, was towed decommissioned upstream to Rotherhithe for breaking up.

She arrived around 2pm on Thursday 6 September 1838 on the rising spring tide having come from Sheerness and anchoring overnight off Purfleet.

Before the tide turned at Rotherhithe she was swung round to face downstream before being secured at Bull Head Yard.

The wharf was also known as Beatson’s Wharf after John Beatson who ran the breaking and timber resale partnership there. It is now called Pacific Wharf and occupied by new flats.

Immediately west in the 1830s was a granary, on the site of today’s Salt Quay pub, at the Surrey Basin Entrance.

The arrival of the largest ship ever to be brought so far upstream was not advertised but Beatson knew it was a big moment and would soon draw crowds. His brother William went out into the river to do a quick sketch of the Temeraire before its destruction.

This drawing can be compared with Turner’s famous and more romantic record of this day. He is thought to have placed himself at Cherry Garden Pier having spotted the ship being towed upstream the day before as he travelled on one of the Margate-London steamers.

At Rotherhithe Turner would have seen two tugs at work although he depicts only one and moves the sun and time of day for greater effect.

John Beatson was churchwarden at nearby St Mary’s church in Rotherhithe where now there is an altar and two chairs made from Temeraire wood.

***The Temeraire played a crucial role at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar in protecting Nelson’s HMS Victory. The ‘Nelson, Navy, Nation’ gallery at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich has more information on the background; admission free.

“There’s no story behind this,” writes London Drinker editor Tony Hedger about this month’s cover photo.

“The Dog & Bell is simply a very good pub. It is a privately owned free house usually with six beers on handpump. You will find it not far from the Thames at 116 Prince Street (off Watergate Street) in Deptford, SE8 3JD.”

Indeed it’s on the Thames Path.

Five of JMW Turner’s Thames paintings are being shown at his house for the first time.

The artist, obsessed with the River Thames and wanting to be nearby, designed and built his own house just over the bridge from Richmond. He moved in with his father in 1813.

Sandycombe Lodge is under half a mile from the river which Turner could see from his bedroom. Fish caught in the Thames were transferred to one of the two ponds in the garden.

The area, now known as St Margarets, is covered with late Victorian houses but during Turner’s thirteen years there he was able to enjoy the river on two sides of the house.

He would have seen nearby Marble Hill House to the south where the only other building was The Crown inn next to his vegetable garden.

To the east he could see over the river to Richmond Hill with the houses on top where artistic rivals Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough had lived.

There was a halfpenny toll to walk across Richmond Bridge to the town.

The tiny Turner and the Thames exhibition in the tiny bedroom of Turner’s father is just five tiny paintings.

They are dated 1805 which is two years before Turner purchased the land for his new house.

The oil paintings are really sketches which Turner made on mahogany boards -recycled furniture. In his Walton Reach painting some wood is left bare to covey a little reddish reflection in the water.

Turner is on the water for this painting as he is for Windsor Castle from the River although it is possible to stand on the edge of the Brocas meadow as other artists and photographers have down the decades to show the rising castle.

Sunset on the River 1805 is an example of a picture where, like Walton, one cannot be sure of the exact location even if in a boat.

Another is called The Thames near Windsor (?).

The pictures, usually in storage, are on loan from Tate Britain.

Visiting the house and seeing the bedrooms and kitchen are as rewarding as the exhibition which continues until Sunday 29 March.

Sandycombe Lodge, Turner’s House, 40 Sandycombe Road, Twickenham TW1 2LR is open Wednesday to Sunday 12-3pm; admission £8 (child £3).

Next Sunday 12 January will see the annual blessing of the River Thames on London Bridge.

This is London’s oldest river crossing point and this year has an added resonance since it is where the recent terrorist attack took place.

On Sunday 12 January, Baptism of Christ Sunday, processions will set out from St Magnus the Martyr Church in the City (the old Bridge pavement runs under its tower) and Southwark Cathedral to meet at 12.30pm in front of The Monument at London Bridge’s north end.

Here there will be a ceremony for the Removal of Flowers laid following the deaths of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones in the terror attack.

(The floral tributes will be made into compost to be made available to the families of the victims.)

The processions will then merge to proceed to the middle of London Bridge for the River Blessing.

After prayers, for those who work on the river and have died in the water, a wooden cross will be thrown down to the rising water as in the Orthodox tradition.

The bridge once had a chapel on its middle downstream side dedicated to St Thomas Becket whose 850th anniversary is this year.

During 2020 many Becket pilgrims will be setting out from here to Canterbury on foot whilst others will be walking upstream on the Thames Path which passes below the south end.

Thames Estuary

Earlier on Sunday morning a decorated cross will be hurled into the Thames estuary at Margate and retrieved by members of the Kent Greek community in the presence of the Greek Orthodox Archbishop.

This year 2020 is the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower crossing to America with the Pilgrim Fathers.

The ship sailed down the Thames from Rotherhithe in July 1620 and crossed the Atlantic. The crew sighted Cape Cod on 9 November.,

America’s annual Thanksgiving in November was begun by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621 after the first harvest in their new land.

At noon today, Wednesday 1 January 2020, there will be a Solemn Mass in St Mary’s Church at Rotherhithe inaugurating the 400th anniversary year.

The church has a plaque and sculpture recalling Mayflower captain Christopher Jones who returned in 1621 but died in the following year.

The Pilgrim Fathers were Puritans seeking freedom of worship and Rotherhithe’s rector at the time had Puritan sympathies.

The Mayflower sailed from a mooring next to The Shippe inn which is now called The Mayflower and observes Thanksgiving with a dinner featuring pumpkin soup and turkey.

The actual anniversary of the sailing is in July and several events are taking place during the year.