Musician Virginia Astley has revealed her other passion in a new book The English River: A journey down the Thames in poems & photographs.
The poetry and the pictures are Virginia’s.
Her home reach with family memories is Cleeve but for the book she has walked the river.
The photographs are a delight as she visits the Thames out of season. How many of us have seen Inglesham Church in the snow or crossed the Cricklade meadows when the fritillaries are out?
She goes from Docklands to Source on days which are wet, sunny or even dull.
It is good to see a neglected Conservancy gate highlighted as few survive.
Virginia likes places alongside the path such as Kelmscott Manor: I shed my shoes, feel the chill of flagstones.
The Foreword is by her relative Pete Townshend of The Who.
The English River: A journey down the Thames in poems & photographs by Virginia Astley (Bloodaxe £12).
St Mary’s Church in Mortlake is keeping its 475th anniversary.
The church was placed on its present site during a brief period when Henry VIII had control of the manor.
The tower is Tudor. Was it built so bells could be rung as the king was rowed past to and from Hampton Court?
The village has long looked to the river with workshops and brewery by the water.
The great tapestries in Hampton Court and other places across Europe were made opposite the church between 1619 and 1708.
Earlier this month the opening hymn at the church’s anniversary service was: O Praise the Lord by the riverside, Where England’s Thames meets London’s tide.
The Bishop of Southwark, The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, who was presiding Tweeted the words.
The great figures associated with the church include Dr John Dee who was visited by Elizabeth I coming downstream from Richmond Palace.
George III’s prime minister Henry Addington, Lord Sidmouth, is buried in the lovely churchyard where the entrance to the earlier church has been placed.
A small history exhibition is open daily in the church this month.
On Saturday 23 June at 3pm there is talk in church on the history of St Mary’s by Helen Deaton from the Barnes & Mortlake History Society.
On Sunday 24 June teas will be available at a garden party in the churchyard from 3pm.
TO FIND THE CHURCH: From the Thames Path look out for steps going up to Tapestry Court. The church is opposite across the road behind trees.
Looking to Barnes from the towpathTapestry Court steps from towpathMortlake’s old church entrance in churchyard
The ceremony will begin at 3.30pm just behind the Thames Barrier. Guests will be invited to walk east along the line of path down Bowater Road for an opening ceremony at the bottom of the raised walkway in Warspite Road.
The route should be available for public use from about 4.30pm.
The link joins the Barrier to downstream King Henry’s Wharf.
It also means that the Thames Path national trail to the source in Gloucestershire from the Barrier now joins seamlessly with the unofficial extension which runs continuously from the River Darent confluence near Erith.
From Wednesday we can say that the Thames Path starts not at Charlton but at Slade Green Station.
Will Secretary of State for Environment Michael Gove extend the National Trail designation?
Reading’s importance owes much to its riverside abbey visited by royalty, archbishops and statesmen.
From this Saturday 16 June Reading’s abbey ruins will again be open to the public free of charge following a restoration programme.
Grass has been placed along the top of exposed walls to slow crumbling.
The monastery opened in 1121 so thoughts are now turning to its 900th anniversary in three years time.
It is hoped that Henry I who was buried in the Lady Chapel might be located by archaeologists in time for the celebrations.
It took some years to complete the abbey church which was eventually consecrated by St Thomas Becket in 1164. This was possibly the last time that Henry II and the archbishop met as friends.
The main focus of pilgrimage was not the royal tomb but the hand of St James the Great given by Henry I’s daughter Matilda.
An early Victorian church by architect Augustus Pugin lies across the abbey church’s north transept and is dedicated to St James.
Today a relic said by some to be Reading’s hand of St James, but not displayed, is in the care of St Peter’s Church in downstream Marlow.
Parliament came to Reading in 1453 to meet around the abbey cloister. The Commons sat in the chapter house whilst the Lords assembled in the refectory.
Passage between refectory (left) and dormitory (right)Reading Prison seen through abbey church’s south chapel windowChapter House entrance from cloister
This is the first summer when walkers can enjoy the riverside path at Inglesham in Wiltshire.
Some people could be setting out on the Thames Path unaware that there is a great improvement upstream of Lechlade.
Inglesham has long been the place where the river changes dramatically. Navigation ends and with it the towpath.
With no towpath walkers continuing to Cricklade and the source have always had to take to the road which during 20th century became unpleasant and even dangerous.
But since last October this main road ceased to be part of the Thames Path. Walkers can now stay by the river for a further 1.75 miles beyond Inglesham church.
This is the stretch of river which poet Percy Shelley tried and failed to see in 1815.
Inglesham church, saved from restoration and Victorian ‘improvement’ by William Morris, is a delight to visit. At present it is closed during restoration of wall paintings but it is worth trying the door later in the summer.
Inglesham church and new kissing gate
Opposite the little church is a set back kissing gate leading to a grass path. Follow this way down to gates at a field and bear right to reach the river.
The Thames beyond Inglesham church where Shelley found the reeds to thick to continue
Stay by the winding river as a footbridge carries the path over a branch of the River Cole as it enters the Thames.
The new path
Later the way is fenced on the inland side and there are several gates. After passing through a wood, the path turns sharply to the right to cross high over an inlet.
Here there is a surprise view directly along a grass airfield runway. Stay on the fenced path between the airfield (left) and the river.
Airfield runway from Thames PathPath by airfieldAirfield windsockNotice by the pathGated Bydemill Brook bridge
At a stream, the Bydemill Brook, the path turns inland to cross at a gated footbridge before continuing inland on the far side.
Beyond a gate there is a T-junction by a footpath ford (left). This was the old approach for those who in the past had walked along the main road.
Ignore the ford and turn right to another gate and bear left to a join a path. Do not cross a footbridge (left) but go right along a wide enclosed path.
This is the existing Thames Path which regains the water higher up.
The unofficial Thames Path extension from Erith allows many to begin their long walk where there is a feel of the estuary.
But this recent addition does not join the national trail’s start at the Thames Barrier. There is a rather unpleasant detour away from the river between Woolwich’s King Henry’s Wharf and the Thames Barrier garden.
This involves walking along Woolwich Road which has very heavy traffic.
The only bonus is a McDonald’s by a bus stop.
But this week contractors are due to hand over to Greenwich Council a riverside route. The ‘missing link’ as it is called locally will be filled.
Some minor highway resurfacing has yet to be undertaken and new signposting is not ready.
But it looks as if the promised ‘late spring opening’ will be achieved.
It will be possible to walk the length of King Henry’s Wharf and go up on to a raised walkway. This curves round into Warspite Road. The at present gated Bowater Road, which runs parallel to the river, will then take the Thames Path to the Thames Barrier.
There is good view of a listing steamer from the new pathThe path joins Warspite RoadDownstream end of Bowater RoadThe upstream end of Bowater Road where the path joins the Thames Barrier gardens
Jack in the Green is ready outside The Dog & Bell in Deptford
The Jack in the Green was on the Thames Path today making its annual May Day appearance.
It is the remnant of a widespread south-east London tradition kept by chimney sweeps whose profits had always dropped by May as warmer weather approached.
An hidden man encased in a frame covered in greenery would dance his way around the streets at the head of a procession as his companions collected money.
