Many reasons have been put forward for thinking again about building the Garden Bridge across the River Thames.
The crossing would link the South Bank, near the Oxo Tower, with Temple in the City of London.
The huge and unexpected cost to the public purse as well as the need to fell trees to build a bridge carrying trees are just some of the problems raised.
Above all there is the question of whether the fine natural stretch of water at Kings Reach should be spoilt by a new structure.
The decision by Lambeth Council to allow the bridge to be built is being challenged in the High Court.
The bill for the appeal will be around £24,000 and so far a quarter has been raised.
“If all the thousands of people who have signed petitions against the bridge gave a few pounds I would have all the costs covered,” says Waterloo Community Development Group director Michael Ball who successfully requested the judicial review.
A number of people have given £5 just to be part of the effort.
This spring is a best time to walk the Thames Path on Runnymede near Egham for this summer there will be a growing focus on Magna Carta 800.
The document was agreed by King John and his discontented barons at Runnymede in 1215. It is taken as the start of the rule of law and the later foundation for the USA constitution.
On the morning of Monday 15 June this summer the Queen will be at Runnymede with representatives of not only the USA but other countries including India which look to Magna Carta as a guideline for the rule of law.
The River Thames, mentioned in the document, is not just the backdrop to the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta events but the road linking key places involved the story.
In Wallingford the big year was 2013 for that was the 800th anniversary of an early meeting between the hated King John and the barons.
Appropriately, in the 18th century the town became the home of jurist Sir William Blackstone who published the first study of the charter.
If now in 2015 we look back in real time we see the King and barons negotiating at the Temple on the north bank of the Thames in London.
Sometimes John moved downstream to the Tower of London.
Another centre of activity was the new official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace. There Archbishop Stephen Langton was the vital link in bringing the two sides together.
He was at Runnymede on Monday 15 June 1215 when King John arrived from nearby Windsor Castle to assent to demands for freedom from arbitrary rule.
The barons were camped on similar lammas ground on the west side of Staines. They are thought to have moved west early in the morning to Ankerwycke Priory on the north bank opposite Runnymede.
Ankerwycke on the Wraysbury bank
This is not surprising for Lord de Mountfitchet, one of the barons, was lord of the manor of Wraysbury and his father had founded the Benedictine Priory. Mountfitchet probably introduced the other 24 barons to the prioress and sisters.
Did some attend Mass there on what they hoped would be a crucial day in the struggle for freedom? Did they have breakfast at the priory?
Today, for the first time in decades thanks to the National Trust and its volunteers, it is again possible to stand on the Runnymede riverbank in Surrey and see the remains of the priory buildings across the water in Buckinghamshire. JM Turner stood there in 1811 to sketch the original clear view.
Ankerwycke Priory can now be seen from the Thames Path
The King’s assent on Monday 15 June to his seal being later affixed to Magna Carta was probably signified when he kissed the Archbishop.
The document reads “given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines”.
But the actual spot is unknown. The stone erected by the American Bar Association is on rising ground at the foot of Cooper’s Hill.
Magna Carta monument on Runnymede
Many claim that the barons did not ride cross the river at the end of Wraysbury’s Magna Carta Lane but welcomed the King to Ankerwycke where the already ancient Ankerwycke Yew, pre-dating Christ, offered a special spot for a solemn act.
Ankerwycke Tree
Another alternative is Magna Carta Island which is now hardly discernible near the north bank a few yards upstream. The gap from the Wraysbury bank is now too narrow to be navigable. A house, complete with a ‘charter room’, was built on the west end by Magna Carta Lane in 1834.
House on Magna Carta Island
It has been suggested that the King based himself for an hour or so on Runnymede whilst the barons were at Ankerwycke Priory. The ‘neutral’ ground for formal agreement was the island.
The north bank or island may have been a better proposition since in June 1215 Runnymede, owned by downstream Chertsey Abbey, was a meadow with tall grass having not been grazed since early February. The barons were there for a further five days until Friday and would have needed feeding so the overcrowded priory offered handy facilities.
Egham, to the south east of Runnymede, claims to be ‘historic’ and home of Magna Carta. The High street has a statue and a fountain. But there is no evidence that King John or any the barons ever visited.
However, Egham did play a crucial role in saving the historic meadow for us.
In 1921 there were plans to sell the ground for bungalows. Albert Tranter, vicar of Egham, joined lawyer Helen Normanton and the Marquess of Lincolnshire to form the Magna Carta Society. The vicar threatened any auctioneer attempting to sell the historic site with being thrown into the Thames and as a result the Minister of Agriculture intervened to halt the sale.
Magna Carta Tearoom’s third of a pint milk bottle
The National Trust Magna Carta Tearoom makes a good end to the walk out of Egham. To find a bus stop for the 71 to return to Egham Station continue upstream to the nearby Bells of Ouseley.
Ankerwycke Priory and Yew, now also in the care of the NT, can be reached from Wraysbury Station. The village is planning celebrations for eve of Magna Carta Day.
After forty years Putney Sea Scouts are in danger of losing their riverside site.
Landlord Wandsworth Council is not renewing the lease as it wants the Scout building to be shared with a learning disability project.
Scout leaders deem the building to be too small for sharing following an attempt at using the same facilities together.
The Scout hut has a front door at the start of the towpath by the bridge over Beverley Brook which once marked the London-surrey boundary. The stream runs to one side of the high up hut and offers opportunities for water activities.
The view across the Thames is to Fulham Football ground.
The Scout hut was built by the scouts after fundraising but Wandsworth Council intends taking possession on 17 July with the scouts using it under licence.
The next riverside Scout site is at Petersham in the next borough.
Mark Chapman of More London (left), The Mayor of Southwark and Piers Nicholson
A sundial has been placed on the Thames Path across the water from the Tower of London.
The timepiece has been designed by Piers Nicholson, the son of conservationist Max Nicholson who died in 2003.
This stretch of the Thames Path in front of Potters Fields is also part of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Walkway which Her Majesty opened in Jubilee Year 1977.
The sundial commemorates both the walkway inauguration and Max Nicholson who founded the William Curtis Ecological Park, the UK’s first urban ecological park, which was on the site of City Hall and the More London development from 1978 to 1983.
The Mayor of Southwark Sunil Chopra officially received the sundial on site for public enjoyment on Thursday morning.
Minutes afterwards there was a tree planting a few feet away on Potters Fields lawn to replace a diseased
tree.
In 1977 neither the riverside path nor the Thames Path existed. The Jubilee Walkway route here was via Tooley Street and the future ecological garden was a lorry park.
William Curtis (1746–1799) was a botanist who is commemorated upstream in Battersea’s riverside church.
Just upstream of Folly Bridge there will be work on the footbridge carrying the towpath over the main Bulstake Stream channel.
DIVERSION DIRECTIONS:
Go over the Gas Bridges to follow Castle Mill Stream.
At Oxpends Road go left to walk as far as Park End Street.
Turn left to go under the railway by Oxford Station and reach Osney Bridge.
The towpath should reopen by Easter in early April.
Windsor & Maidenhead Council has confirmed that it will not be reopening the towpath upstream of Maidenhead Bridge.
A short stretch has been unavailable to walkers. On Wednesday the planning committee approved the creation of a short footpath along Ray Mead Road instead of the riverside.
The Open Spaces Society is angry that the Thames Path National Trail is to follow Maidenhead’s Ray Mead Road rat run.
The council had applied to create a footway along Ray Mead Road, extending an existing footpath by about 17 metres with a maximum width of 1.5 metres. The Open Spaces Society and Ramblers objected along with other organisations and residents.
Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, says: “This decision massively sets back the cause of getting a riverside route for the Thames Path National Trail.
“Walkers on the Thames Path are currently forced away from the river by the properties at Bridge View instead of continuing along the disused slipway of the former boathouse. The aim has always been to provide a riverside route. But now the council is legitimising the unpleasant walk along the Ray Mead Road rat run.
“This footpath will not be safe for pedestrians. It is only 1.5 metres wide at a maximum, and the occupiers of Bridge View need parking spaces. Although the council claims it will enforce against illegal parking across the footpath, it has never enforced parking on the footway before—for the past 24 years. We do not believe it has the resources or staff to police this.”
Kate adds: “The River Thames is Maidenhead’s crowning glory and the Thames Path should be celebrated, not shoved beside a busy road. This is a devastating outcome, for Maidenhead, its residents and visitors.”
There is now a new Thames Path route between Greenwich’s Cutty Sark and Deptford.
After passing Cutty Sark (left) follow the riverside to Horseferry Place.
But do not turn left down Horseferry Place. Instead keep ahead across sheltered Wood Wharf to enter the New Capital Quay development.
Follow the wide and straight Dreadnought Walk to pass BCT shop (left). Soon there is Victoria Parade and Waitrose (left) and the river (right).
Continue along Dreadnought Walk to pass a playground (right). The wide way (unlike the riverside path behind the playground) leads directly to the swing bridge at Deptford Creek.
The bridge reaches the Deptford bank at Munure’s Cafe. A slope leads down to the waterside in front of the Peter the Great statue.
So the Thames Path no longer crosses Deptford’s main road swing bridge but both bridges have to open almost daily at high tide for vessels working from the Euromix Centre higher up the creek.
Waitrose does not have a cafe but it will of course be useful for picnic food and drinks in the summer.
Organisers of the World Pooh Sticks Championships at Day’s Lock in Oxfordshire are looking for a new venue.
The tradition was started in 1984 by the lock keeper but for the past 31 years the Rotary Club has organised the event.
Hundreds of competitors take it in turns to drop sticks off the bridge and race to the other side to see which is winning.
So many cars now arrive that a venue with better parking than an often muddy field near Dorchester-on-Thames is needed.
The Rotary Club says the ideal venue would have one or two bridges over the river, access for the safety boats and space for parking as well the registration and games tents.
The Open Spaces Society is calling on Windsor and Maidenhead Council to reject the planning application for a footpath along Ray Mead Road instead of reopening the towpath.
The controversial site is just upstream of Maidenhead Bridge where walkers have to leave the historic line of towpath and go inland round a building.
Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, says: “While the application is seemingly innocuous it would have a devastating effect on the future of the Thames Path National Trail.
“At present the Thames Path is forced away from the river by the properties at Bridge View. The goal, for the council, Natural England and user and amenity groups, is to provide a riverside route all the way. The name ‘Thames Path’ is a travesty in Maidenhead when you are forced to walk alongside the busy Ray Mead Road.”
“The proposed path creation alongside Bridge View in Ray Mead Road will not make a safer route for pedestrians. It is only 1.5 metres wide at a maximum, and the occupiers of Bridge View will need parking spaces. These would be severely reduced by the creation of the footpath. The occupiers would no doubt attempt to park in smaller spaces than they have now and would inevitably park over the footpath. They would certainly drive to and fro across it.
“So walkers on the footpath will have to vie not only with the heavy traffic in Ray Mead Road, but also with the parked and moving cars belonging to the occupants of Bridge View. The proposed new footpath will merely exacerbate an already unsatisfactory and dangerous situation.
“Last year the council proposed to provide eight parking-spaces in Bridge Gardens as part of the package for creating the new path along Ray Mead Road. Fortunately, that plan for a car-park has been abandoned. It was anyway contrary to the use of Bridge Gardens as a public open space. Without the provision of alternative parking space, the occupants of Bridge View will wish to park outside their properties. The council does not have sufficient resources constantly to enforce against abuse and obstruction of the public footpath.”
Kate concludes: “If this application is accepted it will severely set back the opportunity to provide a riverside route for the Thames Path beside the River Thames. The Thames Path National Trail is of national and international importance. It brings visitors into the heart of Maidenhead and should be celebrated not relegated to a busy roadside route.”
