Category: Updates

Riverside Enderby House on the Greenwich Peninsula opens today Tuesday 13 April as a Young’s pub.

The Enderby family, whalers who gave their name to Enderby Land in the Antartic, first occupied the Enderby’s Wharf site in 1776.

Enderby House was built on the wharf about 1835 with an upstairs angled bay-window giving a view of approaching vessels from the sea.

In 1884 General Gordon, a relative, spent his last night in England at the house.

The Enderby Hemp and Rope Works was succeeded in 1857 by cable manufacture which later included the first and second transatlantic telegraph cables.

Cable winding machinery can still be seen on the pier outside the house.

Submarine cables continued to be made on the wharf by a succession of companies until 1975. The last owners were Northern Telecom and Alcatel.

Only the new pub terrace at the side will be open at first. The house is expected to open its doors next month on Monday 17 May.

Local Meantime ales are available with a menu which includes Dorset crab and lamb. This could be a nod to nearby Granite Wharf which once belonged to John Mowlem of Swanage in Dorset.

Enderby House is on Enderby’s Wharf, SE10 0TH, 3 miles from the Thames Barrier and half a mile before Greenwich.

Thames Clippers will be operating the Hammersmith ferry from later this summer.

The TfL ferry is a replacement crossing for Hammersmith Bridge which is closed and unlikely to be repaired for some time.

The ferry will cross downstream of the bridge from Harrods Wharf on the right bank.

Operating hours will be 6am to 10pm daily.

With lockdown keeping us from the River Thames it’s probably the best time to catch up on books about the river to plan ahead.

One of the loveliest new ones is Chloe Dewe Mathews’ Thames Log where her photographs speak for themselves. The only writing is the foreword by Marina Warner.

The pictures in this unusual fold-out book, larger than a Christmas annual, depict the river from the infant stream to the estuary.

Chloe catches a coracle turning at the Round House in Inglesham where navigation begins and a palm tree mobbed by seagulls at the North Sea end.

A strong theme is how the river is a draw for people of many faiths.

Well-known is the annual blessing of the Thames from London Bridge every January on Baptism Sunday which is featured in a number of arresting shots.

One shows the wooden cross to be cast upon the water being carried under a dark London Bridge passage.

Upstream St Ebbe’s Church holds a mass baptism from the bank of Port Meadow.

At Richmond we are reminded that the Thames is considered a sacred river by Hindus in Britain. They also appear at Southend.

But at Southend there is also both Islamic prayer and Pentecostal baptism.

Other rituals recorded include those which are more personal and even private such the scattering of ashes.

The book helps to remind us that the Thames Path is not just in London (which may surprise some people) and has a mainly rural feel.

To record these special places and rare moments the photographer has needed careful planning over several years.

This is an expensive book but unusual in design and feel.

The typeface is a digital revival of the Doves Press type retrieved from the the riverbed at Hammersmith.

Thames Log could be a collector’s item.

Thames Log by Chloe Dewe Mathews is published by Loose Joints (£40).

The Tablet reports that best-selling novelist Ken Follett is donating all earnings from his book Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals to a cathedral in Brittany.

Sales of the book will help to save St Samson cathedral in Dol where St Samson, who died in 565, is buried.

One of the few other churches dedicated to St Samson is the parish church at Cricklade which is well-known to walkers on the Thames Path.

Glimpses of its distant tall tower are a welcome sight when Castle Eaton is behind you and refreshment at Cricklade awaits.

The Cricklade tower is Tudor and paid for, according to William Morris who noted an allusion to playing cards inside, by a successful gamble.

But more mysterious is the unusual Sampson dedication (with a p here) from much earlier times.

Samson was Welsh. There is church dedicated to him in Cardiff.

Also some in the west country including Fowey at the end of the north-south pilgrim track across Cornwall used by Welsh travellers to Brittany avoiding shipwreck at Land’s End.

Guernsey, a staging post for Brittany, has a St Sampson church.

Cricklade church has evidence of a very late 9th-century building.

Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals by Ken Follett is published by Pan (£9.99).

Eighty-one year old Michael Parkinson of Nottingham was one of the first to suffer from Covid in March last year.

Having recovered he published his book Thames Path Walk which he had been working on since 2014.

It began with a desire to see water at the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire.

Having seen that rare sight Michael Parkinson began walking upstream from London in small sections.

His book has 190 photographs and brief mentions of odd encounters, one with a bull, but the best aspect is stated on the cover: ‘All stages linked to YouTube videos’.

These films are a welcome reminder of the route whilst we plan for when lockdown and other restrictions are fully lifted.

Those who heard Clare Balding’s recent Ramblings walk from Pangbourne to Goring will find Michael’s film of that section most rewarding.

Included is the toll bridge and a visit inside Whitchurch church. The Thames Path runs through the churchyard.

Michael Parkinson’s project took has taken so long that the controversial fencing on this section by Coombe Park does not feature in the film.

Also, there is better news upstream: no need now to follow the main road after Inglesham as the path by the river is open.

The Thames Path is always changing as does the countryside everywhere but his films remain a window and reference.

The Thames Path Walk by Michael Parkinson (The other one) is published by Paragon (£8.99).

The 900th anniversary of Reading Abbey’s foundation by Henry I is next June.

Will we be able to walk into Reading from the Thames Path in June?

Or up the Kennet from Horseshoe Bridge?

Marooned at home during these winter months gives us an opportunity to discover more about the heritage along the river and also plan a visit in better times.

June will be the first of many Abbey anniversaries. The strategically placed monastery, between the Thames and the River Kennet, had its charter proclaimed in 1125.

A year later the Hand of St James, which should have been with the rest of St James the Great’s body in the pilgrim city of Santiago, was given to Reading Abbey.

Archbishop Thomas Becket consecrated the Abbey Church in 1164.

Later it was the seat of Parliament.

It is still, many believe, where Henry I is buried -probably behind today’s church in a corner of the site.

The background to how Reading got an abbey can be found in a new book Henry I and his Abbey by Lindsay Mullaney who probably knows more about the abbey site than anyone else.

Henry I and his Abbey is available from Scallop ShellPress.

Anniversaries in 2021 include the tercentenary of Grinling Gibbons’ death.

Sculptor and wood carver Gibbons is famous for his limewood foliage carving with cascades of lifelike flowers, fruit and leaves.

His exceptionally delicate work is found in Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and Oxford as well as many London churches.

He first came to notice when living in an isolated thatched cottage by the River Thames at Deptford where he was being employed to carve ships’ figureheads.

One winter night, probably in January 1671, John Evelyn who lived at nearby Sayes Court looked through the cottage window.

“I perceived him carving that large cartoon or crucifix of Tintoretto , a copy of which I had brought from Venice,” records Evelyn in his famous diary.

Although Gibbons had chosen the cottage so as to be able to work without interruption he welcomed Evelyn who recommended him to Charles II.

Gibbons’ work in Deptford’s St Nicholas Church was destroyed during the Second World War but the present carved reredos is in style of Gibbons.

The site of Gibbons’ cottage is now part of Convoys Wharf. The garden of Sayes Court survives as Sayes Court Park on the Thames Path.

The anniversary of Grinling Gibbons death is Tuesday 3 August when a programme of celebration for 2021-2 will begin.

This year is the 125th anniversary of the National Trust’s foundation and 400 years this autumn since John Evelyn was born.

The virus has dampened planned celebrations. Indeed the NT is facing a financial and membership crisis.

Last February, just as Covid was appearing, the National Trust joined in a tree planting morning in Deptford’s Sayes Court Park to mark the John Evelyn anniversary.

The Thames Path runs through the park which is all that remains of John Evelyn’s garden.

In 1884 Octavia Hill, who was to co-found the National Trust, took part in discussions about opening Evelyn’s house and garden to the public. Sadly, by the time the NT was formed in 1895 the opportunity at Deptford had passed.

The National Trust now cares for property and land all along the Thames. The first after Deptford is The George Inn at Southwark .Another is Cock Marsh near Cookham in Berkshire.

Diarist John Evelyn spent a lot of time working in his Sayes Court garden during the interregnum following the execution of Charles I which he had witnessed .

After the Restoration in 1660 he continued to live there and encourage other landowners to plant trees as he did in Deptford.

The oldest tree in the park is a mulberry dating from 1698.

Much of the Sayes Court site is now covered by Convoys Wharf where until the start of this century rolls of newsprint were landed from Scandinavia. The local community awaits much discussed redevelopment which should deliver a riverside route for the Thames Path.

At present the compensation for briefly diverting from the river is not just walking through Evelyn’s garden but passing The Dog & Bell in a traffic-free street.

Those living near Richmond in this difficult time may find it interesting to walk along the Thames Path.

Until Friday Friday 27 November the weir and lock at Richmond are being left open to allow the water to drain down at low water on each tide.

The annual Draw-Off period started on Monday and allows for maintenance. One year a car was found exposed.

The water can appear to be very shallow but wading across is not advised. The river can still be dangerous.

However, the views are unusual and give an idea of how the river may have appeared when it was tidal as far as Staines. Just for this month the first lock is at Teddington.

A plan to turn Harrods Wharf into a “ferry port” has been submitted for planning approval.

Wharf owner Jamie Waller is asking the London Borough of Richmond to approve a one-storey structure with “low level lighting and facilities for people of all abilities”.

It is intended that “boats of all sizes” could use the wharf allowing for maybe a river bus service as well as the possible ferry service to Hammersmith on the opposite bank.

Also planned for the wharf alongside the towpath are “covered waiting areas, bike storage and washroom facilities”.

The concept is to bring together walkers and commuters with maybe a cafe as a focal point.

The initiative follows the closure of nearby Hammersmith Bridge for safety reasons last summer. The earliest likely date for reopening is now 2027.

The site has been offered to the London Borough of Richmond for free “to enable a swift resolution to the Hammersmith Bridge issue”.

The council, which has not responded, is expected to make the proposal public later this month and invite comments. Meanwhile a Harrods Wharf website has been launched with the first pictures.

Last week London deputy mayor for transport Heidi Alexander said that the procurement process for a ferry service could now start.

**Harrods Wharf is on the right bank downstream of Hammersmith Bridge. The Harrods building behind the wharf, resembling the Knightsbridge store in outline, is well-known as a Boat Race landmark. The former Harrods Depository, where families stored their furniture whilst serving overseas, is now part of Harrods Village.