Category: Updates

Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain, on riverside Millbank, presents a landmark exhibition dedicated to JMW Turner (1775-1851).

The painter found new ways to record great events and changes as this exhibition of 150 works shows. Although many of the works belong to the Tate and at other times can often be viewed free it is interesting to them together .

Turner lived next to the Thames at St Margarets by choice and often sailed to the estuary.

During one trip downstream he encountered HMS Téméraire. His famous The Fighting Téméraire painting of the Naval ship’s final voyage ending at Rotherhithe, as reproduced on the latest twenty pound note (but little seen due to the virus), is included alongside its preparatory sketch for the very first time in an exhibition.

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons 1835 is Turner’s record of the disaster which changed Westminster’s waterfront for ever.

This was just a decade after he had depicted a very crowded Pool of London with the steamboat Lord Melville described as a ‘new and commodious Steam Packet’ which ran to Calais. The exhibition has an engraving of the watercolour called The Tower of London.

The Thames above Waterloo Bridge also features the new steamboats.

Near Turner’s home was Richmond Hill and its view of the Thames (as on the cover of Walking the Thames Path) which had already been reproduced by many artists.

Turner went across the river again and again to this local view which features in the exhibition as England: Richmond Hill, on the Prince Regent’s Birthday (1819). It’s a scene which is almost unchanged with Petersham Meadow and Ham House facing Marble Hill House across the flowing River Thames.

Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain on Millbank is open daily 10am–6pm (10pm on Friday and Saturday) until Sunday 7 March; admission £22.

It is good to see walkers on the completed Thames Path route at Wandsworth’s Riverside Quarter next to the Wandle entrance.

The route from the Wandle Bridge to Wandsworth Park has long been confusing even before regeneration began. Walkers saw little of the river although they did pass the splendid Cat’s Back pub in Point Pleasant.

Now, having having crossed the River Wandle and Bell Lane Creek, you turn downstream with the Wandle to reach its confluence with the River Thames.

A new wide path sweeps round the 14-storey Nine Eastfields apartment block to allow an easy walk past Point Pleasant and its Venetian-style moorings into tree-lined Wandsworth Park.

All this change has not scared off the wildlife. Thanks to a green barrier ducks have returned to rest along the Wandle wall.

It is maybe the moment to recall that the Riverside Quarter was once the Shell Oil Terminal. Earlier, in the late 18th century there was frying pan manufacture and, during Queen Victoria’s reign, factories included one making the snap for Christmas crackers.

Two hundred years ago this morning John Keats left England for exile in Italy and death.

On Sunday 17 September the poet embarked at Tower Dock, now Tower Pier, next the Tower of London.

Across the water were Battle Bridge Stairs and Pickle Herring Stairs on the Bermondsey bank behind which Keats had spent time as a Guy’s hospital student.

Mid morning saw the rising tide turn and the Maria Crowther move out of the Pool of London and down river past Rotherhithe, Deptford and Greenwich.

Keats and his companion Joseph Severn on board spent part of the time dining with the captain until Gravesend was reached in mid afternoon.

The ship stayed at anchor all night and all Monday until about 9pm. On Tuesday morning the Maria Crowther was in the estuary and on passing Margate in a storm left the Thames for the English Channel.

Keats arrived in Naples on Saturday 21 October but was quarantined for ten days due to England being known to have a virus. He died in Rome the following February.

At 4pm on Friday 4 September the Lord Speaker and Mr Speaker will be on the Palace of Westminster terrace for a delayed ceremony marking the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing for America.

An illuminated vellum scroll, a gift from the UK Parliament to the US House of Representatives, will be placed on a vessel and taken downstream to Rotherhithe before being despatched to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the USA.

But did the Pilgrim Fathers really leave from Rotherhithe?

A new book The Mayflower in Britain: How an icon was made in London by historian Graham Taylor, claims that the passengers embarked not behind the Mayflower pub in Rotherhithe but at Blackwall.

The spot is probably Blackwall Yard which is just upstream of Virginia Quay from where the first English settlers of North America had set sail in 1606.

One was John Smith who, according to Graham Taylor, was to influence considerably the destiny of the Mayflower project fourteen years later.

Virginia Quay and Blackwall are best seen from the Thames Path as it curves round the O2 (the former Dome)

Rotherhithe in 1620, we are reminded, was not in London but merely ‘of London’ as navigation was supervised by the Port of London and the authorities did not allow emigration from tiny riverside villages.

When on the Thames Path between South Dock and Greenland Dock you are about where the lost Earl’s Creek provided docking for the Mayflower when not sailing to France to bring wine back for City vintners.

Master of the Mayflower Christopher Jones lived in Rotherhithe and some of the crew were local or from Deptford.

Graham Taylor dismisses the claims of Rotherhithe’s Mayflower pub (which advertises itself as the oldest on the Thames) to having any connection with the ship or Pilgrim Fathers.

“It changed its name to Mayflower only in 1957,” writes the author who knows Rotherhithe and Southwark intimately.

But Christopher Jones is buried in the church and depicted outside.

The 4 September ceremony is about six weeks late. Rotherhithe residents hope to be able mark the anniversary of the ship’s safe return on Sunday 16 May next year.

Graham Taylor’s Mayflower lecture at Gresham College can be viewed online on Tuesday 15 September at 6pm: register in advance on website.

The Mayflower in Britain: How an icon was made in London by Graham Taylor (Amberley £20).

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.