Victoria Embankment Gardens

Victoria Embankment Gardens

In July 1870, Joseph Bazalgette’s Victoria Embankment was opened by the Prince of Wales. Reclaiming 37 acres of the Thames river and foreshore it provided space for new underground railways and a sewer system (also designed by Bazalgette). At ground level, landscaped gardens and statues of leading figures were laid out for the enjoyment and [...]

St. Katharine Docks

St. Katharine Docks

St Katharine Docks were opened in 1828 to provide capacity for Britain’s largest import (and second largest export after wool); tea. Arriving in tea chests from China and India it was a roaring trade, accounting for around 400,000 tea chests per year. For 140 years, these docks were central to satiating the appetite for the [...]

Battersea Power Station – Live!

Battersea Power Station – Live!

Built for £2.2 million in 1933, it’s the price of a modest apartment today in this swish residential-retail-leisure complex. Originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert-Scott, the station powered a quarter of London by 1948. Closed in 1983, the grade II* listed building was the problem child of the river front until rescued by Malaysian investors [...]

Sir (Saint) Thomas More in Chelsea

Sir (Saint) Thomas More in Chelsea

The former London home of Sir Thomas More, stands on Chelsea Embankment adjacent to Chelsea Old Church (More’s home is the central grey stone building in the featured picture). Originally situated in Bishopsgate it was moved here in 1910 since Chelsea was the location of More’s Beaufort House and estate (only recalled now by local [...]

Regent’s Canal to London Docklands

Regent’s Canal to London Docklands

Regent’s Canal was London’s main thoroughfare for heavy freight from the 1820’s – used by horse-drawn barges taking goods from sea-faring vessels on the River Thames into mainland England.   The canal stretches 13.5 km from Little Venice in the west of London to Limehouse Basin in the east, today’s Docklands.   The canal drops around 30 [...]

Bermondsey to Rotherhithe

Bermondsey to Rotherhithe

Bermondsey is a thriving business and social area on the south side of the River Thames.  It found prominence as the location of Bermondsey Abbey in the middle ages.   The abbey was dissolved during Tudor times and the area developed into the centre of London's leather processing industry - many of the street names bear [...]

Albert Bridge – ‘one of the beauties of the London river’

Albert Bridge in south west London, is one of the most attractive bridges crossing the River Thames.  It may not be as iconic as Tower Bridge downstream, but it’s actually older. Named in memory of Prince Albert, it provides access to Battersea Park which, disconcertingly for south Londoners today, was originally built for the wealthy [...]

London’s Bronze Age bridge

London’s Bronze Age bridge

Vauxhall is an area in central London on the south side of the River Thames.   It is also the site of some of the oldest in-situ structures in London.    Just to the west of Vauxhall Bridge, on the south side of the river, you can see the remains of a Bronze Age bridge or [...]

London’s best preserved seventeenth century country house

London’s best preserved seventeenth century country house

Ham House was built on land owned by King James I in 1610.   The lease of the house transferred between several royal courtiers until it was granted to William Murray in 1626 - during the reign of King Charles I.   Murray was granted the freehold ten years later.   Murray, a Scotsman, was a close friend [...]