A Rothehithe wander

[Wapping]

It seems to similar nowadays but more anonymously with Red Nose Day, the London and other city Marathons, food banks, charity shops, and, although there's also an incentive, the National Lottery. As they put these plaques and boards up in churches, that were probably heavily attended, I wonder if some of the generosity by the named was due to peer pressure or repentance, making sure that there was a place in heaven for them?

It’s a whole area of social-political history that I really should make an effort to understand, not least as I live in the middle of some of it. You do make an interesting point though about how charity and ‘good works’ still exists today, side-by-side with the NHS and Social Services.

 

[Wapping]

Leaving the chuch, it’s but a short wander to the Mayflower pub, very close to the Brunel Museum. I have been to the museum before and is anyway shut on Thursdays, so I missed it out but plan to go back there later in the year:





The Mayflower and lunch:




Pub wise, the beer is a big improvement over Sam Smth’s, so I reverted back to bitter. Of course it’s popular with tourists, so it will be very busy in high summer.

The Mayflower

The Mayflower pub is a hidden gem in the heart of Rotherhithe, London. A traditional English pub surrounded by cobbled streets, the outside decked jetty and cosy candlelit restaurant have stunning river views.

www.mayflowerpub.co.uk

About Us - Brunel Museum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-VnQ3CEvQQ Our Mission To preserve and share widely the ground-breaking stories of the Thames Tunnel project and the outstanding achievements of the Brunel family and their relevance to our lives today. We inspire communities through exploration, learning and...

thebrunelmuseum.com

 

[snelly]

Off the train at Rotherhithe station, which is on the so called ‘Windrush Line’, renamed when TfL divided the previous generic ‘London Overground’ network into separate distinct individual lines. Whilst the separation of the lines, giving each section its own name was a good idea, it’s a great pity that TfL didn’t call the line that passes under the Thames (using Brunel’s original and first tunnel) the ‘Brunel Line’.

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The local primary school created quite a nice mural, celebrating Brunel’s engineering feat. What a pity TfL didn’t take a leaf out of the kids’ imagination:

View attachment 488012

Thames Tunnel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

London Overground line names

London Overground lines are to be named to make the network easier to navigate. We aim to make the changes by the end of 2024

tfl.gov.uk

It was named to appease the trendy fantasy thinkers;;

 

[snelly]

Leaving the chuch, it’s but a short wander to the Mayflower pub, very close to the Brunel Museum. I have been to the museum before and is anyway shut on Thursdays, so I missed it out but plan to go back there later in the year:

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The Mayflower and lunch:

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Pub wise, the beer is a big improvement over Sam Smth’s, so I reverted back to bitter. Of course it’s popular with tourists, so it’’ be very busy in high summer.

The Mayflower

The Mayflower pub is a hidden gem in the heart of Rotherhithe, London. A traditional English pub surrounded by cobbled streets, the outside decked jetty and cosy candlelit restaurant have stunning river views.

www.mayflowerpub.co.uk

About Us - Brunel Museum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-VnQ3CEvQQ Our Mission To preserve and share widely the ground-breaking stories of the Thames Tunnel project and the outstanding achievements of the Brunel family and their relevance to our lives today. We inspire communities through exploration, learning and...

thebrunelmuseum.com

The Mayflower looks spot on Wapping; some great pictures;

 

[Burridge01]

Patience…..



PS The Thames Tideway is an amazing engineering feat. I am going to a little post on how well they’ve restored and improved the park that they took over in Wapping for the pumping station, close to the vent for the Rotherhithe Tunnel. I must say I had my doubts over their promises, but they’ve kept their word. Well done them and those that worked on the whole project.

I was on a long reach in that park(part of Tideway)not as good as the Bermondsey side from a workers prospective.Tideway also renewed the gates to the park as you come out of the tunnel south side(Bermondsey) but didn't give a penny to the Brunel museum, which was a shame.

 

[Wapping]

but didn't give a penny to the Brunel museum, which was a shame.

That is indeed a shame.

I know that the contractors on the Elizabeth Line did a lot for the City Farm in Hackney, as they’d used a part of the farm as a storage area. Pennies on the overall project but a lot to a small community farm.

 

[Wapping]

Lunch over, it was time to wander on.

First spot was Cumberland Wharf. As the story boards tells, it was the point from which the Mayflower left Rotherhithe on its journey to Plymouth and then to America,, carrying the (very ill prepared) Pilgrim Fathers. The board also tells of Squanto, the Native American whose little statue we saw in the church:

 

[oblertone]

Excellent stuff from a part of our capital less trodden by most

 

[Wapping]

Leaving the former wharf, it’s just a matter of wandering on and following the peninsula eastwards.

Past the vent shaft the south side of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, somewhere beneath our feet. I walked through it last year; at over a mile long and used by cars, it’s an experience I won’t be repeating in a hurry.

The south side shaft and its rotunda top:



By zooming in a little, you can see its sister shaft on the north side in Wapping, close by the pumping station referred to in post #19. The vaguely interesting thing is that the tunnel does not run straight across, but instead runs at a diagonal, increasing its length considerably:

 

[Wapping]

To be continued…..

 

[Wapping]

Excellent stuff from a part of our capital less trodden by most

Thank you.

It’s another of London’s many ‘villages’ as different from Wapping or Bermondsey as it is from Highgate or Kensington. One of its benefits is that its ‘main road’ is very quiet, the only significant traffic on it being the C10 bus, which runs all the way across to Victoria in the West End.

I’m often struck how, just by crossing a road, London changes. Wapping is different to Shadwell, which is different to Bethnal Green, which is different to Hackney. You realise it more on foot than anything else. Similarly, it’s hard (at least for an outsider) to realise how ‘empty’ London sometimes is, far removed from the teaming masses of some imaginations. I see far more cars and people when I go into Essex or Warwickshire, than I see in Wapping. It’s much quieter, too.

 

[snelly]

Leaving the former wharf, it’s just a matter of wandering on and following the peninsula eastwards.

Past the vent shaft the south side of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, somewhere beneath our feet. I walked through it last year; at over a mile long and used by cars, it’s an experience I won’t be repeating in a hurry.

The south side shaft and its rotunda top:

View attachment 488153

By zooming in a little, you can see its sister shaft on the north side in Wapping, close by the pumping station referred to in post #19. The vaguely interesting thing is that the tunnel does not run straight across, but instead runs at a diagonal, increasing its length considerably:

View attachment 488152

Could that be something to do with the river bed or because of what was already established on either bank by any chance;
Your rambles sells London well wapping especially to someone like me who has only really been for the football.

 

[Wapping]

Over the single span bascule bridge, crossing the cut into Surrey Lock and Basin. The bridge is identical in style operation to two on Shadwell Basin:

Bascule bridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Wapping]

Could that be something to do with the river bed or because of what was already established on either bank by any chance;
Your rambles sells London well wapping especially to someone like me who has only really been for the football.

I can only assume you are correct.

Thank you. In truth, it’s not hard to sell London (or indeed anywhere else) well, especially when you do it on foot. I set off from Wapping Station at about 11:40 not returning until about 18:00 clocking up roughly 15,000 steps, but only went a tiny way relative to the area of London….. and I stopped for beers.

As I alluded to above, people shouldn’t view London as one uniform mass, as it certainly isn’t. But I guess that’s true of anywhere; Yorkshire is very different top to bottom, east to west. I like the place, not least as I live here and can try to take an interest in the bits I see. Yes, I miss tons but that maybe doesn’t matter too much.



PS As much as anything else I like to find out about anything ‘odd’ or different that I might see. There’s some broken pieces of pottery later, which I’m hoping (I haven’t looked yet) might tell a little story of London’s past on their own. We shall see…

 

[Burridge01]

That is indeed a shame.

I know that the contractors on the Elizabeth Line did a lot for the City Farm in Hackney, as they’d used a part of the farm as a storage area. Pennies on the overall project but a lot to a small community farm.

You'll be sick of hearing this,i was on hire there with Costain as well.They bought all the tunnelling equipment out of one of the shafts there,I sat on top cutting it all up on a 50t machine.There's a church there that has something to do with the sailors and a benevolent fund,goes back a couple of hundred years or something. To look at whats their now,you'd never believe what went on with the tunnel(I was at one point or another on the line start to finish)

Great photo's of your walk by the way.I have a real soft spot for all of Londons history but especially the east end.

 

[Wapping]

You'll be sick of hearing this

Not at all. It’s interesting to hear about bits (large and small) that go on around these London projects.

The church you are maybe thinking of is, I think, St Dunstan’s which is allowed to fly the Merchant Navy’s Red Ensign flag. There are several other churches and charitable institutions dating back to when the area was a vast docks, several dealing with specific different nations that made up the seafarers.

Somewhat stupidly, I missed seeing the Norwegian seafarers’ chuch in Rotherhithe! There’s a Finnish church nearby, too.

The church spires (all different) also acted as navigation points for ships using the river, radar and GPS not being dreamed of.

 

[Wapping]

My next pub up was Salt Quay.

A big ‘modern’ (maybe a converted warehouse, I didn’t hang around to look) pub, with a great river frontage but not my kind of place really.



That said, it’d be OK for a SE region meet-up.

The Salt Quay Pub Restaurant in Rotherhithe,

Combining good food & drink with friendly service and inviting atmosphere at The Salt Quay. A pub at the heart of Rotherhithe, we cant wait to welcome you!

www.greeneking.co.uk

 

[Wapping]

From here, my unplanned pub crawl came a bit adrift, as I’d overlooked that pubs south of the river actually shut!

But no matter, I could wander on and wait for one of them to open at 16:00.

To be continued….

 

[wessie]

with a great river frontage but not my kind of place really

Greedy King McPub, best avoided unless no alternative when you can then anaesthetise yourself with Abbot Ale.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

That is indeed a shame.

I know that the contractors on the Elizabeth Line did a lot for the City Farm in Hackney, as they’d used a part of the farm as a storage area. Pennies on the overall project but a lot to a small community farm.

Same with Crossrail when they gave back the three acres they Compulsory purchased, to sink a huge acces shaft, at Stepney City Farm. The built a new barn, visitor centre with cafe and toilets and other community based projects.