Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
Along The Thames Part II: London Curiosities From Westminster to St Katherine Docks
14 mins
An illustrated walk along the Thames, taking in many of London’s historic curiosities. Theatres and sewers and docks, oh my!
Today’s walk is a continuation of this earlier walk from John Wittich’s 1973 book Discovering London’s Curiosities. A great way to find hidden stories from London’s past, and to understand what has changed in recent years and what hasn’t. Bonus for this walk: lots of lovely spring flowers!
Picking Up Where We Left Off
Today’s walk is a continuation of this earlier walk which started in Chelsea and ended in Westminster. The walk comes from John Wittich’s 1973 book Discovering London’s Curiosities. As the name suggests, Wittich doesn’t point out the main sights along the way. Instead, he seeks out the curiosities: oddities and historic remnants which the casual observer might not notice. This really appeals to me: one of my favourite things about living in London is that, after more than a decade, there are still so many things for me to discover.
Today’s part of the walk ends relatively close to home for me at St Katherine Docks. You will see similarities with the black history walk I posted recently, as well as a few other walks I have done. There are certainly many new sights, however. The area around either side of Blackfriars station, for example, is not one I frequent very often. I learned a lot about what is buried under modern office buildings. Like other walks from Wittich’s book (for example this one along the Roman walls), it’s interesting to see how the experience of exploring London today compares with the 1970s. The history of a place is of course the same, but some of the 20th Century changes have come and gone in a few short decades.
Come and see for yourself as we explore curiosities along the Thames from Westminster to St Katherine Docks.
Along the Thames: A Detour As We Park The Bikes…
Please don’t forget that the first part of this walk terminated at Westminster Bridge; some of the sights of the area can be seen here.
Due to the vagaries of finding Boris bike parking, we actually ended up starting our walk a bit behind Westminster, near St James’s Park. This very blank looking building on the Mall originally housed the war chiefs of WWII.This nice open expanse is the back of Horse Guards. Horse Guards itself is in the top image. This was originally a barracks and stables for the Household Cavalry and an important military headquarters.Because Horse Guards forms a gate house between Whitehall and St James’s Park, there is still a mounted guard on duty today. Signs warn visitors that the horses may kick or bite, but they don’t seem to mind (either the horses or the visitors).And as we cross the road, we get a glimpse up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square. Nelson’s Column is in the distance, and in the foreground is a 1907 statue of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge.
Along the Thames: The Curiosities of Westminster
The first stop as we resume our walk proper is Old Scotland Yard. Built after the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the building was on Whitehall as befits such an important institution. However, the public entrance was on Great Scotland Yard, and the name stuck. Today it is a rather lovely looking luxury hotel. The Metropolitan Police have moved several times since, so in true London fashion there is a New Scotland Yard nearby on Victoria Embankment; a subsequent New Scotland Yard on Broadway which they moved to for a while; but now they are back at the older New Scotland Yard.The Ministry of Defence building dates to 1939 (construction finished in 1959). The two statues Earth and Water are by Charles Wheeler. ‘Air’ and ‘Fire’ were meant to be installed at the other end of the building but were not completed.The MOD building stands on the former site of Whitehall Palace. During excavations for its construction, these steps emerged. These are the remains of a terrace built when Christopher Wren renovated Whitehall Palace. The terrace marks where the bank of the Thames were, until embankment works pushed them much further out. Queen Mary could use the elegant stairs when stepping on or off the royal barge. The section of terrace is a reconstruction.A quick glimpse across the river before we continue down the Embankment. The building with the long dark roof is County Hall. Now an aquarium and other tourist-related things, when our book was written in 1973 it was “the administrative centre of the largest municipal authority in the world”. Neither of those things are true now. But anyway, it stands on Pedlar’s Acre, for which various origin stories exist. A pedlar who was grateful that a church gave him shelter, or who found treasure, etc.
Along The Thames: Curiosities of Victoria Embankment
Whitehall Court is not in our book, but is an impressive looking building worth a mention. It bucks the trend by being Victorian blocks of luxury apartments, rather than a historic building turned into luxury apartments more recently. George Bernard Shaw is among those who have lived here. The statue is of William Tyndale, executed for his English translation of the Bible (and for annoying Henry VIII).York House Watergate dates to the early 17th Century. Like the terrace of Whitehall Palace, it shows us the former course of the Thames before the Embankment works. Today the gate is marooned inside Embankment Gardens, but once this was the riverside entrance to York House, the finest of the dozen or so mansions on the Strand. The architect was Inigo Jones.One of various monuments in Embankment Gardens and not in our book, but I particularly like this chap on his camel. It’s a monument to the WWI Imperial Camel Corps.Peeping out of Embankment Gardens for a moment, we see Cleopatra’s Needle. It’s actually about 1,000 years older than Cleopatra, but is indeed Egyptian so there’s that at least. A gift to Great Britain in 1819, it only arrived in London in 1877.Now this one is a definite curiosity. On Carting Lane just behind Embankment Gardens, this is London’s last remaining sewer gas destructor lamp. The idea was to kill two birds with one stone – have a cheap source of lighting, and burn off methane which could otherwise build up and explode. Unfortunately it took a while to get right – there wasn’t always enough methane to keep the flame lit, resulting in sewer gas seeping out into the air. Delightful.The Institute of Electrical Engineers, here complete with statue of Faraday, once boasted London’s only green phone box. The engineers objected to the red clashing with their building. It was still there in 1973 according to Wittich, but no trace of it remains today.
Along The Thames: Somerset House to City Boundary
Here is the lower side of Somerset House. Again, these arches used to form the water access to the Thames. Are you starting to get the hang of what the old water gates look like? The completion of the Embankment in 1870 pushed the edges of the river away from this level.This is a photo of something which isn’t there. Our guidebook tells us we should be seeing the HMS Discovery right around this spot. The Discovery was the ship Robert Scott took on his successful expedition to Antarctica (rather than the unsuccessful 1911 expedition on which he died). It remained in London until 1979, after which it relocated to Dundee, where it was first built.A curious ship which is still in place is the Wellington. This is the floating livery hall of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. Being on the river, it is the only livery hall outside the City of London (or was in 1973). It has resided here since 1948.We now enter the city of London. Dragon boundary markers pop up in various places around the edges of the City. These particular ones were once on the Coal Exchange behind Old Billingsgate Market which we will see later.Spotted along the Embankment, and definitely not there in 1973 when phone boxes were phone boxes! Unlike many this still seems to contain a working phone. But the star attraction is most definitely this stained glass. It was first spotted in 2019, but like a lot of street art its origins remain a mystery. [Edit: artist Glen Riches got in touch and it is now a lot less mysterious! Hooray! Check out this link for more of his stained glass art.]A quick glimpse of the South Bank, where we can see the Oxo Tower (starting point of the Neckinger) and Sea Containers House.
Along The Thames: Curiosities Around Blackfriars
Sion College dates to 1886. The extremely Gothic architecture is a result both of its Victorian date, and the fact that it housed a theological library and social centre for London clergy. The college has now moved closer to Westminster Abbey and Sion Hall has become an office building. The 1983 sculpture Taxistands outside Sion Hall and next door JP Morgan premises. It is by John Seward Johnson II and is part of the JP Morgan corporate art collection. Despite residing in London since 2014, he still seems to be hailing a yellow taxi rather than a black cab. Blackfriars Station and The Blackfriar Pub both take their names from the medieval Dominican friary which once stood here. The pub is my choice to spend time in of the two – it has a great Art Nouveau interior. A little further up the hill, Playhouse Yard marks the site of the Blackfriars Theatre. Originally a private theatre, as it was indoors it was used by Shakespeare’s and other companies for winter performances. Neighbours complained about its patrons constantly: too much clapping, destruction of property and wearing of sweaty nightcaps!The narrow lane at the top is Church Entry. It marks the division between the nave and the choir of Blackfriars Church. Workmen discovered a part of the choir, apparently showing signs of burning from the Great Fire of London, in 1926. St Ann’s took the place of Blackfriars after the dissolution of the monasteries.Today the monastic history of this area lives on mainly in plaques and streetnames. Friar Street, Pilgrim St, Church Entry, Creed Lane and so on. Street names are great for pointing to historic curiosities throughout London.
Along The Thames: The Mermaid to Queenhithe
A relatively new sight for John Wittich which has already disappeared again is the Mermaid Theatre. Opened in 1959, it was the first new theatre sanctioned in the City of London for about 300 years. It sounds quite nice, I’m imagining something like the big theatre at the Barbican. It closed in 2008 and is now a conference venue – not nearly as interesting. The area it occupies was once Puddle Dock; rather a charming name but once “synonymous with low life and criminal activities” according to Wittich.Baynard’s Castle is another of London’s absent curiosities, which we seek in the clues it has left behind. It stood on the riverside around St Andrew’s Hill (top image). Robert Fitzwalter was the last owner of the original castle: it was destroyed after he picked the wrong side at the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. Later versions of the castle moved down the river a bit after the arrival of Blackfriars Monastery. A lot of interesting information was unearthed during redevelopment in the 1970s.We now head down the river path a little way to Queenhithe, seen at the bottom at high tide. You may recall from an earlier walk that a hithe is a landing place for ships or boats, where goods can be safely unloaded. Queenhithe has been in use since Roman times, and was later utilised by the Hanseatic League. It was only abandoned once London Bridge made it impossible for larger craft to pass this far upriver.
Along The Thames: Curiosities from Vintners’ Hall to The Clink
I apologise for not getting a very good shot, but this is Vintners’ Hall. As the ‘vin’ and the barrels suggest, the Vintners have to do with the wine trade. Until 1522 they were responsible for the licenses of all inns in England. Their hall burned down in the Great Fire of London, so this version dates to 1671. The Vintners are one of the ‘Twelve Great Livery Companies’ and, along with the Dyers’ Company, have very special privileges. Each year, the Vintners and Dyers can go along the Thames, taking ownership of cygnets by ‘swan upping‘. This means notching the young swans’ beaks – one notch for the Dyers and two for the Vintners. The ‘swan with two necks’ has become a Vintners motif, but should properly be the ‘swan with two nicks’. Any the Dyers or Vintners don’t get belong to the Queen.We are now skipping a couple of recommended curiosities as we cross Southwark Bridge. Take a look at this walk along the path of the Walbrook to find out about what’s underneath Cannon Street Station, and about the Hanseatic enclave on the Thames.Shakespeare looms large along the Southbank, but the site of the current Globe Theatre is not actually where the Globe once stood. Wittich situates it further back from the river than Sam Wannamaker’s replica, beneath an electrical sub-station.Just through this archway is The Clink Prison Museum. It’s on the site of the original Clink, which dated back to 1144 – a very historic and notorious prison. Because it’s very close to the palace of the Bishop of Winchester, it housed a lot of heretics and other church-related criminals.
Along The Thames: Southwark Cathedral to Billingsgate
Here is Southwark Cathedral. You may recall from this earlier walk that Southwark has only been a cathedral since 1905, and was previously the church of St Mary Overie. Last time I described ‘Overie’ as meaning ‘over the river’, but Wittich proposes an alternative. A ferryman named Overie decided to test his daughters and see which would marry a man he did not approve of. His way of testing this was pretending to die. His family were so happy they put him in a coffin and had a party in the next room. Overie was unhappy, and stormed in there to sort them out. The unsuitable suitor struck out at the frightening ‘ghost’ and killed Overie over again. Luckily there was a coffin ready to put him back into! These apocryphal origin stories for London’s place names are certainly another category of the city’s curiosities.We now head back over London Bridge to the north side of the river. This version of London Bridge opened in 1973 so was brand spanking new when Wittich was writing. An American bought the previous bridge in 1969 and took it to Arizona.Just at the end of London Bridge is the Company Hall of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. Old Billingsgate Fishmarket is just down the river a bit and popped up on this walk here.The Custom House on the waterfront we have also seen before on the previous walk, but Wittich relates a historic moment from this area. A none too happy one though – the poet William Cowper tried to drown himself near here but the tide was out!
Along The Thames: Curiosities Around Tower Hill
This is one of my favourite of London’s little curiosities. The Tower Subway Kiosk marks one side of a tunnel under the Thames. From 1869, this allowed passengers to enter London’s first railway under the river, exiting in Southwark a few minutes later. The Brunel tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping also had a railway from 1869 so the timing must have been close. After closing to the public, the tunnel housed communications cables.A quick look at the Tower of London as we head up to Trinity Square Gardens.I said on this Black history walk in Tower Hamlets that I had failed to realise that Trinity Square Gardens was originally a memorial to those executed at the Tower. Well I went back and had another look, and found the earlier (and much smaller) memorial.And finally St Katherine Docks. St Katherine’s By The Tower was a monastic hospital, established by Queen Matilda in 1147. The hospital had royal connections, so survived the dissolution of the monasteries by becoming a Protestant version of itself. Redevelopment work caused St Katherine’s to move from its riverside home in 1825, and the current docks moved in instead. We end our long walk here, I hope you have enjoyed it!
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9 thoughts on “Along The Thames Part II: London Curiosities From Westminster to St Katherine Docks”
Glad you enjoyed my art work in the phone box. For more you could checkout Glen Riches glass on Instagram.
Brilliant, so glad to know more about where the artwork came from! I will add a link to this post as well.