Comments on: The Old River Thames

By: Mick Lemmerman

Mick Lemmerman — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 12:45:20 +0000

The photo titled “Ice floes on the Thames” is the wrong way round. If it was the right way round, it would should, from left to right: Island Gardens (complete with Osborne House, which is now gone), Sapon Wharf, Christ Church and Cumberland Oil Mills – on the Isle of Dogs, viewed from Greenwich.

By: rob wilson

rob wilson — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:06:01 +0000

Hmm threw me at first but then I noticed the First slide is backwards Houses of Parliament

By: pauline taylor

pauline taylor — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 18:53:11 +0000

These are good, but I like to look as well at much earlier paintings of the Thames in London, and to wonder just how much water traffic there was then, rather a lot I think. As mentioned before, I have the river Thames in my blood as my ancestors were watermen at Lambeth from the 16th until the 18th century, one being employed on the Archbishop’s barge. How I would love to see a picture of that!!

By: Ian Perry

Ian Perry — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 15:27:19 +0000

A wonderful collection of images, particularly of the nautical traffic, thank you as always. I would just ask whether the date of the ‘Lots Road and Battersea Bridge’ is c. 1910? Battersea power station wasn’t built until 1930 and the road vehicles look more 30’s to me. I am happy to be told I’m wrong….

By: Hugh

Hugh — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 15:03:28 +0000

Dear GA, I can’t understand the orientation of the Lots Rd Battersea Bridge picture.
Has that road been built over?

By: Liz L

Liz L — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 11:55:51 +0000

Wonderful pictures showing the Thames as a working river.
And thank you Annie G for the recommendation of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I’m definitely on the case. They sound an excellent read.

By: Leana Pooley

Leana Pooley — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 11:31:17 +0000

I enjoyed looking at these lovely photos. But I felt slightly sick, too, at the realisation of how much skyline we’ve already lost to the inelegant clusters of tall tower blocks that have appeared in recent years – and over 200 more on the way. In these old pictures St Paul’s and the Tower of London stand up proudly. Sadly now their venerable human-sized outlines are dwarfed and demeaned.

And it’s not just our skyline that’s disappearing. Unlike, say, the three-storey 1970s office building in Lower Thames Street which shelters the remains of a Roman villa in its basement, each recent skyscraper will have needed massive deep foundations, the digging of which will have obliterated that area of London’s archeology. Above and below ground, the damage is heart-breaking.

By: John Barrett

John Barrett — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 10:52:14 +0000

Gentle Author and Bishopsgate at their best. Good views of Thames sailing barges designed for river and estuary work can be seen on the river today. There is something about black & white photos a certain magic. John c

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 09:26:27 +0000

As always some great photos from the Bishopsgate Institute. What I find surprising is how many boats were still carrying sail in the 1920s. To me some of these scenes could be from fifty years previous.

By: Annie G

Annie G — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 08:43:25 +0000

That final image is great. Never seen it before. I hope, GA, that you have read the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. If not, hie you immediately to a bookshop and settle down for hours of joy.