Comments on: Watermen’s Stairs In Wapping

By: per c.

per c. — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 15:17:42 +0000

Great blog, great photos, thank you.
John Seller, the Wapping instrument and mapmaker had in 1672 his shop located near the “Hermitage stairs”.If comparing John Roque’s map from 1746 with Google maps it could look as if the Hermitage stairs was located exactly under the gangway now leading to the Hermitage community moorings.Seller sold magnetic and azimuth compasses to the Navy, observed in 1666 the variation of the compass-needle “at the Hermitage near London, with a Quadrant of 6 Foot Radius for the Altitude, and an Instrument of 2 Foot Radius for the Azimuth”, corresponded with the Royal Society and narrowly avoided to be drawn and quartered after a sentence of high treason accused of conspiracy against the King.This was no obstacle for him to later becoming “Hydrographer to the King”.

By: Donna Hatch

Donna Hatch — Sun, 15 May 2016 15:37:39 +0000

Thank you for your magical description and photos. As an American with English roots, not to mention an author and certified history geek, I revel in such nostalgic and vivid prose about England. Reading such vivid and moving posts like yours instills in me a kind of longing–even homesickness–for a place I have not yet visited, but hope to do so in the near future. When I do, I will be sure to add this to my list of places I must see.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 10 May 2016 10:29:46 +0000

I grew up 100 yards from the Thames. At the end of my street was an inlet where barges were moored and unloaded. This was called Newcastle Draw Dock, directly opposite the old Greenwich power station. The pub at that end of the street was once called The Newcastle Arms but later became the (in)famous Waterman’s Arms and is now called The Great Eastern. As children we played there for hours, some kids even swam in the filthy water, climbing the barges to dive off, but not me. When the tide was out we could play on the gravel “beach”. The gravel led to the more familiar grey mud after a few yards and you had to be careful because the mud was quite deep in places. Some kids believed it be to deep enough to swallow you up, never to be seen again! We would descend the various steps whenever we found them, looking for hidden treasure on the shore. Old clay pipes and coins were always to be found. I remember the smell of the river, even now. A curious blend of aromas that is impossible to describe, but anyone who has smelt it knows what I mean. No other river smells like the Thames. I am constantly drawn back to the river, its pull is powerful and often walk along the embankments in the evening, watching the Thames winding through London, swirling beneath the bridges and glittering from the reflected lights of the City – this truly is one of the most beautiful sights on Earth.

By: Notmsparker

Notmsparker — Mon, 09 May 2016 18:48:27 +0000

This makes me want to get on the next ferry to the UK. Wonderful local story. Thank you for sharing!

By: Jane B

Jane B — Mon, 09 May 2016 02:19:28 +0000

“Arriving in Wapping by crossing the bridge in Old Gravel Lane” …today’s Wapping Lane [the old New Gravel Lane, now Garnet Street] …for anyone who might be wondering where to start 🙂

Like the Black Cabbie’s Knowledge, during their 7-year apprenticeships (as of 1603 and still to this day) would-be watermen of the 17-19th centuries had to remember innumerable Stairs, safe places to pick up people from the shore — as the causeways could of course only be used at low tide — or to pick them up out of the water if and when they’d fallen in…after too long in the ‘watering holes’ next door!

But standing on what are the foundation stones of London’s earliest public transport network, with the Thames lapping at my feet 400 years on, I can’t help remembering the most recent history of these hard won gaps in the private ownership of the riverfront, then as now, and smile at their very survival and that of the ‘fair use’ rights their represent, so many Stairs having been lost to development in the 1980’s and so too the public access to the river that went with them.

After vociferous campaigning by land-based locals and river-borne professionals and amateurs through the 1990s (in the spirit if not the manner of GA! …and certainly leading to the kind of enlightened policy rethink we need now in Norton Folgate), in 2002 The City of London —having acquired its substantial river rights and effective foreshore ‘ownership’ from The Crown eight centuries earlier — acted decisively in favour of local communities and heritage, stating in its Riverside Appraisal :

“River, Foreshore and Access — 25. The stairs and steps on the Thames are the surviving links with London’s dependence upon the river and the central role it played in the City’s commerce and everyday life, for the movement of both goods and people. These should be opened up where there is historical precedent and practical need. Thames Guidance (paragraph 3.31) recommends that important structures associated with the river and its history should be identified and protected.”

So enjoy The Stairs, not least because we can 🙂

*** WAPPING’S BEST BEACH: via a gated alleyway entrance alongside the new flats enveloping Wapping Station or at the other end of the wharf, at New Crane Stairs. Check the tides! http://www.pla.co.uk/Safety/Tide-Tables

By: cynthia booker

cynthia booker — Mon, 09 May 2016 01:57:49 +0000

Maybe the pictured stairs are still open to the public, but not all are, and that is a shame. The authorities should require that all the locked gates be unlocked or removed so there is access to all of these interesting places.

By: C.Sparrow

C.Sparrow — Sun, 08 May 2016 18:37:35 +0000

As a registered mudlark, I was on the wapping foreshore this morning, and saw your post as I emerged onto dry land. Today I found an c18th thimble, and recently a 1666 trade token, and a 1566 sliver sixpence – with Elizabeth I profile nicely visible. I became a lark after strolling on the foreshore, and finding an c18th toy cannon. The twice daily tide never ceases to amaze me, with the treasures it reveals. A relaxing adventure into serendipity. And a link to the city’s amazingly rich past.
I would be very happy to share the photos of my finds with you. And thank you for yours.

By: pauline taylor

pauline taylor — Sun, 08 May 2016 17:01:56 +0000

There is so much of my family history connected with the River Thames that I always find it very evocative to see lovely photos like these. Thank you once again.

By: Phil Maxwell

Phil Maxwell — Sun, 08 May 2016 16:52:19 +0000

Wonderful.

By: Yvonne Eade Kolessides

Yvonne Eade Kolessides — Sun, 08 May 2016 15:41:37 +0000

Good morning and thanks again for your beautiful photographs of dear old London..I miss it so much but so enjoy sipping my morning cuppa and reminising..