Comments on: The Old South Bank https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 08 Aug 2017 11:46:55 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Tony Martin https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1162123 Tue, 08 Aug 2017 11:46:55 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1162123 Dear Ms Tindall,
Despite living up here in the Black Country, I have long been a reader of your books.
‘The Fields Beneath’ would easily make the top five of my all time favourites…

]]> By: Helen Breen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161699 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 13:11:49 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161699 Greetings from Boston,

GA, thanks for sharing Gillian Tindall’s great piece on South Bank and its development over time. Recently I have written many articles about Lynnfield MA (just outside of Boston) and agree that folks “love knowing that this same space of land was once a meadow occupied by cows, or an orchard, or yet the bank of a stream full of fish.” People enjoy knowing the names of the farms on which their subdivisions now sit.

No doubt, the development of South Bank has been a great success. Not to be outdone, the last time I was in London a young man was passing out flyers touting the similar charms of “North Bank” near Aldwych and LSE. I guess these merchants look across the River with envy.

I also enjoyed a visit to Docklands Museum which preserves so much of the River’s history.

Missing London today…

]]> By: Victor Keegan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161696 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 12:19:53 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161696 Lovely piece. Reminds me that the Festival Hall used to have a millstone from the Coade stone works on its forecourt but took it away and has not put it back despite suggestions by YT

I don’t know of any other capital in the world that has a traffic free walkway like the South Bank going on for miles and miles (I got as far as Margate without crossing a road)

]]> By: Jasmin Leuthold https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161677 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 08:16:46 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161677 Dear Ms Tindall

I dearly love The House by the Thames ( I have re-read it at least three times !) and very much look forward to reading your new work.

Jasmin (hobby-genealogist)

]]> By: Annie G https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161675 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 07:57:11 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161675 A new Gillian Tindall book! I too used to walk along the empty path along the river back in the late 70s and early 80s and wonder where people were. Thanks for this trip along the riverside.

]]> By: Charlie Coutts https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161674 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 07:41:44 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161674 Dear Gillian,
I enjoyed your article but on a minor point, I, along with some mates, first skateboarded underneath the Hayward Gallery in 1977. That was the first public area in London/UK where this happened and still does, important social history and in keeping with the Bankside area furthermore East as a place where Londoners have had fun for nearly 500 years

]]> By: Jim McDermott https://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/08/05/the-old-south-bank/#comment-1161656 Sat, 05 Aug 2017 04:35:30 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=159227#comment-1161656 Another post to make one weep for what’s gone! I recall many walks between Waterloo and London Bridges in the late ’80s – often I didn’t see another person for half an hour at a time. Now, the experience is akin to being an extra in a Cecil B DeMille epic.

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