Comments on: Along The Thames With John Claridge https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Wed, 04 May 2022 20:52:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Marcia Howard https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459560 Wed, 04 May 2022 20:52:48 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459560 Fabulous images, and such a rich history.

]]> By: Colin Cohen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459507 Wed, 04 May 2022 11:42:32 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459507 I worked in Plaistow in the 1960s to 1970s and used to drive through Canning Town the the Woolwich Ferry to have a sandwich on the crossing for lunch. Until that is they told me it was not a cruise and I had at least to get off and on again on the south side. John Claridge really captures the atmosphere, even grimier than I remember

]]> By: Mark https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459423 Tue, 03 May 2022 17:38:16 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459423 The creme de la menthe of cockernee snappers. Kushti!!!

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459422 Tue, 03 May 2022 17:36:45 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459422 Thank you for posting these wonderfully atmospheric photos.

I am fascinated by the traffic that goes up and down on working rivers like the Thames. At the moment for me it’s on the Rhein and I love walking to the local hydroelectric power station and seeing the cargo barges and huge lock gates there.

]]> By: Akkers https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459415 Tue, 03 May 2022 16:29:43 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459415 I loved this article and the excellent photos. My Great Grandfather and Grandfather were both dockers and I can just imagine them working in these locations.

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459406 Tue, 03 May 2022 14:19:08 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459406 Any day that begins with photos by John Claridge is a winner. But may I say that I felt an extra layer of appreciation and recognition for this group. Just as these docks and piers have almost totally disappeared, the gritty steel mills of my youth (in Western Pennsylvania) were wiped away, without a trace. As my generation ages, we tend our memories of Steel City. (Just as you must
long to have these once-essential docks back.) Dare I say, some of the photos of the piers looked, at a glance, like the long-ago Pennsylvania smokestacks, rail lines, and flues. The chug of the coal trains in Pittsburgh……and the sounding of the fog horns there in your grand city — calling us back to an earlier time.

]]> By: Dorothy V. Malcolm https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459403 Tue, 03 May 2022 13:52:51 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459403 Hello Gentle Author,

I read your blog religiously, have for several years and continue to love it. It never disappoints.

I was wondering if you have ever done a piece on the” old” London Bridge (not the one in Lake Havasu), but the one with businesses and homes/flats above them. I’m an independent scholar/researcher and needing to do a research paper on the old bridge of the 15th and 16th centuries–or when it started and ended as a multi-functional entity.

Specifically, I’m hoping you might direct me somewhere to learn more of the following:

– When it was destroyed as a bridge containing both the homes and businesses–and why? (I’ve done a few years of searching but have come up with very little.)

– What types of businesses were conducted on the bridge (ironmongers, fishmongers, smithies, pubs, food stalls, etc.)?

– The people who lived atop the businesses, what social demographic were they, and were they necessarily the actual owners of the businesses below?

– Roughly, how wide was the interior center for left-right/north-south traffic to and from; also, dimensions on the length from London to Southwark?

– Was there a toll to use the bridge, for whom, and the price in old money?

– How well did the drawbridge(s) work and if it/they didn’t function smoothly, any relevant info on resultant commotion and delays with the city/country’s commerce?

– And who manned the drawbridge (or drawbridges), including the machinery/hydraulics that made it all work, allowing ships to pass through; and did foreign ships pay toll or customs?

Honestly, ANY and all information and resources is greatly appreciated! I tried the Bishopsgate Institute to glean data on the old bridge and came up with virtually nothing.

I realize this is a difficult list of questions to ask you, knowing how active and busy you are, but being here across the Pond, I have few resources to learn anything about that bridge and thought if anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be The Gentle Author.

Thank you very much, sir, and I remain

Yours sincerely,

Dorothy V. Malcolm
Boston, Massachusetts

]]> By: David Green https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459400 Tue, 03 May 2022 13:21:13 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459400 Speaking as a former deckhand and a former photographer, these are lovely.

]]> By: Pauline Taylor https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459380 Tue, 03 May 2022 10:10:34 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459380 Superb photographs. Thank you.

Black and white captures atmosphere so much better than colour and these are excellent. Well done John Claridge.

]]> By: Mathilde Grange https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/05/03/along-the-thames-with-john-claridge-x/#comment-1459372 Tue, 03 May 2022 08:16:27 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=191540#comment-1459372 Beautiful eerie pictures. Some are absolutely stunning. Thank you.

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