Peta’s Bridle’s Watery London
Let me show you this 18th century graffiti on St Paul’s Cathedral…join my walk through the City of London. There are only two left this summer – Sunday 2nd July and Sunday 6th August at 2pm
Enjoy a storytelling ramble across the Square Mile, from the steps of St Paul’s through the narrow alleys and lanes to the foot of old London Bridge, in search of the wonders and the wickedness of the City of London.
Click here to book tickets for my Spitalfields and my City of London tours
Today it is my pleasure to publish Peta Bridle‘s new drawings and captions, all on a watery theme
Pump, St. Leonard’s Churchyard, Shoreditch
This churchyard is a quiet place to draw despite the procession of traffic and buses beyond the railings. A brolly propped over my legs kept my drawing dry in the drizzle. I returned a few days later to make a second pencil sketch and the ground was carpeted with daisies and celandines, and geraniums had been planted around the base of the pump. I met the gardener who told me stories of the area and its people, and kindly made me a cup of tea. The cast iron pump has lost its handle and the nozzle is only a stump now but it once provided clean drinking water to local people. A spring rises beneath the pump that is the source of the ‘suer’ from which Shoreditch got its name and which became the river Walbrook when it reached the City of London. A well has been on this spot since Roman times.
Cody Dock, River Lea
A colourful bridge spans the river here. Cody Dock is now a community space with a cafe and gardens. The bridge was built in 1871 to unload coal from barges but, before that, the area was marshland.
Cannon St Station seen from Bankside
Last year I visited a rooftop garden at Bankside overlooking Cannon St Station across the river.
Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross
Thirty years ago when I first moved to London I rented a flat near King’s Cross Station. At the time I found the rundown streets surrounding the old station forbidding and would not even venture down them, though now I wish I had. Coal Drops Yard was the goods yard receiving and storing coal arriving from the north by rail. In 2018, the area was transformed and old buildings repurposed into shops and restaurants to become a tourist destination. The Regent’s Canal winds around the side of the yard, separating it from the station.
Nelson Dry Dock, Rotherhithe
To reach Nelson Dry Dock involves walking in thick soft mud. Engineers Mills & Knight Ltd Ship Repairs is painted in bold red lettering around the yellow wrought iron gate. The dock closed in 1968 and now sits within a hotel complex. You only get this view from the foreshore or the water.
Battersea Power Station
I sat out on the coal jetty facing the great bulk of the power station to make my sketch until the cold and drizzle drove me inside. Located on the south bank of the Thames, the decommissioned Grade II coal-powered station is now redeveloped as a destination with flats, shops and restaurants – quite an amazing place to visit.
Padlock by W.M. & A. Quiney, Rotherhithe
William Matthew Quiney and his brother Alfred took over their father’s nail-making business on Paradise St, Rotherhithe, in 1865. They opened three warehouses and their iron and steel merchants’ business was still trading in 1910. This padlock and chain, which has the maker’s name stamped upon it, is from the wonderful collection of items found by mudlark Monika Buttling-Smith and reproduced with her kind permission.
Ragged School Museum, Mile End
A view of the school across the Regent’s Canal. It opened in 1877 to provide education for the children of Mile End and is now a museum, showing the reality of Victorian life for the poor.
Religious river finds
Three religious offerings found in the Thames including a clay pot for burning incense, a Ganesh statue and a golden amulet tied with string. Drawn with kind permission of mudlark Monika Buttling-Smith.
Star Yard Urinal, Holborn
This beautiful Victorian urinal is in Star Yard Alley off Chancery Lane. Painted pale blue, decorated in patterns and a royal coat of arms, it has survived in situ to this day. I made my sketch on a Sunday afternoon and a few passers by queried why I was drawing an old toilet. Geoffrey Fletcher – my drawing hero – sketched the urinal in the sixties and I was happy to discover it still here, even if no longer in use.
St Clement’s Watch House, Strand Lane
The Old Watch House can be found downhill from the Strand and not far from Charing Cross Station. Behind the railings is a Roman bathhouse which was once a cistern, later used as a bathing pool. Where I was sitting, I could hear a singer practising scales mixed with the sound of water gurgling down a drain.
Barge Master & Swan Marker, St James Garlickhythe
Outside St James Garlickhythe stands this beautiful bronze statue of the Vintner’s Swan Marker with a swan at his feet. The Vintners’ are one of the twelve Great Livery Companies of the City of London and jointly, with the Dyers’ Livery Company and the Crown, they own the swans on the River Thames. Each July, during Swan Upping, the swans are marked or ringed. The Swan Marker wears the traditional Barge Master’s uniform.
Lions, Trafalgar Square
The fountains and Nelsons Column are guarded by Sir Edwin Landseer’s four great lions. They offer a popular spot for selfies today, with parents shoving their children up on to the pedestal for pictures and tourists clambered all over it. Although the square was later swamped by crowds of protestors, I did manage to complete my drawing in time before I went home.
Holborn Viaduct over the hidden River Fleet
Red and gold dragons guard the bridge, while the subterranean River Fleet flows beneath Holborn Viaduct to join the Thames at Blackfriars. Beyond is Smithfield Market which will become the site for the new London Museum.
Watergate Steps, Deptford
A cobbled dead end alley takes you to Watergate Steps and the river, where I was down on the shore by 7am to catch the low tide. Drawing with my back to the river, I was aware the tide had turned and the water was slowly creeping back up the beach, so I made a swift pencil sketch within the hour. Along the Thames, there were once many stairs and steps serving as points where watermen gathered in their boats to row passengers up, down or across the river. Watergate Steps would have been a landing for the ferry over to the Isle of Dogs.
Drawings copyright © Peta Bridle
You may also like to take a look at
Peta Bridle’s London Viewpoints
Peta Bridle’s East End Sketchbook
Peta Bridle’s Riverside Sketchbook
Peta Bridle’s Gravesend Sketchbook
Peta Bridle’s City of London Sketchbook
Superb drawings.
Peta Bridle is most certainly a very talented artist. Her sketches capture the scenes delightfully. I particularly admired the St Leonard’s water pump. My parents, uncle, and aunt married there in the 50’s. Both receptions were held at the Jane Shore pub just along Shoreditch High Street from the church. My grandparents ran it at that time.
What superb drawings and succinct descriptions.
This is why London is such a brilliant place to visit, especially any destination off the beaten track. The duck egg blue ex bog is a case in point. Awwwight!
Lovely drawings as usual from Peta, I always enjoy when she is published on Spitalfields life, as well as when she uploads a new piece of art on her Instagram account! She always captures the parts of London that are usually overlooked by the every day commuter. Love the subtle water theme running throughout the imagery in all the different ways. Excellent details as always 🙂 lovely!
As ever, I am abashed and ashamed that I saw so little and appreciated less during my growing-up in London. Why did my many rambles never take me to the interesting places you show? They were well within my manageable radius.
Lovely illustrations. Always interesting spots in London from Peta.