Day 21 - Richmond to Barnes Bridge

 21 August 2024

It's been a while, sometimes life gets in the way, and this year the weather has definitely got in the way of planning walks.

But we made it back, starting by Richmond Bridge at 10:30am, where you can find a great cafe under the arches called Tide Tables Cafe a good spot to buy some food for the route or have a drink before you start.

Richmond upon Thames was known as West Sheen until Henry VII named his palace here after his earldom from Yorkshire's Richmond (in 1501).  Mary I and Philip of Spain spent their honeymoon here and it's where Elizabeth I died in 1603.  Charles 1 died here after escaping London and the plague in 1649, the palace fell into disrepair and there's barely anything left now.

Richmond Bridge was built in 1777, it cost 1/2d to cross and 1d if pushing a wheelbarrow!  It's the Thames oldest surviving bridge, and was built on the site of an old ferry crossing.

The river was looking beautiful for our walk, at this point it's 300 feet wide (90m) very different to the early days of our walk. 

We came upon Asgill House surrounded by white roses, it was built in 1767 as a weekend retreat for the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Asgill - a wealthy banker.

Passing under Twickenham Bridge, which is next to the Richmond Railway Bridge, which is a 1908 steel bridge with remnants of the original bridge of 1848.

Twickenham Bridge was built in 1933 with thin red-brick bands amongst the concrete.

Running alongside us is Old Deer Park, not to be confused with Richmond Park further up the river where the Deer live, it's a lovely open park which is also home to the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club and London Welsh RFC.

When the park was the parkland for Richmond Palace, George III built an observatory for Sir William Chambers.  The obelisks there are placed on an old meridian used to determine the time prior to Greenwich mean time.

We soon arrived at Richmond's Lock and Weir which was built in 1894, due to really shallow waters between Richmond and Teddington, which caused problems for river traffic but also the fish.  There are 3 sluice gates, which get lowered 2 hours after high tide and raised two hours before the next high tide.  When the sluice gates are raised boats can travel underneath the bridge, but when they're lowered they must use the lock.

And we found our first conker!

The tide was out from here, and there were very muddy river banks full of birds, we spotted so many Herons today.

After passing Isleworth Ait, a 10 acre island - nature reserve, you can see Isleworth across the river.  The church, All Saints, still has it's 15th century tower, bodies from the plague in London were brought here by barge and buried behind the church.

The 500 year old pub is called The London Apprentice after the apprentices who rowed here from the City on their annual day off.  Apparently it was also popular with artists including Zoffany, Constable and Turner, the latter rented a house nearby in around 1805 which is where he filled sketchbooks of many a Thames scene.

Quite soon after you pass 'pretty in pink' Syon Pavilion Boathouse.

Syon House, home of the Duke of Northumberland, was built on an old Bridgettine Abbey, Syon Abbey was a joint Abbey for nuns and priests, had a great library and was a place of scholarship and pilgrimage.

(from Syon Park website)

On the dissolution of the Abbey, it reverted to Royal Control (the funeral cortege of Henry VIII rested here enroute to Windsor)

Henry imprisoned his fifth wife Katherine Howard here, shortly before she was executed.

The house has a great history to read about, over the years Robert Adams has been involved with it's design and Capability Brown it's gardens, in 1750 it belonged to the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, years later the 3rd Duke was incredibly wealthy (proceeds of coal mining and shipping) and spent a fortune on the house and grounds.

It is open to the public and is the only large house in the London area still open to the public.

It was a lovely stretch of the path from here ...

... and soon we could see the high rises of London appear through the trees.

Along from here is the entrance from the Thames path to Kew Gardens, the Brentford Gate entrance.  (Approximately 2.5 miles from Richmond).

Kew houses the world's largest collection of living plants.

The gardens began as a royal riverside fun area for Princess Augusta in 1759, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales.  Frederick loved all things to do with the river and they designed the palace gardens as a pleasure ground and they commissioned the orangery (Augusta's greenhouse) and chinese pagoda decorared with dragons (which the Prince then pawned to pay debts).  Augusta collected rare and foreign plants and trees.  Their son George III enlarged the area from 9 to eleven acres and used it as his country home.

After George and Charlotte, the royals left Kew and the gardens went into the public domain.  During Queen Victoria's reign, the gardens got considerably larger from 11 acres to 75 and now it stands at 326 acres!

I'm a member, so we went in with our picnic and a lovely stroll around sections of the gardens, there are useful toilets and a great shop.  There is so much to see and do, plus cafes and restaurants, a childrens' play park it is definitely worth making a day of it.

There are often exhibitions, and our visit tied in with Marc Quinn's large outdoor art installations which are dotted around the park (until the end of September 2024). 

"Light into Life"

The Roses were stunning, many varieties and beautifully scented

We found a rather stately looking spot with a bench for our picnic lunch.

And we bought some delicious chocolate from the shop!

Back to the path and under Kew Bridge, and further along Kew Railway Bridge, built in 1869.

Our water bottles were running low despite the lack of sunshine and heat, so we stopped at The Ship Pub in Mortlake, just after Chiswick Bridge, for a drink, built in 1781 it's famous for being next to the the finishing line of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

Mortlake is famous for it's tapestries, including those at Hampton Court, they were made here by Flemish Weavers from 1619-1703.  You can view some at the V&A.

Continuing along the path alongside a huge brewery area, which has been there for over 200 years, originally Watney's and it is now owned by Budweiser. (Hops and coal used to arrive by barge).

It was very dry and dusty underfoot here, you can tell this is where the river often floods and bursts its banks.

Opposite on the other side of the river is Dukes Meadow, a lovely spot, which includes a huge sporting area for golf, ski and tennis.  Plus Chiswick's Farmers Market, a social enterprise, it runs every Sunday and proceeds from it, help run the Dukes Meadow, it's play areas, hedgerows, orchard and flower meadows.

A house on the golf course is the main filming location for the pre-recorded tasks in the gameshow Taskmaster.

This whole area along the Thames is full of rowing boats, we saw a huge amount of rowers and their coaches shouting out to them on the megaphones, it was so windy though I'm sure their voices were just swept down the river and didn't reach their rowers.

Ahead you can see Barnes Bridge (one of only 3 bridges across the Thames that combines car and rail traffic) and the White Hart Pub, our finishing point for the day.

In recognition of its association with the boat races, there is a coat of arms on Barnes Bridge which shows a light blue oar (for Cambridge University) and a dark blue oar (for Oxford University).  But it stays closed during the Boat Race due to public safety, it has been said whichever team is ahead at Barnes Bridge wins the race.

The Race starts downstream of Putney Bridge and passes under Hammersmith Bridge and Barnes Bridge before finishing just before Chiswick Bridge.  It's 4 miles long.

Just behind the White Hart pub is Barnes Bridge Station which takes you into Waterloo Station.

A great walk today, about 5.5 miles, not as many miles along the Thames Path, but a huge amount of steps walked due to our time in Kew Gardens.