Em and Susan Go Walking: September 2024

22 August 2024

We woke up the following morning to a very grey and gloomy sky, that hadn't been on the weather app!

Our walk was from the right hand side of the photo into the centre, our finish point to the right of the London Eye and the large red crane (if you click on the photo to enlarge it)

We took the tube and train back to Barnes Bridge (not to be confused with the other stop Barnes).

We started our walk at 11am and it was really windy but thankfully not cold.

There are some beautiful houses in and around the riverside of Barnes, and also an interesting Stormtrooper neighbour keeping an eye on things below!

Very early on we spotted our first heron of the day, blending in with the grey of the low tide.

We passed by a former 1838 reservoir which has now been turned into a local Nature Reserve, Leg o'Mutton, it was saved from developers in the 1950s and now is home to a wealth of wildlife. (you can divert from the path and walk round the lake here in about 20 minutes).

On the other side of the river behind the white van/lorry is Kelmscott House Museum home to the William Morris Society. Morris lived here from 1878 until he died in 1896, he named it after Kelmscott Manor the house he rented in Gloucestershire, which we passed earlier on our Thames Path walk, so it was amazing to see the distance that he used to travel by river door to door.

At the far end is a pub called The Dove, old and lovely with a riverside terrace, voted in the Evening Standard's top pubs to visit in London, a pub has stood on this site since the 17th century. Charles II romanced and dined his mistress Nell Gwynne here.

(I had to find you a sunny photo from the pub's website, to show you what a lovely spot it is in the sunshine!)

After some rain, which we renamed facial spritzing, we reached Hammersmith Bridge

The bridge was built in 1887 and is one of the world's oldest suspension bridges, which makes it also one of Britain's most expensive to repair. Designed by engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette (he also designed and engineered London's Sewer system). It is a Grade II listed bridge, made from wrought iron and wood, with the suspension part held in place by cast iron pedestals.

The original bridge here that was built in the 1820s was built by William Tierney who went on to build Marlow Bridge, and he is buried in St Paul's Hammersmith where his memorial stone bears the outline of a bridge).

It was fully closed in 2020 on public safety grounds, following the identifiation of micro-fractures in the 137 year old bridge. It reopened in 2021 to pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic. Work is still ongoing. (£250 million pound repair bill!)

Spot the heron

After Hammersmith Bridge, on the North side of the river, you could see Riverside Studios

In 1933 a film studio was built here on the former site of Victorian iron works. Classic films were made here such as The Seventh Veil with James Mason in 1945 and The Happiest Days of Your Life with Margaret Rutherford 1950 and Father Brown in 1954 with Alec Guinness.

The BBC took over the studio in 1954 and it became the home of Hancock's Half Hour and the early Dr Who from 1964-1968.

The BBC left in 1974 and two years later it was reopened as an arts centre, with a mixed programme of international dance, theatre, television, comedy, visual art and music. The old building closed in 2014 and has been replaced by a very shining new one in 2019.

Further along is a huge development called Fulham Reach, ALOT of flats. But we were taken with this sculpture on top of one of the buildings, so I zoomed in for a photo so I could find out more when I got home .... but no luck.

On our side of the river we came upon Harrods Furniture Depository, an amazing victorian building, in red and terracotta brick baroque style, with two domed towers reminiscent of the Raj, it was built to house furniture that was too big for the shop itself in 1893, it also looked after furniture and possessions for those taking up postings in the Empire.

It is now known as Harrods Village as after decades of decay it was bought in the 1990s and turned into 230 flats and 38 townhouses with a leisure centre.

The main building is known as William Hunt Mansions, here is the 6000 sq ft penthouse details from when it was for sale, click on the first photo on the link to bring the colour to life.

Next along the river on the north side is Thames Wharf home to The River Cafe since 1987.

On our side we passed The London Wetland Centre, a large area of 105 acres formed from 4 disused Victorian reservoirs tucked into a loop to create a UK wetland habitat. It includes open water, reedbeds, grazing marsh, ponds, wet woodland and flooded meadow. Around 180 species of wild birds visit the site and it has conservation protection for the large numbers of over wintering gadwall duck and shoveler. There are sand marting, 8 species of bat 19 species of damsel and dragonflied and over 600 moth and butterfly species use the reserve in the summer months. Following a controlled release programme you can also find water voles, grass snakes, slow worms and common lizards. Sounds like a great day out!

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On the north side we came upon Fulham FC, known as Craven Cottage, named after a lodge built for the 6th Baron Craven on the site in 1780, it's the oldest football stadium in London, which now has a very swish Riverside development.

Just this week walkers along the Thames Path are now able to walk in front of the club alongside the River, previousl you had to divert around the back, it still has gates which will be closed during match days.

So much to see on this section on both sides of the river, as this signpost shows!

Susan needed some caffeine at this point, we found an ideal spot, The Clubhouse perfect for cyclists ...

and us two. We passed so many boathouses along the way, most of the school, college and Uni's who have rowing clubs have boathouses along this section.

Great location, great coffee and hot chocolate plus cake (and a good loo) and view of the river and another upcoming bridge.

Putney Bridge, first built in 1729 after a ferry linked the two sides Fulham and Putney.

The bridge was badly damaged by a river barge in 1870 and part of the bridge had to be replaced, eventually it was demolished and it became the bridge we see today in 1886 in it's current spot. It's previous iron aqueduct was also replaced at this point as the new bridge carried the water in pipes under the road surface.

Yet more facial spritzing and it really couldn't have got any greyer, but it got a little better by the time we passed by the bridge.

This photograph shows All Saints Fulham with it's 15th century tower, just before it is Fulham Palace which you can visit, it was the residence for the Bishop's of London for centuries.

Just after Putney Bridge you come to the railway bridge, no official name, sometimes known as 'The Iron Bridge'. This carries the underground trains on the District Line between Putney Bridge on the north side of the Thames in Fulham and East Putney Station, on the south side of the Thames. The bridge can also carry pedestrians.

It was designed by Brunel's former assistant William Jacomb and opened in 1889.

We then had a calming stroll through Wandsworth Park with a riverfront path along the whole park.

The park opened in 1903. Across the river is Hurlingham House, built in 1760, the first polo match was played here in 1875 on the lawn and it's now occupied by 'Hurlingham Club'.

We passed some moorings with some lovely houseboats

Next up is the Riverside Quarter, which is an open plaza with restaurants etc, just before the pier the path comes away from the riverside and you follow the signs through the high rises, you see some water ahead - this is the River Wandle - (after which Wandsworth is named) - it takes you all the way to Merton and Croydon. There is a tiny island called The Spit, you walk across the little bridge, where once stood a Corn tidemill and warehouses in the mid 1760s, watch out for the traffic in and out of the Tip/Refuse centre! Quite soon you are back on the path and for us it was definitely time for lunch.

We found The Ship pub, originally founded in 1786, it's really big and a great party pub with huge terrace - they were getting ready for a busy Bank Holiday Weekend, but for us on a Thursday lunchtime it was great.

We were back out on the walk along Pier Terrace and under Wandsworth Bridge. There has been a bridge here since 1873, in 1937 it was demolished and the current bridge built, designed by Sir Thomas Peirson Frank, finished and opened in 1940. It was painted in dull shades of blue as a camouflage against air raids.

There were so many buildings around us at this point, Cotton Row, Plantation Wharf and Price's Court, named after Price's Candles who began here in 1830 making cheap candles using coconuts that arrived by barge along the river.

There are also River Bus stops where the Clipper boats travel up and down the river

Ahead from here you turn right between two apartment blocks of Bridges Wharf and pass the London Heliport, the only one in the city.

Then back onto the river and a view of Battersea Railway Bridge, it's official name "Cremorne Bridge' after the pleasure gardens on the northern side of the river. It dates from 1863 and it one of the oldest crossings over the river in London. It was used exclusively for freight until 1904.

The bridge is used by the West London line of the London Overground from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction.

The next bridge we came to was Battersea Bridge, a cast iron and granite five-span arch bridge crossing the river on a bend. It was built to a design by Sir Joseph Bazalgette (he of Hammersmith Bridge) in 1890. It links Battersea to the south with Chelsea on the north side.

It's the narrowest surviving bridge on the River Thames.

The original bridge built in 1771/1772 was a dangerous bridge, and boats often collided with it, but it was the last surviving wooden bridge on the Thames in London and had been the subject of many paintings by artists such as JMW Turner and James McNeill Whistler.

Interesting Fact: it is believed that this part of the river was the point where Julius Caesar crossed during the 54BC invasion of Britain.

A controversial plan is currently underway for a very tall 33 storey building/development by the bridge HERE

We preferred the lovely swan by the bridge

Very soon we were at our next bridge

Albert Bridge

It had been Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert, who first had the idea of building a river crossing here, but he died of typhoid before the build started. It opened in 1873 as a cable-stayed bridge but it proved to be structurally unsound so between 1884-87 some suspension design elements were added by Sir Joseph Bazalgette (he's becoming our go to bridge man!)

In 1973 the council added two concrete piers, to create a central simple beam bridge, so today the bridge is a hybrid of 3 different bridge styles.

In 1992 it was rewired and painted in an usual pastel colour scheme to make it more visible in poor visibility and at night it is lit up with 4000 LED lights hung from its cables and towers.

Albert Bridge more info

Always something to take a photograph of!

We walked the riverside path alongside Battersea Park, which you may not know was the site of the first football game played by the rules of the newly formed FA in 1864. Now the park is home to a large play area, a children's zoo, boating lake and loads of sporting facilities, it covers 200 acres.

We were surprised to come across the Peace Pagoda, it's huge and pristine and was completed in 1985 by Monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order and it's now a temple that attracts Buddhist followers from all over the world.

Opposite us amongst the greenery is the beautiful Royal Hospital, founded in the late 17th Century by Charles II for old and injured soldiers. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren it's a beautiful building within a peaceful environment. Visitors are welcome to visit the grounds during opening hours (10am - 12 noon and 2pm - 4pm ech day) and you can visit the Chapel and Great Hall.

The Chelsea Pensioners who live here in return for their army pension, receive board, lodging and medical care and they are recognisable in their ceremonial uniform of bright red coat and tricorne black hat.

In the front of the hospital, the park is where RHS Chelsea Flower Show is staged every May.

Our next bridge is Chelsea Bridge with red suspension cables built in 1937, it was originally called Victoria Bridge after the Queen, but changed it's name incase it collapsed and the bridge was associated with royalty.

It is decorated with many embellishments including five sets of lampposts, each decorated with golden galleons and four tall turrets at either end of the bridge. The turrets are decorated with heraldic designs; you can see a galleon on top and on the side outside the LCC coat of arms of an English Lion, St George's Cross and wavy lines representing the Thames, this post we passed has the Battersea Dove of Peace.

In the 1970s it was painted a vibrant red and white until Chelsea FC fans and supporters claimed that it clashed with their arch-rivals Arsenal FC, so it was repainted in 2007 in a less controversial colour scheme of white with a red trim and grey/blue ballustrades.

Then boom under this bridge and we found ourselves at the one and only

Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station and it's iconic silhouette with it's 4 chimneys has been a fixture on the London skyline since the 1930s. It operated as a power station until the early 1980s and at it's peak it generated one fifth of London's power.

Since then the building has been used as a background for films, music videos and album covers including the iconic Pink Floyd album cover for Animals

There is so much information on the website I won't attempt to cover it here, but it's well worth a read to how it finally reached this opening point after regeneration.

It's regeneration from 42 acres of industrial brownfield surrounding the power station has been transformed into a new vibrant community, with living, work and play, green spaces, restaurants, shops, a hotel, fitness and wellbeing facilities and an annual events programme. When we were there they had a sports event on to tie with the Olympics, giant screens, a running track, pickleball, there was a real buzz around the place.

Inside the Power Station there is a mix of 140 shops, bars, restaurants (from Nandos to Gordon Ramsay) cinemas, ping pong, there's alot going on but with a spacious feel.

We were exhausted at this point, so didn't explore or venture into many shops. Instead we headed for Lift 109.

We travelled up Lift 109, it was just like a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory glass elevator, we popped out of the top of one of the chimneys, it was a real WOW moment, and I can definitely recommend it.

We can look back on some of our journey here, there is Battersea Park with all it's greenery, a bridge, a curve of the river .....

It may have been grey but it was really clear and we could see for miles.

There are a few railway lines going over this bridge below!

This is the back of the power station, it's roof terraces and more apartments from the area redevelopment.

I passed by the back of it when I left Waterloo for the train home and there are just loads of apartment windows at the back of the building, it's really smart.

We walked back to Battersea Power station, which is just a couple of stops away from Waterloo station, on a new extension they built specially, partially funded by the redevelopment of the power station.