A Coastal Pub Tour on Bicycles with notes on Topography and Local History on the Greenwich Prologue in London

Coastal Pub Tour | Prologue

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Reserving spaces for our bikes, we travelled from the Black Country to London Euston. We were not starting our coastal journey until the following morning so we had an afternoon to explore the areas further upstream from Greenwich, particularly Rotherhithe.

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To avoid the pedestrian clog on the South Bank, it is best to cross the river at Tower Bridge before heading eastwards alongside the Thames. From the bridge one can see part of the old Courage brewery that operated on the southern side of the river. Once over the bridge it is only a few wheel revolutions to the first of this journey's pub stories. Although now gentrified, from the footbridge across St. Saviour's Dock it is possible to visualise and get a sense of the busy activity tackled by the cranes and warehouses in days of old.

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A tidal inlet first dug out by Bermondsey Abbey's monks in the early 12th century and named after their patron Saint Saviour, the dock was created at a point where the short River Neckinger enters the Thames. Apart from times of flood, the watercourse was never up to much and is now largely within the sewer network. However, its macabre name is thought to derive from "devil's neckcloth," otherwise known as the hangman's noose, due to it being one of the locations used in the 17th century to hang convicted pirates.¹ There is less romance in another etymological reference stating that, "in 1768, the name was spelt "Neckinger," suggesting that it meant "the devil's neck in danger," and referred to a dangerous piece of road near where the stream ran by Bermondsey spa garden, the road being flanked by deep ditches." ²

The Victorian historian Henry B. Wheatley wrote in 1891 that there was "much good evidence" that the "Devil's Neckinger" ... the ancient place of punishment and execution" was at the site of the Dead Tree Inn on Jacob's Island.³ Looking from the footbridge, Jacob's Island is to the left of the Dock. Charles Dickens, when penning "Oliver Twist," described Jacob's Island as "the filthiest, the strangest, the most extraordinary of the many localities that are hidden in London."

Rolling alongside Bermondsey Beach, the path passes through Cherry Gardens in which a number of cherry trees were re-planted in the early 1980s to commemorate the orchard frequented and patronised by the likes of Samuel Pepys. As an administrator of the navy, the diarist would often pass through the gardens on his route to the Royal Dockyards in Greenwich. His diary entry for June 13th, 1664 records "and so to Cherry-gardens and carried some cherries home." Pepys possibly believed that the cherries possessed some aphrodisiac properties for he wrote that, following his supper, he went to bed with "my wife lying with me." On another occasion she, along with two maids, accompanied Pepys to play bowls at the nearby pleasure gardens connected with Jamaica House.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Once passing the old boundary that separated Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, it is only a few wheel revolutions before the statues of the Salter family come into view, along with The Angel, one of the romantic taverns along the Thames. In Victorian times the last building before the open space, the site of the former Platform Sufferance Wharf, was the India House Tavern. The 18th century hostelry closed in the early 1880s in bizarre circumstances. The owners had commenced rebuilding the old tavern without the planning permission. The authorities were clearly having none of this laissez-faire approach. The India House Tavern survived a massive fire in 1852 but was seemingly vulnerable to Victorian red tape.⁵

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At the site of the old wharf the statue of Dr. Alfred Salter looks towards the river. His wife Ada Brown is stood a few metres away and, against the wall, is their daughter Joyce, along with the family cat. The figures were created by Diane Gorvin and unveiled in 1991 but the statue of Alfred waving to his daughter was stolen in November 2011, presumably sold for scrap metal. A local campaign group raised £60,000 which, combined with funding from Southwark Council, enabled a replacement statue to be placed here in 2014. Named "Dr. Salter's Daydream," the ensemble of statues shows Alfred in his old age imagining his daughter Joyce as she was before her tragic death at the age of 8 through Scarlet Fever. It was a terrible price to pay for the couple who elected to live in the slums of Bermondsey in order to improve the conditions of the poor and impoverished. Social reformers, environmentalists, pacifists and Quakers, they launched the 'Bermondsey Revolution,' an experiment in municipal government that attracted attention throughout Europe. After reading about their lives and personal beliefs, I think they were perhaps the greatest socialists of the 20th century.

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As teetotallers and supporters of the Temperance Movement, Alfred and Ada would have been saddened to see us retire to The Angel. However, this historic house is a place to enrich the soul. This view from Bermondsey Wall shows the relationship between the building and the River Thames. Affording superb views across the river, some claim that J. M. W. Turner painted The Fighting Téméraire from the tavern's balcony. If this story is accurate then the plasterwork within the building was still drying alongside the artist's oils for the building was, according to the history panel mounted on the corner, erected around 1837.

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A survivor of the Battle of Trafalgar, H.M.S. Téméraire was towed to the breaker's yard during the following year. Crowds flocked to see the famous man-of-war when it was broken up in John Beatson's yard. Some of the spectators were sailors who had served on the vessel. "Here's the poor old Téméraire come to the knackers at last," exclaimed a jolly old tar, who lost his starboard leg at Trafalgar, "I couldn't have believed they would has sarved her so, howsomdever, I hope I shall have timber enough for a new leg out of her." His request was complied with, and a piece of oak was given to the sailor for the purpose! ⁴

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As can be seen from this photograph, The Angel stands in isolation these days but the building was once surrounded by the workshops of barge-builders, grain warehouses and a sea of housing. Just behind our bicycles was the Rotherhithe Stairs, formerly known as Platform Stairs. The tide was in and the water was slapping up against the building. A sign inside the pub asks customers to close the windows at high tide. The panel on the corner states that: "The Angel was once diagonally opposite, alongside the moat of King Edward III's mansion." The visitor will find an information board next to the foundations of this manor house which was discovered when the old warehouses were demolished.

Photo of artists impression featured on information board.

There is an information board next to the remains of King Edward III's Manor House should you wish to attempt to interpret what is left of the place. The royal pile was of lesser interest to us than seeing the fabulous interior of The Angel. A group of old men were playing dominoes in the far room. Indeed, the Tadcaster brewery like to promote traditional bar games in many of their houses. Already noted for banning piped music, in 2019 the company introduced rules forbidding the use of mobile telephones, tablets and laptops inside their pubs, the aim being to bar activities that discouraged conversation. We love this but I wonder how the younger generation will cope without an electronic device?

The Tadcaster Brewery produces very little cask ale and some of the pubs do not stock any at all. However, we compensate for this by ordering the rather excellent Pure Brewed Organic Lager Beer. We have enjoyed a couple of great moments when rolling up to a pub on a hot day and ordering this lager. It really is a great thirst-quenching drink and enjoyably more bitter-flavoured than many lagers. Officially, the beer is produced "using only organic malted barley, organic hops, medium-soft water and a bottom-fermenting yeast which is matured at low temperatures to bring out its delicate flavour and soft hop-character finish." Today, on a hot afternoon it was most agreeable.

Back outside we were surprised at how quiet it was on this section of Bermondsey Wall - and yet we were only a short distance from busy central London. The 21st century visitor can perhaps yearn to hear the calls of boatmen, barges being unloaded, cranes hoisting up sacks into the warehouses and the general sounds analogous with the old river trade. Today, when the tide is low, one is more likely to encounter mudlarkers unearthing the city's past on the muddy foreshore. On a larger scale, the old warehouses may have gone but there is something quite pleasurable with London's palimpsest being rolled back to reveal fragments of the 14th century next to one of London's pub treasures.

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We cycled a short distance before stopping at Jubilee Plaque to look across the Thames towards Wapping. The focus of our attention was the Captain Kidd public-house at St. John's Wharf. The pub was opened in the 1980s within a former coffee warehouse. At one time coffee was just one of the more expensive commodities to be brought up the Thames to the docks at Wapping. All manner of spices, rum, tobacco, silks and fur were deemed valuable booty by the pirates that plundered ships operating to and from London.

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I took this photograph of the Captain Kidd on a more recent trip to Wapping, this journey not going west from the Greenwich foot tunnel. The sign is, of course, of interest but the hostelry needs a few more years of trading before it can qualify for any pub history. A vacant plot on the corner of Brewhouse Lane was once the site of the White Swan, a tavern that almost faced King Henry's Stairs and Execution Dock. It had become a coffee house by the inter-war years. R. G. Hall & Co. were the wharfingers operating the warehouses at St. John's Wharf.

When large container ships started to land their cargo further downstream at places like Tilbury, the old docks were slowly wound up. St. Katherine's Dock, near Tower Bridge, was one of the first to close in 1968, and was soon followed by others. Over the next decade the area became an environmental eyesore, with abandoned warehouses looking forlorn. The dockers, on whom the old pubs relied for custom, mostly migrated eastwards. For anybody who has not seen "The Long Good Friday," there was money to be had in regeneration. It was amid this gentrification of the docklands that the Captain Kidd opened to cater for the incomers. Indeed, using a company called Middlemead to conceal their identify, Samual Smith's Brewery of Tadcaster bought both St. John's Wharf and King Henry's, before lavishing a fortune on restoration and converting them into flats.⁶ In the mid-1980s apartments in St. John's Wharf were being sold at prices up to £315,000.⁷ It was amid this gentrification of the docklands that the brewery opened the Captain Kidd to cater for the affluent incomers.

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The newly-created pub commemorated William Kidd, one of the most notorious pirates, who was captured and put to death at the nearby Execution Dock in 1701. A lot of his exploits are shrouded in myth and legend but there seems to be little doubt that his life was one of great adventure. Part of his piracy was funded by the landed gentry of England but when it came to the crunch he was left to his fate. William Kidd was hung twice as the first hangman's rope snapped. The gathered crowd, exclaiming that it was an act of God, thought his life should be spared. However, after a short delay, another rope was found [I would have thought there was no shortage of rope here] and the pirate was left to dangle. His decomposing body was gibbeted over the River Thames at Tilbury Point for three years, a stark message to those who considered a life of booty-grabbing from vessels on the high sea.

Perhaps it was better for William Kidd to swing than linger in the nearby Tower of London. This was the eventual fate of Judge George Jeffreys, the man who dished out several death sentences to pirates who were taken to Execution Dock for their final drop. The gallows were located at the dockside so that the tide could wash over the body three times. And like Captain Kidd, convicted nautical plunderers were left to hang in a metal cage in what was a ghastly spectacle. Plenty of tour guides and websites have rolled out the tale that George Jeffreys visited The Angel in order to watch men perish across the water at Execution Dock. I doubt this very much as it would be like going to the theatre to sit in the cheap seats with a restricted view. The distance between Execution Dock and Prospect of Whitby, another pub claiming to host the judge on hanging days, is even greater. It took a long time for Execution Dock to gradually disappear from the shoreline, the last vestiges of the inlet being carried away when improvements at Old Gravel Lane were made in 1920.⁸

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Sadly, there is hardly anything left of the buildings seen on this map extract dated 1872. Redevelopment and slum clearance started in the 1930s, German bombers took the place of wrecking balls during the blitz, and post-war planners removed the remaining vestiges of old Rotherhithe. Back in the day, on the way to Elephant Stairs, one could have called into any of the pubs I have marked on the above map extract. It makes the survival of The Angel all the more precious. If a resident of Victorian days could be teleported to the 21st century he or she would ask what had been done to the neighbourhood, wishing perhaps that they had purchased a return ticket. The old streets may have been grimy, and conditions harsh, but they had plenty of soul.

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Rolling into the heart of the old parish of Rotherhithe we trundled along Elephant Lane from the site of The Torbay to appreciate The Ship, a very tidy-looking 1930s edifice on the corner of St. Marychurch Street. Its predecessor stood in old Church Street, backing onto the graveyard. Today, the site is occupied by a small block of flats named Henley Close, named after Councillor Albert G. R. Henley, Mayor of Bermondsey, who was killed by a bomb which hit the Mayor's parlour at the Town Hall. Whilst was crossing to the Town Hall after putting out fire bombs on the roof of a neighbouring building, Albert Henley was in a courtyard when he was killed by the blast. The Mayoress, who was not injured, was in the municipal offices next door.² She succeeded her husband in office.³

Many of the immediate buildings and yards were devoted to the timber trade, almost all for barge builders. At the time of The Ship opening on this site in 1939 one old barge builder told a reporter that in his younger years the old sailing ships used to lay up with their bows, figureheads and all, jutting across the streets of what was still a village. He remembered The Ship and Pilot, the Waterman's Arms, the Black Bull, the Jolly Waterman, Bunch of Grapes, White Lion and The Torbay, the latter being the only survivor at that time.

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Further along St. Marychurch Street is St. Mary's Free School, a building with two figures of school children on scroll corbels. Thought to be the oldest elementary school in London, it was founded in 1612 by the seafarers Peter Hills and Robert Bell for the education of children of other local seafarers.⁹ The school was moved to this house in 1797. The school was later amalgamated with the Amicable Society's School, founded in 1712 by a number of parishioners to supplement the older charity. A key part of the school's income was derived from property, chiefly Church Wharf let to a firm of millers.¹⁰ The building was requisitioned during World War Two and used by the fire brigade.

The small building to the right of the old school is the former Watch House from which local watchmen would patrol the locality keeping an eye out for criminal activity, particularly body-snatchers in the graveyard. There was a demand for bodies by surgeons at the nearby Guy's hospital who required corpses to conduct medical research or for use in anatomy lectures. The Anatomy Act was passed in 1832, making it an offence to rob a grave. Prior to the Act the only legal supply of corpses for anatomical purposes were the bodies of those condemned to death.

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The Church of Saint Mary at Rotherhithe was rebuilt in 1714-15, to a design by John James, an associate of Sir Christopher Wren. Due to a lack of funding, the tower was not added until 1747, the work of Lancelot Dowbiggin. There are many interesting links to the church, particularly the story of Prince Lee Boo of Palau who came to Rotherhithe from the Pacific Islands and lived with Captain Wilson and his family. He contracted smallpox and was buried close to the entrance to the church. A communion table and two bishop's chairs within the church are said to have been crafted from timbers taken from the aforementioned H.M.S. Téméraire.

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Within the churchyard of Saint Mary's there is a memorial to Christopher Jones, master of The Mayflower ship that sailed to the New World in 1620. Around the ship-shaped base of the statue there is an inscription that reads: "To the memory of Christopher Jones 1570-1622, master of the Mayflower. He landed 102 planters and adventurers at Plymouth, Massachusetts 21st December 1620. They formed the Mayflower Compact and the first permanent colony in New England." The statue, the work of Jamie Sargeant, is thought to represent Jones looking back at England, while a child he is holding is looking towards the New World. The statue was paid for by the 'Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims.'

Christopher Jones was almost certainly born in Harwich, the Essex port where it is thought that The Mayflower was built. There is no certainty on these facts, though there are very strong grounds that both are accurate. Jones was married twice at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Harwich, both wives being from families with maritime interests. By 1820 Christopher Jones was a part-owner of The Mayflower and living in Rotherhithe from where the ship was operating as a goods vessel. Some sources suggest that he cunningly moored close to Saint Mary's Church in order to avoid paying dock fees and taxes further down the river.

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Considering that this was the place from which The Mayflower sailed, it was something of a surprise that we did not encounter any tourists from the United States. The ship is something of an icon in American culture. More surprising, perhaps, that there was no inn sign commemorating the ship in Rotherhithe Street until 1958. And so, like true pilgrims, we made our way to the tavern. We walked our bikes through the churchyard and narrow cobbled street which, with only a little imagination, conjures up the image of a pea-souper fog in the dark. Perhaps the odd scream or two in the distance! Certainly, the locale can feel evocatively Dickensian.

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The Mayflower is a charming little pub. There were 102 passengers aboard The Mayflower and, despite the fact that the tavern has a first-floor dining area, I get the sense that they would struggle to squeeze 102 people into the premises. Thankfully, there is a toilet - there was no such fancy convenience on the vessel crossing the Atlantic ocean. On their way to the New World, passengers were expected to make their own arrangements! Sailing into westerly winds, the journey took two months and rations were running low so I imagine that the bowel movements of most passengers was thankfully not so regular!

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Beer was the safest drink on the voyage to the New World and the passengers drank little else. In the spirit of the 17th century voyagers, today's Mayflower is well-stocked with real ales. The hand-pulls dispense beers from regional brewers and a few exciting ales from the likes of Dark Star. One hand-pull often has a house beer named Scurvy, a disease from which the pilgrims suffered en-route to the New World. The 17th century theme is palpable throughout the interior fixtures and fittings whereby a sense of being at sea was the objective of its design. Contrivance I hear the from the pub puritans but such stratagems have been rolled out in many a tavern over the years.

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Rotherhithe was hit very badly by Luftwaffe bombing missions and a merry night in the pub was wrecked by a high-explosive bomb blowing the upper floor off completely. Repairs were made to keep the pub, then known as the Spread Eagle and Crown, running until the mid-1950s when Charrington's brewery made the decision to rebuild from the ground floor shell up. They could have gone for a modernist new build but, perhaps inspired by the construction of a new Mayflower ship that sailed to the United States in 1957, the boardroom members voted for a retro-styled tavern.

A glimpse of the old tavern can be see in the wonderful Pathé film [click or tap on the above image] which shows how the building was both public-house and post-office. Apparently, The Mayflower is still the only pub licensed to sell US & UK postage stamps.

The post-war rebuild was not the first time that the pub has had to be repaired. The building was badly damaged by fire in the early 19th century. The building lost its roof when fire spread from the neighbouring Blue Mountain granary at Church Stairs in November 1834. The firemen concentrated their efforts on preventing the flames spreading to the church. The pub and several houses were severely damaged by the conflagration.¹¹

The first tavern to stand on the site was the Shippe Inn and may have dated from the 16th century. Serving ales to thirsty sailors and boatmen, it is thought to have been erected with the timbers of wrecked vessels. Of course, there is conjecture that the house featured timbers from The Mayflower which was left to rot in the Thames after it sailed back to Rotherhithe battered and bruised from the trans-Atlantic ordeal. Something to ponder if you nab a seat on the wooden jetty at the rear of the pub from where there are fine views of the river.

There is a milestone embedded in the frontage of The Mayflower; Rotherhithe Street once formed part of a key route along the docks. Across the street is the Sands Films Cinema Club and Theatre, a marvellous resource and facility founded by Richard Goodwin and Christine Edzard in the early 1970s. The cinema hosts a wildly eclectic programme throughout the year.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Just in case there are some who are following in our wheel tracks, I have dropped in a map extract here to help with comparing today's layout around St. Mary's Church with that of a century earlier. I have marked the location of The Mayflower in red. A number of the towering mills and warehouses have survived. The Thames Tunnel Mills, for example, were renovated in the 1980s. The London and Quadrant Housing Trust at its architects, Hunt Thompson Associates, gained a Housing Design Award in 1985 for their restoration of these old flour mills, and their conversion into small flats for "letting at fair rents to local young people." ⁷ Just before we cycled past the building a flat had sold for £820,312. Not long afterwards the mills were to undergo a refurbishment programme by John Rowan and Partners.

A few metres further on Rotherhithe Street opens out into a square, the centrepiece of which is the Brunel Museum located in the old engine house designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel as part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel. Connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping, this was the first tunnel constructed successfully beneath a navigable river. Though the project was long and arduous, including the loss of lives, it was an engineering triumph and became a major tourist attraction in the 19th century.

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In 1841, whilst construction was still ongoing, the public could pay one shilling to take a look at the work-in-progress.¹² With Isambard Kingdom Brunel, son of the designer, seeing the project through, the grand opening was held on Saturday 25th March 1843. The Band of the Fusilier Guards headed the procession, with a standard bearer and dignitaries following behind. After walking the length of the tunnel, the directors repaired to the London Tavern for a celebratory dinner.¹³ Although originally designed for carriages, the tunnel was only used by pedestrians, each person paying a penny to the toll collector. In the month after opening 320,000 had walked the tunnel.¹⁴ In the first year the number of visitors was 1,817,326 but, as the novelty wore off, the numbers gradually decreased, failing to recoup the enormous cost of excavation. The total bill was £468,249 17s. 4d.¹⁵ I could not resist bunging this number in the Bank of England inflation calculator and this sum equates to more than £50m. One will not be surprised to learn that the shareholders were not paid a dividend. The company had borrowed £250,000 so it was a no-brainer when the East London Railway Company tabled an offer for the tunnel in 1864. Following engineering works, in December 1869 the first train travelled through the tunnel. The passengers included Mr. Hawes, chairman of the company, most of the directors, and a sizeable number of shareholders.¹⁶

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Entrance to the museum is £6 but we were pressed for time and didn't want to leave our bikes for any lengthy period so we will return to the old engine house on another trip. However, we still had some fun outside. La Goddess du Vélo plonked herself on a model of Hungerford Bridge. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the suspension bridge was opened in 1845 but was demolished in 1860 to make way for the railway. The piers of the bridge are still in use. The chains from the old bridge were recycled and used in the Clifton Suspension Bridge at Bristol.

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We did not have to cycle too far before encountering another marvel of engineering. Rotherhithe Street passes over Surrey Lock via a chunky rolling lift bridge. This entrance to Surrey Basin and Island Dock was formerly spanned by a swing bridge constructed in 1858. However, the old bridge had lost its faculty for swinging after being damaged during the blitz of the docks at Rotherhithe and Bermondsey. In the post-war years the bridge was replaced by a Scherzer bascule bridge. Weighing some 720 tons, it is a beast of a bridge. Apparently, it took only three minutes to raise the colossal structure but, like its predecessor, it has also lost its mojo and can heave no more. Thankfully, it rests in its horizontal position so cycling across does not involve climbing ropes!

By clicking on the above image one can watch the opening ceremony of the bascule bridge, the event taking place on a damp, soggy day on March 7th, 1952. In the film, the figure cutting the ribbon was Lord Waverley, formerly Sir John Anderson, Chairman of the Port of London Authority. The Mayor and Mayoress were also present at the ceremony, along with Mr. J. W. Bowen, Chairman of the L.C.C.

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For some bizarre reason, I am always thrilled at riding over a bascule bridge, particularly pedalling alongside the trunnions under the counterweight. It is rather like entering the mouth of a giant whale with a cello section striking up the opening bars of the "Jaws" theme. Given the frightening nature of the rolling mechanism, I am surprised that I have not seen them featured in a film. You know, something like James Bond being tied to the base with Auric Goldfinger shouting from the control house "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die."

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On the left, just before the bridge, there is a ventilation shaft for the Rotherhithe Tunnel. Octagon Court, a residential block between the air shaft and Rotherhithe Street, is on the site of the former Surrey Dock Tavern, not to be confused with the Surrey Commercial Dock Tavern near Odessa Street which became The Aardvark before being flattened in recent times. I have marked the Surrey Dock Tavern on the above map extract. The reason for the ventilation shaft not being featured on this map extract is that it was not built until the Edwardian period. Although fenced off, there is a plaque on the building stating that it was constructed between 1904 and 1908 by the engineer, Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice. At one time it was possible to walk down ornate steps from this building to the tunnel below where there is a pavement for pedestrians. Anybody daft enough to walk through here would probably shave a good chunk off their life by inhaling the exhaust fumes! It was at a meeting of the London County Council in January 1903 that the licence of the Surrey Dock Tavern was deemed unnecessary. At the meeting it was stated that "within a distance of 300 yards from the centre line of the tunnel there are on the south side of the river 27 public-houses and eight beer houses, which are, in the committee's opinion, more than sufficient for the needs of the neighbourhood." ¹⁷ Of course, there are few licensed houses these days. On the former Dinorwic Wharf Greene King have a rustic-looking restaurant bar called the Salt Quay but, given the option of drinking Greene King and walking the tunnel, I might be tempted to shorten my life expectancy.

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The most illustrious person to hold the licence of the Surrey Dock Tavern was John Bell or, to give him his full title, Sir John Charles Bell. Born in 1843, he spent some of his youth in Cable Street, where his parents kept a tavern. After leaving school he was articled to an accountant. Not long after his marriage to Caroline Elizabeth Clare in 1867, he took over the Surrey Dock Tavern, remaining until January 1872. After trading as a wine and spirit merchant, he became a partner in a brewing firm, whose business was subsequently converted into the Wenlock Brewery Company, of which he was chairman and managing director. His interest in local affairs led to him being elected in 1882 to the Court of Common Council, and in 1894, became an alderman. In 1901-2 during the Mayoralty of Sir Joseph Dimsdale, he was one of the Sheriffs of the City, and in 1907-8 served the high office of Lord Mayor. His Mayoralty was a very busy one, and notable for a number of important public functions, including visits of the German Emperor and Empress and the President of the French Republic to the Guildhall. He was knighted at the end of his Shrievalty in 1902, and was created a baronet during his Mayoralty. He was High Sheriff of Bucks in 1916, and Master of the Haberdashers' Company in 1912.¹⁸

Passing the sites of the former King and Queen Tavern, Half Moon & Bull's Head, Duke's Head, Three Compasses [still there but more of a Pizza Restaurant], and Noah's Ark, we followed the road around the tip of Rotherhithe. Until recent years the old pump house next to Lavender Pond Nature Reserve was home to the Rotherhithe Heritage Museum but the cash-strapped local authority pulled the plug on its funding. It is a sad indictment of the times that councils are being forced to cut vital services with remaining facilities and resources being increasingly reliant on voluntary staff. Despite engaging the local community, a project such as the Rotherhithe Heritage Museum is deemed extraneous. However, cutting the funding simply makes austerity easier for the accountants to live with. Economics is not the only measure of the value of local resources. Victorian philanthropists realised this but current governments have seemingly forgotten such ideals.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

The area around Lavender Dock and Pageant Dock does not, for me at least, possess the character of what we had seen around the church. It is all a bit new and very homogenous. And yet the shoreline here saw plenty of activity in former times. It has to be said, however, that in more recent times the wharves here were dominated by dirty industries. As can be seen from the late Victorian map extract above, there were two public-houses to serve those employed on the river. The old Swallow Galley was trading in the 18th century but the building was pulled down in 1863, the entire contents and brewing equipment being sold at auction. The sale also included any reusable building materials from the site.¹⁹ A new Swallow Galley, was erected and a 60 year lease offered in 1864. The premises were described as "newly-erected and exceedingly commodious wine-vaults and public-house, pleasantly situate immediately facing the river Thames, contiguous to innumerable mercantile establishments where numerous hands are constantly employed, and immediately abutting the new dock shortly to be opened." ²⁰ It was a substantial building with classical features. It was one of 18 licensed houses referred for compensation at the Brewster Sessions for Newington Division held in February, 1931. Mr. E. Preston, surveyor to the justices, stated that "the house was badly planned and the trade accommodation was very scattered. The structure was solid." On behalf of the owners, Hoare and Co., and the licensee, George John Lovett, it was stated that "when the reconstruction of the new Lavender Dock alongside the house was completed there would be a substantial increase in trade." The Bench were also advised that a new council building, housing about 400 families, had also been erected near by. The justices, however, sealed the fate of the pub and referred it for compensation.²¹

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Not featured on the 1895 map extract above, but just before Pageant Stairs, there was a fire station. The red doors are still to be seen but the building has been converted into apartments. The station was erected during 1903. In March of that year Mr. Allen, of the London County Council, laid the memorial stone in front of the mayor and councillors. Commander Wells was in attendance, also Second-Officer Gamble, a guard of honour being formed by 16 firemen, drawn from the other stations.²² The building was completed and inaugurated in October. The station was to have a steam engine at its command, working alongside the Brigade's river appliances. The station was staffed by an officer, six firemen, and one coachman, for whom quarters, together with reading and recreation rooms, were incorporated into the building.²³

The Queen's Head was on the corner of the passage leading to Pageant Stairs. When the house was offered at auction in July 1875, the premises were described as having "six bedrooms, club-room, parlour, a bar parlour, tap-room, kitchen, washhouse, two water-closets, and vaulted cellars, with a small yard to the rear." ²⁴ It was quite a sporty pub in the 1880s when Leonard Deal was the licensee. On April 30th, he formed a new boxing club at the Queen's Head, the launch featuring a supper with exhibition bouts. Jack Start and Harry Vanner slugged it out for three rounds before a bout between Johnny Welch of Mile End and H. Franklin. Another pugilist in action during the evening was W. Phipps, better known as "Touch O!" ²⁵

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Close to the site of the Queen's Head, near Pageant Stairs, is a curious obelisk, apparently sited directly west from Canary Wharf Tower, part of the symmetrical axis planned by the London Docklands Development Corporation. And so we looked directly east towards Canary Wharf where work was continuing on another ivory tower. When it is finally finished the development will, it is claimed, be the workplace of 100,000 people within banking, finance and business services. I wondered if the forecast had taken into account artificial intelligence being able to do much of the work? At present, it is reckoned that more currency whizzes through the computers within these glass towers every day than some nation states can accumulate in a year. And yet Canary Wharf is part of Tower Hamlets, one of London's poorest boroughs with high rates of unemployment and poor health. For many, Canary Wharf symbolises boom and bust on the Isle of Dogs.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

The river path returns to Rotherhithe Street but one can sneak along the side of Canada Wharf to return to the river. This passage led to Horn Stairs and was once home to an old pub called the Horns Tavern. I say old, but it was not as ancient as some of the taverns in Rotherhithe. The house was built at the fag end of the 18th century. I suspect that the it was erected by the lighter and shipbuilder, Thomas Winter. In July 1807 an auction was held for a lease on both shipwright's yard and free public-house, described as being "newly-erected and in full trade." The reason for the sale was given as "the proprietor leaving business" ²⁶

Now, those that know my thoughts on music in pubs will be aware that I generally think it sucks. I have been known to ask pub singers to desist! So, it amused me to learn that, in November 1839, the landlord of the Horns Tavern, William Blandford, was summoned for "neglecting to keep good order by allowing music to be played in his house." ²⁷ Perhaps it was an ancestor of mine kicking off, demanding that the piano player throw himself off Horns Stairs before the lid is slammed on his fingers. There was a fair bit of kicking off in and around the Horns Tavern, a notorious rough spot where watermen plied their trade, and where there was a hiring spot for casual labourers. Some of the watermen were what I would call "fit as fuck" for they figured prominently in the annual regatta. The Horns Tavern was the headquarters of the Hope Rowing Club.²⁸ Many of the oarsmen rowed daily as part of their job and means of income, the regatta being their moment in the sun, the competitors far more meritorious than public schoolboys cheered on at Putney or Mortlake.

Inquests were held regularly in the Horns Tavern, many of the poor souls having lost their lives in the river, some by accident, others by foul means. However, the greatest loss of life in one incident occurred when a steam boiler exploded in the adjoining Lower Ordnance Wharf. The extensive premises was occupied by Messrs. Francois and Joseph Badart, oil cake manufacturers. Ten people were killed, the inquest on their bodies being held in the Horns Tavern. Typically for the period, it was deemed an accident and the firm, or the manufacturers of the engine, were not held accountable. Yet, a fault had been spotted in the pipework prior to the disastrous affair. It was left to the Rev. James Wilson, incumbent of Trinity Church, to ask for donations to relieve the poor families of the deceased.²⁹

"A Morning, with a View of Cuckold's Point" by Samuel Scott c.1750-60, courtesy of the Tate Gallery.

At the top of Horns Stairs one turns right along the Thames Path to Cuckold's Point, a salacious designation demanding further investigation. Inevitably, there is a legend that the name evolved during the reign of King John. Not content with upsetting his barons with shoddy fiscal policies, he almost lost his head at the hands of a miller in Rotherhithe. The story goes that the King was hunting in the locality when he encountered the wife of a local miller. During the act of seduction the husband returned home and was intent on killing him until he revealed his real identity. As penance King John offered the miller the lordship of a chunk of land in Charlton extending to the bend in the river at Rotherhithe.

Who am I to let the truth get in the way of a good story. More certain is that a large pole surmounted with the horns from a ram became a landmark at Cuckold's Point. Maintained by the Guild of London butchers over the centuries, the pole became associated with the name Cuckold's Point, and was mentioned in the diaries of Samuel Pepys. Curious to know how their wives had conducted themselves during months of absence, the landmark is said to have invoked mistrustful thoughts in the minds of sailors returning from sea. Why horns? Well, it is thought that King John also granted the Horn Fair procession which commenced from Cuckold's Point to Charlton on St. Luke's Day.³⁰

With thousands of people arriving by steampackets, the fair was notoriously riotous and made the contemporary Notting Hill Carnival look like a temperance tea-party. Inevitably, it was all too much for the straight-laced Victorians. In a fit of Phariseeism, one newspaper editor claimed that the fair "had the effect of bringing into the locality all the vice of the metropolis and was injurious to public morality." Opposition to the debauchery grew during the 1860s and the authorities eventually abolished the fair, the ruling being announced in January 1872.³¹

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Seeking some moderate intemperance to commemorate the old Horns merriment and customs, perhaps with a tadge less debauchery, we rejoined Rotherhithe Street and repaired to the Blacksmiths' Arms. I am not sure what the old place looked like but, with Victorian styling becoming increasingly unfashionable, many of the old taverns were given the F5 treatment, the Blacksmiths' Arms being bestowed with a Brewer's Tudor half-timbered frontage as part of a rebuild. The Fuller's-operated pub looks pretty good. We can forgive the mess caused by the building work going on next door but the ubiquitous wheelie bins detract from the view and add to the number of wasps whizzing around those brave enough to use the outdoor seating. Nice hanging-baskets though. Actually, the property adjoining to the right had been mostly pulled down but I think the project stalled. The site, complete with planning permission, was sold at auction in 2020 for £610,000. An enlarged building, incorporating apartments, was erected on the site. Incoming tenants can boast of a local pub next door!

We ventured inside to appreciate the old fixtures and fittings. Any residue of Victorian ambience was scuppered by the sound of Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" I cannot understand why pub operators play such incongruous pap during mid-afternoon when the place is half-empty. On the plus side, the woman behind the bar was friendly and the pub was selling Dark Star's Hophead, a light and hoppy refreshing beer. It seems to me that since Fuller's relinquished their brewing operations to a Tokyo-based giant, there seems to be more choice of ales in their estate of pubs. Mind you, Dark Star was acquired by Fuller's in February 2018 and eleven months later the brewery came under the Asahi umbrella. Once the big boys start to meddle with small breweries things are never quite the same and, indeed, it has been revealed that Hophead is largely produced at the parent brewery in Chiswick. I fear that the increase in production at a different site will be to the detriment of what is Dark Star's flagship beer.

The Blacksmiths' Arms was also selling Gale's Seafarers Ale, an amber beer that made its maiden voyage in 2005, the year in which the Hampshire brewery was also acquired by Fuller's. Consequently, with one line dedicated to London Pride, the pub was retailing three different brands all made in the same building at Chiswick. It is all very confusing for the less-savvy consumer. Adnam's Mosaic Pale Ale was the guest ale which I assume is not made at Chiswick and travels from Southwold in Suffolk.

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The interior of the Blacksmiths' Arms, formerly a Courage house, has plenty of old fixtures and fittings. I am not sure how much of the Victorian pub remains but there is a wealth of inter-war woodwork. The pub is fairly unique in that there are folding partitions that facilitate the division of the interior into three drinking areas. The central servery acts as an anchor point for the part-glazed full height screens. These are generally folded back so the impression is of an open-plan interior. However, with the aid of some WD40 and a quick shove, the place can be quickly transformed. Coupled with the wood panelling around the walls, it is visually appealing. There is much to like about the Blacksmiths' Arms but can they do us all a favour and change the soundtrack.

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© Photo taken by author on August 1st, 2019. DO NOT COPY

The Blacksmiths' Arms stood next to Canada Wharf, although the large warehouse between the pub and the river was later known as Columbia Wharf. A few metres to the south is the former Nelson Dockyard, a dry dock used for ship-building during the 17th century. A number of notable warships and clippers were built at the dry dock which operated until 1968. John Randall, owner of the dock, resided at Nelson House which still stands on Rotherhithe Street. At the time of our journey the building, like nearly everything in Rotherhithe, was being converted into apartments.

"Nelson Dry Dock" by Sydney R. Jones published in 1924.

This ink drawing by Sydney R. Jones affords an impression of the dry dock in the old days where a large number of men are toiling away at the hull of a vessel. This scene probably depicts the period when the yard was owned by Brent & Randall, builders of many a famous vessel. Dating from the mid-18th century, the house is a rare survivor in an area where the wrecking balls wreaked havoc in this locality. The listed property was protected from demolition so visitors can still appreciate the octagonal glazed cupola above the rebuilt parapet. The front of the house features a superb projecting central stone frontispiece. For my photograph I did not zoom in on the building, preferring to show the dichotomy between this part of old London with the towers of Canary Wharf in the background.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

This section of Rotherhithe Street was formerly known as Lower Queen Street. Given the nature of business being conducted on the other side of the road, it was perhaps inevitable that a public-house in this location was known as the Ship Tavern, not to be confused with another Ship on Rotherhithe Street, near the Thames Tunnel. Trading in the late 18th century, the Ship Tavern must have been a welcome haven for those toiling in the dock. There was no sentiment shown, however, by the Housing Committee when, in May 1931, the locality was discussed as a clearance area and the properties subject to a compulsory purchase order. A new Ship was built to the south on the corner of Silver Walk ...

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The licensee running The Ship at the time of it moving locations was Walter Warren Holness, who kept the place with his wife Violet. They run both houses before moving to the Milford Haven Arms on Caledonian Road at Islington. As you can see from the above image, the sign had changed to The Clipper. The last pints were pulled in 2014 following which local residents successfully defeated planning applications to create apartments on the site. They also started a campaign to save the pub housed in an inter-war building of some merit. UPDATE : The developers would eventually get their way - the exclusive development of six luxurious apartments was named the Clipper Building. Considering the pub had a longer history with the sign of The Ship this completely overlooks the pub's heritage.

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We rejoined the Thames path close to Nelson Dock from where we saw another clipper - and likely for the inn sign change at The Ship. This was one of the catamarans used for a river bus service along the river. We were impressed by the speed of the boats which seemed to go at a fair lick. However, the Clipper looked pedestrian compared to one of the Thames Rockets which flew past Canary Wharf. A ride on the latter looks like an exhilarating experience in which passengers receive a free shower.

From Nelson Dock we pedalled south past the sites of Dansic Wharf, Albion Wharf and Lawrence's Wharf. There was ongoing work being undertaken at Surrey Docks Farm so sadly we did not get to visit the site and see the goats, rabbits and donkeys. We arrived at the Ship and Whale only to find the pub closed for the afternoon. A shame as it looks like a nice old pub where decent nosh can be had.

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According to the official website for the Whale and Bone, the original building appears in the rate records for 1767 so it is an inn sign of some antiquity. The old tavern was located close to Greenland Dock from where 18th-century whaling fleets brought back their catches and boiled the blubber to produce oil. This would seem a very plausible reason for such a sign. However, there is a theory it is related to a much older event. In John Evelyn's diary for June 3rd, 1658, : "A large whale was taken between my land abutting on the Thames and Greenwich, which drew an infinite concourse to see it, by water, horse, coach, and on foot, from London, and all parts. It appeared first below Greenwich at low water, for at high water it would have destroyed all the boats, but lying now in shallow water encompassed with boats, after a long conflict, it was killed with a harping iron, struck in the head, out of which spouted blood and water by two tunnels; and after a horrid groan, it ran quite on shore, and died." ³² Personally, I think the connection with the nearby Greenland Dock is more tenable.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

On the official Ship and Whale website it states that "the present building is believed to have been rebuilt around 1880." I do not know who first put forward this date but it appears on a number of websites. For example, on the CAMRA What Pub? site it states : "Dating from 1880." I think this is incorrect. The above map extract dating from 1895 shows a building fronting Derrick Street, a thoroughfare previously known as Russell Street. A corresponding trade directory published in the same year, shows the address of the Ship and Whale as No.61 Derrick Street, the licensee being James Morgan Maud. The shape of the building seen above is pretty much the same as that shown on a map surveyed in 1868 and also on Goad's Insurance Fire Plan of 1887. The shape of the building is different on maps published in the 20th century. At the Newington Sessions held on Thursday, December 4th, 1902, the Bench sanctioned "plans of alterations intended to be carried out at the Ship and Whale," occupied by John Morgan Maud, the record stating a "reconstruction on the same side." ²² I think, therefore, that today's edifice dates from the early Edwardian period.

The 1895 map shows that the Ship and Whale was surrounded by a sea of small houses in which dockers and their families lived. The dock workers were the mainstay of the tavern's business. Virtually everything seen on the map extract has gone. Not that that the Ship and Whale does not have plenty of local residents to tempt inside - the locale is packed with apartments blocks. Even the standout survivor, Odessa Wharf, has been converted into apartments, some of which are for holiday or short-break accommodation. Conversion of the early 19th century warehouse was carried out by Fletcher Priest Architects and Torben Rix Arkitekt, winning a RIBA Housing Design Award at the turn of the Millennium.

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As mentioned, the Ship and Whale is located close to Greenland Dock from where 18th-century whaling fleets brought back their catches and boiled the blubber to produce oil. The smell must have been quite horrible. Following the decline of this trade the docks were used by timber merchants, particularly following the sale of the dock to William Ritchie, founder of the Commercial Dock Company. Following his firm's merger with the neighbouring Surrey Docks in 1865, more than 80 per cent of London's timber trade was conducted here, mostly sourced from the Baltic region.

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The Ship and Whale served pretty much as an auction house in the early 19th century. In June 1832 many of the neighbouring properties in Russell Street were sold at auctions held in the tavern. Ships and stores also came under the hammer when Jonathan Hall was the licensee in the late 1820s and throughout the 1830s. The Ship and Whale was used as a mortuary after four people drowned when a ferry boat sank near the Commercial Docks in April 1834. Two men and two women were taken to the pub after being pulled out of the Thames where "every means was vainly employed for a considerable time to restore animation." ²⁴ The publican and his wife were praised for their efforts in the subsequent inquest.

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The whaling theme has been maintained by an inn sign at Greenland Dock. Fuller's operate a large pub and restaurant that affords views across the water. I am obscuring part of the Moby Dick from my position near Brunswick Quay. I am positioned next to a sculpture erected in memory of cycling campaigner Barry Mason. The former manager of Surrey Docks Farm is remembered by a representation of his two passions in life - cycling and bird-watching.

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Unveiled in August 2013, there are also metal sculpture for Michael Caine and Phyllis Pearsell. Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr. in 1933, Michael Caine hailed from Rotherhithe. Phyllis Pearsall is something of a heroine in the world of cartography as she founded the Geographers' A-Z Map Company. The Sat-Nav generation will not appreciate the effort it took to produce her A-Z Map of London in the mid-1930s. She claimed to have walked 3,000 miles to check the names of the 23,000 streets of the capital. It was the start of the A-Z phenomenon. I wonder how many booklets are purchased today? It will be a sad day when the last pages roll off the printing press.

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In the 18th century the south side of Greenland Dock was lined with blubber boiling houses, producing oil from the loads of the whaling fleet operating around Greenland. The site's historic association with the whaling industry proved irresistible to Fuller's when naming their pub and restaurant. It is interesting to note that the author Herman Melville plundered "An Account of the Arctic Regions with a History and Description of the Northern Whale Fishery," a book published in 1820 by William Scoresby, Jr., which actually discussed the Greenland whale rather than the sperm whale known as Moby Dick.

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Greenland Dock was excavated following Royal assent in 1696 and originally known as Howland Great Wet Dock, after John Howland who gave the land as part of a wedding dowry for his daughter Elizabeth following her marriage to Wriothesley Russell, the Marquess of Tavistock, only son of William Lord Russell, "the patriot," and grandson and heir of the first Duke of Bedford. The dock was operational by 1703, a fact determined by a printed description that hung in the boardroom of the Surrey Commercial Co., which stated: "the dock was found "a very safe repository for ships in that terrible and violent storm which happenced on the 27th November, 1703 ... Of all the ships deposited in this wet dock there was one injured, and she only in her bowsprit." The description also revealed that trees were planted on the south and north as a fence to the docks from winds. Further, it was stated that ships berthed in the dock "were not chafed by ice in the last great frost in 1715"; while stress was laid on the elimination of fire risks as "proper cook rooms provided on shore, and no fire to be on board." The description concluded : "But if neither storms nor ice nor fire be considered, ships are here deposited at a much less charge and a much greater security than in the river."

Howland Dock remained in the possession of the Russell family until 1763, when it was sold to Messrs. John and William Wells for £18,000. Building the necessary buildings, it was this company that accommodated vessels involed in the whaling trade. This was the period in which the basin was named the Greenland Dock. However, when this trade declined, the dock was acquired by William Ritchie, and subsequently adapted to the timber trade. In 1807 the Commercial Dock Co. was formed for the purpose of purchasing Greenland Dock and Norway Dock, with adjacent land. In 1809 the estate of the Baltic Dock Co. was transferred to the Commercial Dock Co., who, in the following year obtained an Act empowering them to maintain and improve the old docks, and construct new docks in the parish of Rotherhithe, for the reception of ships laden with timber, deals, corn etc. In 1864 the Grand Surrey Dock Co. amalgamated with the Commercial, under the title of the Surrey Commercial Dock Company.³⁵

We enjoyed cycling around Greenland Dock - lucky visitors may spot some Great Crested Grebes. At least our circumnavigation was without some horrible incident. John Kelley was not so fortunate in September 1922. The 58-year-old labourer was one of a team working on the repair of the gates to Greenland Dock. The gates were covered with a tarpaulin on scaffold poles. In the afternoon a terrific gust of wind blew the tarpaulin down as well as the scaffold poles. John Kelley was, at the time, underneath and when he was got out he was found to be dead. James Peters, a fellow worker, stated that the lot suddenly came down. He thought the structure was safe, though one of the poles was found to be defective. William John Roberts, a waterman, witnessed the event. He was of the opinion that some of the scaffold poles were not more than a few inches in the ground. Incredibly, despite these statements, the Coroner returned a verdict of "Accidental Death." ³⁶

Column-3

Venturing into Deptford we were following in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer as Deptford was part of the pilgrimage route from London to Canterbury. We were on a pilgrimage to a pub once known as the Royal Marine, apposite given that Deptford was home to the first of the Royal Dockyards, established on the Thames in the early 16th century.

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Crossing what was once known as Black Horse Bridge, we hit the brakes when seeing the pub that gave the crossing of the old Surrey Canal its name. The building stands amid post-war maisonette developments but was once on the corner of Hood Street and a sea of housing from where the local men trudged to the timber yards and nearby barge-building works. The earlier tavern was replaced in the 1860s. When a 50-years lease was advertised in November 1867 the Black Horse, on the corner of Black Horse Square, was described as "having been erected with the last few years at a great cost, and every convenience studied to induce the vast trade derivable from the many local and never-failing sources, such as the gigantic wood yards, the chemical, tar, and paraffin works, the Corrugated Iron Company, the ice wells, and other leviathan establishments by which it is surrounded."

The Black Horse boasts a superb ground-floor frontage of faïence tiling, a legacy of Truman's who were based at the Black Eagle Brewery in Brick Lane. Look out for the unusual chimney stack too! Sadly, the interior of the building has been ruined by recent refurbishments, though a lovevly inter-war Vitrolite ceiling was retained. Just like the rebels from Cornwall in June 1497 who fled from the Battle of Deptford Bridge, we were forced to beat a retreat as the White Horse has no 'proper' beer. They have got pizzas and ping-pong but without a decent beer we, like An Gof's forces, withdrew with haste.

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We scooted along Prince Street to the aforementioned Royal Marine, a pub now trading as the Dog and Bell. This is not a recent name change on a whim of the publican. This is what the tavern on old Dock Street was originally called before being changed in the 1850s. The boozer was not far away from the Royal Marine Barracks at Deptford so the name would have attracted some custom from the military. Perhaps the publican was a former marine? The pub can be seen above in the livery of the Welch Ale Brewery, a company based on the Old Kent Road. The Royal Marine was one of over 100 tied-houses that were operated by the brewery. However, by the time of this photograph the company had merged with the Chelsea Brewery Co. Ltd.

The building was completely gutted by fire in July 1894 and had to be completely restored. The fire started on the ground floor in the middle of the night, the strong smell of smoke awakening Charles Frederick Davis, the manager who lived on the premises with his wife and family. The publican opened the door to the bar parlour and ran through and into the street. However, the flames spread quickly and the staircase was completely enveloped, cutting off the escape route for the rest of the family. They raised the alarm by shouting from a second floor window, and a large crowd quickly assembled in the street. Holding blankets and rugs, the neighbours urged them to jump into the street. With the flames advancing up the staircase, the family decided to drop their fifteen month-old daughter but the people below failed to catch her and she fell to the ground. The young girl was taken to the hospital but later died from her injuries. An elder girl, aged seven, was successfully caught in a rug by the crowd. Ladders were brought to get the remainder of the family out of the burning building. The fire engines turned up shortly afterwards but the premises,were gutted.³⁷

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There were a number of other public-houses along the thoroughfare in the old days. Two of the buildings still stand, though they have been converted to other uses. A betting shop on the corner of Evelyn Street was once The Globe. A little closer to the Dog and Bell was another pub that once attracted sailors; the Navy Arms traded on the corner of New King Street.

The Royal Marine would later become a Charrington's house. It was only in recent times that the pub officially reverted back to its original name but I have learned that the locals had always generally referred to the place as the Dog and Bell anyway.

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Rolling up to the pub we were surprised to observe a sea of beer casks in the street with the Dog and Bell's front doors lying on top of them. Being as we were fairly close to the birthplace of Michael Caine there was a great temptation to yell "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" I think the boozer was having a new paint job. However, although the ground floor frontage was previously a dark green, I think it was some kind of red in more recent times. Whatever, the Dog and Bell was the colour of a post box.

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We parked our bikes across the street so that we could keep an eye on them from the seating next to the window. Immediately on entering the Dog and Bell we got a sense that it was a very fine boozer. Indeed, it proved to be so good we wanted to abandon our trip and take up residence. At least this was more feasible than sticking the pub on a bike trailer and taking it with us, a notion that came to mind after downing a couple of the rather excellent strong stout on tap.

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The Dog and Bell ticks all the boxes for those who relish a traditional pub environment in which to enjoy an extensive range of classic beers. Beneath the hop-laden servery there are five hand-pulled beers, mostly from local breweries. Additionally, there are several beer lines devoted to exciting craft beers. The pub also offers a decent selection of Belgian bottled ales, including classics such as Sint Bernardus Tripel and Delirium Tremens. If you cannot find a beer to love and cherish in this place then you are not quite the full ticket.

The interior of the Dog and Bell has plenty of historical interest on display. There is bar billiards and a wide selection of board games for a riotous session. The pub also runs a regular quiz night along with a celebrated annual Pickle Festival.

During our afternoon visit three blokes were sitting at the bar, all of whom engaged in some friendly banter with us Midlanders. The first test match of The Ashes was on the telly with the Australians clocking up the runs. The friendly bloke behind the bar offered tasters but we just ordered 'strange brews' for lucky dips. There are few things worse in a pub than some pretentious twerp holding up proceedings whilst going through the taps like some sort of chichi cretin. If I am stuck behind such a halfwit I generally remark "For Fuck's Sake ... just order a beer."

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The first couple of beers were excellent but I then realised that the doors of the pub had actually been blown off by the awesome Speyside Whisky Barrel-Aged Porter, a 7.3% beer that threatened to move the Prime Meridian at nearby Greenwich. Explosive on the taste buds, this beer is produced on the other side of the River Thames at Gravesend by Iron Pier. Launched in January 2018 by Charlie Venner, James Hayward and John Warden, they brought an end to an 86-year absence of brewing in the ancient Kent town. James Hayward had previously worked at Swanscombe's Caveman Brewery whilst Charlie Venner and John Warden were operating the Compass Alehouse. This porter is both robust and smooth delivering a powerful long-lasting finish.

On ordering another Porter, the bloke behind the bar raised an eyebrow, a reference to the fact we were cycling. When asked what we were up to, we had remarked that we were cycling the Thames estuary. The fact that we had only travelled a few kilometres but had got distracted by some excellent pubs, made them chuckle. If they had realised we were embarking on a coastal ride around country they would have fallen off their bar stools in laughter. Mind you, two of them supped up and started putting the front doors back in place - as if having a few beers will help in putting the doors on straight. Just like the Charlie Croker cliff-hanger, we will never know how they got on as we had to wrench ourselves away from this terrific place and start pedalling again. If there is a better pub in the London area we have yet to visit it. Even Lance Bierdrinker thought the Dog and Bell rocked - the world's biggest pub and beer critic was giving it large.

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Leaving the Dog and Bell, it is only a short cut through to the river path, the bonus being a rather exciting section of pavé. After shaking our bones we rocked up to the statue of Peter the Great like we had just ridden Paris-Roubaix. The statue was unveiled in 2001 on the site of a crane of the General Steam Navigation Company Works. It is positioned here because, when visiting the Royal Docks in 1698, the Russian Csar stayed at Sayes Court in Deptford, a house belonging to the diarist John Evelyn. However, he and his entourage completely trashed the place as if they were a hotel guest named Keith Moon. Evelyn's steward reported that: "No part of the house escaped damage. All the flooring was covered with grease and ink, and three new floors had to be provided. The tiled stoves, locks to the doors, and all the paint work had to be renewed. The curtains, quilts, and bed linen were 'tore in pieces.' All the chairs in the house, numbering over fifty, were broken, or had disappeared, probably used to stoke the fires. Three hundred window panes were broken and there were 'twenty fine pictures very much tore and all frames broke,' thought to have been used as target practice. The garden which was Evelyn's pride and joy was completely ruined." Needless to say, John Evelyn removed his property from the Airbnb website. Being as the Russian guest took the piss, the sculptor of this work, Mihail Chemiakin, could have done likewise by creating something like Tracey Emin's "My Bed." to celebrate the carnage wreaked by the pin-headed git.

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Only a few years before our trip, £5 million was spent on a cable-stayed swing bridge as part of the Thames path development, enabling pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Deptford Creek near its confluence with the Thames. Big thanks to whoever passed this project at the planning meeting. In no time at all we were able to admire the remains of another engineering project for not getting wet feet. The first crossing of the Greenwich Vehicular Steam Ferry was formally launched in May 1889. There was an initial launch of the boats in February 1888 but the landing stages had not been completed by this date. There were a pair of steel-hulled ferry-boats, each being built nearby at the Britannia boatyard of Steward & Latham. The second official launch was something of a farce, it being reported that "the first journey - for no previous rehearsal appears to have been made - was a very long and circuitous one, and neither ashore nor afloat was anything satisfactorily ready. Neither did there seem to be anyone in command." ³⁸

Cutting from Page 15 of "The Graphic" published on Saturday May 11th, 1889.

This illustration shows the platform or landing stage that could be moved up and down this slipway so that vehicles could be loaded from a fixed pontoon at all times of the tide. The cost of the project was considerable [upwards of £100,000] but proved to be a financial disaster and closed within a few years of operating. The company went into liquidation in 1894.³⁹ This concrete slipway is a legacy of a period in which engineers and entrepreneurs boldly attempted to overcome the difficulty of transporting heavy goods between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs. The subject of ferries will be picked up again on the other side of the river.

Time was marching on so we meandered into the heart of West Greenwich eager to see the unique interior of St. Alfrege's Church only to find that the building was undergoing renovations. Anyone following our journeys will know that this sort of thing is normal for us - we often arrive at places that are closed for a whole host of reasons. It is the story of my life.

UPDATE : We came back to Greenwich and Deptford in October 2021 to fill in a few blanks such as this closed church!!

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During our visit in 2019 the building and churchyard was undergoing renovations. What joy to find the church open on our return. It is supposedly on the site where the Archbishop of Canterbury was martyred in 1012, hence the dedication to Alfege. Historians think it is probable that King Henry VIII was baptised in the older structure that collapsed in a storm during 1710.

The new church was designed by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, a former clerk to Sir Christopher Wren. Built by Edward Strong the Younger, the church was completed around 1716. Having worked closedly with Wren on some of London's churches, Hawksmoor went on to work with Sir John Vanbrugh. He was inspired by the ancient churches of Greece and the Middle East.

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The crypt served as an air-raid shelter during World War Two. However, the church was hit by German incendiary bombs in March 1941 causing the roof to collapse and extensive damage to the interior. The church was restored by Sir Albert Richardson in 1953.

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The English Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis was organist at St. Alfege from 1540 to 1585. Part of the keyboard from his time at the church is on display within a glass cabinet. The composer lived nearby in Stockwell Street and was a favourite of King Henry VIII for whom he played the organ in the private chapel at the nearby palace sited where the Royal Naval College is today. Thomas Tallis became known as the father of English church music.

On Tuesday October 3rd, 1732, there was an incredible spectacle at the church. In the previous month a man, possibly a sailor, sensationally flew down a rope from the top of The Monument, to the Three Tuns in Gracechurch Street. A month later he attempted to increase his notoriety by performing a similar stunt from the top of St. Alfrege's Church. However, as the newspapers reported, "the rope, not being tort enough, it wav'd with him, and occasioned his hitting his foot against a chimney of one of the houses, and three him off the same to the ground, whereby he broke his wrist, and bruised his head and body in such a desperate manner, this it is thought he cannot recover;" ⁴⁰ Indeed, the flying man died in hospital on the following Saturday.

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Back to the Prologue ... saddened at the closure of the church we were further disheartened with the cheap and tatty character of Cutty Sark gardens. I took the above photograph early on the following morning as the great tea clipper was seemingly reduced to a fairground side-attraction as the throng of people were more interested in the street food stalls and seaside-like amusements than actually looking at a historic maritime exhibit. It is hard to appreciate the vessel when trying to avoid screaming kids running around with candyfloss and sticky lollipops. Even the view of the Cutty Sark is blighted by a carousel.

Considering that the Greek state has spent decades attempting to repatriate the Elgin Marbles, I am surprised that the Scottish Executive has not bothered to reclaim the Cutty Sark. The vessel may have sailed from London's docks but the tea clipper was commissioned by a Scotsman and built in Scotland. Even the ship's name originated from the pen of the Bard of Ayrshire, Rabbie Burns. The First Minister [currently Nicola Sturgeon] ought to be wielding a Lochaber Axe and raising an army to march on Greenwich to reclaim their heritage. Dunbarton's tourism could do with a leg-up - why should London have it all?

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Close to the Cutty Sark stands a pub commemorating the ketch on which Sir Francis Chichester sailed single-handed around the globe in 1966-7. In July of the following year Gipsy Moth IV was moored at Greenwich as a permanent exhibit next to the Cutty Sark. However, the ketch was trashed by too many feet tramping around the decks and was left to rot. Greenwich has a poor record of protecting its nautical treasures. A vacuum cleaner was left switched on for two days before it set fire to the Cutty Sark in 2007. The repairs are estimated to have cost over £30m and technically visitors today are paying to see a replica ship.

With Sir Francis Chichester's ketch long gone perhaps the name of the pub should revert back to the Wheatsheaf Tavern. Aside from the Cutty Sark going up in flames, Greenwich has always provided plenty of work for the fire engines. The Wheatsheaf itself was destroyed by flames in July 1868 when Frances Mary Orgar was the publican. The widow had only just taken over the licence. She and her husband, William, had earlier kept the Old King's Arms at Holborn. A report stated that on the night of the 31st July 1868 "flames originated in the bar of the tavern, and quickly ignited the barrels and spirit casks, and before any attempt could made to reach the seat of the fire the flames rolled up the staircase and ignited nearly a dozen rooms." ⁴¹ Thankfully, the occupants escaped with their lives.

Hopefully, the customer service is a little more genteel these days. On August 24th, 1835, when a customer named Henry Floyd ordered a pot of half-and-half the landlord, a former policeman named John Thomas Latham, demanded payment in a rather tyrannical manner by shouting "Beer in one hand, and money in the other." As it was the custom to run up a tab in those days, Henry Floyd took offence and threw the beer over Latham. At the time the publican had a knife in his hand as he had been cutting bread and cheese. On being doused in beer he instantly shoved the knife into the cheek of Henry Floyd. He thrust the knife with such force that it proved difficult to remove the blade from the wound. Another man named Harris attempted to pull it out but failed, so Henry Floyd yanked at the implement himself but only succeeded in pulling the handle off the knife. With blood pouring from his face, Harris ran to the surgery of the local doctor where a pair of pincers were used to remove the blade. The knife had penetrated through the left side of the nose, cutting a part of the bridge, and coming out of the palate into the mouth. However, it was reported that he was so seriously injured as to preclude all hope of recovery.⁴²

The former police officer in R Division was taken into custody by a former colleague Sergeant Crockson. The publican was charged with attempted murder. It was stated to the magistrate that he had once attempted suicide in consequence of his wife having eloped from him, was very dejected and expressed much sorrow at what had occurred. Latham had frequently said he should have been happy had the affair happened to him instead of Henry Floyd. The victim [given as H. W. Frost is some reports] did recover and was the prosecutor at the Petty Session held at the Greyhound Inn. It was stated that "his face presented a most ghastly appearance, and was so weak as to render it necessary for him to be led into the room, was accommodated with a chair near the magistrates." After hearing the evidence, the publican was committed to Newgate to take his trial on the capital charge, at the Central Criminal Court.⁴³ I checked the Criminal Register for this case which was heard on September 21st, 1835. Surprisingly, he was found not guilty and acquitted.

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Pedalling from Greenwich Pier, we paused at the memorial to the French Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot and rode along the front of the Old Royal Naval College. The tide was low so we stepped down to the foreshore. Lara Maiklem had just published "Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames" and we were fresh from listening to the audio version on Radio 4, a lovely account of discovering treasure or 'old stuff.' I was not "head down" as much as I should have been. Conversely, Lara Maiklem, spends a lot of her time on her hands and knees where she can "breathe in the muddy aroma of silt and algae and listen to the sound of water drying on the stones: a barely discernible fizz-pop as it evaporates and the lacquered shine turns to a powdering of fine grey silt." As a form of chill-out, a stroll across the pebbles when the tide is low is treasure in itself.

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The Trafalgar Tavern is one of London's celebrated riverside pubs. The tavern opened in June 1837 having been built on the site of the old Old George Tavern. The celebrated host Charles Hart moved from The Albion on Aldersgate Street to open the doors to the public.⁴ The impressive frontage of the building must have created quite a stir at the start of Queen Victoria's reign. Patrons of the establishment during the 19th century included William Makepeace Thackeray, J. M. W. Turner, George Cruikshank, William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli and Charles Dickens, the latter setting Bella Wilfer's wedding breakfast in "Our Mutual Friend" within this building.

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Given the pedigree of the place I was rather underwhelmed by the interior of the Trafalgar Tavern's bar, all bright with modern wood and inappropriate music. On the plus side there are a few cask ales lines supplemented by some interesting bottled beers. The speciality here is the spirits list which is as long as a yardarm. There are also more cocktails than you can shake a stick at.

Designed by Joseph Kay, an original member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Trafalgar Tavern is arguably the last of the grand riverside establishments which, during the Victorian era, was a favoured place of resort for "dining down the river" and once famous for its Ministerial Whitebait Dinners of the Liberal party, the last of which was held in 1883. Indeed, the Trafalgar Tavern became known as "The Whig House" whilst the rival Ship was dubbed "The Tory House." Chief chefs at the tavern could make quite a name for themselves. After cooking here for eight years, Edward Hunt Wheeler launched his own business on Westow Hill at Upper Norwood in 1875.

A story of "Us" and "Them" appeared in the month following the opening of the hotel. The directors of the Eastern Counties Railway, accompanied by a large body of the shareholders, after inspecting the nearly-completed works over the River Lea and the Stratford Marshes, adjourned to the Trafalgar Tavern for an evening of harmony. Meanwhile the workmen, numbering around 500, the men who had actually grafted on the line, were entertained at the King's Head at Bow. In his speech, Henry Bosanquet, chairman of the company, did at least address the workmen and "expressed his satisfaction that no accident had hitherto occurred in the progress of the vast undertaking." ⁴⁵ Given the accident records of Victorian infrastructure projects this was some achievement. Perhaps the clipboard-wielding health and safety inspectors were made redundant.

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One of the really good features of the interior, of which the pub is justifiably proud, is the private art collection on display around most of the walls. So order yourself a beer and annoy everyone by peering over their heads to view the likes of Lord Nelson and famous warships at sea, along with historical views of the Thames.

One of the peculiarities of the Trafalgar Tavern during the 19th century was that the dining-rooms were named and not numbered, each commemorating a naval hero. In the tavern's heyday, the Nelson Room represented the stern gallery of the old Victory, with lantern, capstan, carved balustrade and other elaborate fittings.

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It has not all been plain sailing for the Trafalgar Tavern. With the expiry of its lease, the famous hostelry closed to the public in 1915 and passed into the hands of the Seaman's Hospital Society. Between the wars the building served as a working men's club. It even went through a spell as a sweet factory before conversion into flats.⁴⁶ The building was re-opened as a pub and restaurant on the evening of June 29th 1965. The manager was Laurent Salerno.⁴⁷

Image taken from a framed watercolour in the Trafalgar Tavern. I cannot make out the signature to credit.

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The inn sign of the Trafalgar Tavern shows the Union Flag along with the Blue Ensign, the latter being post-1707 and the Acts of Union after which the Union Flag replaced the Saint George's cross in the canton. The shield bears the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom along with the Royal Navy Crown and Anchor.

The Yacht Tavern once abutted the Trafalgar Tavern but the latter was reduced in size when part of the building was occupied by the Curlew Rowing Club, a sporting body established in 1866. Filmed in 1956, the clip above shows glimpses of The Yacht and some excellent views of the Thames before much change to the docks and river. The terrace used by the Wapping Group of Artists no longer exists due to an extension of the property.

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The Yacht fronts the narrow Crane Street and is a Greene King footprint close to the Prime Meridian. Not too long ago the pub plonked a chalkboard outside the front door on which it claimed to be "the first pub in the west," and chalked up its longitude at 00 00 00. In actual fact the front door lies at -0.003853 which does at least place it to the west of the Prime Meridian. Not even the marking strip at the Royal Observatory lies at zero degrees, zero minutes, and zero seconds. Indeed, the meridian is 102.478 metres to the east. This means that the Plume of Feathers at Park Vista at -0.001472 is closer to the line. The Star and Garter on the Old Woolwich Road is even closer at -0.000613 and the Cutty Sark on Ballast Quay comes under that at -0.000468. Oooh, at times I do like a bit of pedantry!

Hopefully, today's working relationship between the publican and the chef is more harmonious than that fostered by Augustus George Howse, the licensee in August 1865. At that time Frederick Cox, of Pentonville, was employed as the cook. He was charged with violently assaulting the publican when he struck him in the mouth and loosened one of his teeth. At the court Augustus Howse stated that, on August 10th, he went out, and on returning ascertained that in the middle of the day the defendant had got drunk. At nine in the evening there was some fish required to be cooked, which Cox refused to cook when requested, but went away from the tavern, returning at eleven o'clock very drunk. The cook walked into the bar and, using abusive language, threatened to knock his head off, and offering to fight him for 5s. Frederick Cox squared up to the publican, and finally struck him a violent blow on the mouth, loosening one of his teeth and making his mouth bleed. Joseph Beckett, an occasional waiter at the tavern, was called to confirm the evidence, but was evidently disinclined to speak too much against the defendant, remarking that somehow or other the publican's mouth came against the defendant's fist, which caused much amusement to those in court. Henry Pike, the kitchen porter, was equally evasive when questioned, stating that he did not see any blow struck. The Bench were having none of it and found the cook guilty, imposing a fine of 20s. and costs or, in default, 14 days' imprisonment.⁴⁸

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We had a quick mooch around the old Royal Naval College trying to figure out what the rooms are used for in the 21st century. Of course, we knew that a brewery was established in part of the complex so headed to see if it was still operating and if the beers were on sale. In short no and no is the answer. However, the redundant plant can still be seen in what is essentially a dining room for a venue officially known as the Old Brewery. Operated by Young's, the brewery kit is simply used as a "perfect backdrop to any corporate, private party or event." An expensive backdrop as it cost some £200,000 to install in 2010. The six-barrel microbrewery was always something of a novelty as the Meantime Brewery had, in the same year, lavished £2m on a new brewery in Blackwall Lane.

The Meantime Brewery was founded in 1999 by Alastair Hook, a man who can rightly claim to be something of a craft beer pioneer in the UK. The seeds of his career in beer were sown by a visit to the Hopland Brewery in Mendocino, California. This inspired him to undertake a brewing degree at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Fresh from graduation, he spent some time at a brewing school in Germany before working for the Kaltenberg brewery. Consequently, he was suitably qualified to accept an invitation in 1991 to establish a German-style brewhouse at the Packhorse Brewery in Ashford.

During the 1990s Alastair Hook teamed up with the restaurateur Oliver Peyton to open Mash & Air, a brewery and restaurant in Manchester. This was followed by another branch off Regent Street.

At the fag end of the 20th century Alastair Hook convinced family and friends to finance a new enterprise. Thus, he was able to launch the Meantime Brewing Company in an old industrial unit close to the other love of his life - the ground of Charlton Athletic F.C. The first beer, Union Lager, was produced in April 2000. In the following year an outlet, the Greenwich Union, was opened on Royal Hill in a former Charrington's tavern called the Fox and Hounds. At the time of typing this was closed and it was mooted that it would form an extension to the Richard I next door, another outlet of Young's.

In 2008 Alastair Hook was named as Brewer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers. Two years later the company opened a new brewery in Blackwall Lane at Greenwich. Things got really serious during the following year when Nick Miller, former managing director at SAB Miller UK's operating company, was appointed the new chief executive. With his vast experience of sales and marketing, particularly at Coors, target sales at Meantime were ramped up considerably. By 2013 the firm was producing 50,000 hectolitres per annum. However, two years later, in May 2015, it was announced that Meantime had been acquired by SAB Miller, the world's second-largest brewer. The deal was reportedly worth £120m. In less than a year the company was sold to Asahi Group Holdings of Japan.

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Image meld by author featuring the portrait of John Harrison by Thomas King c.1796, the work being in the public domain.

All the longitudinal pedantry we engaged in at the Yacht Tavern inspired a bit of fun for the early evening in Greenwich. Our coastal journey was due to commence on the following morning at the Royal Observatory but the site does not open until 10.00hrs and costs £16 each. That is £32 to place our front wheels on a line that is not even at zero degrees! If you want to play around with longitudinal lines in the Greenwich area you can visit several locations and capture a selfie for free! So off we pedalled along the cycle path looping around the O2 Arena. An added bonus is that you can nip in for a quick one at the aforementioned Cutty Sark pub.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

There was another tavern near Cowley's Wharf called the Golden Tavern. A very old house said to date from 1549,⁴⁹ it was a victim of the land clearance for the power station opened in 1906. For almost a century it traded close to the Union Tavern. The latter sign only appearing when the premises were rebuilt on the site of the Green Man, a hostelry also of great antiquity. The current sign was only applied when the Cutty Sark clipper was brought to the dry dock at Greenwich during 1954.

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It is interesting to compare the attitudes to theft in the mid-19th century and the modern age where shoplifters can half-inch up to £200 without the involvement of the police. In November 1847 William Harris, licensee of the Union Tavern, sent his footman, Henry Fort, to get change for a £5 note. It was the last he saw of his employee until he was arrested by the police. Fort claimed that somebody bumped into him causing a sovereign fell down a drain. Unable to make up the loss, he simply ran off with the rest of the money. When brought before the magistrates at Greenwich Police Court he was committed to the Old Bailey for trial.⁵⁰ Pleasing guilty at that court he was sentenced to seven years' transportation. He was one of 160 convicts who sailed on the "Rodney" to Van Diemen's Lane, Tasmania.

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The cycle route to the O2 Arena is a bit sketchy in places. A bit surprising really as I thought that this would have been tidied up for the Millennium Party, never mind nearly two decades later. Mind you, it looked like they were about to improve the path. Historically, the tip of the Greenwich Peninsula was known as Blackwall Point or Lea Ness. You cannot miss the Meridian Line - apart from the bold metal strip across the cycle path, there is also a road sign which displays the mileage one would have to travel around the globe to arrive back at the same spot. The answer, by the way, is 24,859 miles. The other reason you cannot miss the line is that there is usually a large party of Japanese tourists taking photographs of it from within the boundary fence of the O2 Arena. Why they would want to travel halfway around the world to look at a large tent is a mystery to me? Some of them pay £36 in order to climb to the top of Tony Blair's white elephant.

The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that there is a Sustrans National Cycle Network marker in the background of the above photograph. This signs states that the milepost stands on the Greenwich Meridian - so is the line correct or the milepost? You just have to let it go and enjoy the fun rather than reaching for your GPS device to look at a reading. Otherwise you end up disappearing up your own arse talking about the geodetic zero meridian on a geocentric reference ellipsoid.

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Another location where you can have a bit of fun with the Prime Meridian is in Park Vista, close to the junction of Feathers Place. And here you can also combine some longitudinal levity with a visit to an excellent pub.

You have to laugh at some people. Here I am banging on about a few metres difference between the former astronomical system and the current geodetic system but some folks manage to cook up a completely different concept of the Prime Meridian at Greenwich. There is a video online which shows a couple of American women having some fun at this location in Park Vista. In the clip the woman being filmed suggests that the line is where time stands still and that by jumping across the line she is going from one day to the next. Firstly, this is not an episode of Dr. Who - time does not stand still anywhere. Secondly, she is confusing the Prime Meridian at Greenwich with the International Date Line. Still, they looked like they were having fun so what the heck!

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The Prime Meridian at Park Vista crosses the pavement in a solid line and then continues across the street towards Feathers Place with a line of metal studs embedded in the tarmac - you can see this to the left within the above photograph. To the right you can see the Plume of Feathers where we parked up and ordered some beer and a nosebag.

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The inn sign for the Plume of Feathers boldly states that the pub was built in 1691. Quite how much of the old fabric remains is not clear. Certainly, the breweries that have operated the pub over the years have played around with the building and replaced much of antiquity. The sign features a plume of three ostrich feathers, along with the royal coronet associated with the Prince of Wales. The Germanic motto Ich dien "I serve" is also featured on the signboard. It is thought that the tavern traded as the Prince of Wales in the early 18th century but was changed by the landlady Jane Whitall in the mid-1720s. It is generally accepted that the use of three feathers as a crest or badge was first used by Edward, the Black Prince, eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III. However, he predeceased his father and, accordingly, his son Richard II was crowned in 1377. Charles II was Prince of Wales at the date suggested that this Greenwich tavern started trading in the late 17th century.

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The Plume of Feathers has grown organically over the years. Extensions to the property have been undertaken since the Rose family took over the business in 1980. The building extends backwards where once there stood four cottages in a small court, entry to which was via an entry to the left of the building. In March 1886 the annual rental for the public-house and four cottages was £80 per annum when they were sold at auction in one lot. The sale possibly marked the first involvement of brewery tenancy with the Plume of Feathers. Over the years the property has been operated by the Beehive Brewery, Hoare & Co. Ltd. and Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd. In 1958 the latter merged with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd. to form Watney Mann Ltd. This company's George and Dragon trademark can be seen in the leaded-glass windows. It is likely that the firm was responsible for the faïence tiling on the ground floor frontage.

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The interior of the Plume of Feathers remains traditional in the sense that many public-houses looked like this in the 1970s. Sitting inside this pub it would be easy to imagine that you were in a quiet rural pub in the home counties. And it is this ambience that makes the Plume of Feathers rather unique in busy London where most pubs have undergone contemporary refurbishments.

In Victorian times the Plume of Feathers was home to many clubs and societies, hosted sporting functions and music concerts. As one of the oldest houses in the locality, it was also used for many inquests by the local coroner. However, one of the most notable of cases concerning the Plume of Feathers was held in the Coal Exchange Inn at Faversham when the licensee of this Greenwich tavern was found dead in a creek. 58 year-old Edward Smith, a native of Faversham, had been running the Plume of Feathers with his wife Eliza when he made his way back to the town of his birth. Drinking heavily at the Recreation Tavern, for two weeks he was seen behaving in an odd fashion and often drunk. He was last seen leaning over the rails of the bridge at the sluice gates. His body was recovered from the creek by a policeman who found two letters from his daughters within his pockets. The court could not conclude that he had committed suicide.⁵¹

An earlier licensee of the Plume of Feathers was a bit of a rogue for he undertook improvements to the rear courtyard with stolen paving stones. In August 1856 Sidney Adams and George Butters, two men in the employ of Mr. Hobbs, contractor for paving to the Greenwich District Board of Works, were found guilty of stealing a large quantity of paving stones which they sold to Richard Preece, landlord of the Plume of Feathers. When an inspector found the missing stones laid neatly at the rear of the property the publican was taken into custody and charged with receiving stolen property, thus robbing the parish.⁵²

An outdoor drinking area has been created on land formerly occupied by a neighbouring house. We parked our bicycles here and ordered a few beers. As the Plume of Feathers is free-of-tie, there are generally a couple of rotating guest ales. I am a sucker for a beer featuring a cyclist on the pump clip so ordered the Truman's Scorcher. According to the pump clip this was a 2016 beer but is seemingly making a comeback. In the early days of cycling a Scorcher was a term applied to those who, rather than sitting upright and riding around town in a genteel manner, adopted a more aerodynamic position and rode aggressively with little regard for others. The "speedsters" were censured for their egocentric style of cycling - so, a bit like the modern fast-food delivery rider! Combining Simcoe, Azacca and Citra hops with grapefruit zest, Truman's Scorcher fairly scoots around the tastebuds but does not punch above its weight of 4.2% so may only appeal to café racers rather than the serious time-trialist.

Founded in 1666, Truman's was one of the great London beer brands with an extensive estate of pubs supplied by the Black Eagle Brewery. It was ruined with its takeover by Grand Metropolitan and brewing ceased in the late 1980s. This phoenix-from-the-flames microbrewery was established in 2010 when James Morgan and Michael-George Hemus acquired the brand name from Scottish & Newcastle. Trial brews were produced at both Everard's in Leicestershire and Nethergate Brewery in Essex, before a purpose-built brewery was established at Hackney Wick in 2013.

XT Brewing is another relatively young business but one with a growing reputation. The firm was established in 2011 by Russell Taylor and Gareth Xifaras and is based on the Notley Farm Estate at Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire. Eco-friendly and keen recyclers, many of their beers are named after animals or animal sounds and we were pleased to find their Cormorant on sale at the Plume of Feathers. To be honest, XT Brewing have issued beers with so many different names it is hard to imagine that the recipes are not replicated. It would seem that the new generation of beer drinkers have become tickers in that they demand something new every time they go out for a drink. I suspect that XT Brewing, like many others, are indulging the consumers. Named after the large, long-necked waterbird, Cormorant is a pleasant-enough fruity ale, mildly hoppy with a caramel undercurrent. It only clocks in at 4.6% so does not really qualify, in my book at least, as an IPA but that is another old school rule slowly being eroded. At this point I was not to know that XT would tick all my boxes with one of their other beers - more on that to follow.

These two real ales were enjoyable in the early evening sunshine. Full marks to the Plume of Feathers for maintaining a sandwich menu for the evening. Amazingly, this is incredibly rare nowadays but it was just what we wanted - and proper slabs of cheese rather than grated rubbish. A fine way to round off our pub visits during our prologue along the Thames.

© Photo taken by author on August 1st, 2019. DO NOT COPY

We were staying in Greenwich High Road so we had another couple of buildings to look at as we made our way to the hotel. I pondered over the contrasting architectural styles of the former town hall and the public library of West Greenwich. The pair seem to encapsulate the rapid change in planning and design of public buildings in the early 20th century. The gap between construction of the town hall and library was a little over 30 years. The Historic England website states that the library was the work of Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, an architect that favoured the Baroque Revival during the Edwardian period. However, when the building opened in late September 1907, it was reported that it was designed by Messrs. Wills and Anderton of Bloomsbury Square. The builder was Frederick J. Gorham of Point Hill in Greenwich.⁵³

Whether one likes to think of the library as Baroque Revival or Wren-inspired Early English, there is getting away with the fact that the next door neighbour exhibits a completely new approach to civic buildings during the inter-war years. The art historian Nikolaus Pevsner stated that it is "the only town hall of any London borough to represent the style of our time adequately." Take at look at Hilversum Town Hall in the Netherlands and it can be seen how this building was influenced or inspired by the work of Willem Marinus Dudok, the Dutch modernist architect.

© Image from author's photographic archive. DO NOT COPY

Of course, the Scandinavians were ahead of the game. The town hall at Stockholm, a triumph of the National Romantic style, was completed in 1923. The inter-war years was an important period for municipal architecture in the UK and the designs were increasingly influenced by the modernist works of Europe. West Greenwich Town Hall was designed by Clifford Culpin, the foundation stone being laid in June 1938. He may have also taken some inspiration from the New Zealand-born architect Reginald Uren who designed Hornsey Town Hall earlier in the decade.

What a day. We were fairly cream-crackered, not by the distance cycled, but the amount of things to look at and take in. It was time for bed as tomorrow was to be the offical start of our coastal adventure. This was just the warm-up!

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© Image from author's photographic archive. DO NOT COPY

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