Cleary Gardens

Above: Looking north in the gardens which are one three levels.

Space in the City of London is at a premium and with the price of land being so expensive those who administer it have to decide whether a public garden can be justified. Many of the little gardens in the City were once churchyards and, being consecrated ground, no development is the site for offices is permitted.

Cleary Gardens was never consecrated ground and so it is all the more surprising to find gardens at this location. As the City Website mentions – “The open space is separated over three tiers with the garden’s wooden arbours, shaded seating and lower lawn providing the ideal lunchtime spot.” There seems some confusion over the name. The City of London Website lists the open space as ‘Cleary Garden’ but the name board in the gardens (also produced by the City of London) gives the name as ‘Cleary Gardens’.

Part of the site was once a Roman bathhouse, a Scheduled Monument in the City, first listed in 1986. The bathhouse was constructed in the late 1st century and at some point in the 2nd century appears to have been enlarged and altered. It is thought to have originally extended about 75m along the former river frontage. The site is likely to have been a public bathhouse, although it has been suggested that it may have been part of a palace or other large building with a bath complex attached. In the 3rd century, the building was abandoned, partly demolished and much of the material was robbed for other uses. Several buildings subsequently occupied the site in the later Roman period and there is evidence of some industrial usage.

Documentary evidence records that by the late 9th century a stone building, known as Hwaetmundes stan, existed on the site. Several later medieval and post-medieval features survive on the site, such as a chalk-lined well and the remains of an undercroft, which are included in the scheduling.

The Roman public bath building was identified in 1964. It was situated on either side of the lower end of Huggin Lane, which once ran down the eastern side of the gardens. The baths were clearly located on a spring line as it was the small private bathhouse at Billingsgate in the east of the City. It is unfortunate that the bath building was totally destroyed by mechanical excavators in 1956. Although parts of the Roman baths still remain – hence the listing – no part of the Roman structure is visible to the public.

Exposed cellars from before the Second World War were also on the site before the gardens were created. By tidying up the site and preserving the Roman remains underground, it was possible to lay out the gardens and create a much appreciated open space in the City.

The gardens are named after Fred Cleary (1905-1984), a great campaigner for increasing the City’s open spaces. Cleary was Chairman of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association and had been instrumental in the 1970s in encouraging the planting of trees and the creation of new gardens in the City – in fact, his nickname was ‘Flowering Fred’.

In 2007 Cleary Gardens underwent a major redevelopment as the Loire Valley Wines Legacy Garden, with vines and aromatic plants to evoke the flavours and bouquet of wines from the Loire region. Those who find the gardens are always surprised that such a place of peace and tranquillity exists just a few hundred yards east of Mansion House underground station, beside the busy Queen Victoria Street.

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Cannon Street, 30

Above: Looking west at the offices, with Queen Victoria Street to the left and Cannon Street with St Paul’s to the right.

The site of the elegant office block was formerly partly occupied by the church of St Mildred, Bread Street. After the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London (1666), a new one was designed by Sit Christopher Wren which remained until it was bombed during the Second World War. The site then stood empty for several decades and was one of the last bomb sites in London to be redeveloped.

The office site is triangular with Bread Street running along the western side and the two other sides lining Cannon Street and Queen Victoria Street. They come to a point opposite Mansion House underground station which means that the offices are conveniently close to good transport links.

The French bank Crédit Lyonnais wanted a prestigious headquarters – “discernible from a distance” – and they must have been delighted by the result. It was the first building anywhere to be clad in glass fibre reinforced cement (GRC) and the first to incorporate outward leaning windows at a five-degree angle. The cream pre-cast panels offer a curved façade of arches with deep angular reveals, a sweeping arcade offset by the bronze-tinted glass. Polished black granite bands act as string courses on each floor level, concealing external drainage to prevent dirt from staining the cement.

Originally designed by Whinney, Son & Austen Hall, the offices were completed in 1973, erected by Wates Construction. The building has six storeys with a raised basement. Its overall height was limited due to its proximity to St Paul’s Cathedral to the northwest. The high water table in the land prevented a sub-basement from being added.

When first completed, the building had an entrance on each side. The western one facing Bread Street has been removed as well as a large central circular banking hall. Although built for Crédit Lyonnais, it was designed so it could be occupied by three separate banks, one in each corner of the building. The interior has been significantly altered. It became a Grade II listed building in 2015.

The building was comprehensively refurbished by Romulus in 2016 to add an impressive roof garden with views of St Pauls, the River Thames and the City skyline. As a result, 30 Cannon Street was shortlisted for the RIBA London Regional Awards 2017.

The building’s most unusual feature is that it leans out at 5 degrees gracefully enabling light to penetrate the lower ground floor thus giving the appearance of growing out of the site. The non-staining canopied also windows give a sculptural effect to the building while at the same time reflecting light deep into the building, This gives an uplifting effect for all those who work there with fine views of St Paul’s Cathedral and also of the Mansion House.

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Brook’s Wharf

Above: Brook’s Wharf (on the left with the arched window) in the 1970s when it was a derelict warehouse. It was one of many Victorian warehouses lining the Thames in the City.

Until the 1970s, Upper Thames Street was a narrow street, used mainly by lorry drivers who were delivering or collecting goods from warehouses that lined the Thames. Harben (Dictionary of London) describes Brook’s Wharf as “On the south side of Upper Thames Street, at No. 48 (P.O. Directory). In Queenhithe Ward, between Broken Wharf and Queenhithe Wharf, near Bread Street Hill.”

Suddenly, the bulldozers moved onto sites beside Upper Thames Street. Nearly all the old Victorian warehouses that lined the Thames were reduced to rubble and a ‘new order’ appeared – the creation of a dual-carriageway – in the vain hope of solving the City of London’s transport woes. As we all know, the project was a grand failure. Contrast the demolition of all the elegant warehouses in the City with the preservation and repurposing of the warehouses that stand downriver of Tower Bridge! Which would your choose?

On the south side of Upper Thames Street today, Brook’s Wharf is the City’s last surviving true riverside warehouse. It adds a touch of class to the other modern replacements that have come and gone in the 40 or so years that the ‘new order’ was created.Brook’s Wharf as a name is older than you might think.

The site is on the western side of Queenhithe Dock. It was first mentioned in 1531 as “A messuage, two cottages and a wharf called “Broke Wharffe alias Bockyng Wharffe” in parish of St. Michael at Queenhithe”. St Michael’s parish is no more. It was a Wren church that was demolished in 1876. In later documents, the name appears sometimes as ‘Brook’s Wharf’ and at other times as ‘Brooke’s Wharf’ but the spelling as Brook’s has been adopted today.

The following next year (1532) the wharf by the name of ‘Brookes Warfe’ was granted to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. After the dissolution of the monasteries (in 1544) it was granted to Thomas Broke, 36 H. VIII. 1544, described as “a great messuage in the parish of St. Michael Queenhithe.” It seems unusual that “Brookes Warfe’ was acquired by a man called ‘Broke’. Strype, the historian and biographer, mentions the name as ‘Brookers Wharf.’

As Harben states, “There can be little doubt that these names commemorate the various owners, who held the wharf or wharves from time to time, as it was the common practice for these wharves to be designated by the names of their respective owners.”

The history of buildings on the site is sketchy, to say the least. The first visual record of the wharf is the Agas map which shows buildings but they are not named. The warehouse (or warehouses) on the wharf must have been destroyed in the Great Fire of London (1666). Ogilby and Morgan’s map (1676) shows the name ‘Brookes Wharf’ in the street on the west side of the building. Rocque’s large scale map has ‘Brooks Wharfe’ written beside the building. In 1876 there was another terrible fire at Brook’s Wharf and the present building dates from being rebuilt after the devastation. It is typical of its time with seven storeys of painted brick with the pilastered-piers and cogged cornice.

In the 1930s, the warehouse was in use for storing furs. We know this because in 1934 squirrel skins were stolen from the building, resulting in the owners of the warehouse being pursued by Customs for the duty which had not been paid on the furs. It should be explained that in Victorian times and until the 1970s, the warehouses beside the Thames and to the north of Brook’s Wharf were a centre for storing, grading and selling furs of all descriptions.

The warehouse was badly damaged in 1941, during the Second World War. This required extensive repairs to be carried out in the years following the War. There is little to be said about the various buildings that have stood on the site. Most of them would have been two storeys at the most. It would not have been until its last rebuilding that the warehouse rose to the height of seven storeys.

Above: View of Brook’s Wharf (centre) showing it cleaned, making the coloured bricks and pilasters easier to see.

At ground floor level, there was a large arched open space in the centre of the wall facing the river. This was presumably to allow large goods to be lifted from a lighter by crane and moved into the ground floor of the warehouse. The double-height roadway level, open to the river, was exploited when a pub called the Samuel Pepys was created within the building in 1966-68, designed by the architect HG Clinch. The large opening became a window, looking south towards Bankside.

People who like modern architecture are probably pleased that the City’s riverside is mainly lined with glass and steel buildings. However, the old warehouses were rather elegant. In the 1970s when most of them were demolished, some would have looked very elegant if care had been taken to restore their facades. It was a time when the developers seemed to have the upper hand and the miracle is that Brook’s Wharf was spared the wrecking ball and allowed to remain to show how the City’s once looked from the Thames.

Thinking about why the building was not demolished along with all the others, it was probably saved by the developer’s greed. There is a height embargo on buildings beside the Thames that affect views of St Paul’s Cathedral from the south. When Brook’s Wharf was built, there were no height limits and today its height is more than the modern limit. By leaving it standing, developers benefitted financially from having one, maybe two, additional storeys more than the present City’s regulations.

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Rusty Nail (Public Art)

Above: The ‘nail’ is to the right of the entrance.

Because it is not in a prominent position, it may be that you have never noticed that there is a piece of public art to be seen at the side of the western entrance to One New Change – the entrance that faces the cathedral. Amid all the enormous glazed windows, it is easy to miss the Rusty Nail. Having said that, the ’nail’ is 40 feet high and leans at an angle of five degrees at ground level beside the largest of the four entrances to the shopping precinct.

The unusual piece of public art was unveiled on Thursday 12 May 2011. Created as a bronze by Gavin Turk, who has explained that the object has been positioned so that it did not obstruct views of the cathedral from within the shopping precinct. That explains why so many people fail to notice it. The Rusty Nail was Turk’s first large-scale piece of public art.

Turk studied at Chelsea School of Art and at the Royal College of Art. While studying and in his later work, he has sought to question modern day values – following in the footsteps of many modern artists. He has become a leading exponent of the painted bronze, having cast objects like spent matches, worn paving slabs and discarded vehicle exhaust pipes.

In this modern world, everyone can still recognise a nail. However, it has been pointed out that the building is so ‘high-tech’ that the rusty nail may well be the only nail in the whole construction!

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One New Change and St Paul’s

Above: View looking west St St Paul’s Cathedral from inside One New Change.

This article is brief because the pictures ‘speak’ for themselves. The large shopping precinct stands to the east of St Paul’s Cathedral. The designers – Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects – were acutely aware of its location and were determined to recognise the magnificent cathedral in their plans. The ground plan of One New Change is an irregular shape but, if you imagine it as roughly a square for a moment, it is rather like a box that has had one side ripped open – so that there is a large gash in the side.

The modern shopping precinct is dramatically opened up where it faces west and the results are stunning views of St Paul’s. Where the ‘gash’ has been created, the sides of the building are all plate glass. The view of the eastern end of the cathedral with its magnificent dome is, therefore, duplicated by the reflections in the enormous windows extending over several floors. If you choose a sunny day, with the light in the right direction, the views of Wren’s cathedral are both splendid and unique.

Above: Looking west at the dome of St Paul’s from the roof of One New Change.

The other stunning view, missed by most visitors who are not aware that the public lifts provide access to the roof garden, is the public open space on the sixth-floor level. The building is open throughout the day and also during the evening, late into the night, to provide access to the restaurants and bars at roof level. Although views of the cathedral by night from ground level are spectacular, there is something very special about seeing the dome ‘up close and personal’ from a high vantage point. Being in London, there are many cloudy nights, some of them with rain as well. However, if you are fortunate enough to get a clear night, the magic starts to happen as dusk descends on the buildings.

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One New Change

Above: The southern exterior of One New Change with St Paul’s Cathedral in the distance.

Shopping precincts within the City of London are not a new idea but building a new one within a few hundred yards of St Paul’s Cathedral took many people by surprise. In Victorian times, the cathedral was surrounded by shops. There was even a large store on the north side which lasted until the 1960s. Ludgate Hill had many shops in the 1960s, mainly bookshops and gramophone record shops. Cheapside, to the east of the Cathedral, was another well-known shopping street.

As new office buildings went up, they were often built without any shops at street level and there was a considerable decline in retail space between the 1960s and the 1990s. The City was very much a five-day-a-week location for shops. They seldom opened on a Saturday and never on a Sunday. Office workers in the City only worked a five-day week and the shops saw little point in their opening over the weekend. The City of London was like a ghost-town over weekends. With no workers visible, the only people walking around were visitors who wanted to see the famous buildings – like the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, the Guildhall and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Nearly all the City’s cafes, restaurants and pubs were also closed over the weekend which hardly seems possible now but that was how it was. With the increase of visitors and tourists in the 1980s and 1990s to London in general and also to the City of London, the need for souvenir shops and eateries within the Square Mile was greater than ever. As the new millennium dawned, there was a remarkable shift in the design of office buildings. Shops were being designed into the ground floor plans for new office blocks and older buildings were being modified to accommodate shops into their buildings as well.

From the millennium onwards, shops, restaurants and cafes – even pubs – were opening over the weekend and the City of London was joining the rest of the capital in providing for the increasing numbers of visitors and tourists who were frequenting the tourist spots and spending their money.

In terms of shopping precincts, the City had no modern developments of that nature at all. In the first years of the new millennium, all that was set to change. The large building, comprising shops and offices was designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects for Land Securities immediately to the east of St Paul’s Cathedral. Nouvel is one of the world’s most innovative and acclaimed architects. The site is at the corner of Cheapside and New Change. The old buildings on the site were cleared by the end of 2007 ready for the new development.

Above: Interior view of the shopping floors.

The shopping precinct was officially opened on 27 October 2010 by Marks & Spencer chairman Sir Stuart Rose. One New Change is the City’s first major shopping mall for almost 130 years. The last one was when Leadenhall Market opened for everyday shopping in the City in 1881.

From the start, the mall was open seven days a week for shopping. It was the first time that shops had opened on a Saturday and Sunday anywhere in the City, apart from a few tourist cafes and restaurants. The development on a 2.5-acre site represented a rare opportunity for comprehensive redevelopment close to St Paul’s. It provides a 220,000 square feet retail destination over three floors, making it one of the largest retail spaces in Central London. Within the shopping area, the mall on each level is arranged in the form of a cross. There is are shopping malls at street level, with a similar layout below (at sub-surface level) and a third at first-floor level. The modern glass building, housing a shopping centre and offices, only have six floors because of height restrictions – to preserve distant views of the dome of the cathedral. As well as shopping floors, there are also 340,000 square feet of office accommodation.

The development, costing £500 million, has 60 stores and restaurants spread over three floors. According to the developers “The City mall will bring high-street brands, independent shops and unique concept restaurants to the City, to complement its world-class financial services and the area’s extensive repertoire of museums, art galleries and breath-taking architecture”.

On the roof-top is an extensive public space, commanding new views across St Paul’s, parts of the City of London and much of South London. The roof area was opened to the public on 18 November 2010. As well as the open space on the roof, there are premises for restaurants and bars.

From the outside, the whole building has an ultra-modern appearance which is not to everyone’s taste. However, the public spaces on the lower three floors of the inside certainly add attractive colours to brighten up the shopping experience. The most impressive part of the whole development has to be the large open space on the roof where there are uninterrupted views of the cathedral and particularly the dome of St Paul’s.

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Old Change and New Change

Above: Plaque recording the site of Old Change in the gardens lying SE of the cathedral.

In case you are wondering, this is nothing to do with things changing. The other use for the word ‘change’ is related to money – as in the change (or coins) in your pocket and that is exactly what we are talking about.

Old Change was the name of a short street in the City of London. According to Harben (Dictionary of London), the street was first mentioned in 1293. For the derivation of the name we turn to John Stow (Survay of London) who says it was – “So called of the Kinges Exchange there kept, which was for the receit of Bullion to be coyned”. In other words, it was the site of a mint where the old change (or bullion) was taken to be melted down to make new coins. Unlike today’s coins, we need to remind ourselves that all coins in the 13th century were made either from pure gold or from pure silver.

There are further records from as early as 1221 that mention that Henry III proclaimed that minting was only to be carried out at Old Change, in the City of London, and at Canterbury. The street where the mint stood became known as Old Change and ran through the wards of Farringdon Ward Within, Bread Street and Castle Baynard. Long after the mint had closed, the street name continued to be used. It was still in existence before the Second World War.

Old Change ran south from the western end of Cheapside. St Paul’s Cathedral is surrounded by its churchyard and before the Second World War, there was a narrow street running almost north-south at the eastern end of the cathedral also called St Paul’s Churchyard. To the east of that was street, running almost parallel, was Old Change. The line of Old Change today runs through the ornamental garden which is on the west side of the later street called New Change.

The bomb damage to the streets around St Paul’s Cathedral during the Second World War – particularly to the east and to the south-east – was particularly bad. Amazingly, the cathedral suffered only minor damage from the bombs. After the War, the City planners realised that the views of the cathedral from the SE aspect were so spectacular that they should be retained as the new buildings gradually went up. It was decided that the two narrow streets – St Paul’s Churchyard and Old Change – should be swept away and a new street created on a completely new alignment. It was called New Change (relating the name to Old Change) and almost everyone agreed that it was the right decision.

Above: OS map showing the streets to the east of St Paul’s Cathedral just after the Second World War. The blanks on the map show areas of extensive bomb damage.

The above map shows Old Change – which extended south, joining with the eastern end of Carter Lane and continuing south even further. After the Second World War, Old Change was removed (along with the street to the west called St Paul’s Churchyard). Between the western ends of Watling Street and Cannon Street, a garden was laid out to open up the SE aspect of St Paul’s Cathedral. The northern part of Friday Street (on the north side of Cannon Street) no longer exists as a street. Bread Street has been retained for vehicle access. A new thoroughfare called New Change was laid out after the War and its approximate line is overlaid on the map. The northern junction of New Change is with Cheapside. At the southern end, there is a T-junction with Cannon Street.

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Queenhithe and Bread Street Overview

Above: The pre-2003 boundaries of the two wards. Their shape has been altered since that time.

As has been mentioned before under other wards, all the ward boundaries were redrawn in 2003, causing many changes. On these Webpages, the author continues to use the old ward boundaries as a point of reference. The reason for this is not to ‘hold out’ against change but rather to make it easy for the reader to relate places in the wards to descriptions in old history books and, therefore, provide a sense of continuity for each ward and its places of interest.

The two wards in this area of study – called Queenhithe and Bread Street – are both almost rectangular with Bread Street Ward (the smaller) situated on the north side of Queenhithe Ward. Geographically speaking, their situation was not helped when Queen Victoria Street was laid out in the 1880s, cutting through the adjacent boundary of the two wards.

Although the two wards have lost many of their buildings over the centuries, there is plenty of historic interest remaining within the area of study.

Queenhithe Ward

As its name implies, the ward is centred on Queenhithe Dock. The dock was created by King Alfred the Great who established a dock at Queenhithe in AD 889. Alfred had taken the City in AD 886 when he threw the Vikings out of the walled City.

The dock was known as ‘Aeðereshyð’, later ‘Ethelred’s Hythe’. It became known as ‘Queenhithe’ (spelt archaically as ‘Queenhythe’) when Matilda, wife of King Henry I, was granted duties on goods landed there. The name has continued until today.

At one time, before the Great Fire of London (1666) the ward boundary encompassed the parishes of no less than seven churches. There is now only one remaining church – St Nicholas Cole Abbey – standing within the old ward boundary. Since 2003, the boundary has been redrawn and there are no extant churches within the ward.

Company halls are in short supply. There is today only one – the Painter Stainers’ Hall which lies within the old ward boundary.

Within the ward is the northern end of the Millennium Bridge, a footbridge built to provide easy access between St Paul’s Cathedral and Tate Modern in Bankside.

Bread Street Ward

The name derives from Bread Street running through the ward. Bread Street is still in existence, being a turning off the south side of Cheapside. In John Stow’s time, the ward had four parishes, all of which have gone over the centuries.

Until bombing during the Second World War, the Cordwainers’ Hall stood in the ward. It was not rebuilt. No company halls are to be found within the ward boundary today.

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City of London (Year 5) Again

The blogs about the City of London are produced during the Autumn Term of each academic year. They follow a six-year cycle. This year we are looking at places of interest around Queenhithe Dock as well as additional places of interest around St Paul’s Cathedral.

The outline blog for this area has already been produced with a defining map.

Take a look at the page at –
https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/city-of-london-year-5/

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Greenwich Riverside Footpath in 2021

Above: View taken in 2021. Soon after passing where Lovell’s Wharf used to be an old wall comes into view. It was beside Granite Wharf.

The housing developments which are replacing the 1960s wharves at Greenwich are by no means completed in 2021 but some of the sites have been completed. This means that a walk is now possible on the new riverside footpath to reflect on what has taken place.

The walk – like that called ‘Greenwich Riverside Footpath in 1970’ – starts at the same place but unlike the 1970 description, it is now possible to walk around the whole of the Greenwich Peninsula and even further east. You can walk from Ballast Quay and keep near the Thames for most of the footpath until you reach the O2 Arena. From there it is then possible to walk beside the Thames, passing the Thames Barrier and continuing to the southern end of the Woolwich Ferry. From that point, you can continue east until you reach Erith, in the London Borough of Bexley (an Outer London Borough).

We set off from the junction of Ballast Quay and Pelton Road. The old riverside footpath has been removed and the land has been partly landscaped with shrubs near the river – where Lovell’s Wharf used to be. The new riverside walkway is, in the main a ‘dual track’ with one part for pedestrians and another part for cyclists. There are several parts of the route which have not yet been widened for the two users but that is likely to come when further developments are completed.

For anyone who remembers the old riverside footpath, it is almost impossible to work out where landmarks we all once knew were positioned. The new ‘shiny’ blocks of “apartments for the rich” (as Pevsner once wrote about another development a few years ago) have displaced anything that remotely pointed towards the history of the peninsula. It is as though yesterday’s riverside had to be totally erased so as not to remind anyone new to the area that there was once any industrial history to the area.

The sites of Lovell’s Wharf, Granite Wharf and Badcock’s Wharf have become one large housing development called Greenwich Gardens – complete with their own cafe and restaurant, another burger restaurant and a local Co-op. That development is almost completed.

Above: View taken in 2021. This small piece of beach was in front of Piper’s Wharf. Modern steps lead down to the beach but at the moment the gate is locked preventing access. The white building at the end of the walkway is the old Enderby House, now in use as a pub. To the left is a large A-shaped frame and another wheel further left. These two objects were used for conveying under-sea cables in the 1970s. The large letters on the building in the distance are part of Morden Wharf.

As you follow the new footpath, it leads north past the old Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) site where cables were made until at least the 1970s. Cables were paid out to cable-laying ships moored in the Thames. The factory has gone but near the water’s edge is an old cable relay tower – being A-shaped with a large wheel near the top – once used to feed newly made under-sea cable onto an awaiting ship. This is Enderby’s Wharf. The house in which the Enderby brothers used to live remains standing but it now has added balconies and has become a Young’s pub called Enderby House.

Walking further north, you are confronted with considerable dereliction. The sites have been levelled, ready for new housing developments but they have not been started. One building that remains is an almost windowless brick-built factory that is intended to be left standing and redeveloped into trendy commercial units and restaurants. It stands on Morden Wharf and is one of the few buildings which will be kept and repurposed.

Walking further north, the footpath diverts inland around the original site of Bay Wharf. This has been taken over by Thamescraft Dry Docking which means that it is now the only wharf in Greenwich to continue the local tradition of boat and barge repair.

From Bay Wharf the footpath rejoins the side of the river along a dusty track as it crosses the old Victoria Deep Water Wharf. The site is completely derelict but it is intended that it should become a working wharf once again. When this happens, the footpath will most likely be diverted around it instead of passing across it.

Further north is an old draw dock that has been upgraded as a feature beside the walkway. At this point, you are almost walking beside the O2 Arena and it seems an interminable distance before reaching the large North Greenwich Pier. At the pier are several restaurants and cafes as well as the opportunity to end your journey and take a Thames Clipper back to London Bridge or some central location.

For the enthusiastic walker, who may want to walk as far as the Thames Barrier, you might like to have some refreshment before pressing on any further along the riverside walkway.

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