Greetings all and welcome to another of our virtual Blitz walks, which this time will concentrate on the Thames Path running from Greenwich to Tower Bridge. As before, we’ll concentre on the wartime history of the areas we are visiting but will also take a look at industrial…

and social history of the areas we are walking through, as well as some of the nicer pubs, so that if you’re ever doing this walk for real, you can check them out for yourself! We’re starting outside a pub today, the Cutty Sark on Ballast Quay in Greenwich.

This splendid Georgian structure dating from 1807 has distinctive bow windows and was once called the Union Tavern but was renamed in 1951 when the clipper ship of the same name was brought to Greenwich. We’re going to head west along Ballast Quay but if we detour a short

distance in the opposite direction, we see the former Enderby’s Wharf, once the home of the submarine telegraphic + telephone cable industry and where large cable ships would load prior to their various assignments. During WW2, some of the “Pluto” pipeline was manufactured here.

Part of the cable loading gear has been preserved on the quayside, as has some of the perimeter fence. Quite near to here once stood the Sea Witch pub, which was sadly destroyed on 29 July 1944 by a V-1 flying bomb which also killed one person and seriously injured 10 others.

Although the V-1s were not targeted at individual locations within London, as can be imagined this whole area suffered grievously during the earlier Blitz of 1940/41, largely due to its proximity to the Thames, as we shall discover. We’ll now set to our task of heading westwards

and head back past Cutty Sark pub once again, we next see the huge bulk of Greenwich Power Station looming in front of us. This dates from 1902-06 and was originally built by the London County Council to provide electric power for the tramway system. It passed to London Transport

who also used it to power the London Underground system. It was struck only once during the Blitz, on 13 November 1940, when it was hit by a HE bomb, which caused no interruption in the power supply. With the demise of the trams in 1952, it was used entirely for the Tube network.

In the 1970s, it was converted from coal fired steam turbine operation to gas turbines powered by oil and gas and remains in use as a standby source of power for the Underground network. Standing in the shadow of the power station, is the delightful Trinity Hospital,

which was built in 1613-14 to the orders of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton to provide almshouse accommodation for 12 poor men of Greenwich plus a further 8 from Norfolk, hence its original name of Norfolk College. It was rebuilt in 1812 and is Grade II* listed. The River Wall

here contains two interesting and hair-raising plaques which record the highest tides measured here, including an "Extraordinary High Tide" in 1928, when over 75 feet of the riverside wall was demolished and which caused widespread flooding across London.

We now continue west to head along Crane Street, an atmospheric narrow alley, which contains two pubs; The Yacht and almost immediately next door., The Trafalgar Tavern, a much larger building which dates from 1837, which was once famous for Whitebait suppers held for the

The photograph of The Trafalgar doesn't clearly show it but at low water, there is evidence of repairs to the river wall here, probably as a result of blast damage caused by a nearby V-1 in 1944.

Sorry one tweet has gone astray there, so I will repeat below, even if out of kilter slightly!

Liberal Party, the last of which was held here in 1883. The pub closed in 1915 but strangely, did not reopen until 1965. It can be a tourist haunt in normal times but is still worth a visit, especially at quieter times when one can watch the world go by on the Thames...

We take a brief detour left along Park Row to turn right into the magnificent Old Royal Naval College, originally constructed as The Royal Hospital for Seamen between 1696 and 1712 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren. On closure in 1869, it served as the RN College from 1873

until 1998, when the Royal Navy finally moved away from Greenwich. The buildings attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe on numerous occasions during the Blitz of 1940-41, as well as the Baby Blitz of 1943-44. On 8 Sept 1940, the King Charles block was damaged by HE and soon

afterwards, a special visitor came to inspect the damage. Numerous incendiaries fell in the grounds in the subsequent months but all were dealt with without incident. On 20 January 1943, a low flying FW190 aircraft dropped a bomb which hit the “Admiral’s House”, which completely

destroyed this part of the block and sadly killed 56-year-old Commander Alexander Reginald Chalmer in the process. The grounds were hit again on 22 March 1944 but happily without serious damage or loss of life and the complex survived the subsequent V-Weapons onslaught without

incident. We now regain the Thames Path to emerge by the Cutty Sark, in permanent dry dock on a site that became available because of the Blitz! This was formerly occupied by another large riverside pub, the Ship Hotel, dating from 1811 and also once famous for whitebait suppers.

The pub was completed destroyed on 1 November 1940 when it received a direct hit from a HE bomb. Two people were trapped but were rescued from the ruined building. It was never rebuilt and when the site was cleared, it became the location for the Cutty Sark in 1951.

We continue to head west along the Thames Path and pass a large new development called New Capital Quay, which contains a couple of featureless modern riverside bars, before we cross Deptford Creek using the modern swing footbridge installed here. The Creek is actually where the

River Ravensbourne (which rises in Keston in suburban Kent) flows after 17.4 km into the Thames here. Commercial river traffic still uses this stretch of Deptford Creek from time to time, with small coasters that offload aggregate at a nearby wharf. As we cross the bridge,

we soon see an extraordinary statue of Peter The Great, Tsar of Russia from 1682-1725. The statue commemorates his time staying with John Evelyn during which Peter studied English shipbuilding methods at Deptford Dockyard. Peter was 6’ 8” tall and apparently had a very small head

both of which physical traits are highlighted in the statue! He was not a popular guest, not only destroying his host’s beloved garden but also trashing Evelyn’s house by knocking a hole in the wall to allow him easier access to the dockyard, breaking over 300 windows, as well

as destroying 20 pictures + 50 chairs and ruining all the paintwork, curtains and bedding, as well as covering the floors with ink and grease. He also brought a monkey with him (as you do!) I am indebted to @hesmond5 and @lostcitylondon for this information on Evelyn’s house

guest from hell! As we continue on the path, we see a large, somewhat dilapidated coaling jetty. This is all that remains of Deptford Power Station, which eventually consisted of 3 separate coal-fired power stations built in 1891, 1929 and 1953.

The 1891 building was hit on 24/25 August 1916 during a raid by the German Zeppelin L31 under the command of Kptlt Heinrich Mathy. This raid killed one worker + disrupted power supplies for a time, although the lighting circuits were restored inside 12 minutes. The 1929 building

was badly damaged in the same low-level raid that affected the Royal Naval College on 20 January 1943, causing severe damage and killing 29 workers here. We have some photos of the damage and also the damage reports. The power station finally closed in 1983 due to the reduced

dependence on coal fired electricity generating Part of the 1929 Power Station was built over some of the original dry docks of the Deptford Royal Dockyard and was said to be haunted. The dockyard was gradually run down and shipbuilding ceased here by 1869, although a RN

victualling yard remained in use until the early 1970s. The yard was partially used by the US Navy during WW2 and on 18 July 1944 received a direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb, which saw three US Navy personnel killed. This area is likely to redeveloped at some point in the near

future but fortunately many of the oldest buildings are listed and have been adapted for residential use. The old dockyard gates to the riverside stairs also remain as a reminder of the areas past heritage.

The Convoy's Wharf site is largely derelict with the tall walls still keeping out unwelcome visitors. As a result, the Thames Path diverts inland for a short distance at Watergate Street, which gives us the chance to see some examples of “stretcher fences” still in existence.

These WW2 metal stretchers were built by the hundreds of thousands in anticipation of the mass civilian casualties expected during any future bombing campaign – it was thought that as many as 600,000 casualties could occur within the first six months of such a campaign.

Fortunately, this proved to be pessimistic and in the event civilian casualties due to enemy air attack in the UK totalled around the 60,000 mark. As a result, many of these stretchers remained unused and at the end of the war, they were recycled to appear around many new estates

or in some cases to replace wrought iron railings sacrificed for the war effort. We now turn right into the pedestrianised part of Prince Street and see the Dog and Bell pub, a superb local dating from around 1891 which has a decent range of real ales on offer.

We shall adjourn here today for a pint and a spot of lunch but shall resume tomorrow, when we shall continue our journey through the old Surrey Docks and Rotherhithe./END