THREAD/Greetings all-the rain has now cleared and the sun is shining and so we are gathering outside the Dog & Bell in Prince Street and are ready to continue our journey westwards towards Tower Bridge.

We cross New King Street and continue along Prince Street, where we soon see the sad sight of a closed pub. This was the Navy Arms opened in 1826 but which closed in 2007 and which is now in residential use. Just before we reach the busy A200

Evelyn Street, we turn right into Sayes Court Street and enter the peaceful Sayes Court Park, where we pause at the large Mulberry Tree here. The park covers part of John Evelyn’s garden, whilst the site of his manor house, demolished in 1728 is located within the Convoy's Wharf

development area. The plaque at the base of the tree tells us that this tree was presented to John Evelyn by Peter the Great to commemorate his visit. Whether this was an attempted apology for his earlier poor behaviour (as reported yesterday) isn’t known!

We exit the park and turn right into Grove Street and almost immediately notice another closed pub, the former Princess of Wales, which dates from 1823 and which is now in residential use, having closed in about 2006. Most of the buildings on Grove Street date from the 1960s/70s

and this is because the area was badly damaged by a succession of V-1 flying bombs that fell on the area during the summer of 1944. This compounded damage already caused during the Blitz of 1940/41 but the buzz-bomb that really did the damage here came on 16 August 1944

and destroyed the Victorian terrace that once stood here, as well as causing blast damage over an area of about 4 acres. We continue a little further along Grove Street before turning right into Pepys Park, which crosses Millard Road before taking us back to the Thames Path.

As we walk along the Thames Path, we can look across the river to see the vast Canary Wharf development rising out of the former West India & Millwall Docks, as well as the new developments along the “Middlesex” bank of the Thames, as we explored last week.

Back on our side of the river, we soon reach the lock gates of the former South Dock of the Surrey Commercial Docks, now in use as a marina. The Surrey Docks as a whole suffered extensive damage during the Blitz, most notably on 7 September 1940. In 1944, South Dock was drained

and used for the construction of some of the concrete caissons for the Mulberry Harbours used following the D-Day invasion. The Surrey Commercial Docks, to give them their full name, began to be developed in 1696, when the Howland Wet Dock, later renamed Greenland Dock was opened

It eventually became a network of 11 separate docks, the only part of the PLA dock system to be south of the river. It was the centre of London’s timber trade, dealing with imports from all around the world, as well as general cargo to and from Scandinavia, Canada and Russia

The docks suffered massive damage on 7 September 1940 and even saw an early example of a firestorm, fuelled by the huge stocks of timber stored here. Today, a blue plaque nearby on the former Dock Offices in Surrey Quays Road commemorates the event.

One of the senior London Fire Brigade officers fighting the fires that day was Station Officer Henry “Gerry” Knight of Rotherhithe Fire Station. He was not normally a man given to exaggeration but sent out a request for reinforcements which became the stuff of Blitz legend

“Send all the bloody pumps you have, the whole bloody worlds on fire!” Sadly, the following evening, Gerry was to be killed, along with colleague Auxiliary Fireman Richard Martin were both killed in Swedish Yard, probably whilst taking a short breather.

Only Gerry’s thigh length leather fire boots were found and it is thought that he had removed them to rest his feet whilst having a break when the two men were struck by the blast of a high explosive bomb. We now continue along the Thames Path and cross the lock entrance to the

former Greenland Dock, which is now a watersports centre and an overspill for the marina. The path takes another brief detour inland here via Gulliver Street and Odessa Street, before we resume our riverside walk. We next pass through the Surrey Docks Farm, an urban farm and

and learning centre, adorned by pleasant statues of farm animals. There is also an excellent riverside café if anyone fancies a quick cuppa and a bacon roll. We next see an isolated dockyard crane still standing on the embankment and this marks the site of the former

Nelson Dry Dock, which is still visible in the form of an enclosed dock. The drydock dates from 1790 and could house small coasters, which were hauled into the dock by hydraulic power. Once again, the Thames Path veers inland, this time

to take us around the Hilton Hotel located on the riverside here. Dockers here would have been greatly amused at the prospect of a hotel located at the Surrey Docks! As we reach Rotherhithe Street, we see another pub, The Blacksmith’s Arms, which dates from around 1826.

We soon regain the Thames Path and as we are walking along here, it is worth noting that there are simply too many incident recorded in the Incident Log for me to recall each one, such was the volume and density of bombing in this area, as this 1950 view of the same part of

Rotherhithe Street shows. We soon cross another small inlet which was obviously once a dock. This is part of the old Lavender Pond, a shallow dock once used for floating storage of timber and which is now a nature reserve. This particular area seems to have suffered especially

badly from incendiaries as there are many reports in the incident log. We continue a short distance further along the walkway and soon reach another of the imposing red lifting bridges once beloved of the Port of London Authority. This is the former Surrey Lock, an alternative

entrance into the Surrey Docks, which led into Surrey Basin, which still survives. There is another riverside pub here, one that I am not familiar with called The Salt Quay. We are now almost directly over the Rotherhithe Tunnel, opened in 1908 and which is still in pretty much

its original form, with two way traffic proceeding somewhat gingerly through the narrow thoroughfare. As we cross the lock entrance, we see the southern ventilation shaft. This was actually hit by a HE bomb on 19 March 1941, which damaged the emergency stairs located here

but which did not block the roadway beneath or damage the integrity of the tunnel. We retake the Thames Path and are now in the area once known as Plymouth Steps or Mayflower Steps, as we are close to the spot where the Mayflower sailed in 1620

on the first leg of her voyage to the New World. Although the Mayflower is most famous for sailing from Plymouth with the Pilgrim Fathers, she was a Rotherhithe ship and had a local man, Capt. Christopher Jones in command.

Just as the Thames Path veers inland again, we see a delightful tongue-in cheek statue of a local boy reading an American comic, with the ghost of one of the Pilgrim Fathers looking over his shoulder in horror, aghast at what America has become!

We are also very close to the entrance of Brunel’s Thames Tunnel built between 1825-43 and soon see a tall chimney, which marks the site of the small Brunel Museum, a volunteer led enterprise which is well worth a visit. The museum not only focuses on Brunel’s

tunnel but also his many other achievements and in the garden we see a bench modelled on the Tamar Bridge, one of his last major works which opened in 1859, the year of his death. It is not long before we reach yet another pub, arguably the most historic encountered on our walk.

This is the Mayflower, which during WW2, was known as The Spread Eagle and which on 20 October 1940 was seriously damaged by the blast of a HE bomb, losing the roof and much of the first floor. The pub itself dates from around 1550 and was originally known as The Shippe.

It was rebuilt in the 1800s after a fire, when it became known as The Spread Eagle & Crown and following repairs to the Blitz damage, reopened in 1956 when it was renamed as The Mayflower. The pub has an intriguing Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey “Right of Way” sign

outside, which directs the public straight into the Thames, as well as a marker for the Parish of St Mary’s Rotherhithe, which presents something of a mystery as the parish boundary isn’t here and what does the right of way sign really indicate?

Incidentally, The Mayflower remains the only pub licensed to sell UK and USA postage stamps – a throwback to the days when the pub was used by seafarers with little time to find the nearest post office. As we leave the pub area, we can take a short detour

to visit St Mary’s Church. The present building dates from 1715 and is the work of architect John James, a major architect in his own right but also an associate of Sir Christopher Wren. It is thought that a church has existed on this site since 1282

and evidence of the former building can be seen in the crypt. The church had several narrow escapes from incendiary bombs during the Blitz and was also near missed by a HE bomb on 20 October, which caused the road to be blocked by a crater. The communion table in the Lady Chapel

and two chairs are made from timber salvaged from HMS Temeraire, the subject of JMW Turner’s famous painting, when the ship was broken up at nearby Deptford. There is another decent pub just around the corner from here and it would be rude not to investigate. This is The Ship

on the corner of St Marychurch Street. We'll now retrace our steps back to the Thames Path but as we do so, note the figures on the former St Mary Rotherhithe School building here. As we resume our walk by the Thames, we soon come across yet another historic pub

This is The Angel, reputedly the oldest pub in the area, although the present building dates from 1837. It has resisted any temptation to become anything other than a pub and is probably all the better for it. The pub stands pretty much in splendid isolation on Bermondsey Wall

and this is as much as anything due to the Blitz, although the subsequent run-down and redevelopment of the Thames-side here is also a major factor. Just opposite the pub we see the remnants of King Edward III's manor house, part of which was once incorporated into a warehouse

which was demolished in the 1970s, at which point the site was excavated and subsequently preserved. A little further along Bermondsey Wall, we see a group of statues known collectively as "Dr Salter's Daydream". Dr Alfred Salter and his wife, Ada were legendary figures in local

Alfred was a bacteriologist who had a great social conscience and provided free health care for local people, and later became MP for Bermondsey, whilst his wife Ada was a local councillor and mayor of Bermondsey. The statue shows Alfred in old age, remembering his family in

their more youthful days, including his daughter Joyce, who died from scarlet fever, when aged only 8. We've already covered Dockhead Church on a previous walk during Lockdown #1, so will continue along the Thames Path to explore a part that was closed off during the summer.

We soon come to the footbridge over St Saviour's Dock, which is not actually a dock at all but rather the place where one of London's "lost" rivers, the Neckinger flows into the Thames. This really has the look of something out of Oliver Twist but the former dinghy looking...

warehouses have been converted to expensive looking apartments overlooking the Thames and the inlet here. If we look down to the Thames, we see "The Harpy Houseboat" dating from 1904. It bills itself as "HMS Harpy" but from my research, it was never a commissioned RN shorebase

but rather a floating pier for HM Customs that was once on the other side of the river, although I am happy to be corrected on this. It is now has houseboat accommodation that is available to hire but judging by the prices shown on their website, it is little outside my budget!

We're now approaching Tower Bridge and we can also see the Tower of London on the opposite bank. This marks the end of our jaunt today. I really hope that you've enjoyed it. We shall endeavour to something similar next weekend. Enjoy your week and stay safe in the meantime./END