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Tower Bridge to Rotherhithe
Just beyond Tower Bridge is ShadThames, a pretty, affluent stretch that was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s. In Victorian times it was the biggest warehouse complex in London, storing tea, coffee and spices between voyages up and down the river. This is also home to Terrance Conran’s sleek, white Design Museum, which opened in 1989 as the world’s first museum of everyday objects.
The river is very deep at this point, which means that you're in with a chance of seeing bigger ships, even cruise liners, stopping here. Also look out for the steady flow of police boats, and the Damien Hirst-designed Tate to Tate boat-taxi.
Just after the Design Museum you'll find St Saviour's Dock, indicating that we're now well into historical Bermondsey. Walk a little further however and you'll come toCherry Garden Pier, a vestige of Bermondsey's days as a pleasure garden. Just after the Great Fire of London, Bermondsey became very well-to-do, and Samuel Pepys describes leaving Cherry Gardens “singing finely”. (A favourite pub of his, the Angel, is nearby too)
Rotherhithe is the spot where the "Mayflower" embarked on its voyage to Virginia in 1620; the ship's captain Christopher Jones, lived here and is buried here. Rotherhithe’s docks were closed in the 1980s, but because of the trade’s links to Scandinavia and Baltic Europe, a reminder of this time remains in street names like Sweden Quay and Helsinki Square.
Did you know – Shad Thames was where spices were stored and it’s said the bricks were so infused with spices that you can still smell them. By 1972 all the warehouses were closed, and remained derelict until they were turned in to luxury flats and shops in the 1990s.
At the beginning of Limehouse Reach is Cuckold’s Point, once marked by a pair of horns mounted on a post. It was so named because it was where King John gave land to a local miller, with permission to set up a fair (the “Horn Fair”), in compensation for sleeping with the miller’s wife.
By the 19th century, Bermondsey was a slum, as vividly described by Charles Dickens in “Oliver Twist”. The area around the dock, Jacob’s Island, is where the villainous Bill Sykes comes to a sticky end in the mud.
