Circumstances and bad weather have prevented me from walking or visitng places in the last seven days, so I have delved into my archive of photos to find something for this weeks blog.
Back in 2018 I booked for me and my husband to go on Thames River Cruise from Westminster Pier to Greenwich and back. What sparked my interest particularly was the part about the Frost Fairs which I had become obsessed with. These fairs took place between 1600 and 1814 when the River Thames became iced over. The ice was so thick that tents were set up on it, food was cooked and sold, musicians would play and games took place. Once even an elephant walked across! Frost Fairs were the highlight of those winter years.
The ice formed due to the old London Bridge which had many piers over the river, jamming up the flow of the river as ice formed. The river froze and people took advantage of this and set up stalls for food and entertainment. To learn more and see some old pictures depicting those times have a read of this article.
Just to set the scene for Frost Fairs, we boarded the boat on a late afternoon in December, and it was windy! Of course the Thames is nothing like it was back then. And later the river became narrower when civil engineer Joseph Bazelgette’s sewer system was put in, reclaiming some of the Thames to instal it. Today we have the lovely Embankment Gardens which also would not be there because the river would have been.
Now we have lots of skyscrapers, particularly around Canary Wharf, and the dockside warehouses have been converted into luxury apartments and restuarants and shops. It’s hard to imagine what the river would have looked like back then. If you visit St Magnus the Martyr on the north side of London Bridge you can see a replica of what London Bridge looked like with shops lining the length of it. See photos here.
We had two well informed ladies who spoke about the River Thames in London and its past. Maps and other information were available for each of us to take away afterwards. I think one of the ladies was from the Museum of London. A few people braved going up on deck, but I wanted to hear all about the Thames and Frost Fairs first. We even had a chance to ask questions, so I wanted to know how far the ice extended up river. It sometimes extended as far as Lambeth Bridge. It must have been quite a sight! Of course there were accidents, people fell through ice that wasn’t thick enough. Also this was a great place for pickpockets to operate.
Once we reached Greenwich, the sky had darkened considerably. It was now time to brave the wind on the deck. So we stood up there all the way back, which is when I took the majority of my photos. I also took a few videos, but the movement of the boat made most fuzzy, so I came away with one video which I was happy with.
If you get a chance to join one of these cruises you will learn a lot about how the river worked in bygone days and maybe get a flavour of old London.
My London+ 