* the history of “Shad Thames” & a stroll to “Bermondsey Beach” & “Greenland Dock”

The other week when we had that very cold spell – my London Shoes took advantage of the wonderfully blue clear, sunny London skies – and headed off to the ‘dark side’ (e.g. Sarf London) to do a bit of exploring.

This particular trek started off at Tower Hill tube station on the northern banks of the River Thames, (near the Tower of London) – and ended at Greenland Dock, ‘sarf’ of the River – a trek all done ‘on foot’, so the old London pavements took a bit of a pounding .

However – it was all worth it, as London Shoes had a great day out exploring the locations of “Shad Thames” – “Bermondsey Beach” & “Greenland Dock”……

The strangely named ‘Shad Thames’ is a cobbled riverside street, steeped in history.

Shad Thames is easy to find – you cross Tower Bridge from the north to south, it’s the street immediately to your left-hand side as you leave the Bridge – right behind the famous ‘Butlers Wharf’.

It is believed that Shad Thames unusual name is derived from an abbreviation of when the area was known as ‘St. John’s Church at the Thames’. However, it could be derived from the fact that ‘shad fish’ were once caught there (whatever they are).

London maps dating back as far as 1747, show Shad Thames in existence then – but it was probably around before that.

Throughout the early 1800’s and right through to the end of that century – Shad Thames was the site of the largest warehouse complex in London.

‘Butlers Wharf’ that backs on to the Shad Thames street and is still there to this day – was once the largest individual warehouse in Europe.

In Victorian times the warehouses of Shad Thames stored tea, coffee, spices plus other similar grain food stuffs-and the area was nicknamed “London’s Larder”.

The shift towards containerisation, saw the gradual decline of Shad Thames as a force, as it did all London’s Docks and dock districts – and Shad Thames last functioning warehouse eventually closed in 1972.

During the 1970’s the Shad Thames abandoned, and derelict warehouses were frequented by and taken up by artists including the likes of David Hockney and Derek Jarman.

When London’s Docklands started to become regenerated from the mid 80’s and beyond – so did Shad Thames. Its abandoned and disused warehouses were gradually converted into luxury residential apartments and flats. The apartment blocks were named in line with their previous connections – e.g. Vanilla Court / Sesame Court / China Wharf / Cayene Court. The ground floors of the old warehouses were converted into shops and restaurants.

The ground floor of the Butlers Wharf building became a ‘Chop House’. Terrance Conran had a couple of high-end dining restaurants located down in Shad Thames.

Apart from the buildings themselves, the most visible connection to the ‘old’ Shad Thames are the high-level walkways that criss-cross the street.

These walkways once linked one warehouse with another, as barrels of grain and spices were rolled along them, shifting them from one place to another without disturbing or getting delayed by street activity.

Today, these walkways are rather glamorous balconies linking the luxury apartments.

The part of the River Thames where Shad Thames is situated – just before Tower Bridge – is one of the deepest parts of the River, and was once a busy part of the old ‘Pool of London’ trading area.

Today, it’s not uncommon to see a massive cruise ships/liner or war ship moor up at the Shad Thames quayside – because the water depth can accommodate them.

Because of its historic past, Shad Thames is a very popular visitor attraction – and because of its scenery, it is a much-used backdrop for tv and film productions – with stuff like Alfie / Elephant Man / Oliver / Bridget Jones Diary / Death in Paradise / Dr. Who plus many many more having scenes filmed there.

So -having explored Shad Thames, London Shoes headed off eastwards along the Thames Path towards Bermondsey to seek out a location known as “Bermondsey Beach”!!!!

First stop, right next to Shad Thames – was ‘New Concordia Wharf’ and a small tributary cutting in from the Thames, called “St. Saviours Dock”.

It may be small, but it has a big place in literary history, as it was once known as “Jacob’s Island” one of Victorian London’s most run down slums – and the site where author Charles Dickens had Bill Sykes meet his end, in the book/film “Oliver”. Today its full of luxury apartments, but it still gives off a bit of the old ‘Oliver’ vibe.

Bermondsey is a place hugely steeped in history, especially riverside/dockland & industrial history. It merits a blog topic in its own right, and is on Shoes ‘To Do List’ – I plan to knock a blog out about it sometime this year.

One unique aspect of Bermondsey is that it has its very own ‘beach’.

Bermondsey Beach is an area of the Thames riverbed that is revealed at low tide – it has sometimes also been known as ‘Tower Beach’ and ‘Folly House Beach’.

It’s only a small, gravelled beach area, but there are some amazing views of the Thames looking east towards Canary Wharf and west towards the City, from the beach area.

It’s also a popular place for people to do a bit of scanning with their metal detectors – in the hope of uncovering hidden treasures of the River Thames.

But, on the day my London Shoes ‘hit the beach’ – it was a bit parky and not a day for donning the old budgie-smugglers, and then laying a towel down to soak up some rays!!!

For this particular jaunt out, I had the pleasure of being accompanied by my old mate Pete, a close pal of mine for over 40yrs.

Pete had always been up for having a day out ‘on-the-road’ with Shoes, and having recently retired from work, this particular venture out was ideal for him – because Pete had lived in Bermondsey as a youngster and he hadn’t been back to explore and have a mooch around, for decades.

So, whilst winding our way through the streets of Bermondsey down towards our destination of Greenland Dock – it was a good opportunity for Pete to seek out some of his old family haunts – to see if they were still standing.

One surprise find in Bermondsey was a pub called “The Old Justice” – a pub that was once managed by one of Pete’s relations some decades ago.

There has been a pub on its site since 1807 – but in 1933 it was completely rebuilt, with a unique Tudor style wooden interior.

The building has a Grade II Listed protection status.

However – the pub has been closed since 2017, and its owners had ripped out all of its unique wooden interior – totally in contravention of its Listed status regulations – so its interior has had to be completely rebuilt – to its original specifications.

Recent new purchasers of The Old Justice pub building are currently in the process of re-opening the pub – which will be great – making it a good place to revisit, when I get around to doing my proposed ‘Bermondsey’ blog.

In the meantime – it was good for my old mate Pete to sit on the steps of The Old Justice pub – as he had done as a nipper some 60yrs earlier – but this time he didn’t have a bottle of lemonade and Arrowroot biscuit in his hands.

So – having wandered through the streets of Bermondsey – and down through Rotherhithe – Shoes finally reached ‘Greenland Dock’ – part of what once was referred to as Surrey Docks.

 

Greenland Dock is my personal favourite of all the old London Docklands sites.

Work to excavate the Dock started in 1695 – and finished in 1699.

At its peak Greenland Dock covered an area of roughly 22 acres, with a depth of 31ft and a length of 2,250ft.

Initially, the Dock was used for the carrying out the ‘re-fitting’ of ships – and handled tons of wood from all over the world – but by the mid 1700’s it had become a base for Arctic whalers.

The whaling ships would come in from Greenland and whale blubber would be boiled up in ‘boiling houses’ situated on the quayside of the Dock, to make oil.

This oil was then used for things such as lamps – for lubricating machinery or for making soaps.

The left-over bones of the whales were then used in the manufacture of umbrellas and ladies corsets.

As a result of this whaling activity, the dock was re-named ‘Greenland Dock’.

It is a lovely relaxing and peaceful site, especially on a sunny day – and if you breathe in deeply, I reckon you can still smell the whale blubber being boiled up on its quayside.!!!!!

Anyway – having walked a good few miles since departing Tower Hill tube station – stopping off at Shad Thames / Bermondsey Beach and explored the length & breadth of Greenland Dock – it was time for a well-earned liquid refreshment.

Situated in the middle of the Greenland Dock quayside is the “Moby Dick” pub – a relatively new pub building, offering a fantastic view across the dock waters.

So – before heading off for the long trek back home, I took the weight off me trotters and tucked in to a bacon sarnie with a bowl of chips – washed down with a couple of ‘cheeky’ Fosters – whilst staring out across the still,  partly frozen waters of Greenland Dock – a fitting end to a long but enjoyable day out in the ‘Smoke’.

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See below, the entire gallery of photos taken to accompany the Shad Thames blog