Results tagged “thames”

Thames Clippers are reporting a return to normal service and the river has re-opened under controlled navigation. Meanwhile eyewitness accounts of the moment a tugboat and the barge it was towing sank beneath the Thames have been emerging.

Historian and television presenter David Starkey will curate a major anniversay exhibition at the National Maritime Museum.

Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames examines the river through its relationship to the monarchy, the city and the people of London and will celebrate 75 years of the museum in Greenwich.

Lightermen were workers who transferred goods between ships, anchored in the middle of river, and quays, aboard flat-bottomed barges called lighters in the Port of London.

This was no mean feat. The shifting tides of the Thames required concentration and skill and, in the early days, considerable muscle to pull the lighters to the dockside.

By John Biggs

As I wrote last time, Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that he will build that cable car across the Thames, between The O2 and Excel.

I have misgivings about it: whether it's really that much of a transport priority and over the broken promises about cost - but I have learnt a little more.

Nelson House in Rotherhithe was probably not named after the famous admiral. Instead its origins lie in the 1740s when it was built for one of the shipbuilding owners linked to the nearby Nelson Dock.

The front entrance of Nelson House faces Rotherhithe Street - rather than the Thames - suggesting that, in an earlier life, it led to the shipyard.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be marked by the largest river pageant since the reign of Charles II.

The monarch intends to celebrate her 60 years on the throne in style, leading a flotilla of 1,000 boats along the Thames in June 2012.

An unsung hero of the Thames is being restored to its former glory at Southdock Marina, in Southwark.

Built in 1935, The Massey Shawboat fireboat served the London Fire Brigade for many years and also took part in the Second World War Operation Dynamo to rescue soldiers from the beaches at Dunkirk.

By John Biggs

I recently met TfL to discuss Mayor Boris Johnson's cycle hire scheme and its expansion to Tower Hamlets, including the Wharf.

It's a nice scheme which the mayor said would cost us nothing. It's now looking rather expensive - even after Barclays' contribution it has cost us £79million so far, with more for the extension

An illuminated waterfall of words will be cascading down the walls of Chancellor Passage from next month.

The installation by German artist Julius Popp combines creativity with science and technology to produce a striking sluice of script.

In 1597, the Isle of Dogs was little more than a swamp where the sewage from the Thames tended to accumulate.

It may have been this satirical and scatological location that tempted playwrights Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, pictured, to give their new work the name of the island.

Man's best friend will be coming to the aid of some plucky fund-raisers taking a dip in the dock.

Volunteers will be leaping into the Thames at Dollar Bay, Isle of Dogs to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Visitors are invited to travel the full 215 miles of the River Thames in just 200ft, at a new photographic exhibition - River Thames: Source To Sea - now on display at Tower Bridge.

This exhibition promises a showcase of stunning photography illustrating the peace, power, beauty and historical significance of locations along the river.

The low spring tide this year exposed the banks of the Thames to the full glare of public view. It didn't present a pretty site.

Volunteers donned welly boots to trudge through the clammy mud at the Isle of Dogs and North Woolwich and found a range of unsavoury and unsightly items.

It is in the nature of think-tank proposals that they are heavy on vision and light on detail. That goes with the territory.

This inevitably leaves a flank exposed. Those on the inside can easily find fault, perhaps viewing the authors as well-meaning amateurs, finding the illusion of clarity in muddied waters.

By John Biggs

Another year draws to an end giving me an opportunity to set out my priorities for next year. My main focus for 2010 is to make the case for east London's connectivity to enable it to benefit from opportunities elsewhere, and to grow within.

London must climb out of the economic hole, and east London is key.

By John Biggs

Even a little green man from Mars would recognise that for an area like ours to have so few roads crossing the Thames is unsustainable.

But we also know that individual communities often oppose roads because of the fear that they will bring unwanted traffic to a quiet area. The answer is that we need leadership.

By Victoria Clayton

A signed letter from polar explorer Captain Robert Scott is on display at the Museum of London Docklands to mark 100 hundred years of history on the River Thames.

The Port of London Authority (PLA) celebrated its centenary with an exhibition, featuring Captain Scott's letter that granted permission to moor his ship in London.

By Andrew Williams

I’m setting sail from the calm blue waters of the Wharf next week to take a trip down to beautiful Bristol. I’m speaking at a conference about the nautical implications for the environment.