Out on the Thames, just opposite our favourite bench on the Victoria Tower Gardens’ embankment, floats a yellow, Palace of Westminster boundary marker. Rocking and swaying with the movements of the tides it has become a convenient stopping place, perch, or sunspot for a number of birds and, to the delight of those who have …
Author archives: Patricia Stoughton
The International Memorial to Seafarers
It’s an almost surreal experience walking or driving past riverside offices along the Thames towards Lambeth Bridge from the south, when the bows of a ship emerge suddenly from an office building: a ten tonne, seven metre high bronze vessel, with a seafarer on the prow. Appropriately sited, this monumental sculpture, the Seafarers’ Memorial, stands …
The Westminster Thames Tide Recorder
Usually not given a second glance, the Thames Tide Gauge Hut distinct in its bluish-green weathered copper has been a fixed part of the Thames landscape for many years. Yet the instruments set up inside are up-to-date and functional, with computerised measuring instruments and digital displays, sending information on the depth of the river at …
Standing Tall
Re-named Elizabeth Tower in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 but known world-wide as Big Ben after its famous bell, Augustus Pugin’s magnificent Neo-Gothic clock tower has undergone a major restoration. The chimes of Big Ben, so much a part of the daily soundtrack of Westminster and beyond, fell silent on August 21st, …
The RNVR makes major donation to Tower RNLI
The RNVR Officers’ Association’s generous donation is encouraging news for the RNLI and particularly for the Tower Station crews, who have been in need of new accommodation for some time. Not only are their living conditions cramped, the station lacks the best facilites for casualty care. Tower Lifeboat Station Manager, Kevin Maynard, explained that: “When …
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