Ebb & Flow

One of my favourite walks over the last few years has been to wander slowly along the South Bank of the Thames on a busy Saturday afternoon just watching people and soaking up the atmosphere. Having always been somewhat clumsy, without a good sense of balance, I appreciated the gutsy, gravity defying energy and freedom of the skateboarders, skaters and bikers exciting the Undercroft watchers at the Southbank Centre. Not formally organised, they put on an impromptu, unstructured show for passers by, family and friends, who stand behind a safety rail.

Like so many sporting activities, indoor and outdoors, skateboarding here has been put on hold, so after searching through past pictures here is a retrospective selection to give a feeling of one of my favourite parts of London. A feeling that I hope will soon be possible to experience again.

According to SkateboardGB, at the moment “Skateboard coaching can continue outside on a one-to-one basis, maintaining social distancing and hygiene protocols.” And the Southbank Centre say that “the Skate Space area is currently fenced off but will re-open once social distance measures are relaxed. […] Hopefully within the next few weeks.”

Also usually putting on a real show are the many living statues, whose ability to keep absolutely still never ceases to amaze me, often under a certain amount of touching, even prodding. Though you can see them in other touristy parts of London, the area close to the London Eye along the Southbank has been the most popular place to perform. But since the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020, and all the anti-covid restrictions, this has not been possible.

The Plimsoll white statue with his thick, Medusa like strands of hair would change position every so often, otherwise remaining impossibly still. There was something about his thoughtful expression that, after dropping the necessary coin at his feet, I wanted to photograph. The following day I returned to the South Bank with a picture for him in an envelope which I laid at his feet, explaining what it was. Though he gave a slight smile, he held his position. However, the time to leave his post was approaching and still in the area, I saw him retrieve the photograph, taking it carefully from the envelope, and could see the pleasure it gave him. When I approached, he told me that he didn’t have any pictures of himself working in London and would send it to his parents, if I remember rightly, in Poland.

All this takes place against an ever-evolving background of street art on the walls and ceilings of the Undercroft below the Queen Elizabeth Hall, a famous London concert hall venue. Every time I went, there were different images and colours splashed across the walls. How long a particular design remained in place before being painted over, I don’t know. Rules, or a kind of etiquette would seem to contradict the spontaneity and vibrancy of the art but I imagine there is some sort of code or understanding. But for the moment, the space is in limbo, waiting, as are so many, for it to be safe to relax social distancing.

Further Information
SkateboardGB On March 22, SkateboardGB will publish the latest information on the route out of lockdown.
Southbank Centre
Southbank Undercroft: Cultural and Heritage Assessment Report, September 2014

Continuing my last post, and looking upstream in the early evening from Westminster Bridge, you can see Lambeth Bridge, and both bridges are to be illuminated this spring as part of the Illuminated River art project. These two, along with those already in the scheme, will be lit up at sunset, later reverting to their quiet darkness at 2.00 am, leaving the river with a few glittering reflections of lights from riverside lamps and surrounding buildings. The lighting for Westminster and Lambeth Bridges will subtly reflect their existing colours, said to have been changed back in 1970 by the Historic Buildings Committee of the then GLC (Greater London Council), to green for Westminster Bridge, echoing the green benches in the House of Commons and a red motif, now mostly faded pink, for Lambeth Bridge, echoing the red benches in the House of Lords.

While setting out this piece I discovered some interesting notes in J. H. Herring’s book: Thames Bridges from London to Hampton Court, published in 1884, some of which I will share with you. For example, he says that the name Lambeth “is derived from lam: dirt, and hyd or hythe: a haven”. However, several other sources say that the name came from the old English word ‘lambehyde’, or ‘lambehitha’ recorded in 1062, meaning literally a ‘landing place for lambs’, or as Stephen Skinner puts it in his Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ, 1671, ‘Portus Agnorum’. The Lambeth Village History site gives credence to both, and suggests that the name might refer to the geological marine profile of the area: loam or mud in the harbour and London clay.

Herring writes that “Vauxhall, or properly Fulke’s Hall, so called from Fulke de Breauté, the celebrated mercenary follower of King John, who appears to have built a hall or a mansion house in the manor of South Lambeth.” And if you search the Online Etymology Dictionary you will find it more or less in agreement.

The first Chelsea Bridge was built in 1858. Known then as Victoria Bridge, and later as Old Chelsea Bridge, it is described by Herring “as the only direct approach from Belgravia to Battersea Park, crossing the Thames at the vastly improved borough of Chelsea…”

Albert Bridge, though commissioned in 1864, suffered a number of delays due to technical problems and didn’t open until 1873. Named after the Prince Consort to make up a pair with Victoria Bridge, it’s one of London’s favourite bridges. According to Herring: “The light perforated Gothic towers supporting the chains, though elegant, fail to give an idea of stability […] however, the main towers are substantial enough to somewhat relieve the idea of general want of strength.” The story that soldiers marching from the nearby barracks were ordered to break step to prevent setting up potentially damaging vibrations when crossing the bridge, is widely known. And though over the years, Albert Bridge has undergone strengthening and a number of moderations, notices from the Royal Brough of Kensington and Chelsea still remain fixed on the old toll booths at either end of the bridge: “All troops must break step when marching over this bridge.”

Battersea Bridge is five miles upstream from London Bridge. In Herring’s day it was a “rude wooden superstructure erected in the year 1771”, and he clearly wasn’t a fan, coupling it with Putney Bridge, also made of wood, saying that they “are perhaps the most inconvenient and dangerous obstructions now remaining on the River Thames.” The present Battersea Bridge was opened in 1890, four years after Putney Bridge.

The old, wooden Putney Bridge, built in 1729, was only the second London Thames traffic crossing to be opened, challenging the long held monopoly of London Bridge, and ruffling a few feathers of the existing ferry operators, who had to be compensated. Herring, who earlier denigrates the structure along with Battersea Bridge adds: “It is positively dangerous to the inexperienced aquatic {…] It makes a picturesque but at the same time an inconvenient obstruction to the noble waterway.”

There are more bridges spanning the tidal Thames further upstream, enough for a third section but lacking sufficient photographs, I will wait until it’s possible to go as far as the limits of the tidal Thames at Teddington Lock. Hopefully not before too long.

Sources and further Information
Herring, J.H.: Thames Bridges from London to Hampton Court, London. 1884.
Online Etymology Dictionary: A useful site for further research into place names.
Article on the Bridges of London in The Engineering Timeline
Article in The Londonist ‘How London’s Thames Bridges got their names’.
A London Inheritance: An excellent London site if you would like more detailed information on Albert Bridge and others.
List of Bridges in London: Wikipedia.