Crossrail Place Roof Garden

 

View from the Roof Garden.

One of the more interesting parts of the Canary Wharf development, for me, is the Crossrail Place Roof Garden. 

From the outside it looks reminiscent of the Eden Project, in Cornwall, with huge plastic sheets, supported on the largest timber frame in the UK, covering much of the surface area. The rest is left open to the elements and acts like a giant terrarium. 

Crossrail Place Roof Garden.

Taking the escalator to the roof garden brings you out into a lush forest full of ferns, maples, strawberry and banana trees and much more.

Western ferns.

West India Docks Police Station (Former)

The Port of London Authority Police Force building.

Wandering around West India Docks there are numerous buildings, some dating from the early 1800s, that have been repurposed following the closure of the import/export docks in the 1980s.

The Museum of London Docklands is housed within one of the original dock buildings, for instance.

Many other buildings were demolished when the area came under regeneration as part of the Docklands Scheme, which saw Canary Wharf constructed and new underground stations built.

The building above is quite interesting, in its own way, as it was the home of the Port of London Authority Police Force from 1914.

Golden Carousel

The Golden Carousel, during the day.

If you take a trip down the Queen's Walk on the South Bank, you will discover a Carousel that is always running, come rain or shine. It is the only fairground ride along this stretch of pedestrianised pavement and so looks a little out of place. 

You can almost certainly guarantee that whenever I am passing it, my girls will want to take a ride on it, regardless of the weather or time of day. And who am I to object?

Erin and Keilyn enjoying a ride on the Golden Carousel, on a sunny afternoon.

Many people assume, wrongly, that it is just like all the other Carousels that are seen around the country and the world, throughout the warmer months.

Dead Man's Hole

Dead Man's Hole.

Beneath the northern end of Tower Bridge is a small tiled alcove that many people walk by without even noticing. Those that do stop to look at this unassuming hollow have no idea about its macabre history, or why it is there.

During the construction of Tower Bridge, in 1886, the alcove was created and finished in white shiny tiles, in sharp contrast to the stone and cobbles that covered the rest of the bridge.