Showing posts with label Mayflower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayflower. Show all posts

Thursday, May 14, 2026

"Which is London's longest Street?"

Old Rotherhithe Fire Station, Rotherhithe Street

London has many streets and roads, but which is the longest?

There are a few contenders, depending on what criteria you are assessing it against.
  1. A1 road, which passes through London, has a length of 410 miles (659 kms) and extends to Edinburgh, though it changes names multiple times.
  2. Garratt Lane, Wandsworth, is also noted for its significant length at roughly 2.5 miles (4 kms).
  3. Green Lanes, the longest thoroughfare, is sometimes cited as the longest, as this road runs for roughly 7.45 miles (12 kms) from Newington Green to Winchmore Hill, though it is not a 'street' in the same localised sense.
  4. Streatham High Road is a major, very long, linear road stretching for 1.8 miles (2.9 kms) as part of the A23. 
However, Rotherhithe Street, Southwark, is generally recognised as the longest continuously-named street in London. It stretches for approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 kms), following the River Thames in a meandering semi-circle along a historical route.

So, let's explore London's longest street.

Starting at Rotherhithe Street's western end you enter a narrow pedestrianised path, sandwiched between the converted warehouses of Bombay Wharf and Hope Wharf, before you arrive at the historic St Mary's Church. 

Captain Christopher Jones memorial

There has been a church on this site since Saxon times, but this current building dates from 1715, with the stone spire being added in 1739. In 1876 restoration work was undertaken, where the north and south galleries were removed, the pulpit was lowered and new seating arrangements were made. The altar, in the Lady Chapel, and the two bishop's chairs, in the north aisle, were constructed from timber from the 'Fighting Temeraire'. Plaques inform you that Captain Christopher Jones, along with three of the part-owners of the 'Mayflower', were buried in the churchyard, in 1622.

Monday, September 16, 2024

'Sunshine Weekly and The Pilgrim's Pocket' by Peter McLean

Sunshine Weekly and the Pilgrim's Pocket

Walking along the Thames Path, through Rotherhithe, you will discover Cumberland Wharf. It is a small park with circular seating areas and plenty of trees. Below is Rotherhithe Beach.

In the northwest corner is a statue, erected in 1991, of a boy dressed in 1930s attire, his dog and a pilgrim father. Which makes sense, as it is close to this spot that the Mayflower set sail for Southampton, on September 16, 1620, before heading to the New World.

The statue depicts the ghost of a Pilgrim Father, William Bradford, then Governor of the New Plymouth Colony, looking in horror over the boy's shoulder at what has happened within the New World, since his death. 

The comic, called 'Uncle Pete and Kev's Sunshine Weakly' (I think this should have read 'weekly') depicts things like automobiles, aeroplanes, an eagle, cowboys, the Empire State Building, rockets, the Statue of Liberty and much more Americana. This comic did exist, from 1936-1940.

On the back of the comic are depictions of the Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers.

The dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier, stood on its hind legs, appears to be trying to look at the comic, too.

Sunshine Weekly and the Pilgrim's Pocket

In the ghost's pocket are an A-Z dated 1620, a crucifix, a lobster claw, a Native American totem pole and more. But, no bible.