Walking with Keilyn: Brunel Museum to Rotherhithe... and beyond

Keilyn ready to visit the Brunel Museum.

Saturday April 27, 2024.

Another Saturday saw Keilyn and I take another trip to London. Specifically to visit the Brunel Museum, but then to explore the area.

Our trip began the same way as usual; Metropolitan line to Finchley Road and then on to Bermondsey.

Our first stop, on reaching Bermondsey, was to grab a coffee and hot chocolate, which we purchased from the Servewell Cafe, before continuing along Jamaica Road to Southwark Park. The forecast said that rain was due at around 14:00, so we decided to visit Southwark Park before it began.

Keilyn at the Southwark Park Bandstand.

We visited the bandstand, before passing the bowling green, crossing Carriage Drive, where we discovered the Caryatids of Rotherhithe Old Town Hall. 

The Caryatids of Rotherhithe Old Town Hall.

From here we entered the Ada Salter Garden and then made our way around Southwark Boating Lake, before heading back towards Jamaica Road and King's Stairs Gardens.

Southwark Park Boating Lake.

From here it was a short walk along Saint Marychurch Street to the Brunel Museum, passing the historic Mayflower pub along the way.

Brunel's Engine House plaque.

To our surprise the Brunel Museum was deserted, so we had the entire place to ourselves for our entire visit. After purchasing our tickets, Keilyn was issued with a clipboard with two sheets of questions about the museum and the history of the Thames Tunnel, called 'The Brunel Detective Trail'.

Keilyn 50-feet down the Thames Tunnel Shaft.

Our first stop was to the Thames Tunnel shaft, from where the tunnel's construction began. After being ushered in to this cavernous shaft, with its bare brick and smoke-coated walls, we were left to explore on our own. At the bottom of the shaft Keilyn and I took a seat and watched a 4-minute video, that was set on a continuous loop, that explained the reasoning, construction and effect the Thames Tunnel had on London and the world. As we watched the video we could hear, and feel the London Overground (The Windrush line, from Autumn 2024) rumbling past beneath our feet.

Some of the artefacts on display.

Ornamental Canal, Wapping

Looking along the Ornamental Canal towards The Shard.

Just to the east of St Katherine Docks and Marina you will find Hermitage Basin, a small oasis amid a now residential area. This basin is all that is left of the London Docks, which were filled in for redevelopment in around 1983.

The old walls of the London Docks.

To keep the history of the London Docks alive a canal was designed, that would link Hermitage Basin to Shadwell Basin. This canal was not designed for river traffic and so was built as an ornamental reminder of bygone times.

Not navigable, but full of wildlife. 

The former dock walls were used as features along the Ornamental Canal, which would pass alongside Tobacco Dock, the only warehouses to survive the redevelopment, as it made its way in a north-easterly direction towards Shadwell Basin.

The Tobacco Dock warehouses were built in 1812.

As the canal nears Shadwell Basin it passes beneath Wapping Woods, so the towpath leads you up through this wonderful little park, before rejoining the canal near Shadwell Basin.

Warships on the River Thames

HMS Belfast, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (2018).

Over the centuries the River Thames has seen many ships cruise her waters. Some of these ships were built in Deptford, or one of the other shipyards along her banks, while other ships were broken up on the banks of the River Thames, when they were decommissioned. 

Since the end of World War II, with the creation of NATO, ships from various navies from a myriad of NATO powers have visited London, often mooring at Greenwich or Canary Wharf docks, while others go upstream and moor next to HMS Belfast (C35).

Below are just a few of the Naval ships that have visited the River Thames.

HNLMS Luymes alongside HMS Belfast (2019).

HNLMS Luymes (A803) is a hydrographic survey vessel of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

HMS Belfast from The Shard (2019).

HMS Belfast played a major role in the sinking of the German Ship, Scharnhorst, in 1943, before taking part in the D-Day landings in 1944, where she was one of the first ships to open fire. Her guns were so powerful that, when fired, they cracked the toilet bowls onboard.

HNoMS Nordkapp alongside HMS Belfast (2023).

The HNoMS Nordkapp (A531) serves as the flagship of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One.

HMS Illustrious at Greenwich, with the Cutty Sark in the background (2013).

The Royal Navy Invincible-class aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R06) on a visit to Greenwich, in 2013. She was commissioned in 1982 and was decommissioned in 2014. She was intended to become a museum, much like HMS Belfast, but all the bids fell through as the upkeep of the 22,000-ton ship was not feasible, and so was sold for scrap in 2016.

HMS Illustrious at Greenwich (2013).

HMS Illustrious at Greenwich (2013).

HMS Blyth cruising down the River Thames (2013).

HMS Blyth (M111) is a Sandown-class minehunter, launched in 2000 and decommissioned in 2021.

HNoMS Nordkapp alongside HMS Belfast (2023).

German frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern alongside HMS Belfast (2012).

 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a Brandenburg-class frigate of the German Navy. She was commissioned in 1996. As of January 2018, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has sailed 29,000 nautical miles and rescued 700 people during various assignments.

Braunschweig-class corvette F261 Magdeburg alongside HMS Belfast (2024).

The Braunschweig-class corvette F261 Magdeburg, of the German Navy, was launched in 2006 and was commissioned on September 22, 2008.

Braunschweig-class corvette F261 Magdeburg alongside HMS Belfast (2024).

'Light Tunnel'

King's Cross Light Tunnel.

I had heard, and seen images, of the Light Tunnel at King's Cross station, but had yet to see it.

Considering its location, linking King's Cross with St Pancras International stations it also guides visitors towards Granary Square and the markets, restaurants and shops near Coal Drops Yard, it wasn't the easiest thing to find. 

I entered it by using the entrance from King's Boulevard, which, I think, is a better way to first experience the light installation.

Colour-changing LED screens.

Using the King's Boulevard entrance to the King's Cross underground station really sets the mood for what you are going to see.

Ready Money Drinking Fountain

The Ready Money drinking fountain, also known as the Parsee Fountain.

If you walk along the main Broad Walk, of Regent's Park, you will come across this beautiful drinking fountain, which is situated close to the highest point of the park.

Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, whose nickname was 'Ready Money', a wealthy Parsee from Bombay (now Mumbai), was a well respected philanthropist, funding asylums, colleges and hospitals, in India. He gave the fountain to the British nation as a 'thank you' for the protection his countrymen received by the British, in India.

It was built in 1869 and cost £1,400. It is made from 10 tonnes of Sicilian white marble and 4 tonnes of Scottish pink and grey granite. It was designed by Robert Kierle and constructed by the sculptor Henry Ross.

There are carved busts, in the gables, of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Cowasji Jehangir, with the the fourth gable containing a clock.

Below each of the four basins are small apertures which allowed dogs to drink at the fountain, too.

It became Grade II listed in 1970 and was fully restored, thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, between 1999-2000.

Between 2016-2017 further restoration work was carried out.