Culture:

Thames Path Statues

Thursday, 24 October 2024

It’s a British National Trail, the only one to follow a river and definitely a river worth following. From its source west of Oxford it runs for 184 miles (294km) through the Cotswolds, to Oxford and on past iconic English names like Abingdon, Henley and Windsor and then through the heart of London, finally finishing at the Thames Barrage on the east side of the city. Over the years I’ve walked assorted short London sections of the path and in 2023 I set out to walk the whole route, starting with three days from the source down to Oxford.

In 2024 I walked all the rest of the path, sometimes whole day walks, often with friends, sometimes shorter sections. My general routine was to take a train (sometimes the tube) out from London, walk back downstream and then take another train home. Coming back into London on one of my train trips, with British travel journalist Simon Calder, we recorded a five-minute podcast about the Thames Path. The last 45 or so km I actually did twice because through central London there are in fact two Thames Paths, on the north and south side of the river. Which stretches the walk to about 340km.

And there are lots of statues, starting with Old Father Thames himself at St John’s Lock which I encountered on my Source-to-Oxford walk last year.

▲ He turned up again as a bas relief in Nine Elms between Vauxhall Bridge and Battersea Power Station in Central London, wrestling with assorted aquatic creatures rarely encountered in the Thames including a giant octopus.

◄ Directly across the river in Pimlico Gardens is a statue of William Huskisson, looking statesman-like in a Roman toga. He wasn’t a slave owner, but it appeared he did rather approve of slavery which could make him an endangered statue target today. The plinth simply lists William Huskisson – Statesman – Born 1770 Died 1830 – there’s no mention of how he died in 1830. By stepping in front of a train and although he was probably not the first person to die in a railway accident he was certainly the best known early locomotive victim. Plus it was not just any train, he was killed by the Rocket, pioneer railway engineer George Stephenson’s very first locomotive.

◄ Continue a little upstream and you’ll come to the statue of Sir Thomas More in front of Chelsea Old Church on Chelsea Embankment – looking distinctly morose, as you well might if the executioner’s axe was soon going to be descending on your neck. More was, however, noted for his cruel streak – he liked to see heretics burnt at the stake for crimes like translating the New Testament into English. I’ll be reading a poem at Chelsea Old Church on Wednesday 11 December as part of the Friends of Royal Marsden carol service.

◄ Head downriver to Victoria Embankment, right across from the London Eye, and you’ll find this memorial to Samuel Plimsoll, creator of the Plimsoll Line painted down the side of ships to indicate the maximum safe loading limit. Until this creation unscrupulous ship owners would often grossly overload their ships, sending ships’ crews to their deaths.

◄ Further downriver, just past Tower Bridge on the Tower of London north side of the river, and you’ll encounter the girl with a dolphin statue by David Wynne, a pair to the boy with a dolphin statue by the same sculptor at Oakley St-Chelsea Embankment-Albert Bridge Rd. Dolphin and girl have been swirling by Tower Bridge since 1973, but it was not until 50 years later in 2023 that 1977 Wimbledon winner Virginia Wade revealed that she was the nude model for the sculpture.

▲ Not much further downriver these charming blue-coated figures mark the St John of Wapping School on Scandrett St which was founded in 1659. Blue Coat Schools were charity schools, some dating from the 16th century, and there’s another Blue Coat school with equally charming figures across the river at Rotherhithe. There’s a lot of interest in Rotherhithe quite apart from the St Mary Rotherhithe School bluecoat figures. Across the road from the school is St Mary the Virgin Church which has Mayflower connections, the Mayflower set out from here in 1620 before making its final departure to the USA from Plymouth. Christopher Jones, captain and part owner, was from Rotherhithe and is buried in the church graveyard.

▲ A Mayflower-related comic book statue shows a pilgrim father looking over the shoulder of a young boy whose book illustrates all sorts of American inventions which had appeared in the centuries after the pilgrim vessel’s arrival. Rotherhithe also has the pretty Mayflower Pub and a nearby Brunel Museum and Brunel Engine House.

▲ In suburban Twickenham on the west side of London the riverside York House Garden is home to eight larger-than-lifesize statues of nymphs, ‘the naked ladies’ as they’re known locally. They were bought in Italy in 1904 and brought to London by an eminent financier who then committed suicide when he was caught up in some scandal. They were then acquired by Indian magnate Sir Ratan Tata who created the grotto and fountains and added the statues to his property in 1906. Later the house, gardens and statues all fell into disrepair before the garden was acquired by the Twickenham Council and the statues restored in 1989. Another Ratan Tata, from the same successful Indian family, died in October 2024.