Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: Thames River

Just east of the Thames Barrier, the abandoned Royal Iris . The Royal Iris , launched in 1950, served as a ferry and cruise ship on the Mersey River near Liverpool until 1991. Becoming increasingly expensive to maintain, there were various (failed) plans to convert it into a floating nightclub which somehow resulted in it being towed to this location in 2002 where it has slowly deteriorated. It’s surprising that there aren’t more efforts to salvage it since the Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers performed on it, it was used in a TV series, and it was used in the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Royal_Iris strangeabandonedplaces.com/abandoned-london-mv-royal-iris (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Sometimes when researching a picture you come up with findings that are completely unexpected. I took this picture of a factory that is downstream from the Thames Barrier just because it looks to be one of the last of the major factories along the Thames near London. On looking up the company (Tate & Lyle), I found a surprising history. The building here is Tate & Lyle’s sugar refinery, which started in East London in 1878 and appears to have been operating at this site since 1882. Their website describes a socially and environmentally responsible company, but what really stands out on their website is a very upfront section titled “Modern Slavery Act”. In that section they acknowledge that the cane for their sugar comes from suppliers in developing countries where labor and environmental policies are often very questionable and thus the company is taking steps to improve the conditions at their suppliers. I do not recall ever seeing such a detailed and explicit statement by a company about improving the work conditions of suppliers. Source: www.tateandlylesugars.com/modern-slavery-act (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Royal Wharf housing development on the north bank of the Thames, on the upriver side of the Thames Barrier. Per the project’s website this is affordable housing (starting around £350,000), though I doubt the units with a riverview fall within that price range. Source: www.royalwharflondon.com (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

From the upriver (west) side of the barrier, looking towards Canary Wharf. If you look closely, you can see one of the pylons for the Emirates Air Line cable car in the picture – the twisting white tower. As noted with an earlier picture, the whole Canary Wharf area is predicted to be very vulnerable to flooding without the defense of the Thames Barrier. (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Another portion of the Royal Wharf development. I suspect that units in this tower are not in the ‘affordable’ price range. (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

A Thames Clipper ferry passing through the barrier. I had been tempted to take the ferry through the barrier, but on the weekend the ferry’s schedule is infrequent and getting from where the ferry docks to the actual barrier requires a bus trip. Besides, the weather was rather ‘iffy’ for riding on the open deck portion of the ferry so as to see the barrier! (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

One thing that particularly impressed me about the Thames Barrier was the detail that went into making it architecturally interesting. (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

The Xylonite entering gate 4 of the Thames Barrier. The Xylonite was built in 1926, of steel, as a Thames sailing barge (see Wikipedia links). In 1958 the Xylonite was cut down to being a motor barge and continued carrying cargo until 1977. It was subsequently rerigged as a sailing barge and has had other modifications including a ‘new bottom’ per one article (why it doesn’t say “hull”, I don’t know). It’s difficult to determine it’s current use, some sites describe it as being used for sail training, others as it being used as a houseboat. The Daily Mail link (below) has good pictures of the interior and describes how the boat was used in the filming of Dunkirk ; the article (from 2017) also says that the boat is for sale for £425,000 ($557K). Sources: Wikipedia Thames sailing barge: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_sailing_barge Wikipedia/Xylonite: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB_Xylonite National Historic ships: www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/236/xylonite Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4706664/Houseboat-used-Hollywood-film-Dunkirk-sale.html (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Rowing crew going between two of the barriers along the main channel. The photo also gives a chance to see part of the mechanism for raising and lowering the gate. The Daily Sun article linked below has pictures of the a gate under construction and of the changes in water level that occur when a raised gate is lowered. Sources: Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier Gov link: www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2559399/Thames-Barrier-turns-30-Stunning-images-reveal-complex-machinery-thats-shielding-London-floods.html (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Continuing from my earlier post about the Thames Barrier (https://www.ipernity.com/doc/donbrr/47920748 ) One of the Thames Barrier gates nearest the south shore of the Thames, with the gate closed. If you look at the nearby satellite view of the barrier, you’ll see that the two barriers closest to the south shore, and four closest to the north shore, are much narrower than the barriers on the main channel. The near-shore barriers are often closed, which fortunately gives a view of how they all would look closed. More on the barriers with the nearby pictures. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Satellite view of the Thames Barrier, courtesy of Google maps. One thing not addressed in the nearby pictures is the visitor facilities at the Thames Barrier. The visitor center, with an information center (closed when I was there) and a very comfortable and friendly cafe for cold days, is on the right side of the green space on the south side of Thames. There is also both an elevated path and a path along the river, both of which allow for excellent views; the path alongside the river tunnels through the control facility allowing the ability to view the barrier from either side. Getting to the center by public transit involves a bus to “Greenwich Trust School” stop, and then about a half mile walk north through that green space. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

From a different angle and further away, another shot of the closed gate that’s near the south shore and of one of the wider gates in the main channel. I didn’t focus on it at the time, but the narrow gate to the left of the closed gate (a little difficult to see) indicates one of the positions that the gates can be open – they can be rotated to the top so that they are above and parallel to the water line, rather than blocking flow. The GOV link provides a good description of how the gates work. In the distance is the development at Canary Wharf, a good illustration of the importance of the gates for protection from a tidal surge from the North Sea. The Daily Mail link below has an image of the area that would be flooded without the Thames Barrier – in that image, the China Wharf area (all in the flood zone) is the area surrounded by a large u-shaped dip in the Thames. The Thames has a long history of flooding from tidal surges, from very heavy rains inland, and from the unfortunate times when heavy inland rain combines with very high tides. A 1953 North Sea Flood that killed 307 in the UK was the impetus to come up with a form of defense, but a means for defense was not figured out until 1966 and the construction didn’t begin until 1974, finishing in 1984. (See the Gizmodo link.) The barrier is regularly tested and was relatively lightly used as defense until recent history – per the Daily Mail link, it was used as a defense 29 times in the winter of 2013/14. Sources: Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier Gov link: www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier Gizmodo link: www.gizmodo.co.uk/2016/10/behind-londons-wall-of-steel-designing-the-thames-barrier Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2559399/Thames-Barrier-turns-30-Stunning-images-reveal-complex-machinery-thats-shielding-London-floods.html (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

What, to me, looks like a uniquely unattractive boat, at Cadogan Pier. Based on the amount of windows and apparent interior open space, it looks like it might be aimed to be used as party space, though the color scheme looks much more industrial. (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

This confounded me – a bunch of boats tied up to a pier running along the north tower of the bridge? Something I’d never seen before. The web page for the Cadogan Pier, particularly the history section, makes it all more understandable. The first Cadogan Pier was built in 1841 as a prop for selling houses in Chelsea; that pier was rebuilt in 1875 to accommodate the construction of the then-private Albert Bridge. So, it’s not what it seems – a city building a bridge and accommodating a private pier for storing boats. Instead, it was two private companies (an existing pier and plans for a private bridge) finding a way to accommodate each other. In fact, if you look closely at this picture, you’ll see the Cadogan pier is not connected to the Albert Bridge. The aerial satellite view makes their separateness even clearer. Source: www.cadoganpier.com/about (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Somehow I knew nothing about the Albert Bridge, so was shocked when walking along the Chelsea Embankment and saw what looked like a rather delicate-appearing (due to the paint scheme) bridge with what seemed to be an odd means of boat parking stretching perpendicularly below it. The bridge’s colors are comparatively recent – it was painted pink, blue, and green in 1992 to increase its visibility in fog and on grey days (such as when this was shot). The bridge is brightly lit at night – something to look for on a later trip. More about the bridge itself, and about the boats, in later photos. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

The Albert Bridge was initially a privately built (in 1873) toll bridge; the economics of private toll bridges did not work out and in 1877 all London bridges across the Thames were bought by the city. Structurally the bridge also changed multiple times over the years, from its original design as a cable-stayed bridge, to a suspension bridge, to what is now effectively a beam bridge; the roadway has also changed multiple times in terms of width and load capacity. The Wikipedia entry sums this up well. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

Fortunately the traffic light changed, allowing for a quick photo of the roadway from the crosswalk. Unfortunately, I didn’t know to take pictures of the toll booths on either side of the picture – the only surviving private-bridge toll booths in London. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)

The Thames, on a cold, grey, November day, from the Battersea Bridge – Cheyne Wharf is to my right, out of the picture. The bridge in the distance is the Battersea Railway Bridge. While I very much like how this picture came out, and the designs of the buildings are very appealing, what those buildings represent remains confounding for me. I simply do not understand where all the money comes from for the volume of upper-end housing being built in urban centers around the globe. The tall, distinctive, building on the left side of the picture is the Montevetro, “luxury living in London”. At the time of this writing (January, 2019), a 3-story penthouse unit was on the market but had been marked down to £8,500,000 ($11 million). Montevetro: montevetro.org.uk/home Much more affordable is Commodore House, the four sloped buildings more or less in the center of the picture, in the distance (in the picture, above the patrol boats). At the time of this writing there was a 2 bedroom for sale (1200 sq ft) for only £1,150,000 ($1.5M). (Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)