Rotherhithe Tunnel Shaft 2, sketched 4 November 2025 in Sketchbook 16 (c) JaneSketching
Here’s a map showing the river downstream of Tower Bridge, and the location of these structures. Click to enlarge.
Map showing the Rotherhithe tunnel, all 4 shafts, and the entrances. Click to enlarge. (c) OpenStreetMapcontributors
You can see one shaft from the other. Here’s a picture looking North across the Thames, just before I started the sketch. The light wasn’t great, but you can still see both shafts 2 and 3. See how wide the river is at this point! The distance between the two shafts is around 1500ft (500 metres).
Photo looking north across the Thames at Rotherhithe 4th November 2025 (c) JaneSketching
Here’s a photo from closer:
Photo looking north across the Thames at Rotherhithe 4th November 2025 (c) JaneSketching
Shaft 2 is hidden behind high orange fences as you see. On the inland side it is behind a residential building at 157 Rotherhithe Street.
The Rotherhithe tunnel has 4 shafts. Shafts 2 and 3 are the round shapes and resemble each other. Both are Grade II listed.
Shaft 3Shaft 2Sketches of Shafts 3 and 4 (c) JaneSketching
Shafts 1 and 4 have been modernised.
Shaft 1Shaft 4Shafts 1 and 4 (iPhone photos, (c) JaneSketching, November 2025)
My next expedition will be to sketch the entrances to the tunnel.
Sketchbook 16 spread
Watercolours by Daniel Smith : – Burnt Umber – Serpentine Genuine – Phthalo Blue Turquoise – Transparent Pyrrol Orange – Mars Yellow – Fired Gold Ochre
Colours and brushes used for this picture. Colours by Daniel Smith. Brushes by Rosemary Brushes. Ceramic palette by Mary Ling. Brass Palette by Classic Paintboxes.
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Here is The Leather Market Workspace. The Victorian building on the left is the back of the Grade II listed former “London Leather, Hide & Wool Exchange”, 1878, designed by George Elkington and Sons.
The Leather Market, Bermondsey, sketched 7th November 2025 in Sketchbook 16
My idea had been to sketch the front of the Victorian building from Weston Street. But the front was obscured by delivery vans.
We were on the point of abandoning the project, when Toby appeared.
Lynn’s sketch of the same view (c) Lynn Adams, used with permission.
Toby, it turns out, is in charge of a café. He was standing on the pavement next to a huge arch by the Victorian frontage. Come in! he suggested. Lynn and I followed him through the arch. The space opened out into a large yard, with seats. Toby went into his café and we walked around the yard, sizing up the artistic possibilities. Lynn uttered a shriek of delight. She had discovered a point at the edge of the courtyard with an unexpected view of The Shard. And trees. This was her quest. She settled down to sketch while I went to procure coffee from Toby and his team. Then I started sketching too.
“The Leather Market” is one of a collection of co-working spaces managed by Workspace Group plc. We sketched and drank our coffee in the calm yard. Workers passed by and made encouraging comments.
Working on a sketch of The Leather Market. Pen: Lamy Safari fountain pen
We returned our coffee cups to the friendly café, and set off to explore more of Bermondsey. By the time we emerged out through the arch, the delivery vans had gone from the front of the building.
Thank you to Toby and his team from Skinners Café for making us so welcome!
Here’s a map:
Map showing the viewpoint in the sketchThe Leather Market workspaces – page spread, Sketchbook 16
Colours, all Daniel Smith watercolours:
Fired Gold Ochre for the bricks
Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue for the grey and blacks
Serpentine Genuine for the greens
Some Transparent Pyrrol Orange and Mars Yellow for the light indoors
all the whites are the paper, fine lines achieved using masking tape and rubber resist.
My pen is a Lamy Safari with EF nib, and De Atramentis Document Black waterproof ink. Paper is Arches Aquarelle 300gsm CP, in a book made by Wyvern Bindery of Hoxton
From the café “Morocco Bound” I sketched the distinctive building across the street. This is 2 Leathermarket Street: In the distance you see The Shard, at London…
Here is a autumn scene in Sainte-Croix in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
View over Sainte-Croix and the Mont de Baulmes, from Chemin des ChaletsWork in progress on the sketch
I sketched also in the village.
House, Rue des Rasses, Sainte-Croix
It is a season of clouds.
Jura scenes
On an expedition to Yverdon-les-Bains I sketched in the Place Pestalozzi.
Bazar D’Yverdon, now L’Epicerie Vrac, Place Pestalozzi 3 1400 Yverdon-les-Bains
It was very cold. I just managed to complete the pen and ink sitting in the square. Then I finished the colour in my hotel room.
This building, Bazar D’Yverdon, dates from the beginning of the 17th century. There is an article in the local paper of 2018 (note 1), with some history of the building, and news of a campaign to prevent its being sold and transformed from a retail space into offices. At the time is was a stationary shop, Papeterie Schaer.
A bazaar is a souk, a living place where there are goods and services, where you gossip, trade. For us, the very name “Bazar” is a real source of inspiration.”
Aurélie Massin-Kerkan, co-president of the association for maintaining usage of the Bazar (note 1 – my translation)
Evidently the campaign was successful. The shop on the ground floor is now a grocer “L’Épicerie VRAC”. I went in to have a look. It sells bulk household goods such as shampoo and muesli, as well as a huge collection of traditional items such as egg timers and kitchen knives and tea towels. The bulk items are displayed in dispensers, so you can fill your own container.
L’Épicerie VRAC
I’ve sketched in Yverdon before. Here is the Temple of Yverdon which is just to the right of the Bazar.
Temple d’Yverdon. The Bazar is the building on the left of this sketch. Click to go to my article about the Temple.
The maps below show the location of Yverdon, in the canton of Vaud.
Canton of Vaud is in the West of SwitzerlandLocation of Yverdon (c) OpenStreetMap contributors
On the Place Pestalozzi
Note 1: The local paper article about the Bazar is in the archives of “24 heures – VAUD”. It is by Frederick Ravissin, 16 June 2018. Read a pdf of the article here (in French) – link below:
Vicenza is in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, between Verona and Padua.
Location of Vicenza, in Northern Italy. Map (c) OpenStreetMap contributors
Here are the beautiful Colli Berici, the Berici hills.
The church of St Michael Archangel, in the village of Villaga, Vicenza
The villages lie at the base of the Colli Berici, where the hills descend into the Venice plain.
This is the view across that plain, looking towards Padua. You see the Euganian hills, sudden rocks in the flat land.
In the foreground are the vines.
Here’s a sketch of the view from the cave of Saint Donati. The chapel of Saint Donati is on the left.
It was a lovely hike, through woods. Autumn was a good time to visit.
Cave of Saint Donati, above Villaga, Vicenza (iphone photo), Euganian hills on the horizon.
The town of Vicenza has a medieval centre, with buildings designed by Andrea Palladio (1508 – 1580).
La Villa Rotunda, designed by Andrea Palladio, built 1567-1590
We drove to Vicenza along the magnificently named “La Strada del Vino dei Colli Berici”, the Road of the Vines of the Berici Hills. Italian is a marvellous language. Even the road names sound like poetry.
Here’s a barn. The design, with this asymmetrical arch, was a characteristic pattern in the area.
The whole area was a revelation, from the great to the small. As we walked in the hills, the ground crumbled below by boots and I saw a sea shell. We were at maybe 300 metres above sea level. It wasn’t a sea shell, it was a fossil of a sea shell. These hills were below the sea, once.
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Construction work for the Thames Tideway tunnel surrounds this small round building on the north side of the Thames, near Shadwell.
Rotherhithe Tunnel Shaft 3, King Edward VII Memorial Park, sketched 9th September 2025 in Sketchbook 16
This building is an air shaft and access point access for the Rotherhithe tunnel. The Rotherhithe Tunnel carries road traffic between Rotherhithe on the south of the river and Limehouse on the north. It was constructed between 1904 and 1908, for horses and carts. The designer was Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice.
The tunnel links Limehouse on the north of the river to Rotherhithe on the south. Built originally for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians, the tunnel now carries far more traffic than it was designed for, which requires careful day to day management by TfL to ensure safety.
This circular building is one of four shafts giving access to the tunnel. It contains a spiral staircase, which was in use from when the tunnel was opened in 1908 until the 1970s2. This access is now closed to the public. The shaft building and the staircase are Grade II listed3.
The roof in my picture dates from a refurbishment in 20074. Originally there was a glass dome5.
Location of Rotherhithe Tunnel Shaft 3, map (c) OpenStreetMap contributors.
The fences in my drawing are the perimeter of a Thames Tideway tunnel construction site. The Thames Tideway Tunnel carries sewage from central London to Becton Sewage Treatment Works. It runs under the Thames. At various points there is a junction between this main sewer and a local sewerage system. The site at King Edward VII is one such junction.
The Thames Tideway tunnel runs longitudinally along the Thames, so it crosses the Rotherhithe tunnel, which goes across the Thames. But this is not a problem, as the Thames Tideway tunnel is 60m6 below the Thames and the Rotherhithe tunnel is just 23m down7. So they do not bump into each other.
Map showing the position of Shaft 3 at the North end of the Rotherhithe Tunnel. (c) OpenStreetMap Contributors.Sketchbook 16 spread
I’ve read that you can walk through the Rotherhithe Tunnel starting from one of the the tunnel entrances and passing under the shaft I’ve drawn. Those who have tried it8, even during the pandemic, do not recommend the experience. The tunnel is highly polluted from the vehicle fumes, and the pavement is narrow. It’s even pretty terrifying to drive through it in a car. Close the windows and the air vents, and stay alert while driving. If you’d like to walk a Thames tunnel, I recommend the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, or the Woolwich Foot tunnel, both of which I’ve walked. They are fun, eerie and have no traffic to pollute the air. You can read about my excursion to the Woolwich Foot Tunnel here.
Disambiguation: The Rotherhithe Tunnel I’m talking about in this post is not the same as an earlier tunnel built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel, and his son, Isambard. This Brunel tunnel was a little further upstream, and is now used as a railway tunnel only.
Roof replacement 2007 confirmed by King Edward VII park “Management Plan” 2008 page 15: “The park surrounds the tunnel vent and access shaft to the Rotherhithe Tunnel. The tunnel was opened in 1908, the vent was present before the park was constructed, and early images of the park show that it visually dominated the site. The tunnel vent remains an important feature, but is no longer so visually dominant due to the present day maturity of trees in the park. The Rotherhithe Tunnel was refurbished in 2007 and a replacement roof was installed as part of these works.” Link: https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Leisure-and-culture/Parks-and-open-spaces/king-edward-management-plan.pdf↩︎
Roof of the shaft: 1908 – glass dome, by 1946 – no roof (removed in the 1930s), from 2007 – current roof as in my drawing. Evidence: London Picture Archive has a picture of the shaft in 1921, where you can see the glass dome that covered the shaft. Record number 118817, Catalogue number SC_PHL_01_392_A360 See this link: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?WINID=1762114518393&i=121045. They also have photographs from 1971 where it’s clear that the roof has been removed completely. See photo on this link, record number 237845, catalogue number SC_PHL_02_0666_71_35_217_30A: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=239938 “A London Inheritance” post contains an aerial picture from 1946 showing that the roof had been removed by that date. See this link. This post says: ” The following photo dated 1946 from Britain from Above shows the park at lower left. Note the round access shaft to the Rotherhithe tunnel. In the photo the shaft has no roof. The original glass roof was removed in the 1930s to improve ventilation. The current roof was installed in 2007.” ↩︎
From the café “Morocco Bound” I sketched the distinctive building across the street.
This is 2 Leathermarket Street:
2 Leathermarket Street, London SE1 3HN. Sketched 5th September 2025 in Sketchbook 16
In the distance you see The Shard, at London Bridge Station.
This was the leathermaking district up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We have Leathermarket St, Morocco St, and Tanner St. The former “Leather Hide and Wool Exchange” is further up Leathermarket Street, towards Borough, to the west.
The building was listed Grade II in 1972. It is early 19th century, according to the listing.
Here is the area in 1976, in a picture from the London Archives, used with permission:
The windows are all still there as in 1976, with the same window frames, now painted purple. Even the weird little chimneypot on the top of the turret is still there, as it was 50 years ago. In this 1976 picture the placard between the windows says “Ryedene Ltd” but I have been unable to discover if this company was in the leather business. There is no placard now.
“The Department” now occupies this building. Their business, according to their website, is:
combining cutting edge technology with humanising theatrics to create experiences which are technically masterful and purposely human”
To the right of 2 Leathermarket Street is a garage, “R.W. Auto’s” which I have sketched previously:
2 Morocco Street, sketched from “Morocco Bound”, 18th October 2024, 2pm in Sketchbook 15
Thank you to “Morocco Bound” for their hospitality while I sketched these pictures. It’s a calm and welcoming bookshop and café in an interesting location. I’ll be back!
Page spread, Sketchbook 16
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I was gifted a sketchbook from L Cornelissen of London, a marvellous thing, beautifully bound.
Sketchbook from L Cornelissen, 9.5 inches by 7.5 inches, thick cartridge paper
It seemed perfect for taking on a visit to Trieste, Italy.
I used it for notes, sketches, and as a sort of scrapbook. After the trip I added photos. Here are some of the pages.
Here is a video of the journal (silent, about 90 seconds).
The black and white photos are analogue, from a film camera. The camera is an Olympus XA2 point-and-shoot from the 1980s, and the film was Kentmere 400 pan, developed and printed by Analogue Wonderland.
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Here is The Perseverance, on the corner of Great Ormond Street and Lamb’s Conduit Street.
The Perseverance, 63 Lamb’s Conduit Street WC1N 3NB, sketched 4th September 2025 in Sketchbook 16
This pub was formerly The Sun, and had a magnificent painting on the corner. There are pictures and history on this detailed post from The London Inheritance. The many comments on the London Inheritance blog post describe happy memories of The Sun and its numerous Real Ale pumps.
The pub is listed Grade II reference 1379274. It was built in the early 18th century and the front was renewed in the 19th century. It was The Sun until the 1990s when the name was changed a few times, becoming the Perseverance around 2005/6.
I sketched it from the “Rymans” stationery shop which is on the opposite corner of the crossroads. People walked past me, deep in conversation, casting shadows in the afternoon sun. But one elderly man stopped, and looked up at me. His back was slightly bent. “Are you alright standing there?” he asked. I said I was, wondering what he meant. “Because,” he continued, “I could go up and get you a stool from my flat. It’s just up there.” He pointed heavenwards, to the windows above the shops. People are so kind. This man was so kind. It’s moments like this which make the sun rise on humanity. I was in fact quite tired, and would have liked to sit down, but my drawing was very nearly finished. I hesitated to send this helpful individual back up his stairs. So I declined his thoughtful offer, as politely as I knew how, and continued my drawing standing upright in the sun.
This drawing took 1 hour and 20 mins on location, plus another hour and a half at my desk later. The colours are:
Mars Yellow (brickwork)
Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber (mixed, for the greys and blacks)
Phthalo Blue Turquoise and Ultramarine Blue for the sky and the street, and the street signs
Transparent Pyrrol Orange for the “No Entry” sign and the flowers
Serpentine Genuine Green for the plants
A tiny bit of Permanent Yellow deep for the yellow line on the road, and other small touches
All whites are the paper.
Ink lines are De Atramentis Document black ink in an Extrafine Lamy Safari fountain pen
Paper is Arches Aquarelle 300gsm Cold pressed in a sketchbook made by the Wyvern Bindery in Hoxton.
Here are maps (click to enlarge):
(c) OpenstreetMap Contributors
Here is the sketchbook, size 7″ x 10″.
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My idea that day was to sketch some interesting corner pubs in Bloomsbury.
By the time I had emerged from my flat and was on the street, the bright autumn day had turned stormy. After a few paces, the rain started falling. Everyone dashed for cover. I sheltered in a doorway, together with another woman, two strangers in a refuge, grinning and rolling our eyes. “Well, it is September”. At a pause in the deluge, we both emerged and went our separate ways. I went doggedly towards the West, but no, the rain returned, seemingly even more torrential. I dashed from doorway to doorway, like a fugitive in a spy novel, finding cover where I could. Then I spotted the generous overhang of Smithfield Market and rushed underneath, the rain spattering on the glass above. There was no sign of the deluge ceasing, so I considered, as you do in these strange interim conditions: to go on? to go back? Or to stay where you are?
Why not do the drawing right here? Over the other side of the road is a building occupying an acute angle between roads. It wasn’t in my plan, but by this time I had abandoned my plan. So here is 38 Charterhouse Street, sketched from the shelter of the Smithfield Meat Market canopy.
38 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6JH sketched 4th September 2025 in Sketchbook 16
I sketched it in pen on location. Part way through the process, a group of workers started to clean the area behind me, using high-pressure water hoses. A fine mist appeared in the air, adding to the general dampness. I finished the drawing later that evening, in my warm dry room.
38 Charterhouse Street, photoDrawing in progress on locationDetail of finished drawingThis was where I was standing to sketch, this area was cleaned with high-pressure water hoses.
Here is a map.
As you see, number 38 stands on a little triangle of land, bounded by Charterhouse Street, Carthusian Street and the tiny alley called Fox and Knot Street.
British History Online offers some history for this triangular plot. In the 1860s the City of London redeveloped the Smithfield Meat Market. At the time it had been mostly an open-air market. The City turned it into the covered market it is today. The surrounding lanes and buildings were also affected, both by the redevelopment and the increased trade.
In 1869–70, with the new market building complete, it was resolved to take the new road along the north side of the market further east into the square itself, carried out in 1873–4. The road was called Charterhouse Street, apparently at the suggestion of the Charterhouse, Whereas in 1860 Charterhouse Lane enjoyed a mix of businesses, in 1876 half of the sixteen surviving houses were occupied by meat and poultry traders. The same trades dominated the new buildings put up, though there were also coffee rooms to rival the two remaining pubs and a large bank at the corner with St John Street. By the time of the Second World War most of the buildings west of the Fox and Anchor at No. 115 were purpose-built cold stores. Only with the decline of Smithfield Market did the grip of the meat trades loosen. Today restaurants and bars have largely supplanted them.
The Fox and Anchor pub and the former cold stores are on the left of my drawing. I’ve drawn the marvellous frontage of the Fox and Anchor here.
British History Online describes the block on the corner, number 38:
The City of London arms on the building today.
The remnant of ground at the angle between the old and new roads was laid out for a small block of buildings and allotted the numbers 38–42 (even) Charterhouse Street, behind which a tiny street, Fox and Knot Street, was cut through in 1871. The name was taken from Fox and Knot Yard, a court obliterated by the new market.
The small triangular block west of Fox and Knot Street […] just within the City boundary, belongs to the land acquired by the Corporation of London in the 1860s for the Smithfield Market development. Set out for building in 1871–2, it remained empty until 1875–6. At the apex a warehouse (No. 38), was then built for Myer and Nathan Salaman, ostrich-feather merchants, to designs by Benjamin Tabberer. […] It is four storeys high, of red brick with regular fenestration; all the ornamentation is concentrated on the narrow corner. For many years there were coffee-rooms here.
So, in 1875 it was an ostrich-feather warehouse, which must have been a great place to visit. The next mention of the building is on the website of Herbert, a present-day supplier of technology to retail businesses. They have a section of their website devoted to their long history. In the early twentieth century they were supplying weighing machines and balances from their offices in West Smithfield and a factory in Edmonton.
Herbert and Son moved out in 1956 and consolidated their operations into their Edmonton site. Since then, the building has been a coffee house, and, more recently, various bars. It is now the “Smithfield Tap”.
In a backstreet in Camden is a magnificent Art Deco building.
7 Herbrand Street WC1N 1EX, sketched 30 August 2025 in Sketchbook 16
This was built of re-inforced concrete in 1931, to the designs of architects Wallis, Gilbert and Partners. The style is called “Streamline Moderne” and includes fun details.
7 Herbrand Street, details
It was originally used as the headquarters of Daimler Hire Cars. It includes a spiral ramp, off to the right of my picture. This was where the cars entered and drove up to the garage.
General view of 7 Herbrand Street showing the former garage entrance (centre right). The spiral ramp was in the curved part of the building to the right.
As I was sketching, a passer-by approached me to tell me the history of the building. She worked for Daimler Hire, in the offices on the upper floors. Her husband was a driver, she told me. Later the building was used as the headquarters of the London Taxi Company, and by Hertz car rentals. The basement was occupied by Frames Rickard Coaches.
The building was listed Grade II in 1982, number 1378855. The listing calls it “Frames Coach Station and London Borough of Camden Car Park”. It is now occupied by a fintech company called “Thought Machine” who provide banking software. The spiral ramp has been removed.
This building with its curves was tricky to draw and took me a long time. The person who had approached me to describe the history returned back up the street. She held out a hand containing fresh hazel nuts she had collected from the pavement. “I don’t think Camden Council realise they have planted hazelnut trees” she said.
Once the pen drawing was finished, I ate a sandwich from nearby Fortitude Bakery, and walked home to finish the drawing at my desk.
Sketchbook 16
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Jane Sketching 