Category: Urban sketch

Jesus Green Lock House, Cambridge

A house stands by Jesus Lock on the River Cam. I have walked by it so many times, over decades, that it holds a magical place in my mind. In the dimness of a childhood memory, I am looking over the wall. I remember flowers in the window boxes, a garden. Then somehow it became ignored, scruffy, derelict, vandalised. Then nothing happened, and it just stood there. Each time I saw it, it was slightly more dilapidated. But it remained in my memory, a beautiful house, in a lovely location. Surely someone will do something with it?

And last time I visited Cambridge, I found that, miraculously, yes!, someone is renovating it.

Jesus Green Lock House being renovated. Sketched from Jesus Lock, 24 January 2025, in sketchbook 15

You can see the progress of their work on their instagram site @uglyduckling_reno

This picture from the website of Michelle Bullivant1 shows Jesus Green in the 1700s. The little house by the river, arrowed, looks to me to be in the same position as the current Lock House, and you can see a bridge or ford across the river Cam at this point. I recognise the houses on the bottom right, which look like the terrace of houses on Chesterton Road which is still there.

Image from Michelle Bullivant, Local Historian

This photo of an old postcard shows that, in 1879, the lock house was single story.

Jesus Lock in 1879 – showing the floods.
Image from capturingcambridge.org licensed under creative commons
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

During the 19th century, it was rebuilt. This picture shows the two-storey lock-keeper’s house on the left:

Image from capturingcambridge.org licensed under creative commons
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

It was listed Grade II in 19722. In the 1990’s the final lock keeper moved away3 The house then became a house of multiple occupation (HMO), for students. These was an application in 2016 to turn it into a café, reference 16/0001/FUL. Its use was listed as “HMO” at that time. But this application was refused.

In 2021, the house was bought by its current owners, who have been bravely going ahead with a renovation to transform this listed building once again into a residential dwelling, with an aspiration also to host community events4

“Eventually it will be a beautiful place and a better place”

I sketched the house on a very cold day in January. There was a strong wind which not only threatened to throw my sketchbook into the Cam, but also made my eyes water so I couldn’t see properly. I finished the pen and ink, and decided that was enough. Then, by a happy chance, I encountered the current owner unlocking the fence gate. Hence I learned about the efforts of this mother and daughter team, who are determinedly navigating the difficulties of an old building, listed consents, and many other obstacles. But they make amazing progress! See their instagram account for more information.

Sketching the Jesus Green Lock House
sketching by Jesus lock
detail from the sketch

References:

  1. Michelle Bullivant, Local Historian. The image is on this page: https://www.michellebullivant.com/cambridgeshirehistory/brief-history-of-jesus-green-cambridge#/ ↩︎
  2. Historic England listing number 1111846: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1111846?section=official-list-entry ↩︎
  3. The final lock-keeper moved out in the 1990s according to the Cambridge Edition May 14th 2023. https://cambsedition.co.uk/property/lock-house-and-key/ ↩︎
  4. The renovation reported in the Cambridge Evening News 15th July 2021: https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/jesus-green-lock-house-getting-21062688 ↩︎

Crossness Sewage Pumping Station, engine house, Abbey Wood, London SE2

Here is a view of the old engine house of Crossness Pumping Station, on the South bank of the River Thames.

Crossness Engine House, sketched 5th January 2025 from the Thames Path

This is a former sewage pumping station. It was designed by the engineer Joseph Bazalgette and opened on the 4th April 18651 . It is the equivalent for South London of the Abbey Mills sewage pumping station on the North side of the Thames, which I have sketched previously.

Sketch map showing the location of Crossness Sewage Treatment Works

These two pumping stations were important components of Bazalgette’s plan to rid London of cholera by removing sewage from central London. His idea was to pump the sewage from the conurbations in central London and shift it to Crossness and Beckton. This did indeed solve the problem of cholera in the city. It did not solve the problem of untreated sewage in the Thames: it just moved it downstream and away from the main residential areas of the time. Untreated sewage was pumped into the river at Crossness and Beckton on the ebb tide.

In 1878 the passenger steamer Princess Alice collided with another vessel and sank right at the spot where the sewers released their waste into the Thames. People who survived the collision died as a result of immersion in the polluted water .2

The exact number of passengers on board the Princess Alice during that fatal voyage is unknown, as is the number lost, but it is thought that around 640 people drowned, making this Britain’s worst inland waterway disaster.

Royal Museums Greenwich (https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/drowning-sewage-sinking-princess-alice)

This terrible tragedy and the consequent public outcry prompted the authorities to shift the problem even further downstream. Sewage boats were used to transport raw sewage into the Thames estuary and dump it in the North Sea. Amazingly, this continued until 1998:

The tragedy prompted the introduction of what became known as ‘Bovril boats’ (due to the unfortunate colour and consistency of their cargo), which carried sewage sludge out to the Thames Estuary and North Sea, disposing of it there.This continued until 1998, when EU legislation forbade it due to contamination of beaches.

Royal Museums Greenwich https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/pollution-river-thames-history

These days the sewage is treated3 (mostly). Next to the Victorian pumping station I sketched, there is a vast modern sewage treatment works belonging to Thames Water. Sewage is transformed by bacterial action and filtering. It becomes water and “sludge”. The water goes into the Thames. The sludge is used as agricultural fertiliser or burned for electrical power generation.

Modern sewage treatment works, Crossness, seen from the Thames path.

On my walk I circumnavigated this enormous treatment plant. It hardly smelt atall.

The Thames is vast here.

Looking across to North Woolwich
Birds flock on the outfall from the treatment works
Views from the Thames path at Crossness Sewage works

I sketched the Engine House from the Thames Path. It is behind some tall and strong fencing, which I did not put in the picture.

As you can see, it was raining, on and off.

Here is a photograph of the Pumping Station as it neared completion. It is from a fascinating blog post on the “Historic England” website.

Source: Historic England Archive, used with permission.

The photo is more-or-less the same viewpoint as my sketch. I hope that the workers in this picture felt proud of their achievement, and would be glad to know that their work has been honoured, and building continues on the site.

20th century sludge incinerator, Crossness, and a further incinerator plant under construction, far left

The old engine house is maintained by the Crossness Trust.

Crossness page of Sketchbook 15
  1. Dates of construction from the Historic England listing: https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/crossness-pumping-station-belvedere-road-bexley-8211, and from the Crossness History site: https://crossness.org.uk/timeline/ ↩︎
  2. The problem of pollution in the Thames and disaster of the “Princess Alice” is related on the Royal Museums Greenwich site: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/pollution-river-thames-history ↩︎
  3. The Thames Water site has a description of sewage treatment here. There is a detailed description of sludge incineration in this article of 2019: https://greenwichindustrialhistory.blogspot.com/2019/11/crossess-sewage-sludge-incinerator.html
    ↩︎

Abbey Mills E15: sewage pumping station

Here is Abbey Mills Pumping Station, seen from The Greenway.

Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London E15, sketched from The Greenway, January 2025 in Sketchbook 15

Abbey Mills is a sewage pumping station1. It lifts the sewage from lower level sewers, and pumps it 40 feet uphill to the Northern Outfall Sewer. The Greenway path is on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer.

This system was created by the visionary Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette (1819 – 1891). The pumping stations and the Northern Outfall Sewer are part of a grand construction of sewers and water management works instigated in the 1860s after the “Great Stink” of 1858. The problem of untreated sewerage being discharged into the Thames had been causing disease and bad smells for some time. When the smell and fear of disease affected Parliament, which is located next to the Thames, the government of the day took action.

“On 15 June Disraeli tabled the Metropolis Local Management Amendment Bill, a proposed amendment to the 1855 Act; in the opening debate he called the Thames “a Stygian pool, reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors”. The Bill put the responsibility to clear up the Thames on the MBW [Metropolitan Board of Works], and stated that “as far as may be possible” the sewerage outlets should not be within the boundaries of London; it also allowed the Board to borrow £3 million, which was to be repaid from a three-penny levy on all London households for the next forty years.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stink

So this loan, and the 3d levy on Londoners was used in 1865 to construct the pumping stations and a new sewerage system.

The Victorian sewers are still in use, and are now gradually being upgraded by Thames Water.2 According to the video on their site, the Northern Outfall Sewer constructed by Bazalgette’s team is being left in place. Thames Water are pushing a lining into it, made of 21st century materials. They reckon this will last another 100 years. 3

I sketched Abbey Mills Pumping Station while exploring the Greenway from Hackney Wick to Becton.

“Thank you Sadiq”

The Greenway is a well-used pathway and running route. While I was sketching, a wiry grey-haired runner stopped to chat. He was a cheerful person, sharing my enthusiasm for the transformation of Hackney Wick. He had much praise for the improvements in London, specifically on air quality. Air quality is much better, he said. “I no longer get asthma,” he told me, “even though I still run!” He surveyed the clean path and the view, ” Thank you Sadiq!” he exclaimed. Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London, and has introduced and supported air quality improvement measures such as the congestion charge and the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

My new friend had been a skip-truck driver. He’d worked everywhere, he told me. Constructing the Olympic Park had been a big job. Examining my sketchbook, he saw the sketch of Fournier Street. “I recognise that!” he said. And then, looking closer, “There’s an Express Dairy depot just up the street.”

If you know Fournier Street, you will know that this seems extremely unlikely. Fournier Street is in a residential area, somewhat densely packed, and apparently not a place for a goods yard of any type. However he seemed sure, and I didn’t contradict him. I thought he might have mistaken the location: there are a lot of Georgian terraces in London.

35 Fournier St (1948)

When I was back at my desk I did a search4. Sure enough, just a few houses along from my sketch, there had been an Express Dairy Depot, just as he said. It’s shown in the “history” section of the Express Dairy site. The London Picture Archive shows it. I should not have doubted him. The wide entrance is still there.

I completed the ink sketch on location and then packed up to continue my walk. I still had a good 3 miles to go and it was getting dark, and cold.

View from The Greenway: Channelsea

It was dark when I reached Beckton. I left the Greenway as it crossed the A13.

Greenway to Beckton DLR. Map (c) OpenStreetMap contributors.

If you’d like to follow my route along the Greenway, in the file below is my idiosyncratic description of the route and my walk. The below file is 6 pages printable pdf. The Greenway is part of the Capital Ring, a long-distance walking route.

3 – The Greenway (v2) 6 pages pdfDownload

  1. Abbey Mills is a working Pumping station and not open to individual visitors. It is open to groups from time to time. The organisation “Subterranea Britannica” was invited for such a visit in 2012, which they wrote up in their journal Subterranea, Issue 30. The article describing their visit is by Martin Williams and Alex Lomas. See this link:
    https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/abbey-mills-pumping-station/
    ↩︎
  2. Major £70million upgrade to Stratford’s Victorian sewer system
    Press release from Thames Water: Tuesday 17 January 2023 13:09.
    https://www.thameswater.co.uk/news/70million-stratford-sewer-upgrade
    “A giant Victorian sewer in East London is being upgraded as Thames Water continues its investment in infrastructure across the capital. 
    The UK’s largest water and wastewater company is investing £70million over the next three years to upgrade the Northern Outfall Sewer and ensure its pipes are resilient for future generations. 
    The sewer, which serves over 4 million people, runs from Wick Lane to Beckton Sewage treatment works, the largest in Europe.   ….”
    ↩︎
  3. YouTube video “on Tap” from Thames Water, describes the work being done in 2023 to upgrade the Northern Outfall Sewer. It also contains great photos of the inside of Abbey Mills Pumping Station, and amazing aerial views of the Greenway.
    https://youtu.be/d628Y0dh2sA ↩︎
  4. The Express Dairy depot in Fournier Street is shown in a photo on the Express Dairy site.
    https://expressdairytales.uk/ed-retail-london-and-south-1974-and-before
    1948 Express Dairy depot at 33-35 Fournier Street. Photo by Paul Simm.
    and
    London Picture Archive
    https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=121843&WINID=1735932557537
    1955 view of the same premises. ↩︎

North side of Broadgate Circle, EC2M

Broadgate Circle is undergoing massive redevelopment. Here is the view looking North.

View of the North side of Broadgate Circus, 2 Finsbury Avenue under construction.
Sketched, 30 December 2024 in sketchbook 15.

The concrete cores in the background are 2 Finsbury Avenue under construction. The previous building was demolished. On the left is 1-2 Broadgate, replacing previous buildings. The steel-clad building on the right is 5 Broadgate which replaced 4 and 6 Broadgate and sealed up the access road that led between them.

Building replacement: after 40 years, all change.

Broadgate Circle was constructed in 1985-7 on the site of the former Broad Street station. Here is what the 1980s buildings looked like:

4 and 6 Broadgate, on the North side of Broadgate Circle, before 2012.
From: https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/broadgate-circle/

5 Broadgate, on the right of my sketch, replaced the two buildings in the photo above. It is occupied by the bank UBS. The building has its own Wikipedia page:

The two lowest storeys contain a 200-seat auditorium, restaurants, a gym, and a dry cleaner. Above those are four trading floors which can fit 3,000 people each, as well as seven storeys of offices above. The superstructure is divided into a grid of 13.5-by-12-metre (44 by 39 ft) sections, arranged around the trading floors. Three of the building’s four utility cores are placed along the site perimeter to increase the amount of space on each trading floor.

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Broadgate

The new 2 Finsbury Avenue “consists of a 12-storey podium with a 21-storey West Tower and 36-storey East Tower.”1 It is due to be completed in 20272 and will look like this:

The new 2 Finsbury Avenue, from the website of the architects 3XN.
For scale: 5 Broadgate Circle is on the right of this picture, with the >< signs on the side.

Broadgate Circle is owned as a joint venture between British Land and GIC3. It is adjacent to Liverpool Street Station on the East side of the City of London.

Sketch map showing the location of Broadgate Circle, and my viewing line for the sketch

Here are photos while I was sketching:

Here are links to more views of the 1980s buildings:

Liverpool Street Station on the right, 4 and 6 Broadgate are in the centre . You can see the access road between 4 and 6, which existed at that time.
From: https://www.meinhardt.co.uk/projects/4-6-broadgate/
https://www.frieze.com/article/broadgate-and-city-londons-architecture-inequality

Sketchbook 15
  1. Pictures and descriptions of the new 2 Finsbury Avenue are from the architects’ website: https://3xn.com/project/2-finsbury-avenue-broadgate ↩︎
  2. 18 April 2024 Press release from British Land and GIC. See the press release on this link, file attached below in case the link has expired. https://www.britishland.com/news/broadgate-secures-landmark-pre-let-at-2-finsbury-avenue/ ↩︎
  3. British Land is a UK property developer and GIC is “a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to secure Singapore’s financial future”. GIC is “the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves” Quotes are from press release below. ↩︎
broadgate-secures-landmark-pre-let-at-2-finsbury-avenue-pr-1Download

25 Fournier Street, London E1

Fournier Street is a row of 18th century houses in Spitalfields, east London. Here is number 25.

25 Fournier Street, sketched 19th December 2024 in sketchbook 15

The weather was cold, and I was sheltering from the wind in a doorway opposite.

People rushed past on the pavement in front of me. It was nearing Christmas. I caught fragments of conversation. “Everyone’s after money” said a woman to her companion, “and it’s wrong!“.

I enjoyed spending time looking at this elegant house. The tops of the windows are curved. This is quite common in London. What is unusual here is that the wooden window frames are also curved, and the top panes of glass are curved to match. This must make replacing the glass quite a labour, I thought, and the curved sash window frames would need a skilled carpenter.

A woman approached, looking bothered. She caught sight of me in my doorway. I thought she wanted to open the door where I was standing, to enter the house behind me. So I was ready to express my apologies and move my stuff out of the way. But no, she wanted directions to Brick Lane, which is at the end of Fournier Street. “Just there,” I said, pointing. Brick Lane was almost visible, in a straight line from where we were standing.

She was flustered and didn’t seem quite to believe my simple direction. “It’s all changed round here!” she objected. I paused.

This street has hardly changed in 300 years. I’d just spent an hour looking at a house that was built in 1727. But I didn’t say that: a latent voice episode1.

She was an artist too, she told me. She was looking for a gallery. She hurried off, in the direction I’d indicated.

I was left looking at the house, and thinking.

  1. latent voice episodes = “potential communications that may or may not in fact occur”, Harvard Business School paper: Working Knowledge, Q&A with Amy C. Edmondson, author: Sarah Jane Gilbert, March 20, 2006. “Latent voice episodes” is a useful concept, I think. It’s for those times when you might speak, but don’t. ↩︎

Chichester Cathedral

Here is a view of the south transept of Chichester Cathedral.

Chichester Cathedral, South transept, sketched 5th December 2024 from Canon Lane, in Sketchbook 15.

The first spire was built around 1500. There are no bells in the spire: the medieval builders put the bells in a separate little building in the cathedral grounds. This was just as well. The spire collapsed in 18611. It was rebuilt to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and that’s the spire in my drawing.

From a beautiful framed plan in the Cathedral, which had no date or artist’s name.
Chichester: location
Sketchbook 15

George Gilbert Scott was a prolific 19th century architect. I have sketched his work before:

Chichester Cathedral

Here is a view of the south transept of Chichester Cathedral. The first spire was built around 1500. There are no bells in the spire: the medieval builders put the…

Waterpoint, St Pancras, London N1

This structure is visible from the North side of the Regents Canal at Coal Drops yard. It was a “water point” for replenishing the boilers of steam engines. The top…

St Mary Stoke Newington N16

“What is that spire?” It’s just visible, on the horizon between office blocks. Some work with the binoculars and the map established that it must be St Mary Stoke Newington,…

  1. This history of the cathedral is on their website:
    https://www.chichestercathedral.org.uk/about-us/little-history-cathedral
    ↩︎

The Market Café, Broadway Market, E8

Here is the Market Café, which is at the South end of Broadway Market, near the canal.

Market Café, Broadway Market, Hackney E8, sketched 12 November 2024, 12″ x 9″ [sold]

I’ve sketched the Market Café before, and written about it on this post. This latest sketch was a commission to celebrate a happy event which took place there.

Here are some details from the sketch:

It was a bright and cold day. I did the pen and ink on location.

preliminary sketch
Packing up.
Working on location

The photographer Nick Hillier came by and took some photographs of me working, which he kindly sent me later.

Sketching on location, image credit: Nick Hillier. Pen is a Lamy Safari.

I added the colours at my desk. The colours are:

  • for the brickwork: Fired Gold Ochre
  • all the greys and blacks are: Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Umber
  • the sky is Phthalo Blue Turquoise
  • the green tiles are Serpentine Genuine
  • there’s a bit of Permanent Yellow Deep on some of the highlights and some dots of Transparent Pyrrol Orange
  • the fine white lines are made by using a rubber resist gum. I use Pebeo drawing gum.

For my current palette see this link. I have 12 colours in my palette. For most pictures I fewer colours. This picture used about 7 colours.

Thank you to my client H for the commission and for allowing me to post this image here.

I’ve sketched around the Broadway Market area before. See this link for a sketch of Climpson Coffee, and here is a sketch done at E5 bakery on the other side of London Fields.

Sketch location

North entrance to the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, E16

The North entrance to the Woolwich foot tunnel stands isolated on a traffic island.

North entrance to the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, sketched 26th November 2024 in Sketchbook 15

The Woolwich Foot Tunnel opened in 1912, and is still open today, 24 hours a day. It connects the North and South sides of the River Thames.

I walked through the tunnel on an adventure exploring Docklands, inspired (once again!) by a fascinating article on the “London Inheritance” site.

My expedition started at London Bridge pier, with a trip down the Thames on the riverboat. This seemed the simplest way to get to the docks. It takes about 50 minutes to go from London Bridge to Woolwich.

The route of the riverboat from London Bridge to Woolwich.

Everyone gets out at Greenwich, but it’s well worth going a bit further. The boat is empty, the Thames is huge, and the sky opens out.

The City of London seen in the distance, from the Woolwich Royal Arsenal Pier

The river boat pier at Woolwich is on the South side of the river. I was keen to explore the North side, so I walked a little way to find the entrance to the foot tunnel. There is also a ferry, but I wanted to experience the foot tunnel.

The South entrance to the foot tunnel is hard to find. It’s crammed into a dark space behind the leisure centre. It looks somewhat dingy and derelict.

South entrance of the Woolwich Foot tunnel, hemmed in by 1970s buildings.

You have the option of the lift or the stairs. I followed the arrow to the stairs. The stairs are round the back. You have to find your way in, sidling between the wall of the leisure centre and the columned entrance to the tunnel. I can’t help feeling that the constructors of the tunnel would be appalled that their ornate entrance had been obstructed in this way.

Entrance to the stairs, under the canopy. Leisure Centre is the blue part on the left.

By this time I was rather doubting the wisdom of this undertaking, as the old building seemed so abandoned, and the entrance was so dark. However, the stairs were brightly lit, and it all seemed feasible. So down I went.

The tunnel itself is marvellous: all bright and clean, with amazing acoustics. I could hear the distant voices of people ahead of me.

Inside the Woolwich Foot Tunnel

On the North side there is a different world. The North entrance, unlike its Southern counterpart, stands proud and isolated on an expanse of concrete. I sat down and sketched it.

The building stands on a traffic island which is a junction of many routes. The A117 takes heavy traffic onto the pier, to load onto the Woolwich Ferry. There’s a bus, the Superloop SL2 ,which goes to Walthamstow. People walk from the bus to the foot tunnel.

North entrance to the foot tunnel. The Superloop bus from Walthamstow is in the background.

The signpost on the left of my drawing indicates the long distance footpath “The Capital Ring”. I followed this route along the Thames a little way. The path is cut off after the Galleons Point Housing development. Signs say that the lock gates are being maintained. So the route returns to the main road and passes over the spectacular bridges across the docks.

The bridges offer a view directly down the runway of London City Airport. When I walked past, some boys were enthusiastically photographing the aircraft on their mobile phones.

Plane spotters on the bridge over the Royal Albert Dock. City of London in the distance.

The other direction from the airport, looking toward the Thames, is a scene which seems to define what we mean by “brown field site”.

A brown field site: Albert Island, North Woolwich. This photo was taken from the same spot as the one above, but looking the other way.

In the distance on the left, you see the housing developments round Gallions Reach. The quantity of space round here is astounding. And the docks are enormous.

Royal Albert Dock from the Steve Redgrave Bridge. The dock is about a mile long. The University of East London is on the right, City Airport on the left, City of London towers in the distance.

I walked on over these immense bridges over the docks. An oncoming bus tooted cheerfully. I looked up to see the driver smiling a friendly greeting. Perhaps I looked a little lonely and cold. The bus rushed on. I felt warmer.

On the other side of the bridge I warmed up in the “Wild Bean Café” (recommended) and then made my way to Gallions Reach DLR station and thence to central London.

If in need of wide open spaces and a bit of distance from the problems of the City, then a trip downriver is definitely the thing.

Sketching the North entrance to the foot tunnel
Signpost by the North Entrance
The river at North Woolwich
Looking downstream, North Woolwich
Pumphouse in Gallions Reach
Sketchbook 15 spread

Nyon, view from the castle

Standing on the ramparts of the castle at Nyon, I look towards Lake Geneva.

Rooftops from Nyon Castle, 29 October 2024 in Sketchbook 15

The tower in the picture is at the junction of Rue de Rive and Passage des Pirates, Place Abraham HERMANJAT 1862-1932. I can find its position on a map, but it is unremarked and seems not to have a name. If there is any citizen of Nyon out there who can identify it, I’d be very grateful.

Lake Geneva is in mist, in the background of the picture. The mist came and went as I was sketching. It was extremely cold.

Map from Nyon tourist office, showing the sightline of the drawing.

Nyon is easy to navigate because it is on a slope, from the train station at the top of the map down to Lake Geneva at the bottom of the map.

The map above came from the Nyon Tourist Office who also offered a leaflet reminding me that part of the action in the Tintin book “L’Affaire Tournesol” took place in Nyon. This book is called “The Calculus Affair” in English. On page 21, you can see the the white car which takes Tintin and Haddock along the lake. It has Vaud number plates (“VD”).1 The fire engine which rescues them from the ruins of the house on page 27 is, according to the tourist office, carefully preserved in a local museum.

I read the Tintin books assiduously as a child, and again, in French, years later. I think the pictures influenced my drawing style, and may be why I like to draw in pen and wash today. So as well as being a record of a moment spent on the freezing battlements of Nyon Castle, the drawing above is my small homage to the great Hergé.

Sketchbook 15, with items from the leaflet “Tintin in Nyon”, and a leaf.
  1. The images from the Tintin books are protected by copyright, so I am not including them here. But do have a look if you have a copy of the book at home. ↩︎

Climpson & Sons – Broadway Market E8

Here is a sketch of the coffee merchant Climpson & Sons, on Broadway Market in Hackney.

Climpson & Sons, 67 Broadway Market, London E8, sketched 22 October 2024 in Sketchbook 15

I was sitting at a table in the café opposite, which is called “Route”.

Climpsons are a coffee merchant and roastery based in East London. They roast their coffee in Walthamstow, and their HQ is just the other side of London Fields from Broadway Market.

They were doing a brisk trade as I sketched, and people drank their coffees on the benches outside.

I did most of the sketch on location and finished it at my desk.

Sketchbook 15