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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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.” ↩︎
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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This imposing building presides over an entire block, in the back-streets of Camden. I’ve admired its austerity and unadorned walls, amongst the much more elaborate buildings around. This is an electricity substation, very functional. I’d noticed it while sketching The Coach, a nearby pub.
Back Hill substation, EC1R 5ET, sketched 27 August 2025 in Sketchbook 16
There were many more pipes and connectors than I could fit into the drawing. They all looked important. This is a serious building. The sign on the wall says “Danger of Death”. But the pipework has a certain lighthearted steampunk appeal. The arrangement has lamps, ladders and valves in odd places, and inexplicable vents, as though it might huff and exude puffs of steam. But when I saw it, the whole structure was silent and still.
“silent and still”
The building is from the 1950s.
This complex dates mostly from 1956–7, when the London Electricity Board extended an earlier yard established in the late 1920s by its predecessor, the London County Council’s County of London Electric Supply Co. The 1950s buildings, designed by the LEB’s Architect’s Section, are of reinforced-concrete and steel frame construction with elevations of buff-coloured brick and glass block. They match the original building in the southeastern corner of the site ….
‘West of Farringdon Road’, in Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville, ed. Philip Temple (London, 2008), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp22-51 [accessed 11 September 2025].
The planning notice on the gate: click to enlarge
It is very much in active use and currently being enhanced. Planning notices fastened to the main gates informed me that: “The customer at 21 Moorefield’s [sic], London EC2… requested a 10MVA supply from the City of London 33kV network providing enhanced level of security of supply.” They don’t want any fluctuation in the power supply, then, and no power cuts.
At the moment: “Back Hill 33KV substation does not currently have adequate capacity headroom to fully meet the customer’s requirements…” and “The substation capacity is currently limited by the transformers, incoming 132kV circuits and 132KV switchgear..”
So they have to replace the transformers, cabling and switchgear, to “allow the 21 Moorefield’s customer connection,” the notice says.
21 Moorfields is the building above Moorgate Elizabeth line station, just to the East of the Barbican.
21 Moorfields, from the Barbican Highwalk under Willoughby House.
“Electrical Contracting News” provides a more general description:
Almost 10,000 customers from Farringdon, Clerkenwell and key buildings in City of London are to benefit from a multi-million pound investment to upgrade the electricity network.
Work is currently underway to install the first of three new transformers – a device which steps down the power voltage so electricity can be safely delivered to local properties. The transformer, along with new switchgear equipment, will be installed at UK Power Networks’ substation to meet greater energy demand in the area. The £24 million project started in October 2021 and is due to finish in early 2026. As part of the scheme, the firm has consulted local councils and other interested parties to ensure that people experience as little disruption as possible while the work takes place. Euan MacRae, Project Manager at UK Power Networks, says: “This substation upgrade is part of our ongoing investment in the network to maintain safe and reliable power supplies and future-proof the network. The City of London is home to some of the capital’s most iconic buildings, so in collaboration with our alliance partner The Clancy Group this project is committed to carrying out a staged replacement of the major electricity assets at Back Hill Substation, some of which date back to 1956 and have been well maintained over the years. “We are excited to be installing innovative equipment which will allow the substation to provide double the previous level of power and will improve the resilience of power supplies across the network in London.”
I was pleased with my sketch of the substation, and I enjoyed trying to follow the lines of the pipes.
I find it fascinating to realise that there is enormous work going on to keep the electricity flowing, with very little fanfare. There are these silent buildings sitting amongst the offices and flats, doing their job.
Here is a sketch map to show where the substation is:
The location of Back Hill Substation.Back Hill substation, page spread, Sketchbook 16
I’ve sketched the nearby pubs, the Gunmaker’s Arms here, and The Coach here.
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 tunnelSignpost by the North EntranceThe river at North WoolwichLooking downstream, North WoolwichPumphouse in Gallions ReachSketchbook 15 spread
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Esher is an area of Greater London, half an hour’s train ride from Waterloo. It is a place of diverse architecture: magnificent Arts-and-Crafts villas, modernist mansions, and a row of “stockbroker Tudor” houses.
Stockbroker Tudor houses, Esher.
On the other side of the railway tracks, in the low ground near the industrial estate and the waterworks, there is a council estate. This is “Lower Green”. It was built towards the end of the 1940s. This was an era of visionary town planning and utopian ideals, eloquently described in the book “Municipal Dreams” by John Boughton, Chapter 3. On page 66 Boughton quotes the town planner Patrick Abercrombie who sought a plan for Plymouth
“which allows for a higher standard of living well within our grasp, with its call for space and beauty rather than for mere economy”
J. Paton Watson and P. Abercrombie “A Plan for Plymouth” 1943.
The new towns were built around this time, including Stevenage, Crawley, Hemel Hempstead, Harlow, Welwyn Garden City, and Hatfield. Lower Green has many characteristics of those new towns: two storey “cottage style” houses with a front garden and a back garden, arranged behind wide verges, with trees and plenty of green space. The houses were designed by the architect George Blair Imrie (1885–1952), for Esher Urban District Council.
Round symbol on the houses: E for Esher, “UDC” = Urban District Council. Esher is now under “Elmbridge Borough Council”. See the interesting texture of the bricks.
My watercolours show houses on Douglas Road, Lower Green. Here, the land was acquired by the council in 1949. It was a compulsory purchase under the 1936 Housing Act. The vendor was the farmer, Sydney Edward Parkes. I have this detailed information thanks to an owner and resident of one of the houses, who kindly showed me their title deeds.
Here is the basic design of the houses.
A house in Douglas Road, Lower Green, Esher, KT10. Watercolour and ink, Sketchbook 14
The geometry is perfect: the side edges of the upper windows are aligned with the centres of the lower windows. The upper edges of the lower windows, the door lintel and the passage are all in a neat line.
What you can’t see in my painting is that this house stands behind a wide verge and trees, which separate it from the road.
Painting location for the picture above.
There is a passage through the terrace of houses, on the right in my picture. This passage takes you through to “the back” where you can store your bicycle, and your dustbins.
Another feature of the estate is the arrangement of houses round a square.
Here is a painting of some of the houses round the corner of a square: numbers 69 to 77 (odd numbers) Douglas Road:
69-77 (odd numbers) Douglas Road, Esher. Watercolour and ink, in Sketchbook 14Painting of odd numbers 69-77 Douglas Road Esher, seen across the huge green public space.
There are three such squares, all large green spaces. It’s one of the “patterns” in this estate, to use the concept described by Christopher Alexander, in the 1977 book “A Pattern Language”.
“A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander and others (1977), page 304, Pattern number 60 “Accessible Green”
I didn’t see anyone using the green space. But this was a Tuesday afternoon, in term time, and it was raining. Perhaps they were enjoying looking out across it from their windows. If they were, they were probably wondering what the strange woman was doing, sitting there on a metal camping stool under the tree, staring at their house.
This estate was originally intended as rental accommodation. It was owned by Esher Urban District Council and residents paid rent to the council. Nowadays, some of these former council houses are in private freehold ownership, having been sold under the “right to buy” scheme. There are also a lot more cars. The estate was built at a time when most people did not not own cars. The houses do not have garages.
The architect, George Blair Imrie, designed many houses in the area. His wikipedia page lists the large houses he designed for the wealthy. His work on the council housing estate of Lower Green is also remarkable, and not mentioned. So I am glad of the opportunity to draw attention to it here.
I drew these pictures between rainstorms, finally completing them under a borrowed umbrella.
Rain on the watercoloursRain on the page: the Arches paper holds up well and doesn’t crinkleInteresting colour effects due to a fine rain showerSketchbook 14, page spreadSketchbook 14, page spread
Blair Imrie’s work, including his work on Lower Green, is mentioned the 100th newsletter of the The Esher Residents Association, January 2020. See pages 4 and 5:
Here is a view of the City Road 400kV Substation, sketched from the other side of City Basin.
City Road 400kV Substation from “Angel Waterside” City Basin, 19th May 2024 in sketchbook 14
This is a monumentally large building, a last remaining representative of heavy industry, in an area now mainly residential. All around are the new tower blocks containing luxury apartments, made of shapes and designs aiming for visual appeal. Chronicle Tower and Canaletto Tower are just off the picture to the right. The sub-station is robustly functional. I enjoyed its forthright no-nonsense appearance.
It’s built like a fortress, as well it should be. It is part of the UK power distribution system, connecting us in London to, amongst other power sources, the off-shore windfarms in the North Sea, an interconnector off across to Europe, and power stations on the Isle of Grain.
These diagrams come from a National Grid document on this link. The document is “Electricity Ten Year Statement 2012, Appendix A1”. It’s over 12 years old so there may be different connections now.
Despite the uncompromising appearance of the substation, the edge of its higher roof was softened with a subtle fringe of grass. I don’t know if this was a deliberate attempt at a “green roof” or if the grass planted itself there of its own volition.
I made this sketch sitting by the water observed by geese. It took me a little while to establish that the tree in the picture was on a raft, and therefore it moved. One does not expect trees to shift around from place to place. I would put it in the sketch, and look up again, and find I had mysteriously got it wrong, again. The geese, obviously, always knew it was a raft, and cackled.
The colours here are:
Phthalo Turquoise Blue for the sky (with some Ultramarine Blue)
Fired Gold Ochre for the bricks
Mars Yellow, with Fired Gold Ochre, for the paler brickwork
Ultramarine Blue for the cylindrical construction on the roof (middle left)
Serpentine Genuine for the tree
All greys and blacks are combinations of the above, plus Burnt Umber.
Colours are all Daniel Smith. The paper is Arches Aquarelle 300gsm in a sketchbook by Wyvern Bindery.
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On my way up to the West of Scotland I had a day in Glasgow. The overnight train had arrived at 07:30 and the bus to Oban didn’t leave until 18:05. I emerged from Glasgow Central into the mist and fine rain, and walked up the hill to find the “Buchanan Bus Station”. My idea was to stash my bag in the Left Luggage facility and then spend my time exploring Glasgow.
Glasgow at 07:30 on a wet morning in March is not so very enticing. I had the lowest possible expectations as I entered the bus station. Although huge, the bus station had been difficult to find, hidden as it is behind a monumental building called “Buchanan Galleries”. This is neither a “gallery” of the art sort, nor a shopping centre, as far as I could work out. It is a multi-story car-park. Every shop I had passed on the way up had been closed, possibly permanently, or so it seemed to me. There was a wind, I was getting wet, and I was hungry. Despite the confident announcements on its website, I was starting to think that the Left Luggage at Buchanan Bus Station would be closed.
But, contrary to all expectations, the Left Luggage Office was lit up, the door open, and everything looked new and clean inside. Even better, a cheerful man in a beanie hat soon appeared behind the desk, took charge of my pack, and efficiently operated the locker system. I exchanged a £5 note for a receipt with a code, put the receipt deep within my pockets, and set off into the grey morning feeling a lot more cheerful.
This came to typify my experience of Glasgow: a grey and wet city enlivened by cheerful welcoming people.
My wanderings around Glasgow. Positions of monuments and cafés are approximate. Map (c) Open Street Map Contributors.
Walking out of the bus station, and wandering at random through the grid of streets, I spotted the “Café Wander” in a basement. This is at 110 West George St and was a great find: welcoming people, a big mug of tea, food, and a charging point for my phone. No rush, I could think and sketch, and feel as though I’d arrived. I decided to head for the river. A river tells you about a city.
The amazing thing about Glasgow is that there are these magnificent buildings, and a lot of them are apparently empty. Or at least they are empty from the 2nd floor up. At street level there is a band of multi-coloured shopfronts, some shuttered. Higher up the Victorian optimism and wealth proclaims itself in ornamented facades, fancy windows, sculptures, and carved names of proud institutions: “St Vincents Chambers”, “Bank of Scotland”. But these higher floors are deserted. The windows are dusty, the facades chipped, the statues dark with dust. But still.
The river told me nothing about Glasgow, except that Glasgow seems to ignore its river. There is a main road, a magnificently restored catholic church, and a succession of buildings which in London would be converted to luxury flats but which in Glasgow remain as buildings awaiting their future. By the time I reached the park, I was really cold. Hacking my way against what was now a biting wind, I encountered a small round woman with a small round dog, coming the other way. She caught my eye and laughed, holding firmly on to the dog’s lead as though it anchored her to the ground. “Bitter!” she announced, still laughing. I agreed that it was.
I wanted to ask her some important questions, such as whether the “People’s Palace” had a café, and what was that brightly coloured building in the misty distance? But conversation was going to be impossible in that wind, so she and I passed each other in amicable silence, allies against the elements.
The brightly coloured building was called “Templeton Buildings”. It had no café, and no information. There was a bar, predictably closed. I circumnavigated it, and then set off for the “People’s Palace”. In the distance I’d seen someone come out, but they could have been a builder or a janitor.
It was now raining in earnest. All my papers, tickets and art equipment were in dry-bags inside my backpack, which had been a good precaution. I’ve been in Scotland before. The People’s Palace appeared out of the mist, a huge Victorian edifice, looking formidable and very closed. It was not closed. There was a board outside. A café! I pushed open the door, ready to be rebuffed at any moment, but no, inside was warmth and light, a museum of some sort, public toilets, and a café.
The “People’s Palace” Glasgow Green.
I more or less fell into the café. The friendly person at the counter gave me a guided tour of the home-made cakes, evidently from personal experience. Since he looked like someone who knew his cakes, I accepted his recommendation for the coconut sponge and took a window seat by an old fashioned radiator that was pumping out heat. From there, I watched through the window at coach tours who arrived to look at a fountain in the rain. This is the Doulton Fountain, gifted to Glasgow in 1888 by the Doulton Pottery in Lambeth, London. It would look very nice in the sun: a good sketching subject.
The friendly cake-expert directed me to information panels which told me about Templeton Buildings. This is the former Templeton Carpet Factory, which ceased operation only in 1980.
photo of Templeton Buildings
Eventually, fortified by cake, I was off again in the rain which had abated slightly. I was determined to sketch at least one of the Glasgow buildings. I came to the end of a long road, there was the Mercat Building.
Mercat Building, 26-36 Gallowgate, Glasgow, G1 5AB: 1928-31 designed by Andrew Graham Henderson who lived and worked in Glasgow 1882 – 1963
This was a very quick sketch, on an A5 card, done from a doorway as the rain came down. I stopped before all the colours ran together and retreated into “Rose and Grant”, another welcoming café where the people were not atall put out by my washing my brushes in their water glass and spreading out my watercolour equipment on the table, making copious use of the supplied paper napkins for art purposes.
My tour of Glasgow included the Museum of Modern Art, which has a peaceful library in the basement, as well as small galleries where the pictures have commendably large-type curation. Not crowded. Easy to navigate. Friendly.
I ended up back at Buchanan Street Bus Station, successfully retrieved my pack and was early for my bus.
Glasgow is definitely a City to return to.
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An old brick building stands amongst the new-build. The paint on its window frames is flaking, and its brickwork is dark from the smoke of a previous age, yet it retains its dignity: a grandmother of a building.
15 Lamb’s Passage, London EC1, sketched 5th January 2024 in Sketchbook 14, 4pm, 6 degrees C
This is the former St Joseph’s School, built in 1901, which ceased operation as a school in 1977. On its roof you can see the wire netting which once must have surrounded a playground or netball court.
St Joseph’s Church is in the basement, accessed by the porch you can just see to the right of my drawing behind the furthest lamppost.
The area in front of the building is a quiet garden, in memory of Basil Hume, an English Catholic bishop. Sometimes the gate is open and you can go in. It has been arranged so that, even in this tiny space, it is possible to walk some kind of small pilgrimage, along a path, across a ditch, past a tree, and so round a corner to rest in the shaded hut. On the way you encounter a splendid birch tree with white bark, which I have seen grow from a sapling.
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD
This quiet garden is dedicated to the memory of BASIL HUME monk and shepherd 1923-1999
Number 15 Lamb’s Buildings hosts several organisations now. The City Photographic Society uses the Church Hall in this building. It is also the registered office of the Catholic Herald. I have often heard music as I pass by, so it might also be used as a rehearsal space. There is ballroom dancing on Mondays. The smaller building to the south, on the left of my drawing, hosts a pregnancy advice centre. So this is a set of buildings is in use, actively serving the community despite the flaking paint.
I made this drawing quickly as the light faded on a cold and windy evening. After the pen, I retreated back to my desk to apply the colour.
Here is The Canal Building, at the north end of Shepherdess Walk, sketched yesterday from the junction with Eagle Wharf Road.
Canal Building, Shepherdess Walk, London N1, sketched 29 December 2023 in Sketchbook 14
The building overhanging, in the top right of the drawing is part of Angel Wharf, 164 Shepherdess Walk. Shepherdess Walk leads over the Regents Canal, the bridge is just behind the cars in the picture. The buildings you see above the cars are on the other sidee of the canal. On the left is the “Wenlock Brewery”.
There is a tiny object on the roof of the Canal Building, next to the flagpole. It was hard to see what it was, but it looked like a wooden owl.
The Canal Building is a former 1930s Art Deco warehouse. In 2000, it was converted into apartments and commercial space to the design of the architects Child Graddon Lewis. This building gained the architects a place amongst the finalists for the 2023 Architecture Today Awards, in the category “Mixed Use and Retail”. There are 35 new apartments, 45 live/work units and 1100 sq metres of commercial space. Here are photos of the building from the canal side.
I did the pen on location and added the colour at my desk later. It was cold outside and I was sitting on a damp stone wall. Many people were out and about in the area, and two of them stopped to say hello and look at the drawing.
Pen doneDamp mossy wall…my sketchbook…coffee
There are just three main colours in the sketch: Buff Titanium, Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue.
Buff Titanium for the Canal Building
All greys and blacks are Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Umber
Ultramarine Blue for the blue car, the blue notice, and in the sky
The trees are Burnt Umber
And that’s it! There is a bit of Mars Yellow for the car number plate.
All colours are Daniel Smith except the blue, which is Schminke Horadam.
This is my first sketch in a new sketchbook!
Sketchbook 14
Here are some other sketches I’ve done in Shepherdess Walk:
Here is The Eagle. This is a very old pub, located at a significant junction on City Road. In the picture above, the alley on the right of the pub is called “Shepherdess Place”. It leads to a police car park, and several…
Here is Plumage House, 106 Shepherdess Walk, London N1. This was a feather factory. According to Spitalfields Life this operated until 1994. The building is now rather shabby, though in a dignified way. I wonder what will happen to it? In the drawing,…
Jane Sketching 