Category: Monument

London Water and Steam Museum, Brentford, TW8 0EN

Here is the magnificent London Water and Steam Museum.

London Water and Steam Museum, sketched 15th March 2025, 4pm in sketchbook 15.

It’s definitely worth a visit if like me you are fascinated by steam engines. But there’s more. This museum is a whole education in the London drinking water and sewerage system: past and present.

The building I’ve sketched houses the “100 inch pumping engine” and the “90 inch pumping engine”. These are steam pumps over a hundred years old. The inches refer to the diameter of the pump cylinder. Their job was to pump drinking water from the Thames to premises in London. The 90 inch engine started working in 1846 and the 100 inch started in 1871. They both retired in 1943, by which time the 90 inch had been going 97 years. The 100 inch gave a demonstration in 1958, which was the last time it pumped water. The 90 inch was restored to working order by enthusiasts in 1973, and now gives demonstrations in the museum. The 100 inch has yet to be restored.

A glimpse of part of the 100 inch engine

The tower in my sketch is not a chimney. It is a “standpipe tower”. It holds big vertical pipes and a reservoir to store water and regulate the pressure. The strokes from the steam engines created powerful surges of water. You don’t want those powerful surges going directly into the mains water supply, and as they might damage the pipes and surprise consumers. So the steam engines pumped the water up this tower instead. From there, the water flowed out to consumers smoothly.

Providing running water was a whole big problem in the Victorian era. The machines were gigantic so that they could generate sufficient water pressure to get the water up to the second floor of the new Victorian houses which had bathrooms upstairs. That’s not something we normally think about: but I can see it’s an issue.

a glimpse of the 90 inch engine

Then there was the whole big issue of the purity of the water, and whether it was actually drinkable. There were a number of private water companies at the time, in competition with each other, and vying for business, making claims for their water quality, and returning dividends to their shareholders. This was the late 19th century – 100 or so years ago.

A display panel soberly tells us:

“Despite making huge profits the water companies had not lived up to their promises. The quality of the water was still variable and the amount being pumped sometimes left homes and businesses without water. The companies’ focus on profits rather than service was a major worry and so the government decided to get involved.
In 1904 the government created the Metropolitan Water Board and bought the eight water companies to create a single network covering the whole of London. …

Display panel: “The companies’ focus on profits rather than service was a major worry and so the government decided to get involved.…”

As well as history, I learned about today’s drinking water.

For example: did you know that 10% of London’s drinking water is de-salinated water from the Thames estuary? The “revolutionary new de-salination plant” opened in 2010:

I watched a gripping – and somewhat alarming – video of heroic engineers cautiously making their way down soaking brick-lined pipes in the sewers below London streets. They were down there to inspect and clear blockages. I also saw the “rat” robots that can be sent down the smaller sewers – it’s a tough environment for technology.

As well as all this gripping factual information, there’s much of strange beauty in the machinery. I particularly enjoyed the devices and dials.

Definitely recommended. It’s on the underground. No café: take a picnic to eat at their indoor tables.

It closes at 4pm – I managed to do the sketch from the garden, just before they closed the gates.

Sculptural debris in yard
The steam train in the grounds: returning to the shed at the end of the day.

I added the colour later.

Sketchbook 15
Part of the 90 inch pump: analogue film photo, Olympus XA2 using Kentmere Pan 400 b/w film. 15th March 2025

Information in this post is from placards in the museum or from their website. Inspired by my visit to the museum, I read this excellent book about London’s water supply:

“The Mercenary River” by Nick Higham

Guildhall Buildings, EC2

Guildhall Buildings EC2, 30th March 2025 in Sketchbook 15

This corner of the Yard includes “The Mayor’s and City of London Court” built in 1893 and still used for its original purpose.

It is Listed Grade II. My drawing shows features mentioned in the listing: “stone turret with lead spirelet over East range, octagonal lantern with ogee lead cupula over west range”. (Listing number 1192955). The “spirelet” is in the back left of the picture, and the “ogee lead cupula” is the curvy tower top behind the chimneys on the right.

"This stone was laid 
by Japheth Tickle Esq, Chairman of the Law and City Courts Committee, 
July 17th 1893.  
Andrew Murray ARIBA, Architect.
E. Lawrance and Sons, Builders."

Despite the striking blue sky, it was very cold when I was sketching this: 8 degrees C. But I enjoyed the high-contrast shadows, and the people clustering and dispersing as they moved across the square.

This is a Conservation Area. A detailed study of the area was done by the Design Section, Department of Planning & Transportation, Corporation of London in 2004. It is on this link. If that doesn’t work: the file is here:

guildhall-conservation-area-character-summaryDownload

They comment:

The intimacy of scale in the area has survived the
pressure for change in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Many buildings retain narrow plot widths and have
similar massing, height and scale. Few buildings
exceed the general scale of 4-6 storeys and therefore
the vibrancy of the roofscape is evident in views
through the area. Whilst some 20th century buildings
combine a number of smaller plot widths, those which
successfully contribute to the conservation area have
elevations that respect the bay structure and rhythm of
earlier buildings….

The narrow streets help
to restrict the volume of traffic travelling through
the area. Gresham Street forms the main through
route but most vehicles travel along Cheapside and
Moorgate which are just outside the boundaries of the
conservation area. The area is therefore relatively quiet
and dominated by pedestrians.

(page 7 Conservation Area Character Summary 2004)

I like their description: “the vibrancy of the roofscape is evident in views
through the area. ” – that’s what I saw and wanted to sketch.

I was interested in their comment on Gresham Street: “relatively quiet
and dominated by pedestrians”. Today, Gresham Street is a very busy street, clogged and congested by delivery vehicles, taxis, and construction traffic. It is no longer “relatively quiet and dominated by pedestrians”. Road traffic dominates, and pedestrians have to stop their conversations and look around carefully to avoid being run over by the motor vehicles, who are equally worried and confused trying to find a way through the parked vans, and e-bikes. “Most vehicles” no longer “travel along Cheapside”, because Bank junction cannot now be traversed by private vehicles in the daytime.

However, calm has been preserved in the Guildhall Yard. The large open space is usually uncluttered. The pond in front of St Lawrence Jewry provides some greenery and repose.

I’ve sketched a lot round here:

Guildhall Yard, London EC2

Here is the North West corner of the Guildhall Yard. The modern part is designed by Richard Gilbert Scott (note 1). What we are looking at, in pale concrete, is the Guildhall Library, and offices of the City of London Corporation. Behind it, you see the tops of the buildings on Wood Street. In yellow stone, on the right of the drawing, is the old Guildhall, built in 1411 (note 2). In the foreground you see…

read this post..

Guildhall North Wing

From the site of the former St Mary Aldermanbury, I looked across towards the Guildhall, the offices of the City of London. It is dark and green in the former Nave of the church, whose pillars you can see on the right. The stones are covered in moss, which is almost phosphorescent. The North Wing of the Guildhall was designed by Giles Gilbert-Scott2 in the 1930s and built in the 1950s. He also designed the red…

read this post..

Guildhall from St Mary Aldermanbury EC2

At the junction of Love Lane and Aldermanbury in the City of London, there is a small park. If you are in the area, it’s well worth a visit. The parklet is on the site of St Mary Aldermanbury. A large marble plaque tells the history. Site of the Church of St Mary Aldermanbury First mentioned in 1181. Destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666. Rebuilt by Wren. Destroyed by bombing in 1940. The remaining fabric…

read this post..

65 Basinghall St EC2 from the plaza

In a previous post I presented a drawing of 65 Basinghall Street done from the bridge which is on the North side of the building. Here is the south side. 65 Basinghall Street is the building in front, with the scalloped arches. Behind it is City Place House. City Place House was built in 1992, and is due for demolition and replacement by a building which is taller and broader. 65 Basinghall Street is listed Grade…

read this post..

65 Basinghall St EC2 from the bridge

This is a view from the bridge over Basinghall Street, looking at the back of 65 Basinghall Street. There is much of interest in this view. There are the wonderful arching shell-like structures of 65 Basinghall Street. This was built in 1966-7 to the designs of Richard Gilbert Scott1 Above the arches is an extraordinary building in the style of steam punk. In my drawing it was not possible to capture the magnificent complexity of all…

read this post..

Gaslight in Guildhall Yard

The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways. Six o’clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots; The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots, And at the corner of the street A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. And then the lighting of the lamps. T.S. Eliot – Preludes There are still quite a…

read this post..

Holland House, Kensington, London W11

On a freezing day in March, I sketched Holland House.

Holland House from the North, in Sketchbook 15.

The view from the bench wasn’t quite right, so I moved to the grass. The shadows crept after me across the lawn.

The house was built in 1605-7. It originally had two turrets and was much larger than it is now.

It was damaged by aerial bombardment in 194o.

During the night of 27 September, Holland House was hit by twenty-two incendiary bombs during a ten-hour raid. The house was largely destroyed, with only the east wing, and, miraculously, almost all of the library remaining undamaged.

Historic England archive (<- click this link to see a photo)

My sketch shows the surviving East wing with its turret. In the 1950s the damaged part was demolished, and the remainder converted to a youth hostel and open-air theatre.

On the way back to the tube station I paused at a still pond.

Tower at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, Lambeth, SE1

There is a splendid tower south of St Thomas’ Hospital on the South bank of the River Thames. Here it is, sketched from the Lambeth Palace Road.

St Thomas’ hospital medical school, from the Lambeth Palace Road SE1, sketched 23rd February 2025 in sketchbook 15

This tower, and the buildings below it, are right next to the Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament. It is a splendid position.

Position of St Thomas’ medical school (circled): opposite the Palace of Westminster.
Map (c) Openstreetmap contributors. Click to enlarge.

Given this prominent central location, I was astonished to discover that these buildings are derelict.

If you look through the railings which are in my drawing, this is what you see:

Block 9, St Thomas’ Hospital, 23 Feb 2025, photo (c) JaneSketching.

Inside the old medical school: photo from Dibsphotography.com . Click the image to go to their site: many more photos are there.

Urban explorers have posted pictures of the sadly decayed interior. For example on this link and this link and this link. Some have ascended the tower and posted pictures taken from up there. Their photographs show an abandoned lecture theatre, peeling plaster, elegant fireplaces covered in dust and mould, laboratory samples lying about gathering dust, molecule trees in a tangled heap, test tubes and old notes.

As well as the grand buildings, there are low-level houses within the site.

Looking South, below the tower. Picture from Mosaic Engineers report, see note 1

So what’s going on?

This part of St Thomas’ hospital was a medical school and library since the hospital was built here in around 1870. This part of the site was abandoned 20 years ago, as medical schools moved and merged. Then, it seems, nothing happened for 10 years, as the lecture theatres, laboratories and corridors gradually decayed.

In 2015, there was a plan. The website for MICA architects shows a proposal for a new medical school on this site. This proposal is dated “2015-ongoing”. Click the image below to see their drawings of radical new buildings, and future medical students engaged in lectures and conversations, with spectacular views of the Houses of Parliament through the huge windows.

Lambeth Council granted planning permission in 2016, reference 16/02387/FUL. That was nearly ten years ago. Still the site remains derelict.

However, now it seems that progress is happening. On the Lambeth Council planning site, there is an impressive in-depth survey of the site by Mosaic Civil engineers, dated July 2024. They look at the Geology, Soil Chemistry, Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Flood Risk, Unexploded Ordnance, Ground Stability, and Invasive Weed, to name but a few. Hydrogeology seems to be answering the question: are there any aquifers or wells here? (answer: no). Hydrology is answering the question: how does the water flow around here, and will any sewage or nasty chemicals wash into the site? (answer: well, there is a Thames Water “storm sewage overflow” pipe into the Thames just upstream from here….). This report also contains photos, and a useful history of the site (Note 1).

St. Thomas´ Hospital was constructed in its current location in 1871 following the
construction of the Albert Embankment (which required reclamation of land from the River Thames)and the demolition of old boatbuilding and barge house sites which dated back to the 1680s.” (page 6, history of the site)

Mosaic engineers report page 6, history of the site

The volume “London – South” of the Pevsner architectural guides, says that St Thomas’ was..

…built on the current site by Henry Currey 1868-71, one of the first civic hospitals in London to adopt the principle of “Nightingale” wards to allow maximum ventilation and dispersal of foul air.

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was a pioneering nurse and reformer of the profession. She had a profound impact on the architecture of hospitals.

“The first principle of hospital construction is to divide the sick among separate pavilions,” she wrote in her 1863 ‘Notes on Hospitals’. Pavilions were large, rectangular, open-plan wards that made it easier for nurses to supervise all patients. These wards became known as Nightingale Wards.”

London Museum website

The London Museum website presents a picture of St Thomas’ hospital as an example of this architecture. There were seven such pavilions. As you see in the pictures below, the hospital rivalled the Houses of Parliament in its size and pinnacled magnificence.

“St Thomas’ hospital opened by the Queen last Wednesday”.
This picture is from the London Museum website. The Tower I sketched is on the left.

Here is a historic photo from the other side of the river. Westminster Bridge spans the river. The tower I sketched is on the right.

The hospital looks different today. The North pavilion was destroyed by enemy action in the 1939-45 conflict, and other parts of the building were damaged beyond repair. The only part remaining was the Tower to the south, and 3 of the southernmost pavilions. A large block was built in 1975 to replace the north pavilion. The website “Ebb and Flow” has some excellent pictures from 2023, showing the 1975 building in detail, and paying tribute to the dedicated people who work in this building.

View of St Thomas’ Hospital from the North Bank. March 2025. Photo (c) JaneSketching

Below is a photo from August last year. The 1975 buildings are on the left, the original buildings, still derelict, are on the right. In front is the National Covid Memorial Wall.

View of St Thomas’ from the Thames path, August 2024. (Photo (c) JaneSketching. )

The remaining pavilions and the tower are Grade II listed, number 1080373. Many new buildings of the hospital have been created around them, including the Evelina hospital for children.

Evelina building on the right, close to the old building
Mix of old and new buildings at St Thomas’
A&E dept
Evelina hospital on the left.
St Thomas’ hospital, views of old and new buildings, from Lambeth Palace Road.

Now we can expect the renovation of the southern part of the hospital.

Picture from Mica Architects proposal: click picture to go to their website
(https://micaarchitects.com/projects/st-thomas-hospital-block-9-prideaux-building)

I have run and walked past this building for twenty years. I’m so glad that doing the sketch has prompted me to discover what’s going on behind the high walls. Here are some snapshots from the embankment. The hospital is on the right, behind the wall.

Early morning, 17th March 2025
Early morning 12 January 2006. Mobile phones weren’t so great at taking photos then.

I thank the ambulance staff, administrators and medical professionals of St Thomas’ hospital who were there when needed after a terrifying incident.
We all have such incidents in our lives. The hospital is more than a building. It is a place of caring, a community and a store of knowledge, from Nightingale to now. Thank you NHS.

Note 1: The report from Mosaic civil engineers is called
“Mosaic Civil and Structural engineers report
FINAL REPORT
PHASE 1 PRELIMINARY CONTAMINATION RISK ASSESSMENT REPORT
01/07/2024″

It is on this link, as part of the ongoing planning proposal.

If that link doesn’t work, you can find it here:

Mosaic civil engineers report 2024Download

Bedford House, Quaker Street, London E1

This magnificent building is on the corner of Quaker Street and Wheler Street, in east London, near Liverpool Street Station.

Bedford House, Quaker Street. Sketched 12 February 2025 in Sketchbook 15

It is intriguing: grand but dilapidated. Grass grows from the ledges, windows are broken and patched. The front door is blocked with a waste bin. But it has style.

At one time it was bright, new, clean and purposeful. This was the headquarters of a Quaker mission in east London: the Bedford Institute Association. It was built in 1894 replacing a previous building.

The lofty, picturesque, red-brick building, with its gables and tall roof, is constructed and equipped with solidity, and liberality and far-sightedness which distinguish all the admirable buildings erected by the trustees.”

“Sunday at Home” published by the Religious Tract Society, 1895, Volume 42, page 92

This issue of “Sunday at Home” published in 1895, goes on to describe the work which was undertaken in the building, which was less than a year old at the time of writing. Its purpose was to provide hospitality and education for the destitute of the locality.

“The Sunday begins with a well-planned hospitality to the destitute of the district – a free and substantial breakfast to the poor whose poverty is nowhere seen in a more aggravated form than in Spitalfields.

Provision is made for two hundred, who are supplied with tickets of admission by those who well know the district […] The large lower room in which they are received and comfortably seated is built for purpose, and is itself a lesson in cleanly living as well as of hospitality. The needful ventilation of a room crowded by two hundred guests, entirely devoid of any resources for personal cleanliness, is supplied by rapidly revolving steam fans placed over the doorways…

The article contains a picture, drawn from almost exactly the same spot where I was standing:

At that time there were tall chimneys on the front corners of the building, now reduced to stumps, as you see in my picture. Otherwise the building looks unchanged, on the outside at least. Even the cast-iron railings, centre left, are still there. The adjacent buildings on the right, with the ecclesiastical pointed windows, have been replaced by modern buildings, taller and boxier, with rectangular windows.

Although I was able to read in detail about the use of the building in 1895, I have been unable to discover much of its more recent history. In 2011, for a few months, squatters lived there. “The Gentle Author” visited the house during their occupation1 A photographer, Raquel Riesgo, documented her life during the squat. The squatters were evicted on October 28th 2011.

But what happened next? This building was created to serve destitute people in Spitalfields. Does it continue its mission?

If anyone knows what’s happening there now, I’d be really interested. Please comment below or get in touch.

Sketching in Quaker Street, 12th February 2025
Adding the colour at my desk.

I found “Sunday at Home” thanks to a link in a comment by Deidre Murray on the listing in Historic England.
“Sunday at Home – a family magazine for Sabbath reading v.42” is available on the website of the Hathi Trust on this link:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015068375545&seq=108&view=1up
or if that doesn’t work try this link:
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015068375545

The publication is “Public Domain, Google-digitized.“

The pages I have referenced start on this link: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015068375545?urlappend=%3Bseq=108%3Bownerid=13510798887051007-112

The name of the author of the article and of the artist who drew the picture are not given.

Click below to read or download the pages relating to the Bedford Institute:

Sunday at Home 3 pages Bedford HouseDownload
  1. The Gentle Author describes his visit in a blog post: https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/09/29/at-bedford-house/ Reading the comments on his post, there is a sense of the local mixed opinions surrounding this squat. ↩︎

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 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. ↩︎

Hoxton Trust Community Garden – Clock Tower, London N1

Hoxton Street is busy with market stalls, shops, cafés. People walk to and fro. If you walk North, there’s a small garden on the right, behind a fence. Above the trees there’s this odd white tower. What is it? The gate is open and you can go in.

Hoxton Trust Community Garden N1- Clock Tower, sketched 29 August 2024 in Sketchbook 15

This is the Hoxton Trust Community Garden. Their website tells me that the Clock Tower was rescued from the Eastern Fever Hospital which was built 1869-1871. It is made of wood, and is possibly older than the hospital.

The clock tower sits on a framework made of steel girders. On the day I was there, the clock had stopped at half-past six. So in a timeless interlude, I sketched from a wooden bench amongst the trees.

Near the bench is a small monument to the “Hoxton Five”. Who were they?

“One was stabbed, and his four friends were killed in a car crash returning from the funeral.”

The Hoxton Community Trust is a registered charity “working to make Hoxton and Shoreditch a better place”. According to their website, they provide free legal advice and assistance to people who need it. They maintain this community garden for the benefit of everyone. The charity was established in 1983: “At the time, Hoxton was very unfashionable, with high levels of poverty and a very poor quality urban realm”, their website says. They bought and renovated three buildings, 150-156 Hoxton Street, adjacent to the garden. These buildings are now let out. Rents from these buildings supplement the income of the Hoxton Trust, which is also funded by grants from the National Lottery, Hackney Council, and other sources (2023). The work of the Trust is also supported by volunteers, some of whom work in the garden.

The garden is lovely. There are fruit trees and a herb garden, and plenty of seats. A sanctuary.

Sketching in the Hoxton Community Trust Garden.
Sketchbook 15

Limehouse Accumulator Tower, E14

This is the Limehouse Accumulator Tower, seen from Mill Place, London E14.

Limehouse Accumulator Tower, sketched 21 August 2024, in Sketchbook 15

In the 19th century, this building provided hydraulic power to machinery in the Limehouse docks. Hydraulic power is a way of transmitting energy from one place to another.

The problem at the time was that steam engines could generate motive force, but only where they were. You could build a big powerful steam engine, but you couldn’t put a steam engine next to every crane, capstan, or set of lock gates. You also didn’t want to fire up a steam engine every time someone wanted to use the lock gates. So you had to find a way of transmitting the power from the steam engine to the machinery which used it. And you had to find a way of storing the power so it was available on demand. Before the use of electricity was common, power was transmitted using pressurized water.

The steam engine located in this building was used to pump water into the adjacent accumulator tower, by lifting a heavy weight. The heavy weight was a neat fit on top of the water inside the tower and pushed the water down. Water does not compress. So the weight just sat there, applying pressure to the water. The pressurised water was distributed around the docks in thick cast-iron pipes. When the lock-keeper wanted to operate the lock gates they opened a tap and the force of the pressurized water opened the gates. Then they closed the taps. Far away, the weight moved down very slightly in the accumulator tower. Eventually the steam engine was used to pull the weight up to the top again.

That’s 19th century hydraulic power. Power is transmitted by pressurised water in cast-iron pipes: the original, functional, steam-punk.

I find it marvellous. I’ve drawn the much bigger London Hydraulic Power station here. The Limehouse building is smaller. It was built in 1869, one of several in the area at the time. It was restored in 1994/5, but sadly the weight and machinery are removed. There is a detailed history of the building on this link from the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society.

Sketching the Limehouse Accumulator Tower. The modern Docklands Light Railway lines run over the Victorian bridge to the left, the bridge to the right is disused.

Standing in Mill Place to make this sketch, I became aware of all the history that is embedded in walls. The one in front of me had been altered, rebuilt, and amended several times. A bit had been added on top. Plants lived there. A graffiti artist had made their mark on the crumbling stone.

I was standing under two bridges, both 19th century. Both survivors. One holds the modern Docklands Light Railway. The other had wonderful strong vaulting. But it held no railway. I walked around trying to find out where it went. The Google aerial view confirms what I suspected: it is a ghost railway. On the bridge there is verdant greenery where the railway used to be. It goes across a second sturdy bridge, over the A13, and then stops.

Vaulting on the bridge
Verdant greenery, but no railway. (Accumulator tower in the background)
A sturdy railway bridge across the A13 carries no railway.
The railway bridges with no railway

Here are some maps which show the position of the Accumulator Tower and the absence of a railway (click to enlarge).

In this whole area the works of Victorian engineers make themselves felt. Each bridge is a triumph of the bricklayers’ skill: not only strikingly beautiful, with clean curves and neat detailing, but also enduring, powerful and functional 150 years later.

Sketchbook 15
map (c) OpenStreetMap contributors: click to go to the map