A little grubbiness still evident among the old docklands warehouses in Wapping. Don't be fooled though, these have still been redeveloped into million-pound-plus apartments as have all of them since London stopped being a working port in the 80s.
Taken on today's 'Wapping – A Seething Mass of Misery' walk by London history blogger A London Inheritance. Francis Wey referred to Wapping in this way in the 1850s in his book, 'A Frenchman Sees the English in the Fifties'. These were the living conditions here as London’s docks expanded to the east and Wapping developed to serve the docks and the river.
Wapping like all of Docklands is now completely transformed, but odd vestiges remain: original dock walls lining a municipal park sitting on top of what once a dock basin; the old riverside stairs, and adjoining watering holes, where the, often unscrupulous, watermen would provide the only practical way across the Thames before all the bridges were built; and huge warehouses once housing all the goods of the world now housing those with more money than sense (ok huge generalisation there). And to bring it all to life the sad and horrible tales of poverty, crime, executions and WW2 bombing destruction - along with photos taken by the guide's father just after the war
At Tobacco Dock, a big Halloween party was happening and we were entertained by a series of skeletons, vampires, scary clowns and other fancy dressers en route to the shindig.
After the official walk, Dave and I walked the 11 mins back to St Katharine Docks and Bravas Tapas for a lovely meal sitting outside in the ridiculous warmth. Could have been Barcelona itself. Tomato bread, anchovies, patatas bravas, spinach croquettes, oysters, gambas and salmon rolls followed by torta de Santiago.
3 good things
1. A halloumi fry-up with F along with a bucks fizz before our walk - well he'd never had bubbly with breakfast before so it had to be done.
2. London's incredible history - always something new to see and find out.
3. An evening backing up a lot of photo albums - a long job but needed doing.
Tapas
https://365project.org/boxplayer/extras/2022-10-29
29 October 2022
Wapping E1
Ian
Brilliant
Nice narrative