Starting off with the RIVER THAMES .... I've walked all along the Thames from Staines to Dartford though most subject matter for this website appears to be the eastern section. However, a walk from a Central London nightclub at 4 in the morning along the Thames to Richmond actually inspired me to do London photography in the first place! HAMMERSMITH GREENWICH ERITH Want present day pics of your old haunts? Researching your family tree and need location pics? Pictures taken to order - low cost - any job considered (not just derelicts!). Much cheaper than professional photographers Contact: Paul at derelictlondon.com BLACKFRIARS This is a deconstructed railway bridge over the River Thames, next to Blackfriars Bridge. It is partially demolished leaving behind the majestic supports that held up the bridge. VAUXHALL BRIDGE A postman's Royal Mail trolley thrown into the Thames. PIMLICO - THE RIVER TYBURN This arch is where the Tyburn meets the Thames. At this point the Tyburn is called Kingschoole Sluice. River Tyburn flowed through the area from South Hampstead to the Thames. Tyburn is now one of London's 'lost rivers' and is underground, but many years ago it crossed Regent's Park, followed Marylebone Lane, down to Piccadilly near Green Park, and intohe main river near Vauxhall Bridge.   GREENWICH - THAMES FORESHORE WOOLWICH - RIVER THAMES NORTH GREENWICH - RIVER THAMES GREENWICH - RIVER THAMES CHARLTON - RIVER THAMES The Thames is a dumping ground for everything including the kitchen sink.......   WOOLWICH - JETTIES ERITH

THE BOW BACKS RIVERS: see also at the foot of this  article on how the London Olympic bid will affect these waterways PUDDING MILL RIVER WATERWORKS RIVER "Welcome to Waterworks River" noticeboard, empty bottle hanging in trees & very old style ring pull beer can WATERWORKS RIVER - vehicle scrap in the river and a bench along the overgrown footpath. THREE MILLS WALL RIVER - Discarded shopping trolleys ABBEY CREEK (above left) & CHANNEL SEA RIVER (above right) CITY MILL RIVER decaying boats CITY MILL RIVER - The Old Lock WATERWORKS RIVER -Carpenters Road Lock ST THOMAS' CREEK BOW CREEK The view from the Canning Town flyover on the A13 BOW CREEK Canning Town (site of Thames Ironworks) This is where the River Lee (or Lea) reaches its tidal estuary. It was navigable from a very early date. In 896 King Alfred the Great is believed to have chased the invading Danish fleet up the Lea. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells of Alfred lowering the water-level of the Lea to strand the Danish invading fleet upstream. Being outside the City of London and free from its regulations, the area became a centre of mills and industry in the Middle Ages. Some traffic (but not much) remained until the 1970s for the Pura Vegatable Oil refinery – prior to building their own wharf on the Thames (due south of the site and linked by an underground pipeline). Thames Ironworks had built ships in Canning Town since the mid 19th century at their yard along both sides of Bow Creek adjacent to the Thames. The Ironworks built some of the largest vessels of their time. Because the width of the river at Bow Creek was relatively narrow, the larger vessels were built parallel to the shore and launched 'sideways' into the river. On the occasion of the launch of the Navy battleship HMS Albion this was also to be the case. However up to 200 people keen to get a good view of the launch had made their way to a temporary slipway 'bridge' beside a nearly completed vessel also being built in the yard for the Japanese navy, to get a better view of the occasion. The 'bridge was not designed to hold so many, and was signposted as 'dangerous', but despite this a large crowd had gathered and those on the bridge felt they had the perfect viewpoint to see the ship launched by the Duke and Duchess of York. Local schools were given the day off and thousands were standing watching when the 390 foot long, 74 foot wide, 6,000 ton ship slid into the water. The momentum of the vessel's launch created a large 'tidal wave' which raced along and crossriver and engulfed the 'bridge', smashing it to pieces and plunging shocked onlookers into the river, where they were also smashed by the broken bridge and the inevitable debris of the launch itself. Their cries of panic were drowned out by the cheers of the main crowd applauding the launch. 38 people perished in the incident, which was in 1898, one of the worst disasters in the East End in peacetime. The Royal Humane Society later awarded 26 of its Bronze Medals to those men that had risked their lives by jumping into the river and rescuing many of those that were in danger of drowning. In 1895 Thames Ironworks formed the Thames Ironworks Football Club. Since 1900, they had been known as West Ham Football Club after a merger with another local side, Old Castle Swifts. Ricky writes: "As a child, I'm in my 40's now, I remember an island in the river lea at the bottom of southwold road near where the ice rink is now.The island was called "rat island" locally and was a very real ,standalone island that you could only reach if you were prepared to swim. Over the years it has filled in due to natural river deposits and prams and motorbikes, etc and is no longer an island. You wouldnt even know that it was once an island. we used to canoe to the island and pull our canoes up onto the bank and skadoo off the bank into the water." RIVER LEA - HACKNEY WICK Unfortunately I took these pics using a very basic camera. This huge scrapyard of fridge freezers has since been removed and the site completely cleared. RIVER LEA - THE HACKNEY CUT MILE END - GRAND UNION CANAL I was having a drink down at The Palm Tree the other day and noticed these old buildings have been completely demolished and replaced by modern apartments MILE END - GRAND UNION CANAL ABBEY CREEK - OLD BOATHOUSE MILE END - HERTFORD UNION CANAL LOCK OLD RIVER LEA The following is an edit of an article from www.nolondon2012.org about the Bow Backs Rivers The waterways flow through an area typified by dereliction, mainly old factories and vacant land. The neglect of the area has, however, been extremely beneficial in terms of wildlife. Natural colonisation by a large variety of native and exotic species supplemented, in places, by tree and shrub planting (the bulk being the work of volunteers), has provided the area with a green 'backdrop' where, in places, it is hard to believe you are in London. The limited amount of vegetation management has resulted in the habitats having a 'wild' feel, as opposed to the frequently cut towpaths of the nearby canal system, where few species get a chance to flower. Disuse and neglect has also benefited wildlife, and species that are frequently seen in the area are kingfisher, heron, coot, moorhen, mallard, mute swan, green woodpecker, grey wagtail, great-crested and little grebes, dunnock, tits and kestrel, as well as the summer visiting sand martins. Small mammals are frequent in the rough grasslands, as evidenced by hovering kestrels, and there is a rich invertebrate population , which includes a number of notable and rare species. The Olympic proposals will destroy all the existing habitat and thus the associated wildlife. Proposals to provide mitigation in terms of translocating species and providing alternative habitat are unlikely to be successful, and it is only legally protected species that will be the focus of such work. A new 'park' is promised post Olympics, providing a greater amount of open space than now exists. This park will not be created until 2020 (8 years after the games), and meanwhile public amenity of the area will be lost. There are, as yet, no financial arrangements for the management of a new park, and no organisation has claimed they want to run it. By 2020, will anyone remember a park was promised? Claims that these will be a 'green' Olympics are related to recycling, energy generation and use, i.e. green technology, in terms of the environment, they are anything but green. For an area typified as brownfield, apart from the waterways, there are over 500 mature trees in the area - all are to be felled. The river system of the Lower Lea is, according to the Environment Agency, extremely complex and is very important in terms of its flood relief function. The network of channels and their associated wildlife is probably unique in London. Over the years, the Lower Lea Project/Lea Rivers Trust, have carried out improvements along the waterways, which has involved planting, vegetation management and habitat creation, as well as clean-ups. It has also run an education programme and organised walks which has introduced thousands of children and adults to the waterways.The Olympics will involve the complete relandscaping of the area, and include lowering towpaths and the creation of land bridges, all intended to get people onto the site quickly. The effect of the number and size of bridges will be to virtually culvert the waterways. The shading effect of bridges means that nothing grows below them, either on land or in the water. The network of waterways will effectively be fragmented and their 'habit corridor' (i.e. continuity) function lost. Proposals to landscaping the bridges is, not only problematic, but does not replace the river environment. Apart from their effect on habitat and wildlife, the bridges will destroy the attractiveness of the towpaths for walking or cycling. Post Olympics, many of the bridges will remain as 'legacy. The Olympic stadium will rise to 50 metres and its shading effect on the surrounding land and waterways will be significant. A benefit of a successful bid, it is claimed, will be the removal of invasive species from the waterways and the clean-up of the River Lea (doubtful, given that they are not looking at Deephams because it is outside the Olympic zone). Apart from that, it is Thames Waters' responsibility. It has also been said (by Ken himself) that if the bid is not successful, the regeneration of the Lower Lea will not be of as high a quality! Does that mean the Lower Lea was going to get low quality regeneration ? because an Area Development Framework was being developed before the bid was an option.

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	Want present day pics of your old haunts? Researching your family tree and need location pics? Pictures taken to order - low cost - any job considered  (not just derelicts!). Much cheaper than professional photographers Contact: Paul at derelictlondon.com