Sunday, June 23, 2013

Walking tours of historic Rotherhithe available online


There are a number of walking tours of Rotherhithe available online, each with something different to offer.  This is a list of everything I've found to date.

It would be a good idea to download anything you're interested in, because websites are reorganized or close down completely quite regularly.

Some of them were originally published in print form, and it may be possible to find some of these in local outlets like the Brunel Museum.



Granaries, Shipyards and Wharves
http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/1835/granaries_shipyards_and_wharves_information_booklet
This is a link to a PDF download from the Southwark Council website, and is not available to view on a web page. It is one of two excellent walks by historian Stuart Rankin, the other which no longer appears to be available online.  It is a guided tour of the Thames Path and the eastern side of Greenland Dock, from Rotherhithe station to Surrey Quays station, focusing on the remains of former shipbuilding and breaking yards, locks, wharves and granaries. Both walks (the other is Transport, Industry and the Docks) were published as a single booklet called "Maritime Rotherhithe History Walks."  The second walk also used to be available from the Southwark Council website, but the link is no longer present.

London Docklands Heritage Walks: Surrey Docks
http://www.lddc-history.org.uk/other/heritageSD.pdf
This pamphlet breaks Rotherhithe up into three walks.  A map at the beginning, over two pages, shows landmarks of interest which are then described on the other pages, some with illustrations.  The map provided is a bit blurred, but it is easy to translate it onto an ordinary AtoZ map of the area.

The BBC Thames Tour of Rotherhithe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8077000/8077416.stm
A hyperlinked guide to the main sights along the Thames Path in Rotherhithe.  There's a lot of good information on each page, with some great photographs of how things looked in the past.

Walking the Thames Path from Tower Bridge to Greenwich and the Thames Barrier
http://static.visitlondon.com/assets/areas/river/1seafaring_london.pdf
This page hows a walk along the Thames with a brief overview of what you will see as you pass through the Rotherhithe leg of the Thames Path.

Inner London Ramblers - five and a half mile circular walk of Rotherhithe
http://www.innerlondonramblers.org.uk/ideasforwalks/19-rotherhithe.html
A descriptive step-by-step walk starting from Surrey Quays station (but can also be started from Rotherhithe station).  Without a map, but easy to follow.  With photographs.

Rotherhithe - a map of the sites of interest
http://bit.ly/14RbEQn
This is a link to a download of the map from the Southwark Council website, in PDF format - you can't view it on a web page.  On one side (originally an A4 pamphlet) is a map with numbers that relate to the key places of interest.  On the reverse side is the key to the numbers, giving a couple of sentences of description on each.  You will have to design your own walk, as there is none marked, but it has a good road map which makes it easy to find your way from site to site.

Secret London
http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Rotherhithe.html
A web page which shows a photograph and a paragraph of information, together with a link to more detailed information, about various sights in Rotherhithe.  It is not a walk, but it might form the basis for one.





1 comment:

adamcreen said...

Thanks for compiling this!