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PART I |
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EAST LONDON: |
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| brought in goods from all over the empire and employed |
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thousands of
workers who lived in the boroughs north of the wharves, including
Wapping,
Whitechapel,
Shadwell,
and Limehouse.
These neighborhoods were overcrowded, smoky, noisy, and not unfamiliar
to crime, vice, disease, and political unrest. • Capt. James Cook, the great world explorer who brought Australia and New Zealand into the realm, lived here when not sailing around the world. • Jack the Ripper — the first great serial killer — preyed on the prostitutes of low class Whitechapel. The traditional foggy, mysterious, dangerous imagery we associate with East London comes from The Ripper and the fictions of Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu that were set here. A Whitechapel freak show theatre exhibited "The Elephant Man", Joseph Merrick, until the London Hospital—opposite the freak show venue—discovered the exploited man suffering from the rare Proteus Syndrome and took him in as a ward until his death. • Russian Bolsheviks — permitted the freedom to pursue their revolutionary aims in liberal Victorian Britain — convened various gatherings in the same Whitechapel neighborhood. Young Joseph Stalin was one of the Russian revolutionaries of Whitechapel, living on Fieldgate Street. His home was near an ancient bell foundry that had cast the great bells for Big Ben and the Liberty Bell for Independence Hall in Philadelphia. |
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THE THAMES PATH EAST: |
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inland to circumvent an obstacle like a building or |
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an old wharf. In the hour east of the Tower Bridge are several historic, atmospheric pubs that invite stopping for a pint and a poke-about, guaranteeing at least a half-day of soft, high adventure chasing the ghosts of Charles Dickens, Captain Kidd, and other famous and infamous characters real and imagined. First of these hospitable haunts is: |
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• Dickens Inn (St. Katharine's Dock; TEL: 0207 488 2208). Just east of the Tower Bridge, the Thames Path crosses the entrance lock where St. Katharines Dock meets the Thames. Home At First guests at its St. Katharine’s Marina will find the path on the river side of the cobbled courtyard in front of the Dickens Inn. The first of our historic pubs of East London, therefore, is just footsteps away from Home At First's St. Katharine's Marina apartments. The Dickens Inn, while historic, is a newcomer to the marina. Originally a 18th century brewery, then part of a spice warehouse along the docks, it was moved brick by brick to its current location when |
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redevelopment first came to the Docklands. The |
| large barn of
a building now rests on the East Dock of the complex. It is festooned
with flowers from the courtyard to its upper balcony. Inside is a
traditional pub on the first floor, and a popular restaurant and
pizzeria on the upper floor. Open Mo-Sa 11AM-11PM; Su 12N-10:30PM. Walking the Thames Path east from St. Katharine’s Dock leads into this largely unknown and quite entertaining region, no longer seedy and impoverished, and not quite all yuppies and redeveloped townhouses. Our walk stays close to the river, an area which would have had few residences a century ago. Starting in the 1980’s the disused warehouses and wharves of East London were replaced with neat, upscale housing developments. A number of historic pubs have been saved from demolition, and now serve an area that is home to some traditional East Enders and some nouveau Cockneys. Several of these pubs serve meals. Our walk leads us past some of the best of these as well as past several new restaurants that are worth trying. |
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| WAPPING: Starting at the St. Katharine’s Dock Thames inlet, find the sign pointing the way of the Thames Path east into Docklands. The path exits St. Katharine’s Dock onto St. Katharine’s Way. In a couple of minutes you pass through an area of redevelopment and St. Katharine’s Way becomes Wapping High Street, the main street of the London Borough of Wapping, which borders the Thames. Along the river (right) side of street you will pass a number of pub/restaurants, including: |
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• Town of Ramsgate (62 Wapping High Street; TEL: 0207 481 8000), a friendly pub serving traditional food at modest prices. Located next to an alleyway known as Wapping Old Stairs, leading down to the riverside where fishermen from Ramsgate, Kent, formerly sold their daily catch. There has been a pub here continuously since the 15th century. The current pub witnessed the centuries when Wapping was a bustling warehouse district and men were press-ganged into serving on ships. The building dates from 1758, and is set on the exact location of Execution Dock, where Captain Kidd was hanged for piracy 300 years ago and where his body was thrice |
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washed over by the tidal Thames. The Town of |
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Ramsgate is said to have
served Captain Bligh and his
mutinous subordinate, Fletcher Christian, prior to their round-the-world
voyage on the H.M.S. Bounty. |
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• Captain Kidd (108 Wapping High Street; Tel: 0207 480 5759), restaurant and bar featuring upscale British and American style food with small beer garden overlooking the Thames. The pub — on the ground and second floors of a converted warehouse — is named after the famous pirate who was hanged — it took two tries — nearby on May 23, 1701. (The gallows had been moved to Wapping from St. Katharine’s Dock 100 years earlier.) On the first try to hang Kidd the rope broke. After a successful second hanging, the pirate’s body remained tied to the wharf at the Wapping Old Stairs until the three tides of the Thames had washed over it, then it was hung in chains along the river as a warning to would-be pirates. Open: Mo-Sa 11AM-11PM & Su 12N-10:30PM; serving food Mo-Fr 12N-3PM & 6:30-9:30PM, and Sa-Su 12N-6PM. |
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to London with Home At First. This walk is one of the many suggested walks and other activities included in Home At First's exclusive "London Activity Guide". The "London Activity Guide" is the accompanying guidebook keyed to Home At First's London travel program. It is issued only to all Home At First London guests. Get yours by traveling to London with Home At First. |
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