please empty your brain below
DG, nice item on the bridges of west london.
Hope you will cover the lack of bridges east of Tower Bridge.

dg writes: done

Robert | 09.12.13 - 5:54 a.m. | #

and the Oyster pay-as-you-go discount is.....?!

Paul | 09.12.13 - 8:55 a.m. | #

As I went to school in Twickenham we were taught the song “Twickenham Ferry”. Pity it is closed now. In those 1950’s days there was also sometimes a ferry from Twickenham Embankment near the old swimming baths, which went across to Ham Fields past the Teddington end of Eel Pie Island.
Eel Pie Island itself was served by a ferry before the footbridge was built, a chain ferry being used, which you could operate yourself by turning a large handle which the chain was pulled through on the flat bottomed boat. Later after some accidents, boat overcrowding with people falling in the river, (the ferry got used at night by people semi-intoxicated people departing from events at the Eel Pie Island Hotel). The chain ferry stopped and a crew operated punt was used. This reduced the amount of people getting to the island so in order to stay in business the then owner of the hotel built the bridge across to the Island, which was named the “Snapper Bridge” after him.
Back in those days as well as the Hotel there were some pleasant lawns to the river on the Ham side of the island, a place for teas, and Nielsen’s Canadian ice cream was available. Now the Island is mainly residential and private apart from some boat works.
Not far away there is still is a user operated chain ferry going to Trowlock Island at Teddington.

John | 09.12.13 - 9:13 a.m. | #

All a bit posh over there for us lower order East Londoners

Agent Z | 09.12.13 - 9:39 a.m. | #

The cable car's a bargain - twice as many metres per Pound!

Martin | 09.12.13 - 10:03 a.m. | #

Do the Thames Clippers services at Trinity Buoy Wharf and Canary Wharf not count as privately owned ferries?

teflon | 09.12.13 - 10:31 a.m. | #

Is this going to be the start of a miniseries about unusual ways to cross the river (i.e. not the usual road/rail bridges/tunnels)? Hope so...

Although, you've already written exetensively about the Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels, of course, and the Woolwich Ferry. And I think the Gravesend-Tilbury ferry got a mention at one point too (something to do with Pocahontas?).

So not sure what's left to cover... hope you can surprise!

ex-Balfron resident | 09.12.13 - 10:32 a.m. | #

Ha ha.... I spot two successes!

B | 09.12.13 - 10:47 a.m. | #

I do like a nice boaty post.

Sarah | Homepage | 09.12.13 - 1:24 p.m. | #

Further upstream there’s also the Shepperton-Weybridge ferry, but of course that isn’t in London, (although it lies within the M25).

Simon W | 09.12.13 - 5:21 p.m. | #

The Shepperton-Weybridge ferry was reinstated in 1986 after a 25-year gap, as part of the Thames Path. Attempting to walk the path a few years previously, in day trips from London, it was a relatively simple matter to go home from Shepperton after one day and simply get a train to Weybridge to resume the next time, but people doing the route in one go had to do a lot of road walking to avoid the gap. (There were similar problems further upstream, for example around Bourne End)
HG Wells' protogonist in The War of The Worlds had an encounter with a Martian at the Shepperton ferry.

I noticed the Hammerton ferry sign you illustrate has updated the fare but not the phone number, which still displays the 20th-century 7-digit local number.

timbo | 09.12.13 - 6:55 p.m. | #

If there had been a Martian at Richmond no doubt DG would have caught it on camera, as he did the 30-stone Viking at Aqueduct Lock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/3846860536/in/set-72157621790088657/

Great Aunt Annie | 09.12.13 - 8:29 p.m. | #

The Shepperton-Weybridge ferry is a quaint service as you have to ring the bell on the quarter hours to call out the ferry man. At £2 for a 50 yard trip its a bit on the steep side but when I walked the Thames Path I found it worthwhile as cuts out a significant detour on the roads.

Eric | 09.12.13 - 9:28 p.m. | #

Agent Z - all a bit posh for us South- East Londoners too but with so many other beautiful places nearby this is definitely my favourite part of London.

Robert - there may not be many bridges east of Tower Bridge but there have at least been 8 new crossings built in the last 25 years with one more under construction.

whiff | 10.12.13 - 3:18 a.m. | #

A belated correction - Ham House is Jacobean (early C17) not Georgian (C18)

dg writes: I no longer give a fuck.

Timbo | 11.09.19 - 8:46 p.m. | #

i used it the other day ... after cycling past it twice without spotting it !

still a quid for adults and half for children
Also 50p for bicycles

ADS | Homepage | 12.10.19 - 12:36 a.m. | #











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