Ten Trinity Square was built around the time of WWI as the headquarters of the recently established (1908) Port of London Authority (PLA). Today it is a luxury hotel and I thought that London now is insignificant as a port but, as so often, I am wrong.
London is the second largest port in the UK, after Grimsby and Immingham on the Humber estuary, and the jurisdiction of the PLA extends further than you might expect: for ninety-five miles from the North Sea to this obelisk below Teddington Locks and weirs.
On Monday I took Reggie (spaniel) up the towpath from Putney to Richmond so yesterday wanted to ring the changes. I went on the tube to Richmond and continued upstream. There are good views of Marble Hill House and Ham House. I had been to the latter in the early 1980s as a guest of the London Architects’ Association (?) for a party but, to sing for my supper, I drove their Patron, the Duke of Grafton, there in my Ford Fiesta (company car). He had strong nerves and didn’t seem to notice how drunk I was on the return journey.
Then the Teddington obelisk, Teddington lock and a stone to mark the boundary between the boroughs of Richmond and Kingston.
I came back on the train from Kingston saving Strawberry Hill and Hampton Court for another day. Kingston town centre is horrific; architecturally pedestrian but not designed for pedestrians. It is a paean to the cult of the motor car. But let’s end on a happier note. There are no gulls above Richmond, probably because it’s not tidal but I did snap this adult Egyptian goose near Ham House. I’m rather pleased that I’m able to demote Robert as Chief Ornithological Photographer, a position he held in 2015, see Sea Eagles and Hurricanes. (He says, non-swank, that I’ve got much better at taking photographs.)
And there is a paean beneath yesterday’s post, Family History, from regular commentator HH – he didn’t have to be so nice.