Pyrotechnics on the Thames at Wapping

A note to look out for something interesting happening on the Thames at Wapping - as there will be a couple of days of bang bangs happening.

London’s Pocket Parks: Vaughan Way Wildlife Garden, E1

In Wapping, East London is a long narrow strip of land between houses and the pavement that, if you can find the entrance, conceals a woodland walk to explore.

Advent Calendar – Day 18

The annual tradition of posting a different vintage image each day during advent, and this year, it's of London's old railway stations.

Walking through a Tunnel under the Thames — Part 2

A rare confluence of events lead to a remarkable opportunity this weekend as 4,000 people were able to walk through the world's first underwater tunnel.

Photos from inside the desolate Fortress Wapping

A quarter of a century after the notorious union dispute which came about after some 5,000 staff were sacked when News International moved from Fleet Street to Wapping, the site is again to see a massive upheaval, as the 1980s…

Today is the 200th anniversary of the Ratcliffe Highway murders

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the first of what was later to become known as the Ratcliff Highway murders – a still unsolved series of murders that caught the public imagination at the time. Murders were frankly, not that…

A look around St Peter’s Church in London Docks

On one of the main roads in Wapping stands what looks externally to be a fairly average Church, but like most Victorian buildings of its time, the generic municipal exterior conceals a much more interesting interior.

Abandoned London – Wapping’s Tobacco Dock

Nearly two hundred years old, the huge Grade I listed brick and timber built former tobacco warehouse in Wapping is sadly now probably more famous for being a ghostly abandoned site than for its long heritage. Built in 1812 to…

First Day of the East London Line

“I apologise for the cramped conditions” was how the first train on the newly extended East London Line was introduced to its excited passengers. For yes, the majority, if not indeed the totality of the passengers were highly excited. A…

An Old Napoleonic Bollard in Wapping?

A few months ago, The Greenwich Phantom made me aware of the fact that early bollards used on pavements came from cannons captured during the Napoleonic war. The cannons were apparently stuck in the ground with a cannon ball on…