This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage to the new world to escape religious freedoms* in England, and there are a number of events being planned to mark the anniversary.
One of them is a permanent change to the area where the Mayflower was based, with plans to light up a number of old buildings along the Rotherhithe riverside. The scheme will illuminate five historic buildings, within the Rotherhithe conservation area, which is where Christopher Jones, the Master and part-owner of the Mayflower lived, died and is buried.
When these buildings are illuminated, the spire of St Mary’s church and the chimneys of Thames Tunnel Mills and Brunel’s Engine House should decorate the riverside, and be visible from some distance along the Thames.
The project team hopes to fundraise enough to ensure that the scheme is installed and ready to go by September 2020, when the key commemorations to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s sailing from Rotherhithe are due to take place along the Thames between Westminster and Rotherhithe.
It will be particularly noticeable from the Wapping side of the Thames.
A crowdfunding campaign is now trying to raise the £35,000 needed to complete the project following substantial contributions from Thames Clippers and the Port of London Authority.
More details are here.
*Yes really, the Brownists (as the Pilgrims were originally called) felt England was becoming too liberal and left to be even more puritan elsewhere.