A walk near the Thames

This weekend we did a walk south of where we live near Putney bridge.  During the walk we would have views of the Thames river and also walk down small street, alley ways and parks.

Before our walk Leanne did her morning walk with Coach. As you can see the flowers are starting to bloom. These are in front of Kensington palace

Will and Kate were are in India this weekend so we didn't bother to stop and have coffee. It's good to be royalty and have such a small home.

And what the heck is this supposed to be?

Leanne found this life size statue on top of the entrance way of a house. I myself think it is just weird looking and even weirder as to where they put it. She always comes back from here morning walks with something to talk about. 

After a few cups of coffee and some toast Leanne and I headed for Putney bridge station for our walk

Our first stop was 19th century Fulham Pottery kiln. The rest of the pottery buildings are gone and this is all that is left. The Pottery was established in 1672 by lawyer named John Dwight. My guess is he was better at pottery than being a lawyer. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dwight_(potter)

From there we crossed a foot bridge across the Thames. As with most of England there bike friendly. The green rail on the right is to help you get your bike up and down the stairs. 

This the bridge we walked across, its a train and pedestrian bridge built back in 1889. As you can see the tide is out. 

Next on our walk was a row of Almshouses. Being we had know idea what an almshouse was its alswasy good to have wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse

Then it was back to see the river. Away from the river is was not windy a bit, as we got close the wind picked up.

In the background is Putney bridge, the third bridge built on this site. This one was built in 1886

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putney_Bridge

This is also the area where "the Boat Race" is held. The annual race between Oxford and Cambridge that started in 1829.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Race

From there we would walk thru a section on town and then to the Putney Lower Common Cemetery. This is what happens when a cemetery gets full. 

They decided not to add more acreage to the existing cemetery back in the 1950. After that time they let it go back to a natural state.

An organization maintains a few walk ways and cleans up trash, but for the most part nothing else is done to it.

Even though it was overgrown, it was a very beautiful.

From there it was time for a pint and something to eat. We stopped at White Hart pub. This building was originally built in 1660 and rebuilt in 1899. This is on the river and is a good place to watch the boar races.  

After that we walked down a few small alley ways and caught a bus back to Putney bridge.

When we started out walk the tide was out and the river, as you can see was very low.

A few hours later the tide came it and the river has filled up. 

The land on the right is Bishops park and Fulham Palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulham_Palace

Fulham palace is and estate that was owned by the bishops of London for over 1300 years.

Now back to the water going up and down.  The Fulham Palace had a moat where all the waste water would go. When it was time to clean the moat they would open a gate at high tide and flush the water out of the moat. Before the tide went out they would fill the moat back up and  close the gate. 

As we neared the end of our day we walked thru Bishops park.

A few more views of Putney bridge and the lights on them.

Some odd info about the bridge, it has three southbound lanes and one northbound lanes. There must be a big  traffic jam when all the south bounders want to head north.