Dobbinland: Views from Battersea and London Bridge South Bank

A couple of weeks ago I had to visit the south bank at Battersea

The Trade Tower

Views from the top of the tower : :first looking down river towards the railway bridge at Battersea Reach.

Now across the river to the north bank and the riverside development on William Morris Way.

Finally down river toward Wandsworth Road Bridge.

A few days later I was again on the south bank, this time near London bridge, a scene of much development (which is still on going of course). First stop was Hay's Galleria.

Originally a warehouse and associated wharf (Hay's Wharf) for the port of London, it was redeveloped as a visitor attraction in the 1980s. It is Grade II listed.

An extract from Wikopedia describes the history 'Hay's Galleria is named after its original owner, the merchant Alexander Hay, who acquired the property - then a brewhouse - in 1651.[1] In around 1840 John Humphrey Jnr acquired a lease on the property.[1] He asked William Cubitt (who was father-in-law to two of Humphrey's sons) to convert it into a 'wharf', in fact an enclosed dock, in 1856 and it was renamed Hay's Wharf. During the nineteenth century, the wharf was one of the chief delivery points for ships bringing tea to the Pool of London.[1] At its height, 80% of the dry produce imported to London passed through the wharf, and on this account the Wharf was nicknamed 'the Larder of London'. The Wharf was largely rebuilt following the Great Fire of Southwark in June 1861 and then continued in use for nearly a century until it was badly bombed in September 1940 during the Second World War.'

More from Wikopedia : The dock gates were permanently closed, the 'impounded' area of the dock was covered with a floor to the sill of the wharf-sides and the entire space was enclosed with a roof reminiscent of the Victorian railway termini of the same period to create the galleria. This was implemented by Twigg Brown Architects.

In a fountain at the centre of the Galleria is a 60 ft moving bronze sculpture of a ship, called 'The Navigators' by sculptor David Kemp, unveiled in 1987 to commemorate the Galleria's shipping heritage.