White Hart Dock, Lambeth

Having a couple of hours between a meeting in Kings Cross and another at Vauxhall I took the opportunity to explore the Thames Embankment either side of Vauxhall Bridge. In just a few short steps I learned much about this bit of the river.

Along the St. George's Wharf towards Battersea Power Station is one of many art installations which make up part of the Totally Thames festival for September 2014. Here I found an enormous 21m hippo floating in the water. Apparently you could visit the beast at low tide but I was there just after so the opportunity eluded me. According to the website the hippo represents the time, some long time in the past, when hippos used to wallow hereabouts in the Thames.

Either side of Vauxhall Bridge are, apparently, remnants of the first bridges across the Thames in this locality and adjacent to the upstream side of the bridge are informative displays of the sorts of uses the land was put to before the extensive appartments were built.

One of the more interesting little corners was the White Hart Dock, which was restored after 50 years of neglect and dereliction around 2009. It seems the dock still fills with water as the tides run in. The dock was used in the past to convey pottery from the nearby Royal Doulton works before it moved north. The Royal Doulton Building is still there in Black Prince Road next to the dock.

It was on the wall of this dock that I read about one of the last outbreaks of the Plague which occurred in this part of Lambeth in the 19th C when some 6000 people died from the disease. At that time it was still thought that the disease was spread through the air by obnoxious smells - and there were many obnoxious smells around then. But as most of the occupants of this marshy area lived in cramped unsanitary buildings and drew their water from the Thames it wasn't long before the true cause was realised.

Finally I was asked by a tourist with a German guide book if I knew where Vauxhall Cross was. Not being able to read German I resorted to Mr Google and found that it referred to the MI6 building next to the Vauxhall Bridge. Which led on to learning about the history, design and construction of what is known locally as the Lego Building. I've seen the building before and as a piece of architecture, it's not one of the best. Described as "post modernist" it certainly does not have the timeless appeal of some of London's other buildings. Still the tourist was happy to have found what she was looking for.

After that it was time for the second meeting and then home in the gathering gloom as the low clouds and mist swept in.