Think of Sir ChristopherWren and chances are it’s St Paul’s Cathedral – perhaps the most famous building he designed – which comes to mind. Certainly not Westminster Abbey, which he did not.
Yet, aside from his time at the Westminster School as a child, Wren did have a long relationship with the royal church at Westminster. In March, 1698, he was appointed the Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey, a post he held until his death (when he was succeeded by Sir Nicholas Hawksmoor).
Wren did some work on the building. Prior to being appointed surveyor he had undertaken some work on schoolmaster Dr Richard Busby’s house (Wren had been one of his students) in the Little Cloister in 1683 (the house was destroyed during the Blitz in World War II).
Following his appointment, Wren did undertake a major restoration of the decayed stonework and roof of the church. He also approved designs by his deputy, William Dickinson, for the north front and an altarpiece which Wren had originally designed for the royal chapel at the Palace of Whitehall was given to the minster by Queen Anne (it was removed in the 19th century).
In 1713, Wren had also created designs for a series of works at the abbey which included the addition of a central tower and spire at the abbey and the completion of the west front which were never realised and which were shelved after his death (the wooden model for the tower and spire is located in Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, along with a pair of wooden obelisks he designed for the entrance to the Quire).
While there’s no memorial to him in the Abbey, Wren’s image can be seen in the lower right section of a memorial window in the north choir aisle dedicated to 19th century engineer Robert Stephenson while his coat of arms is shown along with numerous others in some post-war glass windows in the Chapter House.
WHERE: Westminster Abbey (nearest Tube stations are Westminster and St James’s Park); WHEN: Times vary – see the website for details; COST: £29 adults/£26 concession/£13 children (family rates available); WEBSITE: www.westminster-abbey.org.
Sir Christopher Wren was apparently a frequent visitor to London’s burgeoning coffee houses in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
A plaque in the City of London marking the former site of Jonathan’s Coffee House in Exchange Alley. PICTURE: Ethan Doyle White (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wren apparently started visiting coffee houses during his time in Oxford (the first in England is said to have opened there in 1652; the first in London – Pasqua Roseé’s premises st Michael’s Alley off Cornhill – opened late that same year) and continued to do so in London.
While it’s hard to pin down those he preferred, he reportedly met Robert Hooke at Man’s Coffee House in Charing Cross. The premises was apparently frequented by stockjobbers.
Wren was in good company attending such premises – other luminaries known to have done so at the time include diarist and naval administrator Samuel Pepys, John Locke, Edmund Halley, John Dryden and Alexander Pope.
Among other prominent coffee houses at the time was Jonathan’s – where in, 1698, the London Stock Exchange was born – and Garraway’s Coffee House, both of them located in Exchange Alley, as well as Button’s in Covent Garden.
Described as “probably the most famous Gresham College professor in history”, Sir Christopher Wren was appointed professor of astronomy at the college in 1657.
Wren is believed to have been educated at the Westminster School before attending Wadham College in Oxford and graduating with a BA in 1651. An MA followed in 1653 and he was subsequently elected a fellow of All Soul’s College in Oxford.
Engraving of Gresham College in the City of London, looking east at the front onto Old Broad Street by George Vertue(1740). PICTURE: Public domain (via Wikipedia).
That was followed by the Gresham appointment with Wren giving his inaugural lecture in August of 1657. His tenure was somewhat interrupted when, following the resignation of Richard Cromwell in May, 1659, the college was occupied by the military (and Wren stayed in Oxford). He returned to London following the Restoration which culminated in King Charles II’s entry into London in May, 1660.
Wren left Gresham later that same year and four years later, in 1664, he was appointed Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford – a position he held until his appointment surveyor of works to King Charles II.
Gresham College was established in 1597 under the terms of the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and was originally located in Sir Thomas’ former mansion on Bishopsgate. It was here that Wren – and other lecturers including Sir Robert Hooke – lectured.
In the mid-18th century, Gresham moved to the corner of Gresham and Basinghall Streets. In 1991, it again relocated – this time to the 14th century Barnard’s Inn Hall near Chancery Lane. The college today continues its founding tradition of providing free lectures (there’s now a considerable archive of these online).
There was a Corporation of the City of London plaque commemorating the original location of Gresham College in Old Broad Street but it’s apparently been removed.
An English heritage Blue Plaque marking the location of Scotland Yard. PICTURE: Google Maps
OK, so there’s not much left to see here – at least not from Wren’s time. But it was in Scotland Yard that Wren spentmuch of his time after being appointed Surveyor-General of the King’s Works.
The yard, which was located just north of the kitchens serving the Palace of Whitehall and to the south of aristocratic mansions built along the Strand, was the location of the Office of Works. It served as a workplace for Wren and was also the location of his main residence between 1669 and 1718 when he lived in a house built by his predecessor in the office, John Denham.
According to a recent lecture by Professor Simon Thurley at Gresham College, newly identified plans of the house show the ground floor contained a hall, with a kitchen and scullery to the rear while on the first floor was a great dining room, a smaller private dining room, bedroom and dressing room. A floor above contains quarters for servants and possibly the nursery for his children. There were cellars below, two yards and a long narrow walled garden (he also had a stable nearby for his horses and carriage). Most importantly, a door connected the house directly with the Office of Works next door.
Said Thurley: “Although slightly further [from] the royal lodgings than some apartments, Wren’s house was amongst the largest and best appointed of all the houses allocated to senior courtiers.”
Wren lived here with his two wives – his first wife Faith Coghill died of smallpox here in 1675 and his second wife Jane Fitzwilliam died of tuberculosis in 1680 as well as their children – Christopher, William and Elizabeth. Both William and Elizabeth never left their father’s care and died before him.
The origins of the name of Scotland Yard – which has since become synonymous with the Metropolitan Police (now based at New Scotland Yard) – apparently come from the fact the site contained lodgings where the Kings of Scotland stayed when visiting London (the last Scottish royal to stay here did so before Wren’s time, apparently in the reign of King Henry VIII).
From the Stuart period onward, the site was used for government offices – as well as Wren, other famous residents included Inigo Jones, one of Wren’s predecessors as Surveyor of Works, and, during the Commonwealth, John Milton, while serving as Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell.
The location of Scotland Yard is these days commemorated in the name of Great Scotland Street and Scotland Place, just off Whitehall. There’s also an English Heritage Blue Plaque marking the site in Whitehall Place, although Wren doesn’t get a mention on that (it’s entirely devoted to the former police presence).
The current Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. PICTURE: Javier Martinez/Unsplash
Not one of the many churches rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire of 1666, St Martin-in-the-Fields, located just to the east of what is now Trafalgar Square, is special to the great architect for very personal reasons.
For it was in this church that his first wife Faith (nee Coghill) and his first son Gilbert were both buried, having died within a few years of each other, along with his second wife Jane (nee Fitzwilliam).
Wren married Faith Coghill, a childhood neighbour and daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill of Bletchingdon, at the age of 37 on 7th December, 1669, at the Temple Church (it’s been suggested it was his appointment that year as Surveyor of the King’s Works that may have provided him with the financial security he desired before marrying).
Their first child – Gilbert – was born in October, 1762. But he died at the age of just 18-months-old. A second child, Christopher (Wren the Younger), was born in February, 1675 (he would go on to live a full life and follow in his father’s footsteps as an architect).
Faith died of smallpox on 3rd September that same year. She was buried beneath the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields beside Gilbert.
On 24th February, 1677, Wren married again, this time to Jane Fitzwilliam, daughter of William FitzWilliam, 2nd Baron FitzWilliam, and Jane Perry, in a private ceremony believed to have been undertaken in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall. The couple had two children together – Jane in November that year and William in June, 1679.
Tragically, Jane also died after only a few years of marriage of tuberculosis on 4th October, 1680. She was buried alongside Wren’s first wife and child in St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Wren was not to marry again – and for his long 90 years of life, he was only in the end married for nine.
The medieval church of St Martins-in-the-Fields was altered several times during its lifetime – including being enlarged and beautified – but it’s this earlier church that Wren would have known. The current church was rebuilt to the designs of James Gibbs in the early 1720s and was completed in 1726 after Wren’s death in 1723.
Interestingly, the first wife of Wren’s son Christopher – Mary – was also buried in the church in 1712 and a monument to her can still be seen in the crypt.
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren (25th February, 1723), whose designs helped to transform post-Great Fire London.
In a new series we’re looking at 10 locations which help tell Wren’s story but while we’ve previously runs numerous articles focused on the many buildings he designed, in this series the focus is more on his personal life.
The Old Court House, East Molesey (the blue plaque can be seen on the front wall). PICTURE: Courtesy of Google Maps
First up, it’s one of the most well-known properties related to Wren’s life – the home in which he spent the latter years after his life just outside Hampton Court Palace.
Known as the Old Court House, Wren first came to live in the house after he was appointed Surveyor-General to King Charles II in 1669. His post brought with it lodgings at the royal palaces and at Hampton Court Palace, it was the Old Court House (the property had been built for in 1536 as a wood and plaster house; Wren’s immediate predecessor in the office, Sir John Denham, had rebuilt it partly in brick).
Then in 1708, Queen Anne granted him a 50-year lease on the property, apparently at least partly in lieu of overdue fees he was owed for the building of St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s also believed that the Queen had granted the lease on condition that Wren repair or rebuilt the property.
Wren, who had hitherto only lived intermittently at the property (presumably while working on Hampton Court Palace on the orders of King William III and Queen Mary II), made some major alterations to the property from 1710 onwards (it’s suggested this was done to the designs of Wren’s assistant William Dickinson).
He came to live here on a more permanent basis after he retired from the Office of Works in 1718 and remained here until his death in 1723 (although he didn’t die here – more on that later).
It’s said Wren, whose time as the Royal Surveyor-General spanned the reigns of six monarchs, spent his time here “free from worldly affairs”, choosing to and pass his days ‘in contemplation and studies”.
It was subsequently the home of Wren’s son Christopher (1645-1747) and his grandson Stephen (b 1772). It remained a grace and favour house associated with Hampton Court Palace until 1958.
The Grade II* brown and red brick property, which was combined with the house next door in the early 19th century and them divided off in 1960, is now in private ownership and there’s an English Heritage Blue Plaque on the outside wall mentioning Wren’s residence.
A Dutch-built tugboat, the Knocker White (originally called the steam tug Cairnrock) was built in 1924 by T Van Duijvendijk’s yard at Lekkerkek near Rotterdam, Netherlands for Harrisons (London) Lighterage Ltd.
Following the installation of a steam engine and boiler at Great Yarmouth, the steel-hulled Cairnrock – which was designed for general towage work and featured a drop-down funnel for travelling under bridges – was initially used to Tow the Harrisons’ floating steam-powered coal elevator Wotan around the lower reaches of the Thames.
In 1960, the 77 foot long tug was sold and passed through the hands of a couple of different owners and ended up, by 1962, in the hands of WE White and Sons. It was during this time that its name was changed (after a White family nickname), marine diesel engines installed and the steam engines and boilers removed.
The Knocker White continued in service, operating out of the WE White & Sons base at Hope Wharf in Rotherhithe, working on the Thames and the Solent until 1982.
In November of that year, it was sold for scrap to Todd (Breakers) Ltd of Dartford but, after being drawn to the attention of the Museum of London, was acquired by them in March 1985 as a classic example of an early tall-funnelled Thames steam tug.
In November, 2016, the Knocker White – along with the Varlet – was acquired by Trinity Buoy Wharf with the aim of restoring the vessel and putting on public display. It can be seen moored at the wharf today.
The paddle steamer Waverley on the Thames near the Tower of London. PICTURE: Robert Pittman (licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)
A visitor rather than a permanent resident in London’s Thames, the Waverley is described as the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer.
The Waverley, which returns to London on 22nd September for a short season lasting into early October, was the last paddle steamer to be built for use on the River Clyde in Scotland and launched on 2nd October, 1946.
Named after Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel, her maiden voyage – on 16th June the following year – saw the Waverley cruise along what was to be her primary route for the next few years up Loch Long and Loch Goil to the villages of Lochgoilhead and Arrochar.
In 1952, the Waverley joined the British Railways Caledonian Steam Packet Co Clyde coast fleet, a role she remained until the company’s end in 1972. Briefly subsequently part of Caledonian MacBrayne’s fleet offering Clyde cruises and ferry duties, she was withdrawn from service in September, 1973, and in November the following year was “sold” for £1 to the Waverley Steam Navigation Co Ltd, which had been formed by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society.
Following restoration work, the Waverley made her first visit south of the Scottish border to Liverpool and North Wales to celebrate the centenary of Llandudno Pier. Further visits south followed and in April, 1978, she sailed along the Thames for the first time.
From 1981 to 1983, the Waverley completed an annual circumnavigation of Great Britain and in 1985 visited the Isle of Man and Ireland for the first time.
A substantial refit and rebuild took place in the early 2000s returning the ship to her original 1947 livery, and in 2019 she was withdrawn from service so new boilers could be installed before being returned to service in 2020, offering excursions around the coast.
During its London season, the Waverley departs from Tower Pier and travels under Tower Bridge.
The MV Havengore. PICTURE: Robin Webster (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Still plying the waters of the Thames, the MV Havengore is perhaps most famous for having carried the coffin of Sir Winston Churchill on the River Thames as part of his state funeral in 1965.
The MV Havengore – named for a low-lying island off the coast of Essex – was originally constructed as a hydrographic survey launch for the Port of London Authority in 1956. As the PLA’s principal survey vessel and flagship, she was moored at Gravesend and tasked with recording changes to Thames bed and estuary. She became the first survey vessel in the UK to have a computer to record survey data.
The highpoint of her during her almost 40 years of service with the PLA came on 30th January, 1965, when she transported the body of Churchill from Tower Pier to Festival Pier. On the journey, she was saluted by flight of 16 fighter jets while dock cranes were made to bow as she passed (there’s a plaque on board commemorating her role in the funeral).
But the almost 26 metre long vessel also participated in other historic events including the river pageant to celebrate the Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 and, more recently, the flotilla formed to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as well as the Thames tribute to the Queen’s long reign in 2015 and the Queen’s 90th birthday parade in 2016.
The MV Havengore was withdrawn from service in 1995 and sold after which she underwent restoration and refitting at the Chatham Historic Dockyard. The vessel was then used to provide excursions for underprivileged children on the Medway.
This red-painted vessel once served as a beacon at South Goodwin Sands off the Kentish coast but, now permanently moored at Trinity Buoy Wharf, has been converted into a recording studio.
The 550 tonne ship was built in 1939 by Philip and Sons of Dartmouth for Trinity House, a company established during the reign of King Henry VIII initially to regulate pilotage on the River Thames. It later established lighthouses and floating lightships and took over responsibility for all buoys in England. It currently maintains 65 automated lighthouses.
The steel-hulled vessel, one of three built to the same design (one, converted into a home, is now at Victoria Dock in Silvertown – and currently for sale with an asking price of £595,000 – and another in Rotterdam, The Netherlands), features a central light tower and originally had crew quarters.
It was mostly used to mark South Goodwin Sands but was also deployed to other locations including Inner Dowsing off the coast of Norfolk.
In the 1990s, it became the first light vessel in the UK to be converted to solar power to enable unmanned operation and underwent a complete refit in 1999.
It was taken out of service in 2003 and subsequently sold at auction by Trinity House. Initially bought by the Port Werburgh Marina on the Medway, it was later onsold to Ben Phillips who converted it to a floating music recording studio. Since 2008, it has been based at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
Ordered by the Portland & Weymouth Coaling Co Ltd, Portwey (the name comes from the company’s) was built by Harland & Wolff at Govan yard in Glasgow and launched on 10th August, 1927.
The 80 foot long vessel was based in Weymouth, Dorset, performed a range of tasks including carrying coal to steamers and being on call for any ship in distress requiring assistance or salvage. This included extinguishing a fire aboard the Danish timber-carrier Bodil in 1928, assisting ships like the cargo steamer Winslow (which had developed a list in heavy seas in 1932), and the Winchester Castle which had run aground in 1936, and even being involved in the search for a sunken submarine in 1932.
The Portwey was seconded by the Admiralty and moved to Dartmouth in Devon during World War II. Narrowly avoiding German bombs while in the harbour, during this time the tug was went to the assistance of ships attacked by the enemy. In 1944, she was assigned to US forces as they prepared for D-Day and her duties including clearing obstructions from the channel and supplying fresh water to naval vessels as well as, when a rehearsal for the landings went wrong at Slapton Sands, rescuing personnel and landing craft.
After the war, the Portwey resumed duties as a harbour tug including ferrying pilots and customs officers out into the Channel. In 1947, she helped put out a fire at the Queen’s Hotel in Dartmouth.
The Portwey was sold to the Falmouth Dock and Engineering Company in Cornwall in 1952. As well as rescuing the captain and first officer of the cargo ship Flying Enterprise, during this period she was involved in the construction of the Lizard Lifeboat Station in Cornwall, and a car ferry slipway at Holyhead in north Wales.
In 1967, with coal-fired steam tugs being replaced by diesel-engined ships, she was laid up to be scrapped. But it wasn’t the end for the Portwey, which was bought by Richard Dobson, the assistant harbour master at Dartmouth. Along with a group of friends, he returned her to working condition and during the 1960s and 1970s, she took part in many events on the River Dart and around Torbay.
In 1982, the Portwey joined the Maritime Trust’s Historic Ship Collection at St Katharine’s Dock where the newly formed Friends of Portwey continued with restoration and operation of the tug.
The Friends of Portwey became the Steam Tug Portwey Trust in 2000 and purchased the tug from the Maritime Trust, moving the vessel to West India Dock.
WHERE: Steam Tug Portwey, West India Dock (South Quay) (nearest DLR station is South Quay); WHEN: 2pm to 9pm Wednesdays; WEBSITE: www.stportwey.co.uk.
Almost destroyed in a May, 2007, fire, the Cutty Sark, the world’s last surviving 19th century tea clipper, is now a major international tourist attraction (although no longer in the Thames but on a dry dock beside the river).
The Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1869, for shipping company Willis & Sons.
Designed by Hercules Linton specifically for the China tea trade (meaning with speed in mind), she cost some £16,150 and featured some 32,000 square feet of sails, a staggering 11 miles of rigging with a main mast standing 153 feet high and a hull sheathed in a copper and zinc alloy to prevent damage.
Her name was taken from a Robert Burns poem, Tam o’ Shanter, in which a witch is given the nick-name Cutty-sark because of the short undergarment – in 18th century Scots, a “cutty-sark” or “little shirt” – that she wore (the vessel’s figurehead is a representation of the witch).
On her maiden voyage, the Cutty Sark departed from London on 15th February, 1870, bound for Shanghai and carrying a general cargo including wine, spirits and beer and manufactured goods. Reaching its destination on 31st May, it then returned to London, arriving on 13th October laden with 1,305,812 lbs of tea.
It subsequently made another seven trips to China, collecting its last tea cargo in 1877. Unable to source further tea cargoes, the ship was then used to transport different cargoes to various destinations around the world including everything from coal and gunpowder, to jute, whiskey and buffalo horns.
There was a tragic episode aboard the ship in 1880 when the First Mate Sidney Smith killed seaman John Francis. Smith was confined by Captain James Wallace then helped him escape at Anger in Indonesia. The crew refused to work as a result and Wallace decided to continue the voyage with just six apprentices and four tradesmen but when the ship was becalmed in the Java Sea for three days, he committed suicide by jumping overboard. Wallaces was replaced by William Bruce but a later inquiry suspended him from service because of his incompetence.
While it was never the fastest ship on the tea trade (although it came close on return journey from Shanghai before a rudder mishap in 1872), it did establish itself between the mid-1880s and early 1890s as the fastest ship in the wool trade.
But with steamships starting to dominate the wool trade, in 1895, the Cutty Sark was sold to Portuguese firm J Ferreira & Co and, renamed the Ferreira, spent the next 20 years transporting cargoes between ports including Oporto, Rio, New Orleans and Lisbon.
Damaged during a storm in 1916, the clipper was subsequently converted into a barquentine in Cape Town, South Africa, and then sold in 1920 to Wilfred Dowman, a retired windjammer skipper and owner of the training ship Lady of Avenel.
The Cutty Sark’s figurehead. PICTURE: Sanba38 (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Her former name now restored, Dowman set about restoring the ship – now docked at Falmouth in Cornwell – back to being a tea clipper and using her as a cadet training ship.
Following Dowman’s death in 1936, the Cutty Sark was given to the Incorporated Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe, Kent, where she was used as an auxiliary vessel for the cadet training ship HMS Worcester.
The Cutty Sark was sent to London and moored in the Thames for the 1951 Festival of Britain before returning to Greenhithe.
The deteriorating state of the ship led to the formation of The Cutty Sark Society and in a ceremony held just before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, patron of the society, took possession of the ship on its behalf.
In December, 1954, the ship was towed to a specially constructed dry dock at Greenwich and after three years of restoration work was opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.
The ship has remained there ever since. In November 2006, the ship’s rig was dismantled in preparation for a restoration project but a fire broke out aboard the ship on 21st May, 2007, and almost destroyed it.
Following a major restoration and development project which saw the lower part of the ship, from the waterline down, encased in glass, it was officially reopened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on 25th April, 2012. It is now under the operational management of Royal Museums Greenwich.
WHERE: The Cutty Sark, King William Walk, Greenwich (nearest DLR is Cutty Sark; nearest overground stations are Greenwich and Maze Hill); WHEN: Daily 10am to 5pm; COST: £18 adults; £9 children; WEBSITE: www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark.
The Massey Shaw in The Thames in 2015. PICTURE: R~P~M (licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Moored at West India Dock, the Massey Shaw is a former London Fire Brigade fireboat.
The fireboat was constructed in 1935 for a cost of £18,000 by the J Samuel White company in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Named for Sir Eyre Massey Shaw – the first Chief Officer of what was then named the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the vessel was designed to London County Council specifications with a deliberately low profile so it could fit under the Thames bridges in all tides.
The vessel, which was was powered by two eight cylinder diesel engines and featured a main deck monitor as well as eight deck outlets (and a wheelhouse which was added later), soon proved its worth, playing an important role in saving what the press said was a million pounds worth of stock at a large warehouse fire on Colonial Wharf.
During World War II, the Massey Shaw took part in Operation Dynamo, forming part of the small boat flotilla which evacuated British troops from the beach at Dunkirk. She ferried more than 500 troops to a larger ship offshore and transported almost 100 back to England and it’s believed she was the last of the small boats to leave Dunkirk harbour (rescuing survivors from a French vessel which struck a mine along the way).
Back in London, Massey Shaw performed a critical role during the Blitz, pumping large quantities of Thames water to douse fires along the city’s waterfront.
It remained in service until the early 1970s, although it had operated as a reserve boat since 1960 with newer models taking over frontline duties.
Decommissioned in 1971, the Massey Shaw was found abandoned 10 years later at St Katharine Dock by a group who went on to found The Massey Shaw Fireboat Society with a view to preserving the vessel. They were granted a 50 year lease on the vessel.
In 1985, the Massey Shaw joined the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships on their return to Dunkirk for the first time since 1965 and two years later, she attended the centenary of Sir Eyre Massey Shaw’s review of 1000 firemen at Oxford.
In 1990 the Massey Shaw was sunk close to the London Fire Brigade headquarters at Lambeth but was subsequently salvaged and the following year, after restoration work, joined the 50th anniversary return trip to Dunkirk.
The society gained full ownership of Massey Shaw in 2002 and restoration work was carried out by the TV programme Salvage Squad (a second appearance on the show and more work followed two years later).
In 2008, a £500,000 Heritage Lottery Grant was used to fund the restoration of the vessel at Gloucester docks. She returned to London by road in 2013 where the restoration was completed and in 2015 was officially launched back on the River Thames with an event at the Westminster Boating Base.
Later that year she participated in another “little ships” armada to Dunkirk, this time commemorating the 75th anniversary of the evacuation. Massey Shaw has since taken part in other events including celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II’s record as longest reigning monarch in 2015.
The vessel is now moored at the eastern end of West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs.
While Massey Shaw did appear in the 1958 film, Dunkirk, recapturing its role as one of the “little ships”, it did not appear in the 2017 film of the same name.
WHERE: Massey Shaw, West India Dock, Poplar (nearest DLR station is South Quay; nearest Tube station is Canary Wharf); WHEN: Between March and November, from 11am to 3pm daily (check website for details); WEBSITE: https://masseyshaw.org.
The world’s only complete surviving Victorian steamship, the SS Robin is moored in east London, close to where it was built.
One of a pair of steam coasters (the other being Rook) built initially by Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co at Orchard House Yard on Bow Creek (and then completed by London shipowner Robert Thomson) in 1890, the SS Robin was fitted out at East India Dock before being towed to Dundee to be fitted with her engine, boiler and auxiliary machinery at Gourlay Brothers & Co.
The SS Robin in 2021 at the Royal Victoria Dock with the Millennium Mills building in the background. PICTURE: Marc Barrot (licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The SS Robin commenced her sailing career at Liverpool on 20th December, 1890, and spent the next decade carrying cargos – including grain, coal, and iron ore – between British ports as well as some in northern France. Early on – in 1892 – she was sold to Alexander Forrester Blackater of Glasgow and re-registered there.
In 1900, the Robin was sold to what would be the first of three Spanish owners and renamed the Maria. The ship would then spend the next 74 years working along the Spanish coast, carrying a range of cargos including iron and coal.
In 1974, only days after discharging her final cargo and about to be sold to Spanish ship breakers, the Maritime Trust purchased the ship.
Following a two restoration project at the Doust & Co shipyard in Rochester, Kent, and, once again named the Robin, she was subsequently moored in St Katharine Docks. The ship was moved to a new mooring at West India Quay in 1991 but fell into disrepair.
In 2000, David and Nishani Kampfner bought Robin for £1 with the idea of creating an educational centre and gallery. Two years later, in 2002, SS Robin Trust was created and volunteers subsequently began the work of restoring the coastal steamer.
From 2004 until 2007, the vessel was home to a gallery and workshops run by Kampfner to encourage creative thinking in children.
But the need for further refurbishment saw this come to an end and, financed by a £1.9 million loan from Crossrail and a £1 million grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund, in June, 2008, the Robin undertook her first sea journey in 35 years, travelling to Lowestoft for the much needed restoration works.
Once at Lowestoft, however, it was discovered the ship was too fragile to go to sea again and so a pontoon was created onto which the ship was lifted in 2010. Towed to Tilbury, the Robin underwent further refurbishment there until, in July, 2011, she returned to London.
Moored initially at the Royal Albert Dock, she is now located at Royal Victoria Dock (and can be seen from nearby viewing points). There are now plans to relocate her to Trinity Buoy Wharf and for further development as a museum ship.
A former World War II convoy escort ship, the HQS Wellington, which is moored alongside Victoria Embankment in the River Thomas, is unusual in that for the past 75 years it has served as the headquarters of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.
The HQS Wellington seen in 2007. PICTURE: JPLon (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Constructed in the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, in 1934 for the Royal Navy as a two-masted Grimsby-class sloop, the HMS Wellington served in the Pacific in the lead-up to World War II, based mainly in New Zealand (she was named for the capital of New Zealand) and patrolling the South Pacific.
Following the outbreak of war, the HMS Wellington – which featured two 4.7-inch guns and one 3-inch gun as well as carrying other anti-aircraft guns and depth charges – served mainly as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic.
During this time, the vessel was involved in the sinking of an enemy U-boat, the evacuation of Allied forces from St Valery-en-Caux, north of Le Havre, and the Allied landings in North Africa in late 1942. In 1943, the HMS Wellington was one of the first escort ships to be fitted with Hedgehog, an anti-submarine weapon, which replaced the three inch gun.
The ship ended the war having travelled almost 250,000 miles and escorting 103 convoys.
Following the war, the 265 foot long ship was initially transferred to the Reserve Fleet in Milford Haven before, in 1947, the Admiralty made the ship available to the Honourable Company of Master Mariners to serve as a floating livery hall. She was converted for that purpose – and renamed the HQS Wellington – at Chatham Dockyard using funds raised through a public appeal.
The interior features a grand wooden staircase taken from the 1906 Isle of Man ferry SS Viper which was being broken up at the time.
The HQS Wellington arrived at Victoria Embankment in 1948 for service as the livery company HQ.
The ship had a major refit in 1991, during which it was fitted out with carpet and new displays showing off the Company’s collections, and in 2005, ownership of the ship was transferred to The Wellington Trust.
In April this year it was announced that due to safety concerns the Honourable Company of Master Mariners would have to leave the vessel. The company, which has relocated to a temporary on-shore headquarters in Greenwich, are now developing plans for a new floating headquarters.
HMS Belfast is one of London’s star tourist sites. But what are some of the other vessels moored in the Thames? In this series, we’re taking a look at the history behind 10 other vessels, starting with PSTattershall Castle.
Now a floating restaurant moored off Victoria Embankment, the steam-driven, steel-hulled PS Tattershall Castle was constructed by the West Hartlepool-based company William Gray & Company as a ferry. Its name comes from a castle in Lincolnshire built in the first half of the 15th century/
Launched on 25th September, 1934, with a license to carry 1,000 people, the 209 foot-long ferry was one of three sister ships – the others being the PSWingfield Castle (now a museum ship in Hartlepool) and the PSLincoln Castle – which were built to transport passengers along the Humber between Kingston upon Hull, in Yorkshire, and New Holland, in Lincolnshire. It could make eight trips a day and could carry vehicles and livestock.
World War II broke out not long after her launch and the ferry was used to transport troops and supplies along the Humber. Due to the heavy fogs on the river, the Tattershall Castle became one of the first civilian vessels to be equipped with radar.
Following the war and the 1948 nationalisation of the railways, the PS Tattershall Castle became part of part of British Rail’s Sealink service. In 1973, the vessel, with repairs deemed too costly, was retired from service.
Subsequently towed to London, the PS Tattershall Castle was converted into a floating art gallery which was formally opened by the Lord Mayor of London on 27th February, 1975.
In 1981, the former ferry was acquired by the Chef & Brewer Group. After some repairs on the River Medway, she was opened in 1982 as a bar restaurant.
There have been several refits since, the most recent being in 2015, when the former ferry was returned to Hull for some £1.5 million work to be carried out. The former ferry is typically moored off Victoria Embankment opposite the London Eye.
Westminster Abbey has been centre-stage at coronations since at least the Norman Conquest.
William the Conqueror set the precedent for coronations at the abbey when he decided not to get crowned at Winchester Cathedral (where Edward the Confessor had been crowned) and instead chose to be crowned at the minster built by Edward the Confessor (there is some suggestion King Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon King, was crowned at Westminster Abbey before the Conquest but no documentary evidence exists for this).
William the Conqueror’s coronation was held on Christmas Day, 1066, and since then some 39 coronations have been carried out (King Charles III’s will be the 40th).
A view of the pulpit and to the right the Cosmati Pavement and behind it the High Altar inside Westminster Abbey. PICTURE: PJ photography/Shutterstock
Arrangements for the coronation ceremony are the responsibility of the Earl Marshal and the coronation committee but the abbey’s dean acts as a liaison with the sovereign and assists the Archbishop of Canterbury who is usually the bishop who crowns the monarch.
Since the late 14th century, the service has largely followed that laid down in the Liber Regalis (Royal Book), an illuminated manuscript created in around 1390.
Since 1308, the heart of the coronation service has taken place on the Cosmati Pavement, located just before the High Altar, in what is known as the “Coronation Theatre”.
Having processed into the abbey and been acclaimed or “recognised” as sovereign by those present, the monarch then makes promises to God and the people they rule in what is known as the Oath, before being presented with a Bible.
Then, seated in the Coronation Chair, the monarch is anointed with holy oil while a canopy is held over them to shield this most sacred part of the ceremony from the eyes of those gathered.
Still seated, the monarch is then invested with the coronation regalia, including the Sovereign’s Ring, the Sovereign’s Orb, the Sceptre with Cross and the Sceptre with Dove, before St Edward’s Crown is brought from the altar and placed on the monarch’s head (it’s only since that coronation of King James I in 1603 that both the anointing and the crowning are carried out while the monarch is seated on the Coronation Chair – before that, the chair was used for only one aspect of the ceremony).
The monarch then moves to a throne and receives the homage of the royal princes and senior peers. It’s at this point that the coronation of a Queen Consort typically takes place in a simpler form of the ceremony.
The monarch then retires into St Edward’s Chapel where they dress on a purple robe known as the Imperial State Robe or Robe of Estate as well as the Imperial State Crown before processing back out through the abbey.
Other elements of the coronation include music which since the Coronation of King George II has included the George Fredric Handel anthem, Zadok the Priest. The introit I was glad has been sung at every coronation since that of King Charles I in February, 1626.
The abbey is currently closed in preparation for the Coronation of King Charles III. It reopens on Monday, 8th May. The Coronation Theatre will remain in place for visitors to see until 13th May.
WHERE: Westminster Abbey, Westminster (nearest Tube station is Westminster or St James’s Park); WHEN: Open to tourists everyday except Sunday (times vary so check the website); COST: £27 an adult/£24 for seniors (65+)/£12 a child (6-17 years); WEBSITE: www.westminster-abbey.org.
In the lead-up to the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla on 6th May, we’re taking a look at sites in London which have played an important role in coronations past (and, mostly, in this coronation as well).
First up, it’s the Tower of London’s Jewel House which is linked to the coronation through the role it plays in housing the Crown Jewels and, more specifically, the Coronation Regalia.
The centrepiece of the Crown Jewels is St Edward’s Crown, with which King Charles will be crowned in Westminster Abbey.
The crown, which has already been removed from the Tower of London so it could be resized for the occasion, is made from 22 carat gold and adorned with some 444 precious and semi-precious gems. Named for St Edward the Confessor, it dates from 1661 when it was made for the coronation of King Charles II and replaces an earlier version melted down after Parliament abolished the monarchy in 1649.
The crown was subsequently used in 1689 in the coronation of joint monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II and then not used again until 1911 when as used to crown King George V. It was also used to crown King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
St Edward’s Crown is not the only crown that will be used in the coronation ceremony – the King will also wear the Imperial State Crown at the end of the service.
Made by Garrard and Company for the coronation of King George VI in 1937 (replacing a crown made for Queen Victoria in 1838), it features the Black Prince’s Ruby in the front – said to have been a gift to Edward, the Black Prince, in 1357 from the King of Castile.
Further gems in the crown include the Stuart Sapphire, the Cullinan II Diamond and St Edward’s Sapphire, said to have been worn in a ring by St Edward the Confessor and found in his tomb in 1163.
Among other items which will be used in the coronation are the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, the Sovereign’s Orb, and the Coronation Spoon.
The sceptre was made for King Charles II and now features the world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan Diamond, which was added to it in 1911. The orb was also made for King Charles II’s coronation and is topped with a cross.
The spoon, meanwhile, is one of the oldest items in the Crown Jewels, dating from the 12th century. It is used for anointing the new sovereign with holy oil – which comes from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem – during the ceremony. It survived the abolition of the monarchy after it was purchased by a member of King Charles I’s wardrobe and later returned to King Charles II after the monarchy. The oil is held in a golden vessel known as an ampulla which is shaped like an eagle.
Other items to be used in the coronation are a series of swords – among them the Sword of State, the Sword of Temporal Justice, the Sword of Spiritual Justice, and the Sword of Mercy (this has its tip blunted to represent the Sovereign’s mercy).
The regalia was housed at Westminster Abbey until 1649. They have been kept at the Tower of London since the Restoration (even surviving a theft attempt by Colonel Thomas Blood and accomplices in 1671).
The Crown Jewels, which are now held under armed guard, have been housed in several different locations during their time at the Tower of London including in the Martin Tower and the Wakefield Tower. They were moved into a subterranean vault in the western end of the Waterloo Block (formerly the Waterloo Barracks), now known as the Jewel House (and not to be confused with The Jewel Tower in Westminster), in 1967.
A new Jewel House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on the ground floor of the former barracks in 1994. The exhibit was revamped in 2012 and following King Charles III’s coronation, the display is again being transformed with a new exhibition exploring the origins of some of the objects for the first time.
WHERE: The Jewel House, Tower of London (nearest Tube station Tower Hill); WHEN: 9am to 4.30pm (last admission), Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4.30pm (last admission) Sunday to Monday; COST: £29.90 adults; £14.90 children 5 to 15; £24 concessions (family tickets available; discounts for online purchases/memberships); WEBSITE: https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/the-crown-jewels/.
Exploring London 