The fess, or crossing, of the shield is chequered blue and gold representing the arms of William de Warren, created first Earl of Surrey by William Rufus. Each gold square bears a teardrop representing the tears of the French Huguenots, many of whom settled in Wandsworth from 1685.

The ship at the top may refer to the Wendels, a tribe of sea-raiders from the Continent who supposedly gave their name to the district, for Wendelsworth was an early variation of Wandsworth. The four shields and oars on the ship represent the four parishes of Battersea, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth.

The dove to the left is taken from the former Battersea coat of arms and the black dragon to the right was taken from the former Wandsworth arms and also refers to London, being similar to the City of London coat of arms.

Yes, once upon a time, VAUXHALL and SOUTH LONDON vibe was rooted in working class culture… Remember the LAMBETH WALK, the music halls, the dance and the cockney street markets. This was one of the hearts of COCKNEY LONDON.  People lived in affordable flats, inside not very attractive COUNCIL ESTATES. Once upon a time…

Now the area is showing signs of lack of affordable housing… WANDSWORTH COUNCIL has to place people in temporary accommodation outside of the borough.

Definitely, NINE ELMS has a new, shiny LU STATION, and another one has opened near de BATTERSEA POWER STATION, and as the NORTHERN LINE now reaches these shores and this has an impact in rents, business and residential. Rents have risen by 35% since 2011.  You need a salary of 70.000 to afford a dwelling here. As in other parts of London gentrification has pushed traditional communities out… A new clientele is arriving for a new type OF shops cafés, pubs and restaurants.

Food Exchange is a bold new home for London’s food entrepreneurs of every flavour, that opened in February this year. The facility is unique to the UK, comprising a workspace, kitchen space and food culture venue for everyone and everything to do with food. Private studios are ready to rent now for all types and sizes of businesses working in food. The Food Exchange is partnering with Mission Kitchen to create London’s largest shared kitchen space, alongside co-working space, for London’s small and ambitious food makers.

New Covent Garden Market’s aim is to create London’s greatest cluster of food entrepreneurs and to nurture the future of food. An incubator for innovators and the food stars of tomorrow, the Food Exchange spans three floors and as a new home to the winner will provide the opportunity to become part of this incredible food community and develop amongst like-minded entrepreneurs.

A bit of extra info….

Specialising in exotic fruits and vegetables has been a welcomed development which has contributed to the success of  New Spitalfields Market

Each trading day at Billingsgate Market offers buyers an opportunity to see the largest selection of fish in the United Kingdom. Daily arrivals from the coast and overseas ensure a continuity of fresh supplies and with some 40 merchants trading in close proximity in the Market Hall, competition is keen. 

What about learning to cook fish?. You can sign up for a fish course at the in-house Billingsgate Seafood School. It’s run as a charitable organisation with the aim of promoting the inclusion of fresh fish in a healthy diet and to help promote the market and keep fishmongery alive. The school, which is on the first floor of Billingsgate, offers a wide range of courses including Sushi making at Billingsgate which show you how to prepare fresh fish.

The City of London Corporation has approved plans for a major regeneration programme, which will see London’s historic wholesale markets relocated to a purpose-built site in Dagenham Dock East London, bringing thousands of jobs to the area, and allowing the redevelopment of the old sites

The bustling street markets where the working class could buy anything in Victorian London

Back on tour…

Riverside walk (a lovely view from the other side of Nine elms LanE)

2018. Designed by Studio Weave and artist Linda Florence, this public space along the river is a beautiful addition to the neighbourhood. It is intended as a space for relaxing by the river, for events, and for performances to take place.

The River Heathwall, more often known as the Heathwall Sewer,^[1][2] Heathwall Ditch or Heathwall Mill Pond^[3] was a set of field drainage ditches and a large mill pond in Battersea, London. It had two outlets into the tidal Thames and its inland section roughly followed Wandsworth Road. Its eastern outlet was at Nine Elms.^[4]

The Greenwoods' map of 1827 confirms the mill pond served a tide mill, harnessing of the locally great tidal energy.^[5] The generic prototype may have such a mill in the nascent City of London, in Roman Britain.^[6]

The river was covered in 1866, as was the nearby Falconbrook. Pumping stations were added for the drainage of northern Battersea and to allow for widespread development.^[1][7] Heathwall Pumping Station is now part of the Thames Tideway Scheme.

New Thames Tideway Tunnel super sewer completed

Now that you are here:  have a look at Pimlico!…on the other side of the river

BEN PIMLICO, an Italian runninhg an ale house in… HOXTON, HACKNEY. Nobody knows how this district get that name!

St George's Square is a prestigious and very long garden square in affluent Pimlico, Central London. It benefits from gardens and a church in its central area. Near the northern acute angle, the square is intersected by Lupus Street. Pimlico tube station is a short distance east. Its north-east side is in effect Belgrave Road and southern side is arterial Grosvenor Road which is lined by a small public garden in front of the River Thames

Dolphin Square is a block of private apartments built between 1935 and 1937. At the time of their construction the development was billed as the largest self-contained block of flats in Europe. It has been home to many Members of Parliament

Churchill Gardens is a large housing estate covering the south-west corner of Pimlico. It was developed between 1946 and 1962 to a design by the architects Powell and Moya, replacing docks, industrial works, and several Cubitt terraces damaged in the Blitz.

For More about pimlico see chapter 7b

Let us follow the proper LBTC route again…

A cluster of new pocket parks that were created as part of the Nine Elms property developments and are pretty appealing.

In the centre of the development is The Linear Park, which eventually will be a 1km long line of parks running from VAUXHALL STATION, through the estate, and, apparently on to Battersea Power Station. Amongst those patches, a large sunken lawn surrounded by seating benches and an assumption that the stone walkway around the edges will be used as well on dry days.

There’s an elm tree in the lawn, which a sign notes is one of nine that have been planted in the park for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, although they were planted after she died, so they could have changed the signs to memoriums. Still, Nine Elms once again has nine elms. The sunken lawn is also lined on several sides by bedding plants that’ll look a lot better once they have bedded in next year.

A giant white disembodied foot, with a ring embedded in the sole, can be found in the gardens next to the US Embassy. By Simon Fujiwara, a Berlin-based British-Japanese artist who made his mark in 2012 exhibiting at Tate St. Ives.

The old Dutch barge moored in Nine Elms has its own colourful past with little outward evidence of its turbulent history. The Maria II was built in Holland in 1932.

After completion she sailed to France where she transported grain between Rouen and Paris until World War Two. In 1941 Hitler demanded all available seafaring vessels to transport tanks for his planned invasion of the UK. The Maria II would have seen active service carrying shipments of tanks between Germany and France.

Tideway Village forms part of a larger houseboat community moored next to Battersea Power Station. Tideway Village consists of three houseboats – the LAYLA, the NEWARK and the ST.MICHAEL- and are home to 25 people that are moored in one of the Thames’ last tidal docks. In spring 2010, it became known  that Tideway Industrial Estate had been sold to a developer  ST.JAMES, a subsidiary group of BERKELEY HOMES, who specialise in riverside developments. Whether the community thought the development added or detracted from the area was not an an issue but a very significant threat arose whereby a public consultation was held locally, to which none of the boat residents were invited, showing a floating garden in place of the boats. Fortunately, the tiny floating village is still here for you to see… and for them to live.

THAMES TIDEWAY is creating new areas of public realm to connect the capital’s residents and visitors with the river more closely than is currently possible.  All together three acres of new public realm along the route of the River Thames at seven different locations. Parts of the new spaces at Victoria and Chelsea EMBANKMENTS and at KING EDWARD VII MEMORIAL PARK will be ‘FLOODABLE’ at high tides, giving Londoners the first opportunity of its kind to dip their toe in what will be a CLEANER River Thames.

They are also opening up sections of the THAMES PATH  currently closed to the public, and making improvements to the existing route where it is possible

Western Riverside Waste Authority (WRWA) is the statutory body, or local authority, responsible for the management of the waste delivered to it by various London Boroughs: Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Wandsworth

Former BATTERSEA POWER STATION, now a SHOPPING centre and apartments

Over the past years, Apple has deepened its investments in the U.K., inaugurating a new U.K. headquarters and a new Apple Store at London’s Battersea Power Station to better serve customers, creating new opportunities for developers and expanding its work with suppliers large and small. Including Apple’s spend with U.K. suppliers, the thriving iOS app economy, and direct employment, the company now supports more than 550,000 jobs across the country.

Battersea Power Station accommodates Apple’s growing team, which now totals nearly 8,000 employees across the country. With over 500,000 square feet, the six-story space has been designed around collaboration, inclusivity, wellness, and sustainability. The reimagined Battersea Power Station has swapped coal for clean power, with the building running on 100 percent renewable energy.

Battersea Power Station Development Company had a vision to bring the power station back to life and so they worked on the project since the beginning  to design and build a solution that would allow the power station to once again be a source of energy. This involved  the construction of a modern day ENERGY CENTRE in the basement of the power station and a DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING NETWORK to supply heating, cooling and electricity to the entire 42-acre site.

Therefore, there is 73,000 sq ft basement energy centre, which is split over two levels. The total heating capacity is of 42.75MW, cooling capacity of 30MW and electrical capacity of 7.3MW. This is generated from two 2MWe CHP engines, one 3.3MWe CHP engine, three 10MWth gas-fired boilers, seven 60m³ thermal stores and six 4MW chillers. A large energy centre. 

Grosvenor Bridge, originally known as, and alternatively called Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge over the River Thames in London, between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. Originally constructed in 1860, and widened in 1865 and 1907, the bridge was extensively rebuilt and widened again in the 1960s as an array of ten parallel bridges. There are now eight tracks across the bridge.

Located in Grosvenor Railway Arch, offers the opportunity to see a historic model of the Power Station and the chance to understand more about the building’s role in powering London in the 20th century.

Enjoy the area around the bps

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (now known as Battersea) is an animal rescue centre for dogs and cats. Battersea rescues dogs and cats until their owner or a new one can be found. It is one of the UK's oldest and best known animal rescue centres. It was established in Holloway, London, in 1860 and moved to Battersea in 1871.

Eustace purchased, repaired and learned to fly an old coal-gas filled balloon called ‘The Queen of the West’ that enabled himself and Oswald to set up a showman aeronautical business

Eustace and Oswald constructed their very first balloon in Horace’s laboratory in Hove, Sussex. They produced balloons for the Aero Club (The Hon. Charles Rolls, Griffiths Brewer et al) and secured a contract to produce them for the Indian Government.

Production continued until 1919 in railway arches 75 and 81. Coal gas and a launch site were on hand at the adjacent Battersea gas works.

The first aeroplane the three Short brothers built was in the Battersea railway arches and was Horace’s first design called the Short No.1. It was bought by Frank McClean. Horace went on to be recognised as a design genius by knowledgeable others in the aeroplane design and construction business. The three brothers were noted for the quality of their work. 

No.1 was a tailless pusher biplane with a front elevator and wing-tip rudders and never got into flight due to the weight of the car engine used. 

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Gasometers, those huge, round storage tanks that rise and fall with a concertina action, looked somewhat out of place in today’s more sanitised urban landscape.

Great views from the riverside;On the other side of the thameS…PIMLICO (STILL PIMLICo)  and chelsea

The Coaling Jetty received the coal from barges, known as FLATIRONS, on the River Thames. Coal was then transported via cranes, hoppers and a series of conveyors to the Boiler House. The jetty also supported a grid screen to protect the WATER INTAKE CHAMBERS from foreign objects.

The Coaling Jetty is 133m long and 11m wide. It was constructed from reinforced concrete and built inside temporary cofferdams. The deck is divided into four sections, the two central sections have larger spans designed to span over the two proposed intake chambers. Ultimately only one of these intake chambers was constructed with the first half of the power station and the second was not built. Read more

In the course of his Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice: in 55 and 54 BC.^[4] On the first occasion, Caesar took with him only two legions, and achieved little beyond a landing on the coast of Kent. The second invasion consisted of 800 ships, five legions and 2,000 cavalry. The force was so imposing that the Celtic Britons did not contest Caesar's landing, waiting instead until he began to move inland.^[3] Caesar eventually penetrated into Middlesex and crossed the Thames, forcing the British warlord Cassivellaunus to pay tributeto Rome and setting up Mandubracius of the Trinovantes as a client king. The Romans then returned to Gaul without conquering any territory. BRITAIN had to wait only a few decades to become ROMAN… LONDINIUM was founded in 43 a.d…

The Catuvellauni (possibly meaning "war-chiefs" in the ancient Gaulish Celtic language) were a tribe or state of south eastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century AD.

Something of the history and fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their rulers before the conquest can be traced through ancient coins and references in classical histories. They are mentioned, for example, by Cassius Dio, who implies that they led the resistance against the Roman conquest in AD 43. In the 2nd century AD they appear as one of the civitates (client Kingdoms) of Roman Britain in Ptolemy's Geography. In terms of where they were found, they were centred on the town of Verlamion (near modern St Albans) and the surrounding areas of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and southern Cambridgeshire. Thus their territory was bordered to the north by the Iceni and Corieltauvi, to the east by the Trinovantes, to the west by the Dobunni and Atrebates, and to the south by the Regnenses and Cantiaci. As such the inhabitants of Warwickshire will at the very least have interacted with these people.

According to legend, London was founded by King Lud, ruler of the Trinovantes tribe of Celts in the 1st century bc. But there is much more to King Lud than prehistoric kingship. Tracing the ancient legends back to their source, historian Oliver Hayes reveals a remarkable truth - that "King Lud" was really a god and London was his Holy City. 

There  are some conflicting theories about the origin of the name Thames. Most specialists seem to believe is derived from the Celtic word ‘Tamesas’, recorded in Latin as ‘Tamesis’, which is believed to have meant dark.

A different theory: Native Britons called the river “Tamesa” or “Tamesis”from the Celtic word “tam,” meaning smooth or wide spreading. The Romans adopted the name, translating the river’s name to Thamesis.
The river was regarded by the CELTIC PEOPLES asa living being, an important member of the community, and the lifeblood of the land. Other natural water sources seem to have been regarded similarly in Celtic culture. Archaeologists have determined that lakes and rivers were an incredibly important resource because of the number of objects that have been found in them. It is assumed that these objects were deposited as part of a ritual.

Richard Coates argues that the original name was derived from the pre-Celtic name Plowonida, an Indo-European compound word. He argues that the name translated to swim river or boat river (Thames). As the name of a place, it meant "the wide river area" where swimming and the use of a boat were the only means of crossing. According to his theory, the Celts that later occupied the area were unable to pronounce the “p” hence the river became known as Lownida while the settlement was called Lownedon. The settlement's name was then converter to Londinium by the Romans.

A theory from Geoffrey Monmouth, suggests that the word London relates to the etymology of Britain, which is derived from Brutus. He states that London was founded as the "New Troy" by the Trojan Aeneas who was the great-grandfather of Brutus. A tribe known as the Trinovantes later inherited the legacy. He suggests that the settlement which at one point called Trinovantum was rebuilt by King Lud. Lud later got buried under the LUD GATE  which is where it gets its name. The city’s name then became Caer-Lud which translates to the fortress of Lud and later evolved to Kaer Llundain and eventually London.

The park was finally opened in 1853. In 1860 a lake was excavated and in 1864 the subtropical garden was laid out.

In 1885 the Albert Palace from the Dublin Exhibition of 1872 was erected at the south end of the park for concerts and art exhibitions, but these were rarely successful and the building was demolished in 1894.

In 1896 the park was crowded with those who had fallen for the new CRAZE OF BICYCLING. Hundreds came to practise or to watch the participants, who were forbidden initially to ride in HYDE PARK. Battersea Park became and remained fashionable for this pastime.

In the park now there are a children's zoo, a deer park, playing fields, tennis courts and an eight-lane running track. And bicycles for hire…

Anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons  were installed to protect London. Shelters were dug. Allotments and a pig farm created. The air raid shelter was used by  people from the mansion blocks along Prince of Wales Drive so they could hide safely from bomb blasts if an air raid was imminent in World War II. You can spot them and  find some photos from when it was open - here's a picture of one of the tunnels (part of a series of photos of the interior by Andy Hebden on Flickr). At the end of the first tunnel it goes left, and there are more tunnels. These shelters are quite common in London's parks . They were built to be fairly explosion resistant. There are several much larger ones on Clapham Common which are visible as sort of humps in the ground covered with rough tarmac, with the remains of filled-in stairs visible at the sides - the outdoor gyms there are in some cases built on the old shelter roofs. They were usually built in built-up areas which didn't have gardens where people could build their own shelters.

The Peace Pagoda, erected in 1985, was a gift from the Japanese Buddhist order Nipponzam Myohoji ( a gift from the Founder of the Japanese Buddist Movement, Venerable Nichidatsu Fuji) to encourage/celebrate world peace. It is built of reconstituted Portland stone and Canadian fir to a Japanese design. Four gilded bronze figures of Lord Buddha adorn the interior depicting significant parts of his life: birth, enlightenment, first sermon and parinirvana (attainment of nirvana).

It is 1 of 80 of it’s kind located in Europe, Asia and the United States.

The status, offering panoramic views of Chelsea Embankment, acts as a constant reminder of the resilience of the human race and the beauty of peace and harmony. A symbol of escapism for self-reflection…

Five things you should know about the Peace Pagoda in Battersea

A saffron-robe clad Buddhist monk, gently beating a drum as he does a daily perambulation at sunrise from his temple to the Peace Pagoda, is a familiar sight.

Situated in the heart of Battersea Park, this 12-hole golf course is perfect for both the seasoned pro or golfing newbies.

Designed to accommodate all ages, you will find yourself navigating steep slopes, cascades and rockeries for the top prize.

Unveiled HERE in 2011, but was removed afterwards and replaced in the OLYMPIC PARK. I though this was a good excuse to link thus web to the ones dealing with EAST LONDON…and to remind you of the great achievements of the mayor in place in 2011.

The recent makeover of Battersea Park’s Old English Garden, saw London perfumery Jo Malone Limited and gardening charity, Thrive join forces to transform this neglected gem.

Built originally in the 1900’s, this now Chelsea gold medal-winner is a fragrant floral retreat and the perfect location for a tranquil walk.

The garden is free to visit and open all year round.

This statue represents a contentious political and scientific history.

To understand the gravity of this winsome canine sculpture, we have to go back to 1903, when allegations of inhumane (and illegal) experimentation on a brown terrier at University College London caused an outrage. Although the medical professor in question won his ensuing libel case, the incident inspired a groundswell of support for the British anti-vivisection movement.

In response, the original Brown Dog Statue was erected in the London Metropolitan Borough of Battersea. A well-established center of progressive politics, Battersea was home to London’s only anti-vivisection hospital (which neither conducted animal experiments, nor employed physicians who approved of the practice) and thus was friendly territory for the statue and its supporters. The memorial featured a bronze sculpture of the now-infamous brown terrier, drinking fountains for humans and dogs alike, and an inscription that detailed the suffering of the pooch, called out University College London by name, and advocated for the abolition of such experimentation.

A restored grade II listed building, built in 1861 to supply water to the lakes and cascades of the then new Battersea Park. Derelict for many years, it was neglected by all but inquisitive children and sweethearts on secret trysts. In 1986 Wandsworth Borough Council took over responsibility for the Park.

Following this, English Heritage and Wandsworth Council worked together on the £400,000 restoration project and the building reopened in 1992 as a shop, Park Information Centre and Art Gallery.

The park exists as a sanctuary of nature in an increasingly urban environment. The eight themed gardens feature flora as diverse as palm trees and roses. Visitors can also enjoy the network of lakes and ponds alive with fish, insects and fowl. Songbirds and squirrels populate the Plane-tree lined carriageways, and, in recent years, brightly-coloured ring-necked parakeets (pictured) have become a common sight.

The original idea was for Battersea Park to be surrounded by middle-class villas, as seen in other contemporary parks in Britain. The land was allocated for building, under the management of the OFFICE OF WORKS,  but almost nothing was built for about 30 years. One villa, Carlton Lodge, was built in 1884 with the final villas (QUEEN ANNE style) and tall mansion blocks built between 1892-1902 (when building was at its peak) as part of a planned development by the Crown Estate designed to recreate something of the splendour of the mansion blocks north of the river. 

I leave you with LONDON REMEMBERS for more information

And Next chapter: a  riverside diversioN TOWARDS THE OLD VILLAGE of battersea  AND WANDSWORTH

Your tour continues on, though

After crossing the albert bridge….
Welcome to chelsea! Where the lbtc tour continues on

However, next chapter you have the chance to divert from the route and carry on to battersea village, wandsworth and putney