5 Historic Wharves, St Andrews and Imperial Retail Park

The Thames has many miles of historic wharves some dating back to the 18th Century and possibly earlier, with this in mind it comes as some suprise that historic vessels such as The Cambria, The Kenya Jacaranda and the more recent celebrated Radio Carolines pirate radio ship Ross Revenge cannot find any where to berth on the Thames.

What has happened is as the industrial users of the wharves have moved out the usage for ship and boat berthing has been lost with flats or other land based developments sterilising what could have been a vibrant river frontage. That vital link between the present and the past has been lost, these wharves seem to have all been demoted to sea walls and are no longer places where vessels can moor and stop.

Two good examples of where we could claim back the historic use of these sea walls and put some ships of interest are the historic quay between St Andrews Church and the Town Pier and the wharf at the Imperial Retail Park both at Gravesend.

The historic quay at Gravesend used to be an active stop for Thames Sailing Barges to disgorge coal and other goods right to the heart of Gravesend Town Center, whilst not advocating that we have coal coming in on the river front park this would be a great place for the surviving barges to berth bringing history back to life,making that missing link between river and land and recreating the historic scene in the following picture. All that is missing at this location are some simple mooring rings.

The first picture is the area now devoid of boats, the second picture shows a vibrant scene with a Thames Sailing Barge to the right of the picture and the smaller Bawley Bay Shrimper in the foreground to the left, I know which scene I would rather see.

Sept 2011 Since my campaign to reuse the Thames Historic Infrastructure and after long protracted lobbying and much hard work behind the scenes Gravesham Council finally 'agreed' to reinstate moorings at the historic St Andrews Quay and as I write we have the fantasticly restored Cambria Sailing Barge moored up alongside the quay which is already drawing visitors to the riverfront on a weekday, this relatively cheap and simple innovation will change the face of Gravesend as it becomes a place to visit to see the boats, one can only hope that other riparian boroughs sit up and take note and we could have the Thames competing with the best in Europe, when the multiuse pontoon arrives this really will become a maritime destination.

To see pictures of the Cambria moored at St Andrews Quay visit these two links

http://media.freeola.com/images/user-images/21275/sta60759.jpg

or

http://www.northfleetharbour.org.uk/gallery.html LOOK AT THE END OF THE GALLERY

A location ideal for the much larger Radio Caroline ship to berth is the wharf to the North of Imperial Retail Park, this has the right depths for a ship of this size with good public access to allow visitors to come and enjoy this fine ship, the only problem is the site agent Jones Lang LaSalle on behalf of the Railways Pension Trust would rather the wharf remained empty with just mud and shopping trolleys. It's this lack of vision that is stifling the Thames.

I am sure you would agree the below images would certainly enhance a currently sterile riverside and provide something interesting to visit, look at and listen to.

Jones Lang LaSalle is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registration number: 1188567.

Registered office: 22 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JA