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nth:Wapping Cobblestone Square, landscaped with water features, for a closer look. Around the corner, wealthy Wapping brewer Henry Raine established Raine’s Foundation School (5) in 1719. Two school children inset into the Baroque façade invite you to ‘Come In and Learn Your Duty To God and Man’. The school later relocated to Arbour Square, before settling in Bethnal Green. Cut across the small green to visit St Peter’s London Docks (6). Enter through a courtyard and step into another world. High roofed and high church, it maintains the Anglo Catholic tradition established by Father Lowder in the 1850s. Its atmospheric interior incorporates red and black brickwork, a giant wheel window and elaborate font. Back outside, skirt the green to Meeting House Alley – a seventeenth century base for Particular Baptists and other dissenters. Today, you’ll find Wapping Children’s Centre, picked out in coloured glass panels, dazzling in the sunshine. On Reardon Street, divert left to the blue plaque; it recalls resident William Bligh, captain of the mutinous Bounty, “who transplanted breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies”. Now retrace a few steps and head through the dock wall archway. The path slopes upwards to Spirit Quay, with elevated views over the canal. Dock engineer John Rennie (7) surveys northwards towards News International’s print works, dubbed ‘Fortress Wapping’ during the 1986 print-workers’ strike. Hermitage Basin (8) was created as a secondary entrance into the London Docks. The red-brick impounding station regulated water levels, and a Victorian hydraulic pumping station stands beyond. Today, the basin is peaceful enclave, full of fish and water lilies. The bronze rope reef knot is the first of several sculptures by local artist Wendy Taylor. Over in Hermitage Gardens (9) you’ll see another – a cut-out dove of peace, commemorating civilian casualties of the Blitz. Down on the river, old Thames barges and Dutch klippers bob about at Hermitage Moorings, with spectacular views of Tower Bridge and the Shard. Follow the Thames Path – past Voyager, resembling a ship’s propeller – until you emerge out into Wapping High Street. Now in-filled with gardens, Wapping Pier Head (10) once formed the main entrance to London Docks. Eagle-eyed dock officials stationed at these handsome houses could monitor ships coming and going. Skirt left around the square, looking out for an awardwinning addition at No 13 – judged “subtle, thoughtful yet mischievous” – designed by Chris Dyson. The Town of Ramsgate is a rare survivor, one of over thirty taverns that once buzzed in Sailor Town. Wapping Old Stairs run alongside, providing slippery steps down to the river. Next door, Oliver’s Wharf is an especially fine old tea warehouse of 1870 – and the first residential conversion in Wapping – with tea blossoms carved into the window surrounds. Cut through St John’s churchyard, dotted with chest tombs. St John’s (11) was the parish church of Wapping – only the tower remains, salvaged from the Blitz. Blue-uniformed children peer down from the former church school, erected by subscription in 1760 for 50 girls and 60 boys. The Turk’s Head – now a community base and café – is clad with remarkable tiling, advertising Taylor Walker’s Barley Mow beers. Opposite, at the John Orwell Sports Centre, the courts and pitches are active with badminton, hockey and football games. Around in Green Bank, step inside St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church (12). It was established in 1880 largely to serve Irish dockworkers’ families, which then constituted around a third of Wapping’s population. Designed in a rustic Italian style, it has a barrel vault ceiling and a beautiful arts and crafts children’s memorial. A kitchen garden flourishes in the presbytery behind. Head through Wapping Rose Garden to the flats with red balcony backdrops; Tower Buildings (13) were built in 1864 by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, and marked a step change in tenement dwellings, with no shared lavatories, better ventilation and open balcony access. Soon you’re back on Wapping Lane, surrounded by old warehouses; one serves as a pizzeria, and the mighty Gun Wharves – once busy handling tea, spices, rubber and shellac – are now flats. Around the corner is Wapping station, the end of your walk. (Right) A coal chute at Choppin’s Court Bakery (Left, clockwise from top left) Luxury apartments in Wapping; the interior of St Peter’s Church; the Shard, City Hall and Tower Bridge; Park Vista Tower; Pier Head; the old tea warehouse at Oliver’s Wharf; traffic on the river; the green oasis of Wapping Rose Garden; Tobacco Dock lies empty; Welsh house is named after a sea captain; the tiled exterior of the Turk’s Head; Wapping station. (Right) The blue plaque to William Blyth 18 – 24 AUGUST 2014 N E WS FROM TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 19


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