Doulton moved away in 1956 but one of its old buildings remains, tucked away on the corner of Black Prince Road and Lambeth High Street, with wonderfully detailed tiling and terracotta work. It is worth seeking out.The open space farther on, behind the railway line, is the site of the former Vauxhall Gardens, London’s premier pleasure grounds for nearly 200 years from 1660, where Handel’s music was performed, Hogarth’s work displayed and romantic assignations were made.Millennium funding is being sought for an imaginative scheme to recreate a modern version of Vauxhall Gardens on the site. If that goes ahead, it will continue the gradual reclamation of the river.Michael Leapman is the main contributor to the Eyewitness Guide to London (Dorling Kindersley, pounds 14.99).The best way to arrive is still by boat, on one of the services that run from Westminster, Charing Cross or Tower piers. As you approach, the tall masts of the 19th-century sailing clipper Cutty Sark, dwarfing Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV alongside it, create the right nautical atmosphere, and this is sustained in the extensive National Maritime Museum, a few hundred yards away.A large weekend market is packed with stalls selling crafts, clothes and antiques. There are good bookshops, an enterprising theatre and one of the London’s few surviving eel and pie houses.
The riverside Trafalgar Tavern was the scene of 19th-century “whitebait dinners,” where prominent politicians and lawyers celebrated great events by feasting on locally- caught whitebait – long since driven away by pollution.Wren’s twin-domed Royal Naval Hospital makes London’s finest vista when viewed from the other bank of the river on the Isle of Dogs: Canaletto is one of many artists to have depicted it. The former hospital is in two halves so as not to interrupt the river view from the Queen’s House, built for the wife of James I and the first Palladian-style work of Inigo Jones, now restored to pristine condition.Behind it, Greenwich Park may also soon be brought back to its former elegance. On top of the hill is the Old Royal Observatory, part of it by Wren, from where the world’s time is measured.St Alfege Church, by Wren’s pupil Hawksmoor, commemorates the Archbishop of Canterbury taken hostage by invading Danes and murdered here in 1014.If you have time, it is worth continuing the trip down river to see the curious metal cowls of the Thames Barrier, opened in 1984 to protect London from an invader just as implacable as the Danes – the ever rising tides.HMS BelfastSecond World War cruiser moored opposite the Tower and fitted as a museum of naval history. Children love to swivel in the gun turrets, 10.30am- 5.30pm daily.Old Operating TheatreA few minutes from the riverside walkway, squeezed between London Bridge Station and Guy’s Hospital, this was the theatre of the original St Thomas’s Hospital until it moved west in 1862.
It is fitted out as in the 19th- century and there is a gruesome depiction of surgery in the days before anaesthetics. Open Tuesday-Sun, 10am-4pm.Clink MuseumOn the site of the notorious Clink prison, alongisde the Bishop of Winchester’s London residence, this is a no-holds-barred museum of crime, punishment and prostitution: for centuries London’s best brothels, or “stews” were here. The museum is open daily, 10am-6pm.Shakespeare’s GlobeOn a site 200 yards from the original Elizabeth theatre, an exact replica of it is being built. The three-tiered thatched gallery, made of oak timbers, is already in place and the first public performances will be held here next summer. Guided tours and an explanatory exhibition, 10am-5pm daily.Museum of the Moving ImageA superb interactive exhibition about film and television, popular with children, stands alongside the National Film Theatre. Strolling costumed actors help you find your way and there are plenty of viewing areas where historic film clips are shown, 10am-6pm daily.Florence Nightingale MuseumNear the entrance to St.
Thomas’s Hospital, this museum is easy to miss but is worth hunting for. Many original documents and dramatic displays illustrate the career of the “Lady with the Lamp” and explain the impact she made on nursing. Open Tue-Sun, 10am-4pm.Museum of Garden HistoryJust outside Lambeth Palace, the 14th-century St. Mary’s church has been converted into a museum of compulsive interest to gardeners.