Please read and enjoy our article and watch your FREE LONDON MUSIC VIDEO at the end "Old Father Thames keeps rolling along, down to the mighty sea" goes the old song.
Not quite as dramatic, perhaps as "Ol' Man River" immortalised by the glorious, soulful tones of Paul Robeson, but evocative none the less.
Few rivers are more photographed, have more history and are better known around the world than the River Thames.
The River Thames is not the longest river in the United Kingdom, but is the longest river entirely in England . The River Thames rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire and flows over its 215 miles into the North Sea beyond the Thames Estuary . The river rises and falls some 7 meters in London, is fed by over 20 tributaries and contains over 80 islands (impressive, eh?).
As it flows downstream towards London, the Thames passes glorious historic locations such as Windsor Castle , Runnymede , where the Magna Carta was signed, and the John F. Kennedy Memorial . Hampton Court Palace is next, followed by Kew Gardens . At Westminster , the Thames flows past the Houses of Parliament , Big Ben and the London Eye into the Pool of London as it passes below London Bridge .
| | HMS Belfast, the Monument in background |
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| The Pool of London is flanked on the north bank by the Tower of London and the south bank by Southwark and the relatively new City Hall , home of London's mayor . The World War II battle cruiser, HMS Belfast sits idly in the Pool, now a floating museum.
Easing insistently around the massive stone pillars of Tower Bridge , the Thames leaves the Pool of London behind and heads on to historic Greenwich under the watchful gaze of those lucky citizens now living in the expensive riverside apartments at places like Butlers Wharf , where once commerce was king and thousands of dock and factory workers plied their trade.
Beyond Greenwich and its beautiful park and buildings, and the Isle of Dogs it's Canary Wharf towers, lies the Thames Barrier . These massive structures, built in the 1980's, are designed to protect London from flooding in the event of high tides and strong winds from the North Sea .
Below the barrier, the river passes Dartford and Tilbury , where ships now unload their wares, and Gravesend before entering the Thames Estuary near Southend-on-Sea. |
|  | | Old Father Thames | Since the days when it started out its life as a small spring seeping from the hills of Gloucestershire, Old Father Thames has been witness to many things and many changes.
The River Thames has seen Roman Galleys navigating its difficult tides, helped citizens escape the bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London . It has ferried Kings and Queens to Hampton Court Palace and poor unfortunates to the Tower of London through the forbidding Traitors Gate .
It has frozen over and provided fields for fairs and trade on its newly hardened surface. It has seen glorious tea clippers like the Cutty Sark sail skilfully into St Katherines Dock , by Tower Bridge , after racing other clippers to deliver their wares over 10,000 miles of treacherous oceans. | | Girl and Dolphin | Ominously, the Thames has also steered enemy planes towards central London causing the death, destruction and firestorms that came to be known as the Blitz .
The River Thames has faithfully nurtured its people for more than 2000 years bringing laughter and tears, saving lives and causing deaths. The Thames has been a playground and a grave, it has been sadly abused in unmentionable ways!
But in the minds of people growing up and living along the River Thames' busy banks, it can be a magical, exciting place
....London's river! |
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