Friday 7th June 2024
Members: £15
Guests: £16
Get off the beaten track and imagine you are exploring a wooded and marshy coastline and visiting a cobbled fishing village, whilst catching sight of steel and glass skyscrapers on the horizon.
This tour explores the Rotherhithe peninsula, dotted with the interlocked docks and waterways of Surrey Commercial Docks. Learn about the history of the area when it was part of the “warehouse of the world” with goods arriving from as far away as Greenland, Canada and Russia. Today the docks have been redeveloped for housing, watersports and wildlife, with stunning views of the skyscrapers of London’s 2 financial centres; the City and Canary Wharf.
Historic Rotherhithe village was a shipbuilding centre in the 17th century, and it was from here that the Mayflower set sail to journey to the New World in 1620. It is also home to the Brunel Museum and the entrance shaft to the tunnel under the river Thames built by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Here they pioneered tunnelling underwater and built the oldest underground structure in London’s Underground, itself the oldest underground system in the world. Our tour ends at a historic church with some very unusual memorials in its graveyard!
Meeting Time: at 5:45pm for a prompt start at 6pm
Meeting Place: entrance/exit to Surrey Quays Overground station on Lower Road, London, SE16 2UE
End: approx. 8:30pm at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe (this is a short walk from Rotherhithe overground station)
Post-tour drinks: Caroline will not be booking a table for post-tour drinks, but there are a couple of pubs near the end of the tour which she can recommend
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About Your Guide
Caroline Piper is a Downing College history graduate (1997) and a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide, the highest guiding qualification available. She is passionate about history, literature, architecture, films and finding the “off the beaten track” London gems. You can find out more about her on her Piper Tours website http://pipertours.com where you can also find links to her Tripadvisor page, facebook page and memberships of professional guiding bodies. She has led regular tours for the Society for 7 years.
*Only members of the Cambridge Society of London (and their one guest) may book tickets – if you are not currently a member and would like to become one, please enrol via this link.
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Cambridge Society of London Transfer and Refund Policy
i) At least 14 calendar days before the event: We will provide full refunds (minus any booking/transaction fees, which are nonrefundable). Alternatively, if you have found a suitable replacement, we can change the name on the ticket on the understanding that you will reclaim the ticket price from them separately.
ii) Between 4 and 14 calendar days before the event: Our arrangements with our hosts are always finalised 4 calendar days before each event. With more than 4 calendar days’ notice we can still change the name to someone named by you on the understanding that you will reclaim the ticket price from them separately. Alternatively, we MIGHT be able to sell it to someone else; there is no guarantee of that but we will do our best and then refund you if successful.
iii) Less than 4 calendar days: We regret that we cannot offer refunds if given less than 4 calendar days’ notice.