26 April 2015
Once I’d left Cutty Sark and crossed Deptford Creek, it was a relief to be away from the crowds and walking along the empty embankment. The creek, I found out later, was the site of the Battle of Deptford Bridge, the last battle of the Cornish Rebellion, on 17 June 1497. Created as a Royal Dockyard by Henry VIII, in the sixteenth century, Deptford Dockyard gave employment to many shipbuilders until its closure three hundred years later. In fact, in 1580, Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake there on board the Golden Hind. The ship remained moored in the creek until it broke up. It seems it a pity it couldn’t have been saved and restored because I would like to have seen it. Continue reading The Thames Trail, a catalogue of errors