THE QUEEN'S HOUSE - A TRIP TO GREENWICH

'Greenwich Hospital from the North Bank of the Thames' by Canaletto - the Queen's House can be seen between the two wings of the Hospital

With my latest book, Diamond Rock, published (Diamond Rock (Paul Weston Historical Maritime and Naval Fiction Book 5) we spent last weekend in London.  We’re members of the Cruising Association, and as we often do, stayed in one of the ‘cabins’ at the Association’s headquarters at Limehouse.  It’s location, next to the lock between Limehouse Dock and the tidal Thames is wonderfully evocative, and it takes little imagination to visualise a grey smoky morning with the ‘black Bilbao tramp’ from Kipling’s poem The Long Trail with ‘her load line over her hatch’ leaving her berth in the dock, and locking out into the rough muddy waters of the Thames, to begin her rolling voyage south. 

View Over Limehouse Lock from Cruising Association

We walked from Limehouse to Canary Wharf pier, and caught one of the Thames Clipper Uber boats to Greenwich, so redolent of the Royal Navy’s power and organisation.  We looked at the Cutty Sark, and, then on impulse went into the Queen’s House.  The Queen’s House was designed by Inigo Jones, commissioned by James I’s wife Anne of Denmark, and completed by Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s queen.  It’s a wonderful building in its own right, and, as shown in the painting by Canaletto, the centrepiece for Wren’s much larger Greenwich Hospital.

HMS Revenge Leaving Portsmouth - a poignant painting displayed at the Queen's House, showing the war damaged City

The House is filled with wonderful paintings, including a Canaletto, one of the famous ‘Armada’ portraits of Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, and various queens, kings, naval officers, Trafalgar veterans, and incidents at sea.  We were a couple of days early to see Turner’s ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ which was to be displayed on the 21^st October.  The interior of the house is stunning, with an elegant spiral staircase, a painted ceiling, and the Great Hall with its gallery and magnificent black and white floor.

Tulip Stairs at the Queen's House

Trips on the Thames Clipper Uber Boats are always interesting, as they accelerate smoothly away from their berths to slice through the often choppy Thames at 25 knots or so, but our trip back from Greenwich was disrupted by an incident at Canary Wharf Pier which meant that our Clipper was delayed while the RNLI dealt with the situation.

Incident at Canary Wharf Pier

Diamond Rock is available for pre-order here: Diamond Rock (Paul Weston Historical Maritime and Naval Fiction Book 5) eBook : Weston, Paul: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store