British Isles Explorer: Gravesend, England (3/26/2022)

Saturday, March 26, 2022

View from our stateroom

View of the Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories and
behind it is the road bridge to the ferry parking lot

The Tilbury Ferry route has been in existence since at least
1304 when it operated from Tilbury Fort; in 1631 it was
moved to the Ferry Inn (now The Worlds End Pub); then
in 1854 it was moved to connect with the railway

It is undertood that a ferry has been in operation since the Roman times, with artifacts found from the 1-2C.

The Tilbury Ferry is the last public crossing of
the River Thames before it reaches the sea

For 10 Great Britain Pounds Sterling/GBP, or about $7 each, we purchased round-trip tickets (peak hours) for the ferry to Gravesend.

The Gravesend Town Pier has the world's oldest
surviving cast iron pier (1834) with the first known
iron cyclinders used in construction

Now we have a better view of the 930-passenger
Viking Venus, which is reported to be 75% booked
for the 2022 maiden voyage of the British Isles cruise

The Three Daws is the oldest pub in Gravesend (first
license in 1565, housed in converted 1501 houses)
and has remained unscathed by fires in five centuries

Close-by is the Mug and Meeple, a gamer café that
does not does not have a license; a Meeple refers
wooden figures (one seen in poster above the
entrance) used in the game of Carcassonne (KSS)

Church of St George (Church of England,
1731-1733, by Charles Sloane, to replace the
1497-1510 church that burned down) (KSS)

Statue (1958 replica of 1922 version by
William Ordway Partridge in Jamestown, VA)
of Pocahontas, a Powhatan from VA who
married tobacco planter John Rolfe in 1614
and bore a son, Thomas, in 1615

Pocahontas aka Rebecca Rolfe, traveled to England in 1616. A year later when the Rolfe family set sail to return to Virginia, Pocahontas became ill. She was taken off the ship and died at Gravesend. She was buried beneath the earlier Church of St George, but after the 1727 fire, her actual burial site is unknown. The statue was a gift from the Commonwealth of Virginia prompted by the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Jamestown in 1957.

A litter bug? Bumblebee Sculpture (by Mona Whitten)
that requests you to drop in your used takeaway coffee cups

Gravesend Town Hall (1764, by
Charles Sloane) is now an events venue

Mosaic on the back of the Town Hall commemorates the
1568 Charter that incorporated Gravesend under one mayor

Gravesend Borough Market (1268) is one of
the oldest surving markets in England

The market now seems to focus on crafts

Tamiko sweeps up under the statue (1898,
by J Broad) of Queen Victoria that
commemorates her Diamond Jubilee
(60th anniversary of her reign) (KSS)

Diversity in groceries on Queen Street

Street scene on King Street

Kent checks out an iconic telephone booth

8-9 King Street (1895) was home of the
King's Head Free Public House (est 1778)

A free public house is a pub that is independent of the breweries that supply it, so that it can offer a variety of brands.

Florist on Windmill Street

Royal Post carrier's cart

Gravesend Railway Station (1849)

The Gravesend Railway Station features a Platform 0,
one of only a few in England

Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara/Sikh temple (2010, founded
1956) is the largest single site Sikh complex in Europe (KSS)

The entrance gate to the Gurdwara

Gravesend Clock Tower (1887)
commemorates Queen Victoria's Golden
Jubilee (50th anniversary of her reign) (KSS)

Gravesend Methodist Church (1905-1906)

Note that dogs are welcome if with
well-behaved owners (KSS)

New Tavern Fort (c 1780-1783) was built to support
Tilbury Fort across the River Thames, but was disarmed
even before World War I as the line of defense
was moved downriver

The New Tavern Fort now displays guns and
emplacements ranging from the 18-20C

Milton Chantry (1322) is the oldest building in Gravesend
and is all that remains of a leper hospital by
Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke; it retains its
timber roof but has since been clad in 19C brick

The building has served as a Tudor chantry/special or private chapel, a public house, and a Georgian barracks. Its basement was converted for use as a gas decontamination chamber during World War II.

Customs House (1815-1816) was built to house customs
officials who assessed duties on cargo and accompanied
ships to insure they only offloaded at legal quays

At the Tavern Hotel they offered the local
Shrimp Brand Beer (1858-1935)

Royal Post box

Royal Terrace Pier (1844) entrance, where in 1865
Princess Alexandra of Denmark arrived on her way to marry
Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII);
is now the base for river pilots

Poseidon/God of the Sea (1976, by
Sean Rice) was unveiled by Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh (KSS)

Remains of a blockhouse (1543, under Henry VIII)
that was paired with the first Tilbury Fort

A memorial to watermen and tugmen
of the River Thames is located above
Bawley Bay where many families set sail
for a new life in Australia and New Zealand

St Andrew's Mission House was set up
in a pub by a local vicar to see to the needs
of emigrants waiting to board ships

The Mission House door (KSS)

St Andrew's Church (1870-1871) was built
by donations from the daughter of Admiral
Sir Francis Beaufort and also Charles Dickens

LV21/Light Vessel 21 (1963, by Philip & Son) is a
40-m/131' lightship/a ship that acts as a lighthouse;
now an art space and performance venue

Statue (2014, by Douglas Jennings) of
Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji,
Royal Air Force fighter pilot and one of the
first Indian Sikh pilots to volunteer with the
Royal Air Force during the Second World War

Our passenger walkway

It seems that at each port, Viking Venus puts out
these Cross Check chairs to welcome us back,
even though they were designed by Frank Gehry

Next: Iconic London.