Liquid history: the Thames, the back story

About Liquid history: the Thames, the back story

By the ULTIMATE London Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Thames made London. For two thousand years it was the city’s highway, port and boundary, and today it is once again its great promenade.

A Roman crossing

The Romans founded Londinium where they could bridge the Thames, near today’s London Bridge. For centuries London Bridge was the only crossing in the city.

The port of London

By the 19th century London was the busiest port in the world, with docks stretching east from the Tower. When container shipping moved downriver, the docks closed, and Canary Wharf and the Docklands rose in their place.

To understand London, travel along its river.

The Embankments

In the 1860s and 1870s Sir Joseph Bazalgette built the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea Embankments, hiding new sewers beneath riverside roads and gardens that transformed the river’s edge.

The river today

Today the Thames Path follows the river through the city, Uber Boat river buses link the piers, and the riverside is lined with galleries, theatres, pubs and new towers.

Our advice: take an Uber Boat from Westminster to Greenwich on a clear day, sit outside, and watch two thousand years of London slide past.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Liquid history: the Thames, the back story before you go.