Gulliver
The most famous resident of Redriff never really existed. Gulliver in ‘Gulliver’s travels’ the book by Jonathan Swift, lived in Redriff and, we are told, returned here after travelling to strange and unusual lands. In his introduction Swift tells us of Lemuel Gulliver…
“Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose of them as I should think fit. There is an air of truth apparent through the whole; it became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.”
Whatever the truth of Gulliver’s adventures among the Lilliputians and other races, Swift chose this setting because many ship’s masters and captains would then have lived in this part of London. At a time when seafarers ‘tall tales’ of new continents and peoples were commonplace, Swift’s book, poking fun at the politics of his day, was well received.
Prince Lee Boo
One of the most romantic local tales is a true story concerning Prince Lee Boo – a Pacific island native who came to Rotherhithe in 1784.
A naval ship, The Antelope, was wrecked on a remote Pacific island.
The native people helped the crew repair the boat and the son of the chief agreed to accompany the crew back to England, to see the modern world.
Prince Lee Boo came to live in Rotherhithe where he was received into London society and became the talk of the town, attending many fashionable parties and gatherings. Unfortunately Lee Boo contracted smallpox and died at the age of twenty. His body was laid to rest in St Mary’s Church Yard in Rotherhithe. The touching epitaph on his grave reads;
Stop reader, stop! let Nature claim a tear- A Prince of mine, Lee Boo lies buried here.
The fighting Temeraire
Perhaps one of the most famous English maritime pictures is ‘The fighting Temeraire’ painted by the great English artist Turner. The picture shows the old warship The Temeraire being towed to Beestons boat yard in Rotherhithe to be broken up. The Temeraire played an heroic role in the battle of Trafalgar, coming to the aid of Nelsons flagship Victory, and taking heavy casualties.
The old warships were broken up to be replaced by the new steam ships. Turner shows the romantic Temeraire with its majestic masts in contrast to the ugly, squat steam tug. The sun is setting on an era of great Naval history. Oak from the Temeraire was used to make pews and the pulpit in St. Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe and one of the local streets is named after the old ship.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
The greatest engineer in British history, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, also left his mark in Rotherhithe. Designed by his father Marc Brunel, the Rotherhithe tunnel was Isambard’s first major engineering project. This was the first successful tunnel under a river anywhere in the world. Brunel’s invention of a moving shield to protect the diggers and bore the tunnel is still used in tunnel building today. At one stage during the construction Brunel was seriously injured rescuing several workmen after a collapse.
From this first major project in Rotherhithe, Brunel went on to create some of the most innovative and exciting feats of engineering of the Victorian age. From bridges, railway systems, to a massive double skinned, propeller driven, iron hulled ship, The Great Eastern, Brunel’s genius and versatility has not been matched since.
Surrey Docks
It was the excavation of an extensive series of interconnected docks and ponds which have left a lasting legacy on the peninsula, both physically and in the memory of many of the residents. The first dock, Howland Great Dock, was dug in the eighteenth century and over many years an elaborate interconnected series of docks and ponds’ was built up. This was to become the centre of all major timber imports into Britain, and the names of the Docks (Russia, Quebec, Greenland, Canada and Norway) reflect the places from which the timber was imported. The school retains the names of the docks and wharves within its class names.
Celebrating Rotherhithe’s forgotten poet.
On Tuesday 5th December 2017, a plaque was unveiled to celebrate a great poet, artist and calligrapher David Jones. A short ceremony on the pedestrian bridge took place beside Redriff School, which was also renamed ‘The Poet’s Bridge’ in his honour.
David Jones epic poem’ In Parenthesis’ is a long narrative account of a foot soldier’s journey through the first war culminating in the Battle of the Somme. The quote on the bridge is taken from this poem and describes the moments of waiting before the whistle was blown at dawn to signal the attack. Jones himself was wounded at the Somme and it was only many years later that he was able to pen this epic literary work. One of the recurring characters of the poem is an archetypical ‘Tommy’ described simply as ‘The man from Rotherhithe.’- the everyman soldier.
Jones maternal grandfather Eb Bradshaw was a mast and sailmaker in Surrey Docks and the parish clerk of St Marys in Rotherhithe. It is Eb Bradshaw who speaks in the poem ‘The Anathemata’ where the section called ‘REDRIFF’ is dedicated to him. In this section he speaks of his trade and lovingly of all the different exotic woods at his disposal from the timbers in Surrey Docks.
Jones was thought by T. S. Eliot to be a writer of genius, and his work ‘The Anathemata’ was considered by W. H. Auden to be the best long poem written in English in the 20th century. Jones was also an artist of some note and his watercolours and woodblock engravings are recognised as being of the foremost quality. As a calligrapher his ‘painted inscriptions’ were both influenced by and influenced Eric Gill whose fonts are still in widespread use. Jones late conversion to Catholicism was a major influence on his work and is recognised in the Cor-ten steel panels by the reproduction of one of his woodcuts of the Holy Spirit.
The panels were designed by the artist Parm Rai and fabricated by Heather Burrell and Gordon Ilett at APT Studios in Deptford. The work was funded by Southwark Council through the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe community council.