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Europe > United Kingdom > London > London > City > Articles > Walking the Millenium Mile along London’s River Thames

Walking the Millenium Mile along London’s River Thames

by Christopher Somerville

London’s Millennium Mile (it’s actually nearer two miles) along the south bank of the River Thames must contain more memorable sights and attractions than any city-centre stroll on earth

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London’s Millennium Mile (it’s actually nearer two miles) along the south bank of the River Thames must contain more memorable sights and attractions than any city-centre stroll on earth.

The very first thing you see after emerging from Westminster tube station is the tower of Big Ben; then the Houses of Parliament. You turn to cross the Thames over Westminster Bridge, and there stands the enormous bicycle-wheel structure of the London Eye, the tallest ferris wheel in the world with a fabulous city and country view from its 135metre apex.

Victorian ironwork is a feature of this walk. Cast-iron tritons with scaly bodies and gaping mouths intertwine in pairs on the lamp standards. The elaborate metalwork of the handsome old bridges spanning the river is picked out in brilliant colours. Art nouveau pelicans uphold the piers of Blackfriars Bridge, and high overhead stands the great iron badge of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway.

Beyond the bridge the redundant Bankside Power Station has been reopened as the Tate Modern, a world-class modern art gallery. In its shadow crouches Cardinal’s Wharf, a pair of ancient houses where Sir Christopher Wren lodged while he was overseeing the building of St Paul’s Cathedral across the river during the 1680s and 90s. There’s a very fine view of the cathedral from this spot

Bankside was the red light district of 16th and 17th century London, a seedy and dangerous warren of narrow streets where brothels, gambling and drinking dens, bear-baiting pits and low-life theatres stood shoulder to shoulder. William Shakespeare knew a thing or two about low life in Bankside in the Elizabethan era. His Globe Theatre stood next door to Cardinal’s Wharf - and it stands there again in the reign of the second Queen Elizabeth, miraculously resurrected in authentic timber and thatch thanks to a 20-year crusade by film-maker Sam Wanamaker.

Beyond lies Clink Street, a dark and gloomy cleft between towering black warehouse walls: the very breath of Sherlock Holmes’s London. Here observant explorers will spot a delicate 14th-century rose window, remnant of a medieval bishop’s palace. Don't forget to peek into ancient Southwark Cathedral before catching your return train at London Bridge station.