London’s longest street is packed full of pubs, historic sites and even a farm

London is a walking and cycling haven for people who prefer not to use public transport so often, and among the many routes embedded within the city is the Thames Path walk along Rotherhithe Street in Southwark.

Running for 1.5 miles around the south bank of the Thames, it is the longest street in London.

While it is perfectly possible to walk approximately half the distance between the bending street’s two end points near Rotherhithe Overground Station and Surrey Quays by cutting across Canada Water, there is a lot to see on Rotherhithe Street for those curious enough to explore.

READ MORE: The beautiful Cotswolds villages where the River Thames starts 80 miles from London

Sights to be seen on the street include the Grade II* listed Nelson House, St Mary’s Church, and Surrey Docks Farm.

The name of the street is an old Anglo-Saxon word referring to a ‘landing place for cattle’.

When approaching the street from the western side, one of the first major historical sites that will stand out will be the 18th-century St Mary’s Church.

The church is proud of its links to the Pilgrim Fathers, who were the first English settlers to travel to North America aboard the Mayflower ship.

Captain of the ship Christopher Jones, who lived between 1570 and 1622, was buried in the church cemetery in an unmarked grave, having passed away shortly after his return from across the pond a little over a year after the ship’s first voyage.

Of course, the Mayflower first set sail for the New World from Rotherhithe, hence the name of the pub directly opposite the church. The pub claims to be the city’s oldest riverside watering hole.

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The Mayflower ship was actually left to rot on the Rotherhithe bank, and the pub which is its namesake was built out of the ship’s timbers, or so some historians claim.

St Mary’s Church is also the burial place of Boo Lee, a 20-year-old prince from what is today called Palau, who died from smallpox six months after arriving in London in 1784. He was one of the first people from the Pacific Islands to ever step foot on British soil.

Further on from the church, one will find the Brunel Museum. The museum is named after Frenchman Marc Brunel, who fled persecution in France during the French Revolution and later came to London in 1799 where he constructed the Thames Tunnel.

Built between 1825 and 1843, the project connected Rotherhithe with Wapping and was the first tunnel known to have been successfully constructed underneath a navigable river. Where the museum stands today is where the tunnel’s drainage pumps were housed.

Originally a tunnel for pedestrians, it was turned into a tunnel for trains in 1869 and continues to service the London Overground today.

If one continues to walk further eastbound, they will come across a bridge that will take them across Surrey Water, which cuts through the street and joins with the River Thames.

After crossing the bridge, one will see the old Rotherhithe fire station to their left, which was active between 1906 and 1965 but has since been converted to trendy riverside apartments.

There is a second bridge that crosses the Lavender Dock Entrance. The dock leads to what is now the Lavender Pond nature reserve, which in the early 1800s was used to store timber that was being imported from the Baltics and Scandinavia.

In fact, the whole area maintains strong Baltic and Nordic ties, with street names like Finland Street, Sweden Gate, Baltic Quay, Norway Gate, Helsinki Square and Greenland Dock. Many of its churches were designed by Scandinavian architects, and in World War II, Rotherhithe was temporarily home to the Norwegian Government-in-Exile.

Eventually, nearer to the eastern end of the street, one would stumble upon Nelson House, an Georgian building built in the 1740s near Nelson Dock.

Nelson House was home to historic British shipbuilders, including John Randall, who built several ships for the colonial East India Company as well as over 50 naval ships. It is the only remaining shipbuilders house in the area.

Tragically, Randall is believed to have committed suicide after jumping out one of its windows in 1803.

The house was subsequently named after Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson who was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar during the third Napoleonic War in 1805.

The 17th-century dock, meanwhile, is still in use today and is served by the river bus RB4 Canary Wharf – Rotherhithe Ferry.

The dock is also used by guests and visitors at the DoubleTree by Hilton London Docklands Riverside Hotel.

A ship called the La Dame de Serk, which was built in 1952 and was used as a Channel Islands passenger ferry, is permanently moored at the dock. It is now used as a restaurant.

But much of Rotherhithe’s history was lost in a massive fire that broke out in 1868, destroying the street’s many timber buildings.

However, there are still plenty of reasons to visit the area, including a day out with the kids at Surrey Docks Farm, which is free to visit.

At the farm, parents and children alike are welcome to pet farm animals, buy organic produce and even volunteer.

That’s just one of many ways visitors to Rotherhithe Street can become part of its culture and history.

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