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Richmond & Richmond Park

Explorer 161
London South

14 miles

TQ 17691 75195

April 2009

Memory Map Overlay (.mmo)
GPS eXchange (.gpx)

A grey day threatened as we left Rugby at 0730 hrs but the much-promised sun made an appearance by the time we arrived at Richmond 2½ hours later and stayed with us all day.

We made our way though the back-streets of Richmond to Richmond Bridge and the Thames embankment then, up the steps to the bust of Bernado O’Higgins, the liberator of Chile, formally proclaimed in 1818. From here, we made our way up Richmond Hill to the wonderful views of Petersham Meadows and the Thames valley. It was easy to see why the rich and famous would want this vista and why only the rich can afford it. At the top of the hill, we passed the Star and Garter Home for disabled soldiers and through one of the entrances into Richmond Park.

A short walk into the park took us to the highest point, King Henry VIII’s Mound, reputedly a Bronze Age barrow, though much altered. It provided magnificent views across the Thames to Twickenham and the North Downs to the west. To the east, a keyhole view of St Paul’s Cathedral, 10 miles distant, is obtained through an artificially maintained gap in the trees covering the mound, which is aligned with a gap in the trees in Richmond Park beyond.

Following a short stop where we made friends with a local cat, we followed a wide loop through the park, through Sidmouth Wood, past Bog Lodge, Polo Field and White Lodge. On climbing through Sparkers Hill Wood, we were rewarded with a fleeting view of the arch of Wembley Stadium in the distance.

a woodpecker, and to see Red Deer, Fallow Deer (that were not disturbed by the many passing cars), parakeets and a photogenic jackdaw. While walking near the front, the walk leader stopped, pointed at a clump of grass around ten metres away and stated that a bird had just landed there. We then witnessed the graceful ascent of a kestrel which passed in front of us and effortlessly soared above the tree tops. Sadly, I was not quick enough with the camera and so it remains only a memory.

The lunch stop was within Isabella Plantation, near a pond containing Mandarin ducks, amidst a technicolour selection of azaleas, rhododendrons and other flora. Refreshed, we left the plantation and finally the park, on to Ham Common and into Ham itself, before making our way to the Thames. We picked up the Thames Path at Teddington Locks and followed the river , past Ham House and back to Richmond, walking along the stretch of river we had admired earlier from Richmond Hill.

The arrival at Richmond was a prompt for a tea stop adjacent to the river after which, we took a detour across the river and along Duck's Walk, to Number 1, where the much celebrated Charles Lightoller lived from 1947 until his death in 1952.

We crossed the river at Richmond Locks and returned to the town, stopping on the way to take a fleeting view of the Royal Observatory and obelisks in the Old Deer Park at Kew. Passing once again through Old Palace Yard, we were now just a short walk to the waiting coach and our return home.

Commander Charles Herbert Lightoller
RNR, DSC, 1874-1952

Richmond Slipways, 1 Duck's Walk

Commander Lightoller was the senior surviving officer of the Titanic in 1912. Going down with the ship, he took charge of an upturned lifeboat and was the last survivor to be rescued.

In the First World War, he served with the Royal Navy, commanding three MTB/Destroyers and rose to the rank of Commander RNR. He won the DSC in 1916 and was awarded a bar to it in 1918 after sinking a U-Boat.

In 1940 Commander Lightoller took his motor yacht Sundowner to Dunkirk and rescued 127 men from the beaches. Sundowner is preserved at the Maritime Museum in Ramsgate.

In 1947 in partnership with an old friend and his surviving son, he took over the small boat building business of Richmond Slipways. He lived there on the boatyard at 1 Duck's Walk with his wife Sylvia until passing away peacefully on 8th December 1952.

Richmond

Due to the combination of its rural aspect, and yet its proximity to Central London, for nearly 1,000 years, Richmond has been a desirable place to live for royalty, the rich and the famous. The area between Richmond Green and the river has been the site of royal palaces for many centuries whilst Richmond Hill, with it superb panorama over Petersham Meadows and the “matchless vale of the Thames” (James Thomson, poet 1700-1748), is still the address of those such as Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend. Nearby is Wick House which was built in 1771 for the painter, Joshua Reynolds. The Royal Star and Garter Home for disabled soldiers was built after World War 1 on the site of “The Star and Garter Hotel”, a favourite dining place of Charles Dickens.

The most impressive palace, hailed as the “showpiece of the Kingdom”, was the great Tudor Palace of Henry VII, completed in 1051 and built in white stone with many octagonal and round towers capped with pepper-pot domes or cupolas with delicate strapwork and decorated weather vanes. Henry renamed it Richmond Palace, because his father and he were Earls of Richmond’ (Yorkshire), and so the town became known as Richmond, having previously been Shene. However, under Cromwell, most of this palace was demolished, and although some remaining buildings passed back to Crown ownership after the restoration, only fragments of these now remain in the present buildings around Old Palace Yard.

Richmond Park

Although James I established a Deer Park in 1605 – now known as “The Old Deer Park”, immediately north of the Palace of Richmond, Charles I had grander ideas, and appropriated some 2360 acres to the south east of Richmond as hunting ground, enclosing it with a wall 8 miles long in 1637. Outraged locals forced the king to allow pedestrian access!

Richmond Park is just a few acres smaller than Sutton Park (Sutton Coldfield) which is claimed to be Eurpoe’s largest Urban Park. Today, Richmond is still home to about 300 Red Deer and 350 fallow deer, but is rich in other wildlife, and is an important area of Lowland Acid Grassland. The ancient trees, particularly oaks, support nationally endangered species of fungi and beetles. Bird life includes all three native woodpeckers, kestrels, owls and a range of waterfowl. Green ring-necked parakeets have established a sizeable breeding colony in the park, and their raucous cries are commonly heard.

In the Park, Pembroke Lodge, now a Café, was the home of Lord John Russell when Prime Minister, and later of Bertrand Russell, his grandson, The White Lodge, east of Pen Ponds, built as a hunting lodge by George II, now houses the Royal Ballet School.

The Isabella Plantation is a beautiful woodland garden created in the 1950s that houses a fine collection of azaleas, including the National Collection of 50 Japanese azalea varieties introduced to the West around 1920 by the famous plant collector, Ernest Wilson. Rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias thrive under a mature woodland canopy with many other acid-loving plants. Always cared for in traditional ways, for the last 12 years, Isabella has been managed organically.

Richmond Bridge is now the oldest bridge spanning the Thames – completed in 1777, it was widened in 1939.

Ham House (National Trust) is described as “unique in Europe as the most complete survivor of 17th century fashion and power” was built in 1610 for Sir Thomas Vavasour, Knight Marshal to James I. In 1626 it passed to William Murray, close friend of Charles I.