Walking Wandsworth: A Riverside Stroll between Putney and Battersea

The riverside villages of Putney, Wandsworth and Battersea form a key part of the Thames’ two thousand-year-old history. On this walking tour, you’ll hear about the area’s development since the Middle Ages, and how these villages tell a story about leisure and enjoyment replacing industry and hard graft.

The tour starts outside Putney’s St Mary’s Church, a site of Christian worship since the 13th century. You’ll stroll along parts of Putney Wharf, which has a long history associated with the brewing trade. From there, you’ll follow the riverside path and see some of the Thames’ most iconic bridges.

Along the way, you’ll hear stories about local landmarks and some of the people who have called this waterside area home. The tour leads into the magnificent Battersea Park, where you’ll find out how it played a part in bringing colour and excitement to drab post-war Britain for a single year. The tour ends in the park, next to the London Peace Pagoda.

Along the way, you’ll also have a chance to:

• Hear how local Thomas Cromwell rose from humble beginnings to become the most powerful and divisive man in Tudor England
• Listen to the history that predates the medieval and even the Roman occupation of the riverside
• See how areas and streets based on toil and sweat have been transformed into places of leisure and modern living
• Visit the last resting place of Benedict Arnold, one of America’s most despised sons
• Find out how military correctness nearly destroyed an iconic London landmark
• Walk through the area that was popular with artists and writers in the 1800s and 1900s
• Get to know why Wandsworth became a mecca for the ballooning pioneers of the 1800s
• Be enthralled by tales of murder, riot and self-sacrifice

By the end of this 90-minute walk, you’ll have travelled through over two thousand years of history, and seen why this has become one of the most important areas along the Thames.