Shad Thames

What makes it special

Steel gangway bridges cross the street overhead at second- and fifth-floor level, linking Butler's Wharf on the river side with the Cardamom Building opposite. They are replicas, but the arrangement is genuine: this is the largest surviving stretch of bridged warehouse street on the Thames.

Butler's Wharf went up in 1871-73, and on completion it was the largest wharf on the river. Its street front bends with the curve of the road, and the loading hatches climb it in vertical ranks fitted with swivel hoists.

At street level, iron columns stand in groups of three between brick piers, holding up the floors above. Halfway along, a two-storey cart entrance cuts through the building between giant iron columns. It is built the same on both faces, and on the river front the old hatches now serve as balconies.

Visiting

Beneath the first gangways at the Tower Bridge end, slow down and take them in before you walk on. The street has no set route, so the pace is yours.

Follow Shad Thames as it bends between the warehouse fronts, and keep checking both sides of the street as well as overhead. At the centre of Butler's Wharf, find the tall cart entrance.

Then walk out to the Thames side and look back at the river front, where the same entrance faces the water. Seen from the water side, the warehouse fronts run along the river as one long, even wall.

Tips

For photographs, stand back from a bend rather than directly underneath a bridge. From below, the view shrinks to a thin strip of sky; from a little way off, the whole crossing fits in the frame.

Walk the street in both directions, because the curve hides one end from the other and each way frames a different run of bridges.