Ever since we gave up running down by the river in Wapping, I have scarcely visited the muddy riverbank, which one can reach by occasional steps onto the shore, for example by the Prospect of Whitby. It’s an atmospheric space, totally neglected, where one can watch the passing boats, including an occasional Victorian pleasure steamer:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
You may know Ray Newton, who has made a film about these stairs that was shown to the East London History Society. I think he was trying to find some way of getting all the surviving stairs in Wapping and Shadwell protected and their historical importance recognized.
DEREK MORRIS
No, I didn’t know. They are amazing. Some of the access to the river is gated and barred by protective residents even in spite of it being a condition of planning permission. Charles