London riverscape

View of Swan Wharf, including cranes, moored boats and buildings. The photographer wrote in an accompanying caption that ‘The ship is the Swedish 'Atlantic Ocean', waiting to berth at Fresh Wharf, London Bridge. On the right is the Monument and Billingsgate Market. Until a few years ago, Dutch fish cutters used to run straight to this market to deliver fish, but the speed at which they travelled caused such a swell and chaos at the surrounding moorings that this was one of the main reasons for the custom ending.’
Sandra Flett was a semi professional photographer who lived in Chiswick. She could see the Thames from her house and writes ‘We have lived near the river for years and it has become part of the background of our lives’. For her, the river was a ‘geographical backbone’ linking together the disparate parts of London.