Brentford, Mortlake and Barnes

It was a long weekend at the tail end of August and, since, otherwise we would do b-all, Andy and I decided to get a bus to Brentford and then walk from there to Mortlake Crematorium. (We ended up at Barnes; the album is on Ipernity.)

On the way through Brentford, we walked through the Green Dragon Lane estate which was built on the site of waterworks. This apple tree was in the grounds of the Green Dragon primary school.

Crossing the Kew Road to the west side I noticed this well-worn manhole cover with wooden inserts. I wonder how many of them there are? I imagine that it won't be replaced like for like when the time comes. My guess is that wooden inserts saved on money but that is just a guess.

In all my twenty five years in London I realised that I had never touched the water of the Thames and had only once briefly ventured onto the foreshore. When we saw this view from Kew Bridge with Strand on the Green living up to its name, I knew it was my chance to have a good look.

I soon discovered that bricks make up a significant part of the foreshore along with mud which dries to a dingy colour.

I had this idea that Mortlake Crematorium would be interesting because there were so many famous people cremated there but I should have learnt my lesson from Golders Green that cremation is not that interesting to the disinterested. There are no poignant gravestones in atmospheric verdant surroundings but instead there are rows of plaques and beautiful restrained gardens.

I then thought that we should visit Old Mortlake Cemetery which turned out to be an odd place of very little atmosphere. However, while I was wandering around there I remembered that Sir Richard Burton's tomb was around there too. Thank goodness for smartphones and a vague memory that the tomb in St Mary Magdalen Church might be worth a visit. What a treat! The sun was low and, since the tomb faces the west, the building became golden and the star shone in a quite gorgeous way.