And by way of an appetiser - especially if you're not a Londoner, if Rotherhithe (and what London Walks gets up to down there) is Greek to you - here's a crash course. And here's a little photo essay.

 

A Special Every-Saturday-in-October Thames Walk for Black History Month

Oct. 2, Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.

Meet BermondseyTube (Jubilee Line) 10.45 am. Tickets £8/£6 concessions, free for Residents of Southwark.

London Walks is proud to support Black History Month in the London Borough of Southwark

By moonlight the Thames is a glittering path to China. As the tide turns, the sails of the East Indiamen unfurl and take heroes to glory or wretches to perdition. Old Cathay and Africa, bright islands with tall trees where long arms can pluck riches. Oceans with monsters and travellers with fables. Ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time: the Golden Hind returning with her round flanks full of treasure, and visited by the Queen’s Highness; the Erebus and Terror, on a different mission and never returned. Adventurers and settlers, hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, all went out on that stream. The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empire. Glory and reputation wait at the uttermost ends of the earth. Or do they?

For Black History Month, this is the story of a secret mission, a voyage to the Spice Islands. Treasure, shipwreck, brave rescue, proud honours and a long journey home. A Prince who risks his life for total strangers, the unspoken gratitude of huddled wretches in the storm. Weary, far from home, but their heads are unbowed! Disaster is averted, brave deeds are remembered!

But they are not properly remembered. The stories of the Honourable East India Company tell of many heroes, but who were they? Not all of them were the expected ones…

Rotherhithe is an old East India Company Town. The Thames Tunnel, oldest tunnel in the London Underground, was designed for spices and the treasures of East India Company. The names of the streets and buildings are scintillating: Bombay Court, Ceylon Wharf, Elephant Lane, Cathay Street, Ivory Court, Jamaica Road. This is sailor town and many languages & cultures walked down Rotherhithe Street. Among them walked Prince Lee Boo, and this is his story.