Pavements in the sky (part 4)

This is the last part of a hunt for the remains of the London Pedway system that was proposed by architects and designers in the 1970s. You can find the preceding parts here. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

So, in part 3 I found that remains of what was known as the Bishopsgate system had been utilised as a fire escape for the buildings it travelled through. There is no public access and so this part of the system has been lost.

In this last post I want to focus on what does still exist. Towards the southern side of the City near to the River Thames there remains a small network of pedways, but sadly these aren’t integrated. The map below dates from the 1990s and showed the remaining system then, I’ve just updated it.

The reason that these were in position is due to the development of Upper and Lower Thames Street each side of London Bridge. The planners wanted a fast free flowing main car route and so widened the existing road to a dual carriageway, in the process demolishing many fine examples of Victorian and earlier architecture. The buildings taking their place needed to be connected, if only to allow their inhabitants to cross the by then traffic congested dual carriageway and so became part of the pedway plan.

The remaining parts are fully functional, but very underused. I stood on one of the bridges for around 15 minutes before another pedestrian used it. The widening of the main road will in all probability be the saviour of these truncated paths, as a lot of properties on the south side are now residential and the bridges are the safest way to cross the road if you want to venture northwards into the City.

I make no apologies for decrying the loss of what remains and the failure to implement the plan as a whole, but just for balance I’ll finish with the downside of the scheme. As fantastic as the Barbican development is showing how it could all be so good, there is an existing part of the system just behind Blackfriars station which illustrates how it could all go wrong. I find it a very oppressive place, unloved and unkempt today, it’s hard to even imagine that it was any better when it was first built.

Hopefully what survives of the network today will not be eroded further and perhaps even the Blackfriars section might get a Barbican style makeover. It’s part of the City’s history and as such is just as important as any monument or building standing today.