TQ3380 : Royal Barge "Gloriana" at St Katharine Dock (3)
taken 10 years ago, near to Bermondsey, Southwark, England
The Royal Barge "Gloriana" was privately commissioned and given as a present to HM Queen Elizabeth II after the 2012 Diamond Jubilee pageant on 3rd June 2012.
Gloriana had led the man-powered boats in the 670-boat parade - the largest ever parade of boats in the World. Rowed by 18 rowers she carried ten flags and a number of guests. She is built in the style of an C18th Royal Barge, is 89' (27m) long and smothered in gold leaf, giving her a particularly opulent appearance.
St Katharine Docks were one of the commercial docks serving London, on the north side of the river Thames just east (downstream) of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. They were part of the Port of London, in the area now known as the Docklands, and are now a popular housing and leisure complex.
The docks were officially opened in 1828 but never fully recovered after being badly damaged by German bombing during the Second World War and in 1968 were sold to the Greater London Council. Most of the original warehouses were demolished and mostly replaced by modern commercial buildings in the early 1970s, with the docks themselves becoming a marina. The development has often been cited as a model example of successful urban redevelopment.
Link
Docks Website: Link