Thames Path (Wapping)

The path you are walking follows the top of a historic defensive barrier known as Wapping Wall. Centuries ago, this entire area was a treacherous, marshy expanse that frequently flooded. In the sixteenth century, the local community constructed this high earthen bank to hold back the Thames. Residents were legally responsible for maintaining their own sections of the wall, and the streets here still follow the line of that original, ancient levee.