Richmond & Kew are both on the London Underground. Easiest parking is
around Kew Green or in the official Kew Gardens car park by the
river off Kew Green. In Richmond you can park in the pay car
park off the A316. The description below assumes a start from
Kew Green, where cricket is played on summer weekends.
This is a towpath cache and its not easily reachable in any
other way.
Background History
Start at St Anne's church on Kew Green. It is one of the few
Church of England basilica style churches and its parish records
were stolen in 1845, all part of the saga of the marriage of
King George III to Quaker Hannah Lightfoot. This marriage produced three
children whose royal background was forever to be hidden. Queen
Charlotte (visit her cottage in Kew Gardens) was his second
bigamous marriage and the Queen insisted on a re-marriage in
1765 after Hannah's death. Stroll away from the church to the
river and join the towpath by Kew Bridge. Pass the Kew Gardens car park and the
rear entrance to the gardens and after a few minutes the
entrance to the Grand Union Canal to Birmingham can be seen
on the far bank. Then Syon Park house comes into view on one side
and a Kew
Gardens vista on the other. Syon House was where King Henry VIII's coffin burst open and his
entrails were eaten by dogs! Further along the tow path and you
will cross the Kew Meridian established by King George III for a
previous transit of Venus and marked by three obelisks in line
with his observatory at Kew. A few hundred yards further on and
you meet the sign for the Brentford summer weekend ferry across
the Thames. Finally you reach Richmond Lock, the beginning of the non-tidal
Thames. NOTE that this little hiding place does get messy from
time to time.