In its initial role as a royal residence during the Middle Ages the positioning of the Palace of Westminster on the north bank of the Thames was considered to be of strategic importance. As the image illustrates, the river and stairs allowed access to the Palace by boat, enabling the transportation of both people and supplies, firstly to the royal inhabitants and in later years to the Members of Parliament and their staff.
Right: View of Palace of Westminster from across the river, c.1643
Palace of Westminster Collections, WOA 845
Parliamentary Archives: HL/PO/PU/1/1535/27H8n16
Left: Public Act, 27 Henry VIII, c.18, 1535
The level of importance placed upon preservation of the River Thames is evident in this Act from the reign of Henry VIII. It states 'If any Person do, or procure any Thing to be done, to the annoying of the Stream of the River of Thames ... by mining, digging casting of Dung Rubbish or other Thing in the same River ... or dig or undermine any Bank or Wall ... to the Hurt, Impairing or Damage of the said Banks or Walls, he shall forfeit for every Time of offending C.s. to the King, and to the Mayor and Commonalty of London ...'.
Parliamentary Archives: ARC/VAR/57/3 and PIC/P/773
Left: A postcard view of the Houses of Parliament at sunset and an exterior view of the building from the south embankment near to Lambeth Bridge, displaying a pleasure boat in the foreground.
(Christopher Jones, The Great Palace, p.97)
Below: A signed plan of the area surrounding Westminster Abbey, the Palace and Whitehall, encompassing both banks of the River Thames. Charles Barry used the plan to outline his proposed improvements including new roads on either side of the river and a widened connecting bridge.
Parliamentary Archives: HC/LB/1/114/29
Right: A nineteenth century reproduction of a seventeenth century plan depicting a section of the River Thames. It is intended to show the subsequent encroachments on the river by the embankments including those alongside the site of the new Palace of Westminster.
Parliamentary Archives: WLS/5/6
Parliamentary Archives: ARC/VAR/57/4
Left: Postcard view of Parliament from Lambeth Bridge
The 'Great Stink' of 1858
Just over two decades after the devastating fire, one of the most famous incidents in the history of the relationship between Parliament and the Thames occurred - the 'Great Stink'. Unable to cope with the increased amount of water emanating from sources such as flush toilets, factories, slaughter houses, and breweries, the drains of London expelled the resulting concoction of sewage into an increasingly contaminated River Thames.
Due to the proximity of the building to the waterway, work in the Houses of Parliament was severely affected by the ensuing smell, to such an extent that curtains were soaked in chloride of lime to suppress the 'noxious stench' and the possibility of moving business to either Oxford or St Albans was considered.
Hansard, 11th June 1858, Col.1921 and Hansard, 15th June 1858, Col.1921
Left: Hansard extracts offer a useful insight into the views on the sewage dilemma from within Parliament. It was felt that the gases produced could be injurious to health. Words such as 'noxious', 'cesspool', and 'stench' clearly indicate the severity of the problem.
It was not only those employed in the Palace that suffered - boatmen complained that day-trippers were forced away by the smell and women 'had to hold their handkerchiefs over their faces' when crossing Westminster Bridge. (Christopher Jones, 'The Great Palace', p.121)
A Select Committee was appointed to report on and recommend solutions to the problem. As a result, an Act of Parliament was passed which extended the responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works for the purification of the Thames. In 1859 the chief engineer of the Board, Joseph Bazalgette proposed and began work on a scheme to build an extensive underground sewage system in London.
Parliamentary Archives: HL/PO/PB/3/plan1866/R13
Below: Estimate of expense from the House of Lords deposited plan relating to the River Thames Purification Bill 1866
Right: Sketch for the 'Lika Joko' series, 'Father Thames purified and glorified as promised by the London City Council' [1880s-1900s]
Parliamentary Archives: HC/LB/1/112/294
A number of Acts held at the Parliamentary Archives provide an insight into the vast number of ways by which legislation passed at the Houses of Parliament has shaped both the function and the physical structure of the River Thames. The 'Act for establishing and maintaining a Ferry across the River Thames, between Hamlet of Ratcliff in the County of Middlesex, and the Parish of Rotherhithe in the County of Surrey' demonstrates the influence on both trade and transport whilst the Act authorising the completion of 'the Embankment of the River Thames between Vauxhall and Battersea Bridges' effected structural change.
Below: Public Act, 28 George II, c. 43, 1755 and Public General Act, 16 & 17 Victoria I, c. 87, 1853
Parliamentary Archives: HL/PO/PU/1/1853/16&17V1n325 and HL/PO/PU/1/1755/28G2n13
Below: This petition, dated 25th July 1645, was made by the watermen at the Parliament stairs.
Parliamentary Archives: HL/PO/JO/10/1/190