Overview

Caroline Crampton was born on the Thames Estuary to parents who had sailed there from South Africa in the early 1980s. Having grown up with seafaring legs and a desire to explore, Caroline is both a knowledgeable guide to the most hidden-away parts of this overlooked and unfashionable part of the country, and a persuasive advocate for its significance, both historically and culturally. As one of the key entrances and exits to England, the estuary has been pivotal to London's economic fortunes and in defining its place in the world. It has also been the entry point for immigrants for generations, yet it has an ambivalent relationship with newcomers, and UKIP's popularity in the area is on the rise. As Caroline navigates the waters of the estuary, she also seeks out its stories: empty warehouses and arsenals; the Thames barrier, which guards the safety of Londoners more precariously than we might; ship wrecks still inhabited by the ghosts of the drowned; vast Victorian pumping stations which continue to carry away the capital's sewage; the river banks, layered with archaeological Anglo-Saxon treasures; literature inspired by its landscape; beacons used for centuries to guide boats through the dark and murky waterways of the estuary; the eerie Maunsell army forts - 24 metre high towers of concrete and steel which were built on concealed sandbanks at the far reaches of the estuary during the Second World War and designed to spot (and shoot) at incoming enemy planes; and the estuary's wildlife and shifting tidal moods.

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9781783784134

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Reviews

An affectionate portrait of an often neglected landscape... rich and fascinating... Crampton writes beautifully of the area's charms. Her first-hand knowledge of navigating the river gives the book the descriptive power that brings the whole area superbly to life * Sunday Times * Like the Thames itself, this book carries you along on a journey full of rich detail and fascinating insight -- Madeleine Bunting Atmospheric and movingly written...rich and haunting * Spectator * Short but rich... [Crampton] writes movingly, sometimes with flecks of nostalgia or melancholy, but ultimately her book is a rallying call for greater appreciation of the maligned and overlooked * Evening Standard * In The Way to the Sea, the Thames - from its indistinct origins in a muddy Gloucestershire field, all the way east to the Nore sandbank in the estuary - runs through a lush landscape of personal memories of family sailing trips and Oxonian dunkings, of histories of cities and suburbs that rose and fell on its banks, populated by poets and painters singing the Thames' 'sweet song'. A memorial to Joseph Bazalgette, architect of the Thames' central London embankments, claimed he had 'put the river in chains', but in this tender, often startling, blend of memoir, nature-writing and social and cultural history, Caroline Crampton reveals instead how the river shapes us -- Rachel Hewitt This is a remarkable, superbly researched book, and I was swept along by it from source to mouth. The Thames Estuary has found its chronicler, a young writer who opens a reader's eyes to its mystery, moodiness and downbeat beauty -- Christopher Somerville Caroline Crampton's The Way to the Sea is a re-enchantment of the overlooked, everyday world of the Thames Estuary. A love letter to a place too changeable to define, this seductive journey is both beautifully written and highly recommended -- John Higgs A fascinating, brilliant book that carries you downstream on its quick-flowing current' -- Cal Flynn Fascinating * Bookseller * Lyrically written... this book was a treat * Practical Boat Owner * A beautiful book * Five Books * Deeply literary and well researched... A thoughtful, beautifully-written appreciation * Yachting Monthly * [A] lyrical meditation on the meaning of the Thames...you won't find a more elegantly written guide * Literary Review * [A] praise-hymn to the muddy, marshy far reaches of the river... captivating -- Rose George * New Statesman * [A] wonderful account... [Crampton] writes with the quiet confidence and terminology of someone who has spent plenty of time aboard... captivating * I Paper * What makes [Crampton] a remarkable guide to the story of the Thames is that she sees it in an unexpected way. Instinctively, she writes of the river not from the shore, but from the water. She knows it, and loves it, from the inside * In the Moment * Fascinating . . . Ms Crampton's account of her lifelong relationship with this storied waterway is as elegant and sinuous as the river she loves * Economist * A consistently interesting and lyrical narrative, which seamlessly weaves historical anecdote, personal memoir and gentle warnings about the frailty of the environment into an enjoyable whole * Mail on Sunday * Engaging . . . A rich, resonant history * Sunday Express * Engaging, well researched and beautifully written * William Morris Society Journal * Fine and lyrical...The Way To The Sea twines travelogue and memoir to pay tribute to the neglected mystery and beauty of the downriver portions of the Thames . . . a remarkable and fascinating story * Spectator podcast * Deeply knowledgeable . . . fascinating * Country Life * A tender yet argumentative book dressed in a beautiful jacket that someone will panic-buy at Christmas for an in-law who will crack it open expecting fond cliches about The Wind in the Willows only to alight on an ode to mud, in all its varieties... And what's not to like about that? * Guardian * A tender yet argumentative book dressed in a beautiful jacket that someone will panic-buy at Christmas for an in-law who will crack it open expecting fond cliches about The Wind in the Willows only to alight on an ode to mud, in all its varieties... And what's not to like about that? * Guardian * Mixing memoir, anthropology and nature writing, [Crampton] paints a moving portrait of a part of Britain usually ignored * Mail on Sunday * Wonderful * Yorkshire Post * [The Way to the Sea] traces the course of England's longest river to reveal how to waterway helped shape our nation, finding epic feats of Victorian engineering, artist retreats, shipwrecks, old trade routes and wild riverbanks along the way * National Geographic Traveller * Gently meandering . . . a terrific journey * Daily Mail * Its pace ebbing and flowing with the tide, this is a meditative, insightful and beautifully crafted book * BBC Countryfile * [Crampton's] writing is rich and expansive, bestowing on the estuary a certain dignity and depth * TLS * A rich, tender love letter to the great ugly beautiful river and to everything it has been, is, and will be to those of us who live in its orbit * Caught by the River * This charming blend of family, social and urban history highlights stories that have been strangely forgotten...excellent * Geographical Magazine *

Author Information

Caroline Crampton is a writer and editor who contributes regularly to the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the New Humanist. She has appeared as a broadcaster on Newsnight, Sky News and BBC Radio 4. This is her first book.

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