Downstream

the mid-1600s, Sir Dudley
North, civil servant and
economist, was known for his
swims around here. He was
an intrepid swimmer and a
‘master of the Thames’ who
could ‘live in the water an
afternoon with such ease as
others walk upon land’. He
would leave his clothes on the
shore, run naked ‘almost as
high as Chelsea’ for the
‘pleasure of swimming down
to his clothes before tide of