In 1829 the London publisher Samuel Leigh produced "The panorama of the Thames from London to Richmond". The work covered a distance of about 15 miles - or about 30 miles of riverside, taking into account both the Middlesex and Surrey Banks. The panoramas are about 60 feet in length, made up of 46 aquatint prints glued together and folded up into concertina form. These were sold as a black and white edition or a more expensive colour edition which was hand watercoloured. The artist credited with the sketches was John Clark.
The panorama covers both sides of the river Thames between Petersham Meadows at Richmond and Westminster Bridge, to such a scale and in such detail that major features and buildings can be identified and named. This project aims to restore the panorama photographically, removing fold discolouration, previous repairs, misaligned joins, foxing, water damage, and other defects that have accumulated over the years. The objective is to make the panorama available online, along with commentary provided by Local History Societies and extracts from contemporaneous historical documents.
Unretouched photograph of Richmond Riverside from the Leigh Panorama
Colour corrected and restored image of the same section as above.
The areas of the Thames covered in the panorama include: Richmond, Isleworth, Brentford, Kew, Chiswick, Mortlake, Barnes, Hammersmith, Putney, Fulham, Wandsworth, Battersea, Chelsea, Pimlico, Lambeth and Westminster. This remarkable work shows us these famous reaches of the river Thames as they appeared in the late 1820s, through faithful depictions of the river bank and islands, the waterside communities, churches, wharves, stately homes and even the centre of Government.
The first area to be completed for this project is Isleworth which can be seen here. More details about the project can be found by following the links below.
Map of the areas covered | Review from 1829 | Sponsorship | Original Title and introduction | contact us