Kingston Upon Thames

We went to London and spent a day in Kingston Upon Thames, a borough on the southwest side of the city. It is a charming neighborhood right on the River Thames of particular significance to the history of the British Monarchy.

It’s an old town with an Ancient Market and lots of old buildings mixed in with the new.

Smaller waterways feed the Thames and run throughout the area.

There is still an open air market held most days at the site of the Ancient Market.

And some interesting public art. This one is called “Party Animal”:

And there’s a square on the river with a bunch of statues of chimpanzees exhibiting human-like behavior for some reason.

Historically, the earliest Saxon Kings of England were coronated here. Remember Athelstan? We saw his tomb in the Cotswolds. The coronation stone located in the center of Kingston was used in his coronation in the year c. 925!

It was a beautiful day and we noticed that we could rent a small boat for an hour to explore the Thames on our own!

It was a beautiful day!