Blackwall Point

You are near the northern tip of the Greenwich Peninsula, a corner of the river that sailors knew as Blackwall Point. For ships coming up from the sea, this was where London began to feel close. It was also where they got a warning. Pirates caught on the Thames were hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping, a few kilometres upriver. The bodies of the worst of them were then brought down here, locked into iron cages and hung high at the water's edge, left to rot in full view of every passing crew. Nobody on deck needed the message explained. Now look across the water to the far bank, where the River Lea joins the Thames. You may spot a small lighthouse. It is London's only lighthouse, and it was never meant to guide a single ship. Trinity House, which runs the lighthouses of England and Wales, built it in 1864 for testing lamps and lenses, and the great scientist Michael Faraday worked on lighthouse lighting at the wharf over there. Today the lighthouse is home to Longplayer, a piece of music composed to play for a thousand years without repeating itself. It began at midnight as 1999 turned into 2000, and it is due to end on the last day of 2999.