View from Richmond Bridge

A bit of back blipping as we visited our daughter in Raynes Park, London and took her and our son on a trip to Kingston to view where we used to live when she was small. We then had a walk through Richmond Park past a well antlered deer to King Henry's Mound where you can see right into the center of London and St Paul's Cathedral.

This is the highest point within the park and is named after Henry VIII of England. It was traditionally thought to be the spot where King Henry VIII stood on 19 May 1536 to watch a rocket fired from the Tower of London. This was the signal that his wife Anne Boleyn had been executed for treason and he would be able to marry Lady Jane Seymour. The story is unlikely to be true because Henry spent that evening in Wiltshire.

It was probably a prehistoric burial chamber, possibly dating from the Bronze age, and was later used as a viewpoint for hunting and falconry.

From the Mound there is a protected view of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, over 10 miles (16 km) to the east, which was established in 1710. This can be easily viewed through the telescope.

From here we walked into Richmond and along the River Thames.