Redriffe

‘Tuesday 1 July 1662

To the office, and there we sat till past noon, and then Captain Cuttance and I by water to Deptford, where the Royal James (in which my Lord went out the last voyage, though [he] came back in the Charles) was paying off by Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen. .. Towards evening I left them, and to Redriffe by land, Mr. Cowly, the Clerk of the Cheque, with me, discoursing concerning the abuses of the yard, in which he did give me much light. ..’

Samuel Pepys’ (Diary) itinerary for July 1, 1662 included a stop at Redriffe, or Rotherhithe, as it is now known.  The name Redriffe refers to the red gravel that can be seen at low tide in the Thames. 

Walter Scott used the name Redriffe in his “The Fortunes of Nigel":

‘…They were hailed successively, as a grocer’s wife upon a party of pleasure with her eldest apprentice – as an old woman carrying her grandson to school – and as a young strapping Irishman, carrying an ancient maiden to Dr. Rigamarole’s at Redriffe, who buckles beggars for a tester and a dram of Geneva…’