3-065-968 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Chelsea Embankment, from Battersea Bridge, [London], 1874. 'Three or four weeks ago this useful public work, extending along the Middlesex shore of the river from Battersea Bridge to the gardens of the Royal Military Hospital - a length of three quarters of a mile - was opened by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. The view now presented shows its appearance on looking down the river from Battersea Bridge. To those who love antiquarian associations, the changed aspect of old Chelsea is perhaps an occasion of regret. But they must confess that it was growing shabby and squalid - not, indeed, at the historic frontage of Cheyne-walk, but towards the other end; and when the old garment is worn out, if the body is still alive, it becomes needful to put on a new one. Dean Swift or Sir Robert Walpole, indeed, would scarcely know the Chelsea of this day for that which they used to haunt, if they were now set down at the bottom of Oakley-street, opposite the new Albert Bridge'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.