A Short History of Outdoor Swimming in London (LIVE)

Christopher Woodward traces London’s urban swimming history, from New River debates to Thames races and future landscape design. In this talk, Christopher Woodward explores the history of swimming in London’s rivers and parks and gardens, as shared in his article in The London Gardener in 2025. Although much has been written about the history of the Lido - and this talk is NOT about Lidos - London has a more surprising history of swimming in an urban landscape, from the New River ‘wild swimming’ controversy of the 1770s through the great Victorian Thames Races to the new lake at Beckenham. And, he asks, can landscape design and swimming march into the future hand in hand? Christopher Woodward has been Director of the Garden Museum since 2007. This talk combined his interests in garden design and swimming. His most recent Sponsored Swim on behalf of the Garden Museum was 100 kilometres in Greece to raise funds for its new park, Lambeth Green.