I think The Hope is a stretch of the River Thames by Gravesend. This Streetmap shows ‘The Lower Hope’. Further upstream, past Gravesend, it shows ‘Northfleet Hope’.
The Hope
Map
The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:
- Built-up London – London before the Fire
- City of London wall and Great Fire damage – London after the Fire
Open location in Google Maps: 51.472895, 0.451119
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References
Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.
1660
1661
- May
1662
- May
1664
1665
1666
- Mar
3 Annotations
First Reading
Terry F • Link
Kevin Sheerstone http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
The Hope - Pedro and others.
The Hope (or Hope Reach) is shown on the endpaper maps of my "Everybody's Pepys" as being that stretch of the Thames between Tilbury and the mouth of the Medway, at which point the estuary begins. I used to live in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, which is on a diminutive stream named the Hope. Stream is the word: we used to jump it without getting wet. It enters the Thames about two miles south of Stanford and three miles east of Tilbury.
See the clarifying post by Vincent that includes maps from London Streetmaps http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
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The Hope Reach is marked "SEA REACH" on this map http://www.thamesmatch.co.uk/imag…
Second Reading
Bill • Link
The HOPE, a Place where Merchants Ships usually Ride, and wait for their Lading and Dispatches, and Which begins at or opposite to East Tilbury, and terminates opposite to Cunningham.
---A description of the river Thames. R. Griffiths, 1758.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Tilbury doesn't have a page of its own here, but it was an important defensive position for London in Pepys' day:
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth chose an amateur to lead her ragtag militiamen against an expected invasion force led by the greatest general of the age.
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was a 56-year-old courtier and former paramour of the queen.
In 1585, Queen Elizabeth sent him to the Netherlands at the head of 6,000 English volunteers to help the Dutch rebels fight the Spanish Army of Flanders. The Spanish were led by the peerless Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
Dudley botched the assignment leaving Parma in control of the strategic city of Sluis which sat astride a juncture of canals. As a result, Parma could now move his army by barge to North Sea ports and descend on England in a single night if nautical conditions were right.
Once Queen Elizabeth learned Philip II of Spain had dispatched a mighty armada to escort Parma’s barges across the Narrow Seas, she ordered her navy to meet the invasion force at sea.
As a fall back, she appointed Leicester captain general of England’s land forces. Leicester set to work strengthening the river defenses near the mouth of the Thames and he established an encampment at Tilbury for about 7,000 militiamen he hoped would delay Parma’s 17,000 professional troops during their march on London.
Meanwhile, 10,000 militiamen barricaded London’s streets.
After beacon fires announced the Armada’s arrival toward the end of July, all of England waited with bated breath and prayed for a victory at sea.
https://armadainvincible.com
And it was at Tilbury that Queen Elizabeth delivered her famous speech, weared in armor and seated on a white stallion:
https://www.readwritethink.org/si…