Peter Ackroyd's Thames: Sacred River, published by Chatto and Windus in 2007, is a popular cultural history rather than an academic monograph. Its strength is that it is a well researched cultural biography covering the river's use for baptism, healing and purification, the churches along its banks, and the still held annual January blessing of the river at London Bridge. Its limit is the ordinary one for popular history: Ackroyd writes for a general audience and is not always as exhaustively footnoted as an academic study would be.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
Tier two: a popular cultural history rather than an academic monograph, though it is well researched, covering the river's use for baptism, healing and purification and the still held annual January blessing of the river at London Bridge. Its limit is the ordinary one for popular history: Ackroyd writes for a general audience and is not always as exhaustively footnoted as an academic study would be. NotesA cultural biography of the river covering its use for baptism, healing and purification, the churches along its banks, the frost fairs, and the still-held annual January blessing of the river at London Bridge. Use for the Thames fact.
Citation
AuthorPeter Ackroyd
PublisherChatto & Windus
Publication Year2007
Source TypeBook (popular history)
Connections
Associated With
London, Cities This source names London directly: "January blessing of the river at London Bridge."
Source Thames: Sacred RiverPeter Ackroyd
Claims Backed By This Source (10 claims)
This source backs 10 claims across the atlas. As facts: 8 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
- Articles, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
- Bodies of Water, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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