Skateboard Graveyard

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You may have walked past this and not really contemplated the meaning of those half-broken skateboard pieces scattered on the pillar nearest the South Bank side of Embankment Bridge. I was like you for a long time - but then I got curious and found out more.

It would seem that there is a distinct link between the graffiti covered skate park under Royal Festival Hall, and this graveyard of dead boards, let me tell you more.

Thanks to the amount of concrete used in the Southbank Undercroft (to give it its proper title), plus the ever more daring tricks attempted by the ever more daring skaters there, naturally a few boards don't live to see the light of day. Now, rather than bury these boards, or even worse, bin them, they are given a fitting send-off by being sent to the great skate park in the sky (or rather flung off the bridge to meet their broken buddies on the pillar).

The precise location of this quirky cemetery is Hungerford Bridge, the pedestrian bridge which crosses from Waterloo to Embankment, and lies between Waterloo and Westminster Bridges.

This is no passing craze either, as some believe this practice may have been happening since as early as 1999.

So the next time you fancy a little stroll over the glistening River Thames, spare a thought for all of the little pieces of once proud skateboarding equipment, and think about all the fun those boards had in their short lives. It may not make you want to take up skating again, but think of the cool story you have to tell your friends as you walk across the river and point out this most unique of cemeteries.



#attractions
#free
#pop_culture
#quirky
#south_bank
#unusual_things_to_do
#waterloo
%wnlondon