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Writer's pictureDave Goble

25 The Wall

Updated: Mar 28


Not just any wall


And it affords me a nice introduction to this post. About twenty yards beyond it, (looking south in the photograph), flows the river Thames. Moored at this spot in Hampton on the near (north) bank – about fifty yards away - is a beautifully maintained houseboat called The Astoria, aka a recording studio owned by Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour.


In the hope of spotting it I crossed the road and strolled with my bike a few yards to the right of this picture, and through a narrow entrance to Garrick’s Lawn, (Garrick pops up later, in Post 49), which slopes down to the water. It’s well concealed, but peeping through a tangle of bushes and trees, perched perilously on the edge of the bank, I managed to get a couple of photographs.


Built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno, who aspired to owning the best houseboat on the river, it was permanently moored alongside his hotel the Karsino at Tagg's Island. He designed it so a 90-piece orchestra could play on deck. Framed in mahogany, the boat has mostly Crittall windows which grow taller and wider towards one end. It is topped by ornate metalwork canopies and balustrades.


Gilmour bought it in 1986 to convert it into a recording studio with a difference, i.e. unlike the typical / average studio where he was used to spending so much time, this offered natural light through large windows with the added bonus of beautiful scenery.


Parts of each of the last three Pink Floyd studio albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994), and The Endless River (2014), were recorded on the boat, as were parts of his solo albums On an Island (2006) and Rattle That Lock (2015).


This all said Gilmour is, apparently, an infrequent visitor.


You can just make out parts of the boat through the trees and foliage


A bit closer but still not great. Sorry to see someone feels razor wire is necessary.


See Post 49 for a better picture of The Astoria, taken from the opposite (Surrey) bank of the river in Hurst Park.


Red arrow: The Astoria is moored here

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