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I hope it's just that his phone has run out of juice or something. Edit: Posted a little too late.
Horn Steps
Marked as 'Horn Stairs' on the old map.
Here's some more--when you use the modern-day ferry, you famously have to walk through the hotel on the Rotherhithe side. There's been a ferry there for a long time, called the 'Limehouse Hole Ferry', and it seems from your map that (at least at low tide) it left from Cuckold's Point, which seems to be marked at the end of either a pier (are those the remnants of old pilings?) or just the hard standing that's still vestigial today.
Here's a nice blog entry about Cuckold's Point:
https://www.londonshoes.blog/2018/01/20/blackwall-point-cuckolds-point-the-thames-river-pirates/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckold%27s_Point
Here's something about the general area, including much about the opposite side:
https://islandhistory.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/limehouse-hole/
https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/pool-of-london/
There's also a link to our old tag of Wapping Old Stairs by Execution Dock in Wapping:
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/9617026/
Back in the day, pirates were not to be granted Christian burial rights – and therefore, their bodies were usually coated in tar and then transported back across the Thames to 2 specific locations south of the River – where they were then placed in to a ‘Gibbet’, which was basically an iron framed cage, and then put out on display at 2 strategic locations on the Thames, to act as a visual deterrent to any would be sailors entering the ‘pool of London’ who may have been having thoughts of ‘plundering’ and piracy.
The 2 locations where the gibbets containing the decaying bodies of pirates were displayed, were “Blackwall Point” and “Cuckold’s Point”.
(From the Londonshoes entry linked to above.)
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it left from Cuckold's Point, which seems to be marked at the end of either a pier (are those the remnants of old pilings?)
I think the old ferry left from the end of that causeway, or that causeway supported some kind of pier.
I also found that someone has done a virtual 3D model of the causeway for armchair visitors.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/horn-stairs-causeway-8c4297410d634fb89d938989a2c9124c
So the steps were Horn Stairs, leading to Cuckold Point. They used to string up pirates there as a warning to passing ships. And the oddest bit is its connection to the Horn Fair in Charlton. A procession started here by people dressed in horns a bit like those who stormed the the Senate.
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095603689
One of London's most popular fairs, until it was discontinued in 1872, famous for its obsession with horns. In its heyday in the 18th century, visitors flocked to the fair in their thousands carrying or wearing horns and every stall was decorated with them. Every sort of horn imaginable, and everything possible made of horn, was for sale, and even the gingerbread men had horns. An origin legend provides a neat reason for the horn motif. King John was out hunting on Shooter's Hill, and he stopped to rest at a miller's house. The only person home was the miller's attractive wife and she and the king were just ‘kissing’ when the miller returned and caught them. He drew his dagger, threatening to kill them both, but when he realized who he was dealing with, he wisely asked for some other recompense instead. The king therefore granted him all the land visible from Charlton to the river beyond Rotherhithe, and also the right to hold a fair every 18 October (St Luke's Day). The miller's jealous neighbours gave the name Cuckold's Point to the river boundary and they started wearing horns at the fair as a derisive gesture.
This story may not be true as St Luke's motif also has horns, but it's a fun story.
Hope stephens is ok - I did actually get a bit worried last night that he had tried to do it at night and failed.