I am pleased to announce that I have treated myself to the three volume set of Wonderful London edited by the poet and novelist St John Adcock (1864-1930) and published in 1929. The great man himself …
He was a Fleet Street journalist for half a century and an assiduous freelance writer. He worked initially as a law office clerk, becoming a full-time writer in 1893.
The volumes are, they say, about ‘The World’s Greatest City Described by its Best Writers and Pictured by its Finest Photographers’. Running to over 1,100 pages and over 1,200 photographs, it’s a real treat to browse through and I have chosen some of its images for this week’s blog …
How about this to start with. Wembley Stadium ‘…like an ants’ nest carelessly broken open’. And the commentary below the image, comparing the stadium with the Colosseum (‘…exceeding it in size by one half’) and the people crushed to death in the crowd on Cup Final day a reminder of ‘the decay of Roman morals’!
The Thames from Bankside. Cover the top of the picture and it could be ‘any pebble beach along the coast’ …
What I particularly like about the book is that it gives us a glimpse into the social attitudes of the time. For example, the way these London residents are described is rather patronising, as if they were display exhibits of some kind. I must say, however, that the elderly lady might not have minded being described as a ‘dame’ from Alasatia and the photographer has captured her sympathetically …
Two great images. One of Temple Bar in situ and one of the site after its removal …
‘Old Temple Bar in its rural retirement in Hertfordshire’ …
I tell the fascinating story story of Temple Bar and the chatelaine of Theobald’s Park, the wonderful, eccentric Lady Meux, in my blog Temple Bar and the banjo-playing lady.
Lady Meux in her finery, painted by James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1881 …
Today the Bar is restored and relocated next to St Paul’s Cathedral …
How much was land around Bank Junction worth in 1929? ‘At least ten shillings a square inch’ …
Today the buildings in the foreground remain pretty much the same, but the background to them has changed a bit …
From Bank junction looking west …
St Paul’s Churchyard …
This is the first I’ve ever heard of ‘London’s last toll-gate’ in this location.
The view today. Every building on the left in the old picture was destroyed in WW2 bombing but the railings have survived though …
St Paul’s Deanery and the Williamson’s Hotel with two anonymous figures gaining immortality. Wouldn’t it be great to know just a little bit about them …
Today …
Fleet Street figures then …
… and now.
The clock (thought to be the first public clock in London to have a minute hand) …
Queen Elizabeth I (believed to be the only surviving statue of her carved in her lifetime) ….
King Lud and possibly his sons (from the old Lud Gate) …
Off to Cheapside now and the famous plane tree …
The corner shop in the 1970s …
When photographed in 2018 it sold greetings cards …
But now, thanks to the wonderful Cubitts opticians, the signage has been restored to its pre-war glory …
You can read the interesting story of the shops, the tree, the churchyard and a connection to a Wordsworth poem in my blog A shop, a tree and a poem.
St Mary-le-Bow Church Cheapside and the ‘nine foot dragon’ …
Today …
The church was totally gutted in the War but restored and re-openened formally in 1964. The dragon was repaired and lowered onto the spire by a military helicopter …
If there is one picture that I have come across so far that seems to encapsulate the great changes that have occurred in attitudes, society and commerce over the last century it would be this one, ‘ivory shown in Oriental profusion’ unloaded at the London Docks …
I couldn’t help but feel terribly sad for the beautiful animal that had to die to provide the massive tusk the men are holding.
I’ll be printing more images from Wonderful London in future blogs. You can read more about the books here in the excellent London Inheritance blog.
Incidentally, I enjoyed admiring these flowers at the corner of Moorgate and Lothbury …
And these on London Wall …
Finally, am I mad thinking that this duck looks like he’s gathering his thoughts before making a dive …
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