I saw a giant colourful penguin outside the Blackfriar pub last week and had a quick Google last Sunday when I went for a walk. Here’s the publicity blurb: This Christmas, the Fleet Street Quarter is transforming into a winter wonderland with a magical FREE penguin parade sculpture trail in support of WWF. From Thursday 14th November, families and visitors are invited to embark on a fabulous festive adventure to discover 12 adorable penguin sculptures throughout the Quarter. Each penguin, decked out in unique festive finery designed by talented artists, will be perched in iconic spots adding a splash of Antarctic charm to the City. And each one has a QR code with lots of fun penguin facts. There’s a helpful map here.
But Dr Johnson’s cat Hodge is happy to share a space with Snowy in Gough Square …
Tiffany here can be found down a little alley off Carter Lane called New Bell Yard …
There were lots of families following the trail when I took these images.
The Steve McQueen film Blitz has just been released and you can see an interesting display of clothes from the film at the Barbican Centre …
If you want to understand and explore the true, fullstory of Londoners and the Blitz I strongly recommend Jerry White’s book The Battle of London 1939-45.
Whilst on the subject of the Blitz, I recently walked past The National Firefighters Memorial on Peter’s Hill opposite the Tower of London where I often pause. It’s interesting to note the special plaque commemorating the 23 women members of the Auxiliary Fire Service who gave their lives protecting London and its inhabitants during the bombing …
The lady on the left is an incident recorder and the one on the right a despatch rider.
On the wall of the Leonardo Royal Hotel that fronts Carter Lane is this rather unusual plaque …
The Bell was demolished at the end of the 19th century to make way for the Post Office Savings Bank building referenced in the plaque by the mention of the Postmaster General. The Post Office building itself was demolished in the 1990s to make way for the hotel but the original late 19th century door surround to the Post Office building has been retained in New Bell Yard (right beside Tiffany, see above) …
A statue commemorating the poet John Keats has appeared just south of the entrance to Moorgate Station. It was sculpted by Martin Jennings and depicts a larger than life-size copy of a life mask of Keats taken aged 21. Keats was the son of an ostler at a nearby inn called The Swan and Hoop …
The bronze is mounted on a plinth above a slate base inscribed with words from Keats’ Ode on Indolence.
Thought I’d grab an image of this classic view from Fleet Street whilst the sun was out. Looking from the left you see 22 Bishopsgate, the Cheesegrater, the spires of St Mary-le-Bow and St Martin Ludgate and the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral …
Christmas light installations are beginning to appear …
Press the ‘buttons’ and the lights change colour as music plays …
Not surprisingly, children seem to love it!
City Point offices get in on the act …
Sadly, I couldn’t resist photographing my Yuzu Grand Macaron dessert at Côte Barbican …
An image from outside the City I’d like to share with you. This is on Finchley Road, about 10 minutes walk from the Underground station …
Definitely worth seeking out if you find yourself in that part of the world. I must have stared at it for a full 15 minutes. Read its story here in the excellent Londonist website.
A couple of super sunsets. I haven’t edited these images in any way so the colours are authentic …
And finally, the wonderful City gardeners are replanting the bed on Silk Street and I shall be tracking its progress over the coming months …
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Last Saturday I visited what is, in my opinion, the most extraordinary pub in the City, the Blackfriar …
It’s a tall, narrow, wedge shaped treat of a building squeezed in between two roads and a railway bridge.
A jolly, corpulent friar embodies the name of the place …
He harks back to the Dominican monastery that once stood on the site before the Dissolution of the 16th century saw it sold off or leased to weathy merchants.
You get a sense of how extraordinary this pub is before you even enter. Here the cellarer carries wine along with the keys to his domain …
Inspecting the day’s catch whilst either side friars tuck in to pie and cheese…
More carvings to make you smile …
Intricate brass signage …
And all this before you even go in the door.
And when you do, what a sight awaits.
Friars going about their daily lives. Harvesting on Saturday afternoon …
Above the bar, a bronze bas-relief entitled Tomorrow will be Friday depicts them catching trout and eels …
Singing carols …
You can dine in the cosy Grotto which was excavated from the railway vault. There are various sayings and mottos to amuse and enlighten you. HASTE IS SLOW, FINERY IS FOOLERY …
And my two favourites, A GOOD THING IS SOON SNATCHED UP with a grinning friar pushing a pig in a wheelbarrow …
I also like DON’T ADVERTISE TELL A GOSSIP …
Note the two devils. There are four in each corner of the room amusing themselves with an entertaining pastime – these two are play-acting and painting.
Admire the mosaic ceiling and observe the friar on the left …
He’s stuffing his face with food thereby representing one of the seven deadly sins – gluttony …
Five more sins are represented but for some reason ‘lust’ has been omitted.
More monks work hard supporting lamp shades …
There’s a lovely stained glass window depicting a friar working at dawn in a sunlit garden. Many people comment on his pointy, Mr Spock-type ears …
You will find a very informative and interesting history of the pub and the craftsmen who helped create its unique environment here in the excellent Victorian Web blog. I also strongly recommend this article by Jane Peyton which points out other aspects of the decoration that I have not mentioned. Read more about the City monasteries and in particular the Blackfriars in my blog on the subject which you can find here.
I’ve eaten here in the Grotto many times over the years and the food (especially the fish and chips) has always been good. If you visit, raise a glass to Sir John Betjeman and others who campaigned to save this building from demolition in the 1960s. It is now Grade II* listed and so should be safe from future vandals.
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Regular readers will know that when I find it a bit difficult to source new stories about the City I head east and this is a report on one of my sorties.
I travelled on the Docklands Light Railway to Canning Town, making sure, of course, that I got a front seat so I could pretend to drive the train …
London City Island is described in its advertising as ‘a new Island neighbourhood on one of the best-connected sites in the capital. Bridging the business might of neighbouring Canary Wharf and the cultural energy of east London, London City Island is one of the most important waterside projects London has seen in recent years – an award-winning place that has received accolades from multiple prestigious awards bodies’. It was very pleasant to walk through.
The English National Ballet is here …
The sculpture is called After The Dance by Colin Spofforth (2023) …
I love a good ghost sign …
A strange fact associated with this place. In 1877 Togo Heihachiro, later a prominent Japanese Admiral, came for work experience with the Samuda Brothers after completing his training at the Naval Preparatory School in Portsmouth and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. After returning to Japan, he led the Imperial Japanese Navy navy to victory in the Russo-Japanese War, establishing Japan as a Great Power. How ironic is that.
To say that Mr Mare of the above company had a colourful career would be an understatement. Once an MP, and apparently a millionaire, he was unseated for bribery in 1853 and declared bankrupt for the first of four times in 1855. He eventually died in Stepney in 1898 totally destitute. His story is told in fascinating detail in this Victorian Commons blog. Highly recommended.
I loved the texture and colours of this old brick wall nearby …
Some more artwork and sculpture along the way …
My final destination …
You know you are somewhere special when you see a London taxi with a tree growing out of its roof plonked on top of the local cafe …
The tree is an artificial sculptural construction made of metal. It was made by the artist Andrew Baldwin, who spent many years training as a master blacksmith and welder. I found images of the work before it was placed on the roof and of the lifting exercise itself …
The taxi/tree sculpture is a good example of Baldwin’s witty approach to artworks and there are some more of his unusual and original metal sculptures to be seen around the wharf …
I often build up a bank of images that don’t fit any particular theme but that I rather like. I feel it’s a shame not to share them so that’s the purpose of today’s blog. Apologies if you have seen some of these already on Instagram.
My friend recently had a surgical procedure at University College Hospital and was given a room to herself in order to recover. That room was on the 14th floor and this was the view …
One of the best London panoramas I have ever seen.
The nursing care was great too.
Funnily enough I had a great view when I was resident in St Thomas’ Hospital for few days last year …
I should have charged tourists an admission fee.
I can occasionally get what I think are good pictures without wandering too far.
An interesting sunset …
The moon moving slowly past the Shard …
Tower 52 framed by newer buildings turned pink by the sunset light …
The continual colour changes fascinate me …
The eerie glow of the Barbican Conservatory in the early evening …
Incidentally, here we also get a good view of flypasts heading for Buckingham Palace. This one was for the King’s Birthday on 15th June …
Just around the corner, a red glow slices through an office block on Fore Street …
Whilst on the theme of sunsets and moons, please excuse a couple of holiday snaps from Dubrovnik …
Lovely place, highly recommended.
Some images from a recent visit to the Houses of Parliament starting with Westminster Hall and its 14th century hammerbeam roof ..
Various plaques indicate where the bodies of eminent people lay in State before their funeral …
This one prompted me to learn more about the Earl of Strafford who was subsequently beheaded on Tower Hill in 1641 …
His trial along with a list of key attendees …
Guy Fawkes was also tried here but I suppose it’s not surprising that no plaque commemorates the event considering what he had set out to do!
Guy and his fellow conspirators …
Fawkes’s signature before and after he was tortured on the rack has a gruesome fascination …
View from the House of Commons Terrace …
I recently had a very enjoyable lunch at Larry’s Restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery. It has a wacky lobster theme throughout …
Nice cocktails too.
On one of my walks I came across the rather splendid Law Society building on Chancery Lane …
I liked the ‘lions’. They are formally known in heraldry as Lions Sejant …
The sculptor, Alfred Stevens, always referred to them as his cats since, apparently, he used his neighbour’s pet animal as a model for the pose.
I do wander around outside the City occasionally and find delightful surprises such as this memorial dispensary in Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn …
Horses and donkeys were the most commonly used animals in wartime – mainly for transport and haulage, but camels, elephants, pigeons, bullocks, dogs and goats were all pressed into service. Many suffered from exposure, lack of food and disease, dying alongside their human companions …
In 1931 a competition was held for the design of a memorial for the main facade of the building. Frederick Brook Hitch of Hertford was the winner and his wonderful bronze plaque is above the main door …
Read all about the pigeon that was awarded the Croix de Guerre in my blog of January 2021.
I love the sight of dozing ducks …
The Heritage Gallery at the Guildhall Art Gallery is hosting three small exhibitions at the moment. I have already written about two of them and you can find them here: one about Robert Hooke and another about Blackfriars Bridge.
The third is about a gentleman called Charles Pearson – a name I didn’t recognise but should have.
He was a great campaigner who supported universal suffrage, electoral reform and opposed capital punishment. He also had a vision for an underground railway, describing a ‘Spacious Railway station in Farringdon Street by which means … the overcrowding of the streets by carriages and foot-passengers van be diminished’.
The exhibition contains a street plan along with a booklet setting out his case using speeches he gave on the subject …
There is also a link between Pearson and The Monument.
An inscription on the north side originally held Catholics responsible for the Great Fire: The Latin words Sed Furor Papisticus Qui Tamdiu Patravit Nondum Restingvitur translates as ‘but Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched’. Pearson campaigned to have the words removed and you can see where they once existed at the base of the panel before being scored out …
The deletion in close up …
Another great reason to visit the Guildhall Art Gallery is that their prestigious bookshop is now stocking my book …
Over 100 pages in full colour with a fold-out map at the back. A bargain stocking filler for only £10!
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The first Blackfriars Bridge was designed by Robert Mylne and openened in 1769. It was constructed from Portland Stone which, although attractive, was quickly weakened by damage from barges, ice and pollution …
Gradually its foundations started to become undermined and by the 1850s it was apparent that continual repair was not feasible and the bridge had to be replaced. The new bridge was designed by Joseph Cubitt (1811-1872) who also designed the adjacent railway bridge …
The foundation stone was laid by the Lord Mayor on 25 July 1865 – here’s an invitation to the event …
Under construction in 1868 …
Divers wearing what was then modern gear invented in the 1830s …
The formal opening by Queen Victoria in 1869 …
The bridge in 1896 with the station under development …
Image from (probably) 1914 …
Here are a few things to look out for as you cross the bridge today.
There are a series of columns rising out of the river …
These are the remains of the original railway bridge, which was removed in 1985 as it was deemed too weak for modern trains.
Note the pulpit-shaped tops of the bridge pillars. They reference the original monastery of the Black Friars or Dominican monks, evicted by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. I have written about the Medieval monasteries in an earlier blog which you can find here …
On the south side is the beautifully painted coat of arms of the London Chatham & Dover Railway …
And now some features not everyone notices. Peer over the parapet and on either side you will see some birds on the capitals of the bridge supports, meticulously carved in Portland stone by J.B.Philip.
The birds on the west side are fresh water birds and plants to be found on the upper reaches of the river …
And on the east side, sea birds and seaweeds to be found at the mouth of the Thames …
On the north side of the bridge is one of my favourite water fountains, recently liberated from behind hoardings and nicely restored …
The pretty lady represents ‘Temperance’ and she originally stood outside the Royal Exchange. You can see an image of her in that position here.
The fountain was inaugurated by Samuel Gurney, MP, the Chairman of the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountains Association, on 27 July 1861 and you can read more about him, and the Association, in my earlier blog Philanthropic Fountains.
In the middle of the road, Her Majesty gazes imperiously towards the City …
If you get the chance, pop in to the spanking new Blackfriars Station.
Nowadays, if you want to travel by rail to Continental Europe, you head for St Pancras International and Eurostar. Once upon a time though, your gateway to the Continent was Blackfriars Station.
The station was badly damaged during the Second World War but the wall displaying a selection of the locations you could catch a train to survived and you can see it today in the ticket hall. It was part of the original façade of the 1886 station (originally known as St Paul’s) and features the names of 54 destinations – each painstakingly carved into separate sandstone blocks …
The destinations are gilded in 24 carat gold leaf …
‘Where shallwe buy a ticket to today? Crystal Palace or Marseilles? Westgate-on-Sea or St Petersburg? Tough choices!’
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One of the great joys of London is that you can walk over the same area again and again and still find something new or, alternatively, more detail about a place you knew already.
Last week I decided to start by visiting the pretty, quiet space in Banner Street known as Quaker Gardens (EC1Y 8QQ). All the other locations I write about today are about five minutes walk away from there …
There are three venerable London Plane trees providing shade …
This land, purchased in 1661 for a burial ground, was the earliest freehold property of the Quakers (also known as The Society of Friends) in London. Over a thousand victims of the Great Plague were buried here in 1665.
Here it is on John Rocque’s map of 1746 …
The Burial Acts of the 1850s forced the closure of all central London burial grounds. Having expanded considerably, by the time that the Bunhill site was closed in 1855 there were nearly 12,000 recorded burials.
I found these burial records from 1787 online …
Quaker burials are very simple and Quakers have not traditionally placed headstones on burial sites, being thought too showy or worldly. There is, however, a plain memorial to George Fox, Quakerism’s founder, who was buried here in 1691 …
There is also a stone plaque recording the history of the site and buildings …
The wording is not very clear now but I have found an earlier image …
Persecution of Quakers was common in 17th century England, one of the most serious punishments being transportation. Among the ‘martyr Friends’ buried here are included twenty-seven who died of plague awaiting transportation on the ship ominously named The Black Eagle. The war with the Dutch, along with the plague, made it difficult to find a ship’s master willing to brave the seas but in May 1665 the Sheriffs of London found someone willing to do so. The sea captain, called Fudge, boasted that he would happily transport even his nearest relations. About 40 men and women were bundled aboard his ship which was lying at Greenwich. Then Fudge was arrested for debt, with soldiers sent from the Tower to guard the human cargo as most of the crew had deserted. As well as the plague deaths, many more prisoners had perished before the ship eventually sailed.
The burial ground lay unused until 1880 when the Metropolitan Board of Works took part of the site for road widening and the compensation money paid for the building of a Memorial Hall, which included a coffee tavern and lodging rooms …
The Hall was destroyed by bombs in 1944. A small surviving fragment, known as the cottage, which had been the manager’s house, was restored to serve as a small meeting house (as it still does to this day) …
An old plaque dated 1793 …
‘This wall and Seven Houses on the grounds on the north side are the Property of the Society of Friends 1793’.
I haven’t been able to find out more about the very sadly missed Marna Shapiro …
I like the kisses.
A very appropriate place for quiet contemplation …
For a brief history of the Quakers I recommend this site – Quakers around Shoreditch. For a more detailed history, I have enjoyed reading Portrait in Grey by John Punshon (September 2006, Quaker Books). It’s where I found the story of the wonderfully named Captain Fudge and the Black Eagle.
Leave the garden by the Chequer Street entrance, turn left, and you will encounter something unusual – wooden block road paving …
Designed to be durable, but far less noisy than cobbles, experiments with wood block paving started in 1873 and initially proved successful. Eventually replaced by tar from the 1920s onwards, this section is one of few remaining in London. You can just make out some tree growth rings …
I must have walked past this typical industrial building in Banner Street dozens of times …
Last week I paused at the rather imposing entrance …
… and looked up …
A classical broken pediment, the date 1911 and the company name Chater Lea Ltd. This was a British bicycle, car and motorcycle maker and the Banner Street premises were purpose built for them in 1911. Eventually needing to expand production, they moved to Letchworth, Hertfordshire in 1928.
The company was founded by William Chater Lea in 1890 to make bicycle frames and components. It made cars between 1907 and 1922 and motorcycles from 1903 to 1935. William died in 1927 and the business was taken over by his sons John and Bernard …
You can read more about the company history here and it looks like they are currently working on a major relaunch. Here’s their website which also contains some great historical background and images.
It is nice to see that this extraordinary piece of work has found a place on Roscoe Street where everyone can see it. It needs to be viewed from a distance for maximum effect …
Nearby on Roscoe Street, the mysterious headless man – also created at the Party …
Tyger Tyger on Baird Street …
A Chequer Street EC1 celebration …
… and a mosaic on the same building …
Pretty door and heart combined at 65 Banner Street …
In a nearby car park …
I love the honey coloured bricks of the Peabody Estate …
In the foreground, another piece left over from the Party …
And finally, consider this tree at the west end of Chequer Street …
My scientist friend Emma reliably informs me that it’s an Indian Bean Tree, Catalpa Bignonioides …
The view from Whitecross Street …
These trees are described online as ‘principally grown for their broad headed attractive foliage, exquisite bell shaped summer flowers and in autumn they develop bean-like hanging fruit which persist through winter’.
Here’s an example of the fruit on the Chequer Street tree …
In my view, this tree is evidence of the considerable thought that went into the planning of the Peabody Estate environment as well as the buildings themselves.
Incidentally, the estate also boasts a man-eating Agavi plant …
Mr Peabody features strongly in my book Courage, Crime and Charity in the City of London which you can buy using the link on this site – only £10. Or just pop in to the Daunt Bookshop in Cheapside or Marylebone High Street.
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I was off to the Guildhall Gallery again last weekend looking for blog inspiration and, as usual, was not disappointed.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was a typical ‘Renaissance Man’ of 17th century England but is not anything like as well known as his contemporaries such as Sir Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys and Sir Christopher Wren (a lifelong friend).
In the course of his career at the Royal Society and as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, he carried out the earliest research with the microscope, described and named the cell, was a founder of the science of geology, and discovered the law of springs/elasticity, the achievement for which he is most remembered today. He was also a City Surveyor, organising the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Overshadowed by Newton and Wren, he faded into relative obscurity and now there is not even a portrait of him.
The Guildhall Gallery has gone some way to bringing him out of the shadows with a new exhibition in The Heritage Gallery, Robert Hooke and the Monument …
Hooke worked with Wren on the design of the Monument, built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666. It remains a striking feature of the City and a major tourist attraction to this day …
It was originally intended to have a scientific function as a zenith telescope – instrumants that can be used for determining the precise measurement of star positions. Unfortunately, movement caused by the wind and nearby traffic made it unsuitable for this purpose.
Hooke’s diary (which is dated 1672-83) was a memorandum book he kept to remind him of the many places he had been and people he had met. It records his visits to sites in the City that he was working on including the Monument …
Indicated is an entry from 5th April 1676. He records going to see ‘the pillar’, i.e. the Monumant, in construction. He describes examining the balcony and the setting for the golden urn on top of it. He visited the construction work frequently and must have been very fit with a good head for heights!
The urn at the top …
Hooke was a true polymath. A diagram for a proposed design for a thermomenter is also on display …
…amongst other papers he collected …
You can also see a daguerreotype of the Monument from circa 1845 taken from Gracechurch Street, with the church of St Magnus the Martyr in the background …
Incredibly fragile, this is the oldest photograph of the City of London in the London Archives.
I’ve always been fascinated by Hooke and particularly love Micrographia. The Royal Society blog states: ‘This great book of explorations of the very small, the very far and the very elusive, needs little introduction. Written and illustrated with 38 lavish copperplate engravings, Micrographia or, some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses, with Observations and Inquiries thereupon, to spell out its full title, remains a landmark in the history of microscopy’.
The accuracy of his famous drawing of a flea is even more striking when we compare it with an image produced using the latest microscope technology …
Look at an online copy of Hooke’s beautiful book here.
Since he was a contemporary of Pepys, the famous flea is included on a paving stone in the Pepys garden in Seething Lane …
You can find a complete guide to the garden and its carvings in my blogs here and here.
If you visit the Hooke exhibition, make sure you also pop in to the upstairs gallery where a really enjoyable treat awaits …
The Giant Dolls House Project invited schools and community groups to create minature rooms in shoe boxes to show their perspectives on the City of London’s buildings, homes, streets and environment.
I was absolutely fascinated …
My favourite. I could imagine myself sitting in that chair, relaxing and reading a book from the little library …
Do visit if you can – my images don’t really do it justice.
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An important date for your diary! This Saturday, 5th October, at 11:30 a.m. I will be interviewed by Robert Elms on his BBC Radio London show. We’ll be chatting about my book Courage, Crime and Charity in the City of London and I hope you will be able to join us.
On a sunny day last week I took a walk towards Holborn and picked out a few buildings and memorials that I really liked.
First up is the Wax Chandlers Hall …
Wax Chandlers’ Hall is on Gresham Street on a site that the Company has owned since 1501. It has a long and fascinating history stretching all the way back to 1371 when they applied to the City’s governing body, the Mayor and Court of Aldermen, to have officials appointed from among their number (masters) to ‘overse all the defaults in theyre saide crafte’, and see that offenders were prosecuted. Their history is really well documented on their website.
Surely the bluest door in the City with the finest unicorns …
On the next corner is the building with the rogue apostrophe and the happy smiling sun…
Surely that should be St Martin’s House?
So many fine buildings date from the late 19th and very early 20th century …
The General Post Office in St. Martin’s Le Grand was the main post office for London between 1829 and 1910, the headquarters of the General Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and England’s first purpose-built post office …
Poor Henry Cecil Raikes, who laid this stone, died in August the following year aged only 52. Here he is in a Vanity Fair caricature when he was Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons …
Parallel is King Edward Street where the man himself laid this stone on 16th October 1905 …
The great British Empire is duly acknowledged along with the King’s connection to an earlier Edward and the foundation of Christ’s Hospital.
It’s commemorated again nearby with this sculpture, the ragamuffins on the right being carefully coaxed towards a better life …
To me they look like they are having a fine time just as they are, perhaps letting it all hang out at a concert …
On Newgate Street another building connected to the Post Office …
This imposing building is at 16/17 Old Bailey. The London Picture Archive tells us: The seven-storey building was designed for the Chatham and Dover Railway Company by Arthur Usher of Yetts, Sturdy and Usher of London in 1912. The building is in the Edwardian baroque style with elements of french architectural styles such as the mansard roof … …
Above the entrance is a broken pediment with statues either side depicting travel. The statue of the woman on the left holds a wheel depicting rail travel and the woman on the right leans on an anchor depicting sea travel. At the bottom of brackets on the two piers either side of the entrance are small carved lion heads …
Across the road, outside the church of St Sepulchre Newgate, is this modest little drinking fountain which has an intriguing history …
Look up towards the roof of the church and you’ll see a late 17th Century sundial …
The dial is on the parapet above south wall of the nave and is believed to date from 1681. It is made of stone painted blue and white with noon marked by an engraved ‘X’ and dots marking the half hours. It shows Winter time from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm in 15 minute marks. I thought it was curious that the 4:00 pm mark is represented as IIII rather than IV – I have no idea why
There is demolition going on in the approach to Holborn Viaduct and I couldn’t resist taking this image of what looks like a building that has been sliced away revealing the vestiges of decoration left on each floor …
I find it reminiscent of the ruined houses on bomb sites that used to be a common feature of London right up to the early 1970s.
Holborn Viaduct dragons and a knight in armour …
As Prince Albert doffs his hat towards the City of London, a terracotta masterpiece looms in the background …
Before walking towards it I made a quick detour to St Andrew Holborn to admire the Charity Boy and Girl …
Pausing at the junction with Grays Inn Road, and looking back east, you will see that you are at one of the entrances to the City guarded by a dragon …
In the background is the Royal Fusiliers War Memorial, a work by Albert Toft. Unveiled by the Lord Mayor in 1922, the inscriptions read …
To the glorious memory of the 22,000 Royal Fusiliers who fell in the Great War 1914-1919 (and added later) To the Royal Fusiliers who fell in the World war 1939-1945 and those fusiliers killed in subsequent campaigns.
Toft’s soldier stands confidently as he surveys the terrain, his foot resting on a rock, his rifle bayoneted, his left hand clenched in determination. At the boundary of the City, he looks defiantly towards Westminster. The general consensus on the internet is that the model for the sculpture was a Sergeant Cox, who served throughout the First World War.
Behind him is the magnificent, red terracotta, Gothic-style building by J.W. Waterhouse, which once housed the headquarters of the Prudential Insurance Company.
As is often the case, I am indebted to the London Inheritance blogger for some of the detail about this extraordinary building . The Prudential moved into their new office in 1879, which was quite an achievement given that the company had only been founded 31 years earlier in 1848. The building exudes Victorian commercial power and was a statement building for the company that was at the time the country’s largest insurance company …
The lower part of the building uses polished granite, with red brick and red terracotta across all upper floors. If you stare at the building long enough the use of polished granite gives the impression that there has been a large flood along Holborn, which has left a tide mark on the building after washing out the red colour from the lower floors.
In the centre of the façade is a tower, with a large arch leading through into inner courtyards around which are further wings of the building …
It incorporates a sculpture of Prudence carrying one of the attributes of this Virtue, a hand mirror …
When built, the Prudential building was very advanced for its time. There was hot and cold running water, electric lighting, and to speed the delivery of paperwork across the site, a pnematic tube system was installed, where documents were put into canisters, which were then blown through the tube system to their destination. Ladies were provided with their own restaurant and library, and had a separate entrance, and were also allowed to leave 15 minutes early to “avoid consorting with men”.
The building’s brickwork is very attractive …
In the courtyard you will see the work of a sculptor who has chosen to illustrate war in a very different fashion to Toft.
The memorial carries the names of the 786 Prudential employees who lost their lives in the First World War …
The sculptor was F.V. Blundstone and the work was inaugurated on 2 March 1922. All Prudential employees had been offered ‘the opportunity of taking a personal share in the tribute by subscribing to the cost of the memorial’ (suggested donations were between one and five shillings).
The main group represents a soldier sustained in his death agony by two angels. He is lying amidst war detritus with his right arm resting on the wheel of some wrecked artillery piece. His careworn face contrasts with that of the sombre, beautiful girls with their uplifted wings. I find it incredibly moving.
I have written about angels in the City before and they are usually asexual, but these are clearly female.
At the four corners of the pedestal stand four more female figures.
One holds a field gun and represents the army …
One holds a boat representing the navy …
At the back is a figure holding a shell representing National Service …
The fourth lady holds a bi-plane representing the air force …
There are also two memorial plaques to employes who died in the Second World War. The north panel lists names A-K, the second K-Z. Each is topped with a broken pediment set around a wreath, with a figure of St George on top …
All those lost lives from just one employer.
I shall probably continue my walk westwards next week.
I do like a good clock story and the City has quite a few of them – from the clock that killed a man to the one mentioned in a famous poem.
I’ll start, however, with this beauty sited alongside St Magnus the Martyr on Lower Thames Street (EC3R 6DN) …
The clock was the gift of the Lord Mayor, Sir Charles Duncombe. The story goes that when he was a young apprentice, and rather poor, he missed an important meeting with his master on London Bridge because he had no way of telling the time. He vowed that, if ever he became rich, he would erect a clock in the vicinity and this magnificent example of the clockmakers’ art was the result. The artisan was Langley Bradley of Fenchurch Street who had worked with Sir Christopher Wren on several projects, including the early clock that adorned St. Paul’s Cathedral. Wren was evidently impressed with Bradley’s work since, in a letter the Lord Chamberlain’s Office in 1711, he went so far as to describe him as ‘a very able artist, very reasonable in his prices’.
In 1709 St Magnus was located at the north side of the ‘old’ London Bridge as this 18th century map illustrates …
You can also see the clock and its proximity to the bridge in this etching by Edward William Cooke entitled Part of Old London-Bridge, St Magnus and the Monument, taken at Low-water, August 15th, 1831.
Some of you may remember the charming neo-gothic Mappin & Webb building that was controversially demolished in 1994 …
It was replaced by Number 1 Poultry, designed by James Stirling and destined to become the youngest City building to be listed as Grade II* …
Prince Charles was unimpressed and said it resembled ‘a 1930s wireless set’.
I prefer it, however, to the Mies van der Rohe skyscraper that was also considered …
If you walk through the new building at street level you’ll see that the old Mappin & Webb clock has been incorporated …
And a wonderful frieze from the old building illustrating royal processions has also been preserved and relocated facing Poultry. Here is a small section …
Now the clock that killed a man. Here it is attached to the Royal Courts of Justice – designed by George Edmund Street, it has been described as ‘exuberant’ …
On 5th November 1954 a clock mechanic, Thomas Manners, was killed when his clothes were caught up in the machinery as he wound up the mechanism. He had been carrying out this task every week since 1937, as well as looking after the 800 or so other clocks in the law court buildings. You can read the press cutting I came across here.
In 1711 Nicholas Hawksmoor was fifty years old yet, although he had already worked with Christopher Wren on St Paul’s Cathedral and for John Vanbrugh on Castle Howard, the buildings that were to make his name were still to come. In that year, an Act of Parliament created the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to serve the growing population on the fringes of the expanding city.
Only twelve of these churches were ever built, but Hawksmoor designed six of them and – miraculously – they have all survived, displaying his unique architectural talent to subsequent generations and permitting his reputation to rise as time has passed. One of them is St Mary Woolnoth.
The outside of the church is very unusual and it has a fine position on the corner of King William Street and Lombard Street, just off the major Bank road junction (EC3V 9AN). The clock is mentioned in a famous poem …
In a corner sits the clock’s mechanism surrounded by a cover on which is etched an extract from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Wasteland …
Eliot worked nearby in Lloyds Bank and, having watched the commuters trudge over London Bridge, wrote these cheerful lines …
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled, And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. Flowed up the hill and down King William Street, To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
No doubt if you were not at the office by the ‘final stroke of nine’ you were going to be late.
I have always liked this clock at the corner of Fleet Street and Ludgate Circus …
I read somewhere that, during the Blitz, an incendiary device became entangled in the ball at the top and dangled there for hours until it was deactivated. I often have this image in my head of gently swaying ordnance when I walk up Fleet Street.
The building was originally the London headquarters of the Thomas Cook Travel Agency and, since Mr Cook was a keen supporter of the temperance movement, the first floor contained a temperance hotel. The building is adorned with numerous charming cherubs …
There are dozens of City cherubs and I have written about some of them here.
The Royal Exchange has two ‘twin’ clocks, both exactly the same, one facing Threadneedle Street and one facing Cornhill …
Britannia and Neptune hold a shield that contains an image of Gresham’s original Royal Exchange whilst above Atlas lifts a globe. I have seen it described as a Valentine’s Day clock because of the two red hearts. Ahhhh, sweet!
Here’s Atlas again, straining under his burden in King Street …
The building was once the home of the Atlas Insurance Company.
The clock at the church of St Edmund King and Martyr in Lombard Street sports a delicate, pretty crown (EC3V 9EA) …
This is Throgmorton Street at the turn of the last century, straw hats (or boaters) being clearly in fashion. You’ll find a short history of them here…
The clock on the left is still there (EC2N 2AT) …
You’ll see that Warnford Court was rebuilt in 1884 but, out of interest, I did a bit more research and came across this list of the tenants in 1842 …
Stock brokers, solicitors and merchants mainly but also a hatter, a ‘commercial teacher’, an auctioneer and, strangely, the Danish Consul General’s Office. Interestingly, the Bolivar Mining Association was also located there. The Association was formed to work copper mines at Aroa, Venezuela and were owned for some time by the Bolivar family who leased them to an English company to help finance the war of independence. You can read more here.
Fleet Street has a lot to offer when it comes to clock spotting.
How about this masterpiece …
Installed just after the Great Fire of London in 1671, it was the first clock in London to have a minute hand, with two figures (perhaps representing Gog and Magog) striking the hours and quarters with clubs, turning their heads whilst doing so.
The present version of the clock was installed in 1738 before, in 1828, being moved to the 3rd Marquess of Hertford’s house in Regent’s Park. The Great War saw the Regent’s Park residence housing soldiers blinded from combat. The charity which undertook this went on to name itself after where the clock in the house came from: St Dunstan’s. It was returned to the Church in 1935 by Lord Rothermere to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V. You can read a lot more about its history here.
If you like the occasional burst of colour, look up at this Art Deco treat, also in Fleet Street outside the old offices of the Daily Telegraph (EC4A 2BB) …
I am really pleased to report that the refurbishment of Bracken House is now complete and we can see again the extraordinary Zodiacal clock on the side of the building that faces Cannon Street (EC3M 9JA).
Here it is in all its glory …
If you look more closely at the centre this is what you will see …
On the gilt bronze sunburst at the centre you can clearly make out the features of Winston Churchill. The building used to be the headquarters of the Financial Times and is named after Brendan Bracken, its chief editor after the war.
During the War Bracken served in Churchill’s wartime cabinet as Minister of Information. George Orwell worked under Bracken on the BBC’s Indian Service and deeply resented wartime censorship and the need to manipulate information. If you like slightly wacky theories, there is one that the sinister ‘Leader’ in Orwell’s novel 1984, Big Brother, was inspired by Bracken, who was customarily referred to as ‘BB’ by his Ministry employees.
The oddly-shaped Blackfriar pub on Queen Victoria Street displays a pretty clock just above the jolly friar’s head …
Unfortunately it hasn’t worked for long time.
This wise old owl looks across the road to the north side of London Bridge, observing the thousands of commuters flowing back and forth every day from London Bridge Station (although not so many lately!). He is perched outside what was once the offices of the Guardian Royal Exchange Insurance Company (later just ‘Guardian’) and was for a while their symbol, presumably signifying wisdom and watchfulness.
Rising from the flames and just about to take off over the City is the legendary Phoenix bird and from 1915 until 1983 this was the headquarters of the Phoenix Assurance Company at 5 King William Street. One can see why the Phoenix legend of rebirth and restoration appealed as a name for an insurer (EC4N 7DA).
The clock shows the name of the present tenants, Daiwa Capital Markets.
Before clocks there were, of course, sundials and there are many fine examples in the City – both old and relatively new.
These are my two favourites …
The Jacobean church of St Katharine Cree in Leadenhall Street was built between 1628 and 1630 and survived the Great Fire of 1666. On the south wall is this wonderful dial, circa 1700, which is described as having ‘gilded embellishments including declining lines, Babylonian/Latin hours and Zodiac signs’. Its Latin motto Non Sine Lumine means Nothing without Light.
And this dial in Fournier Street …
It was once a Protestant church, then a Methodist Chapel, next a Jewish synagogue and is now the Brick Lane Mosque (E1 6QL).
In the late 17th century some 40-50,000 French Protestants, known as Huguenots, fleeing persecution in France, arrived in England with around half settling in Spitalfields. They started a local silk-weaving industry and, incidentally, gave us a new word ‘refugee’ from the French word réfugié, ‘one who seeks sanctuary’. They flourished and established this church in 1743 naming it La Neuve Eglise (The New Church) and installed the sundial we can see today. The Latin motto Umbra sumus translates as ‘we are shadow’, and is taken from Horace’s statement Pulvis et umbra sumus, meaning ‘We are dust and shadow’.
You can read more about city sunduals in my blog called, appropriately, We are but shadows.
If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …
I love visiting Bunhill. It has an atmosphere like nowhere else I visit in London with the possible exception of Highgate Cemetery.
The east entrance …
Around 123,000 people are interred here, among them the poet and mystic William Blake. Everyone is familiar with the great anthem Jerusalem but I also love his poem Auguries of Innocence:
To see the world in a grain of sand/And heaven in a wild flower/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/And eternity in an hour/A Robin Red breast in a Cage/Puts all Heaven in a Rage/A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons/Shudders Hell thr’ all its regions
He died in poverty and obscurity and it took 14 years of research in order to identify the exact spot where he was buried. The grave is now marked with a splendid stone funded by the Blake Society …
There are other famous folk commemorated here.
John Bunyan’s tomb of 1689 is not quite what it seems since the effigy of the great man and the bas-reliefs (inspired by Pilgrim’s Progress) were only added in 1862 when the tomb was restored …
A preacher who spent over a decade in jail for his beliefs, he holds the bible in his left hand. He started the Christian allegory Pilgrim’s Progress whilst imprisoned and it became one of the most published works in the English language.
Bunhill is a nice place for a quiet spot of lunch …
Turn your back on Bunyan’s tomb and you will be facing the obelisk erected in 1870 to commemorate the 1731 burial of Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe. The monument was funded by an appeal to boys and girls by the weekly newspaper Christian World who were invited to give ‘not less than sixpence’ …
My favourite tombstone …
Somehow it has fared remarkably well against the elements, pigeons and city pollution.
Many have not …
But some inscriptions survive. I was very taken with this marker for the grave of Reverend Joseph Cartwright who died on 5th November 1800 at the age of 72 …
It seems to me that he composed the poem engraved on the stone himself (sadly the last few lines are obliterated). Here it is …
What if death may sleep provide/Should I be of death afraid/What if beams of opening day/Shine around my breathless clay/Tender friends a while may mourn/Me from their embraces torn/Dearer better friends I have/In the realm beneath the grave.
Many memorials bear witnes to the high degree of infant mortality …
Interred with him and his wife is a lady who can’t resist referring to her connection to the ‘Illustrious House of Percy’ …
Popular styles include pyramids …
… ancient Egypt …
… and obelisks, of which this is a particularly fine example …
The inscription is in Welsh and marks the tomb of the Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet and Bible commentator James Hughes. Also inscribed is his Bardic name Iago Trichrug.
Some atmospheric images …
No visit would be complete without saying ‘hello’ to Dame Mary Page and recognising and admiring her fortitude, which she insisted on being recorded in stone on her memorial …
You’ll find more about Dame Mary and other fascinating people in my book Courage, Crime and Charity in the City of London. Only £10! Just click on the link or pop in to the Daunt bookshop in Cheapside or Marylebone High Street.
Today I’m continuing the walk I started last week heading south along City Road.
Just before the Old Street roundabout you encounter two intriguing buildings. The first of these is The Alexandra Trust Dining Rooms …
In August 1898, newspapers reported a plan to provide cheap meals at cost price in a series of counter-service restaurants in the poorest parts of London. Sir Thomas Lipton, wealthy grocer and philanthropist, was prepared to spend £100,000 on building them; after the initial outlay the scheme aimed to be self-supporting. HRH the Princess of Wales – Princess Alexandra, wife of the future King Edward VII – lent her patronage. The scheme built on her Diamond Jubilee meal for the poor in 1897, for which the then Mr. Lipton had donated £25,000 of the required £30,000, and which succeeded in feeding 300,000 people. He was knighted at the start of 1898, made a Baron in 1902 and died in 1931 aged 83. A fine man with a fine moustache …
Called Empire House, the Old Street building opened on the 9th of March 1900. It had three floors of dining rooms each designed to hold 500 people – a number frequently exceeded in later years. The Morning Post reported that the basement included washing facilities for customers and an artesian well yielding 2,000 gallons of water an hour, and that 1,200 steak puddings can be cooked simultaneously. There were ‘electric automatic lifts’ to aid distribution of food to the dining floors, and a bakehouse with electric kneading. The Sketch described the establishment as a type of slap-bang – an archaic noun meaning a low eating house. Soup, steak pudding with two vegetables and a pastry costs 4½ᵈ.
The kitchen …
The men’s dining room …
The ladies’ dining room …
The Dining Rooms closed in 1951. You can read the full history of this fascinating enterprise here on the brilliant London Wanderer blog.
Further south is the stunning terracotta masterpiece that was once the Leysian Mission …
The crest above the main entrance bears the Latin words ‘In Fide Fiducia’ (In Faith, Trust), which is the motto of the Leys School in Cambridge. The object of the Mission organization was to promote the welfare of the poorer people in the UK …
At the dawn of the last century, like the Dining Rooms, the Leysian Mission was a welfare centre for the poor masses of the East End. As well as saving people’s souls, the Methodists who ran it believed in helping people in this life too. They thus offered health services, a ‘poor man’s lawyer’, entertainment in the form of film screenings and lantern shows, as well as hosting affiliated organisations such as the Athletic Society, the Brass Band, the Penny Bank, the Working Men’s Club and Moulton House Settlement for Young Men …
The Methodist meeting places ‘were all built to look as un-churchlike as possible in an attempt to woo the working classes away from the temptations of drink and music halls.’ The building’s Great Queen Victoria Hall, which seated nearly 2,000 people, boasted a magnificent organ as well as a stunning stained glass window.
Plans published in The Building News 1901 …
The combination of the Second World War, during which the building suffered extensive bombing damage, followed by the introduction of the welfare state and the changing social character of the area saw the Leysian Mission gradually lose its relevance as a welfare centre. In the 1980s it merged with the Wesleyan Church with the building sold, converted into residential flats and renamed Imperial Hall.
Plaques that were ‘fixed’ by VIPs when the building was completed in 1903 are still there …
I like the posh brass intercom system …
At the roundabout there’s another plaque, this time commemorating the City Road Turnpike …
Road pricing is not new! Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the capital operated an extensive system of toll gates, known as turnpikes, which were responsible for monitoring horse-drawn traffic and imposing substantial charges upon any traveller wishing to make use of the route ahead.
A ‘General Plan For Explaining The Different Trusts Of The Turnpike Gates In The Vicinity Of The Metropolis. Published By J. Cary, July 1st, 1790’ …
Just like today, certain lucky users were exempt from the charge – namely mail coaches, soldiers, funeral processions, parsons on parish business, prison carts and, of course, members of the royal family.
Vandals today damaging or destroying ULEZ cameras can feel something in common with these people – a ‘rowdy group of travellers causing trouble at a turnpike in 1825’ …
As you cross the road by the roundabout, look west along Old Street and you’ll see a magnificent old sign, a relic of the area’s industrial past. An extract from the blog of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society reads as follows:
‘It is pleasing to discover that last year the sign, which is thought to date from early in the 20th century, was restored (though without the black paint Bob thought might originally have featured) and now looks very good. It was presumably erected by J Liversidge and Son, wheelwrights and later wagon and van builders, who occupied 196 Old Street for some decades. The firm first appears in the Old Kent Road in the 1880s; by the 1890s they had expanded into Hackney and then into Old Street. By 1921 they were back in the Old Kent Road alone, the development of motor vehicles presumably having removed much of their busines’ …
I like the hand pointing down to the site (it’s now a petrol station) …
It’s on the east wall of what was once St Luke’s School who presumably made an appropriate charge for allowing its installation …
I paused to admire Old Street Station’s green roof …
Just past the roundabout on the left there’s a building that’s a bit of a mystery. It’s almost opposite the entrance to the Bunhill Burial Ground and has been derelict for as long as I can remember (and that’s quite a while) …
Very strange. On the north wall is a plaque bearing the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, so maybe they own the building …
I thought it would be appropriate on this walk to acknowledge the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, and pop in for a brief visit to his chapel …
It’s well worth a diversion.
You can admire the stained glass of which there are many fine traditional examples …
Plus some striking, unusual contemporary works …
Margaret Thatcher (then Margaret Roberts) married Denis Thatcher here on 13 December 1951 and both their children were christened here. She donated the communion rail in 1993 …
On 28 February 1975 at 8:46 am at Moorgate Station 43 people died and 74 were injured after a train failed to stop at the line’s southern terminus and crashed into its end wall. No fault was found with the train, and the inquiry by the Department of the Environment concluded that the accident was caused by the actions of Leslie Newson, the 56-year-old driver. A memorial tablet was placed in Finsbury Square …
Mr Newson is commemorated on the memorial along with the others who lost their lives. There has never been a satisfactory explanation for his behaviour, but suicide seemed unlikely. Newson was known by his colleagues as a careful and conscientious motorman (driver). On 28 February he carried a bottle of milk, sugar, his rule book, and a notebook in his work satchel; he also had £270 in his jacket to buy a second-hand car for his daughter after work. According to staff on duty his behaviour appeared normal. Before his shift began he had a cup of tea and shared his sugar with a colleague; he jokingly said to the colleague “Go easy on it, I shall want another cup when I come off duty”.
It took all day to remove the injured, many of whom had to be cut free. After five more days and an operation involving 1,324 firefighters, 240 police officers, 80 ambulance workers, 16 doctors and numerous volunteers all of the bodies were recovered. The driver’s body was taken out on day four. His crushed cab, at the front of the train, normally 3-foot deep, had been reduced to 6 inches.
On the north side of the square is this building …
Formerly Triton Court, it’s now known as the Alphabeta Building. Many years ago I would sometimes travel by train into the now demolished Broad Street Station. As the train approached the terminus I could see from my carriage what looked like a little boy standing on a large ball at the very top of the building. It looked like he was waving at me!
Well, he’s still there …
Now, however, I know the statue standing on top of the globe is Mercury (Hermes) the messenger and God of profitable trade. It’s by James Alexander Stevenson and was completed in the early 1900s. Though it would be impossible to see from the ground it’s apparently – as with all Stevenson’s work – signed with ‘Myrander’ a combination of his wife’s name (Myra) and his middle name (Alexander). Sweet. The renovated building is quite stunning inside as you can see here.
And finally to Moorgate Station, where a relic of its past life can be seen if you glance from across the road to the east facing entrance …
It’s a version of the logo of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) adapted to show the carriages passing through a tunnel under the Thames where little boats bob about in the water. And for extra authenticity, I think the train on the right is coming towards us and the one on the left moving away. I love it …
This was the first successful deep-level underground ‘tube’ railway in the world and the first major railway to use electric traction …
The original service was operated by trains composed of an engine and three carriages. Thirty-two passengers could be accommodated in each carriage, which had longitudinal bench seating and sliding doors at the ends, leading onto a platform for boarding and alighting. It was reasoned that there was nothing to look at in the tunnels, so the only windows were in a narrow band high up in the carriage sides. Gate-men rode on the carriage platforms to operate the lattice gates and announce the station names to the passengers. Because of their claustrophobic interiors, the carriages soon became known as padded cells …
The genius behind deep tunnel boring was James Henry Greathead, a South African engineer (note the hat) who invented what was to become known as the Greathead Shield. His statue, below, was placed on Cornhill because a new ventilation shaft was needed for Bank Underground Station and it was decided that he should be honoured on the plinth covering the shaft …
It was such a nice sky I took another image which also shows the C&SLR logo incorporated in the plinth …
You can read more about him and his tunnelling innovation in my blog City work and public sculpture. You can also read the full fascinating history of the City and South London Railway here.
… That’s the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel’.
After Googling this very old rhyme, I was bewildered by the number of interpretations of the term ‘Pop goes the weasel’! Anyway, here’s the one I like best:
‘In the mid-19th century, “pop” was a well-known slang term for pawning something—and City Road had a well-known pawn establishment in the 1850s. In this Cockney interpretation, “weasel” is Cockney rhyming slang for “weasel and stoat” meaning “coat”. Thus, to “pop the weasel” meant to pawn your coat’.
Presumably this was done to spend money on drink in The Eagle pub, and I shall be walking past The Eagle in this week’s blog as I walk down City Road.
My walk starts, however, at the corner of Golden Lane and Beech Street with the Banksy artwork that pays tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) whose UK retrospective opened at the Barbican Centre on 21 September 2017. The main work features a stencilled policeman and woman, recognisably Banksy, who appear to be conducting a stop and search on the artist …
On the other side of the street is a smaller piece, this time featuring a stencilled ferris wheel with people queuing to enter. The carriages have been replaced with stylised crowns, the symbol of Basquiat himself and now an iconic image in the street art and graffiti world …
Heading north I came across this rather nice Victorian double post box …
One of the slots would have been for ‘Meter Mail’ in which businesses once sent pre-printed, self-addressed envelopes or packages to customers with postage pre-paid in-house using a postage meter.
The company was a prolific manufacturer but after Handyside died in 1887 the firm gradually declined until it closed early in the twentieth century.
Here’s the man himself (National Galleries of Scotland) …
A few yards further is the famous Golden Lane Estate …
In the middle of the nineteenth century, over 130,000 people resided in the City of London but by 1952 that number had dropped to just 5,000. Business and commerce had become the main uses of land in the City. Residents who had lost their homes as a result of the 2nd World War bombings were re-housed in areas outside the centre. However, the City Corporation was concerned about the depopulation of the City and turned its attention to this when planning the rebuilding of the City in the post-war era.
The Corporation announced the competition to design an estate at Golden Lane on 12 July 1951 with the closing date for submissions on 31 January 1952. It was won by Geoffry Powell, a lecturer in architecture at the Kingston School of Art College, in 1952. He invited lecturer colleagues Christoph Bon and Joseph Chamberlin to join him in developing a detailed design for the Golden Lane Estate. You can read an interesting history of the estate and its design here.
The winning entry …
The Estate Map …
… with its wonderful the 3D representation …
I took these images on a sunny day last week …
In 1997 the whole estate was listed, including the landscaping and public areas at Grade II but Crescent House was separately listed Grade II* …
I glanced down Garrett Street where one can catch a glimpse of the old Whitbread stables …
Further along on the left is what I call the ‘skinny house’ …
The MailOnline published a rather breathless article about it a few years ago. You can read it here.
I crossed City Road and continued north on Central Street where this young man is commemorated by Islington Council (what a nice idea) …
Another First World War casualty …
PC Smith, 37 years old, was on duty nearby when the noise was heard of an approaching group of fourteen German bombers. One press report reads as follows …
In the case of PC Alfred Smith, a popular member of the Metropolitan Force, who leaves a widow and three children, the deceased was on point duty near a warehouse. When the bombs began to fall the girls from the warehouse ran down into the street. Smith got them back, and stood in the porch to prevent them returning. In doing his duty he thus sacrificed his own life.
Smith had no visible injuries but had been killed by the blast from the bombs dropped nearby. He was one of 162 people killed that day in one of the deadliest raids of the war.
His widow received automatically a police pension (£88 1s per annum, with an additional allowance of £6 12s per annum for her son) but also had her MP, Allen Baker, working on her behalf. He approached the directors of Debenhams (whose staff PC Smith had saved) and solicited from them a donation of £100 guineas (£105). A further fund, chaired by Baker, raised almost £472 and some of this was used to pay for the Watts Memorial tablet, below, which was officially unveiled in Postman’s Park on the second anniversary of Alfred’s death …
Next an Elizabethan postbox by the Carron Company of Stirlingshire …
Among other commissions, the company also produced the famous Giles Gilbert Scott telephone boxes. Despite diversifying into plastics and stainless steel, the company went into receivership in 1982.
‘The new energy centre uses state-of-the-art technology on the site of a disused Underground station that commuters have not seen for almost 100 years. The remains of the station, once known as City Road, have been transformed to house a huge underground fan which extracts warm air from the Northern line tunnels below. The warm air is used to heat water that is then pumped to buildings in the neighbourhood through a new 1.5km network of underground pipes’.
An old trough and water fountain …
Read all about the history of drinking water supplies to the London working population and their animals in my blog Philanthropic Fountains.
Turn right into City Road and you encounter these remarkably lifelike characters and their dog …
This light display gives a clue as to what’s coming up …
The famous Eagle pub as mentioned in the rhyme …
At the beginning of the 19th century, ophthalmology was an unknown science but that all changed in the early 1800s as many soldiers returned from the Napoleonic wars suffering with trachoma. The original 1804 Dispensary for Curing Diseases of the Eye and Ear opened in Charterhouse Square in West in 1805. It moved in 1822 to a purpose-built building in Lower Moorfields and was renamed the London Ophthalmic Infirmary. When Queen Victoria gave it a royal charted in 1837 it became the Royal London Opthalmic Hospital but everyon still called it Moorfields. It still resides on City Road but has been vastly expanded …
The green line helps the visually impaired find their way from Old Street Underground Station …
The Alchemist bar goes green …
As does the roof of Old Street Station …
I’ll probably continue my stroll down City Road and beyond next week.
The Sculpture in the City project is always worth a visit, which is what I did last week. I have also added some other pieces that caught my eye.
First up is this one entitled Temple by Richard Mackness. It’s on the corner of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street, EC2M 3XD…
‘In this object, questions of belief and value weave with consumer culture and the human need to find meaning and to belong’. You can read a fuller description here.
This one has been around since last year but I’m including it again because I like its location. It’s called Muamba Grove, 0 Hue 1 and 2 by Vanessa da Silva and can be found at St Botolph-without- Bishopsgate Churchyard, EC2M 3TL …
‘The artist’s process offers an indication of the inseparable link between the body and the sculpture – the artist’s own body becomes entwined within the making of the forms. Da Silva’s use of colour and carefully considered scale contributes to the sense of dynamic and fluid movement’. You can read more here.
If you visit the churchyard look out for St. Botolph’s Hall, once used as an infants’ school, but now a multipurpose church hall available for hire. At its front entrance is a pair of Coade Stone figures of a schoolboy and girl in early nineteenth century costumes …
In the foreground is the large tomb of Sir William Rawlins, Sherriff of London in 1801 and a benefactor of the church …
This is Book of Boredom by Ida Ekblad. It’s at Undershaft, EC2N 4AJ (in front of Crosby Square) …
‘Conveying a rich sense of abundance and corporality, this painted bronze sculpture presents a vibrant composition filled with fragmented, angular patterns and shapes, merging elements of figuration and abstraction’. You can read more here.
This is Untitled by Arturo Herrara at the base of the Leadenhall Building EC3V 4AB …
‘Untitled reflects the dynamic movement of people using the space and the mechanic stairs. Both designs energise the area under the stairs with an all over composition that mimics the traffic and activity of this large urban space in the City’.
I caught my first glimpse of these creatures, called Secret Sentinels, as I turned from St Mary Axe into Bevis Marks (EC3A 8BE). They made me smile, which is a good start! …
‘Secret Sentinels is a family of sculptures made from found objects and materials and covered in glass tiles. The sculptures are inspired by how we balance privacy against convenience in relation to state and private surveillance. The protrusions from each piece gently reference the surrounding, ubiquitous cameras in the City security systems, doorbells, phones and computers’. You can read more here.
Here are the other things that caught my eye during my walk that are not part of the Sculpture in the City project.
Another work now on permanent display is outside Moorgate Station and was created by the British artist Conrad Shawcross RA. It’s called Manifold (Major Third) 5:4 and was installed late last year as the penultimate artwork for the Crossrail project. According to a sign close to the art, ‘this vast bronze sculpture is an expression of a chord falling into silence’ …
The open space at Citypoint is currently a temporary home to Squiggle …
Moving away from sculpture, I like the coloured glass deployed around 22 Bishopsgate …
Thomas Bayes (circa 1701-1761) has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons due to the sudden sinking of the yacht named after him and the tragic loss of seven lives. You can read the BBC news report here.
I thought you might be interested to know that Bayes is buried in a family grave in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. It can be easily seen from the paths but the inscriptions are rather indistinct (despite restoration in 1969 funded by statisticians worldwide) …
In the vault are laid members of the Bayes, Cotton and West families.
The inscription on the east side of the tomb (Wikimedia Commons)…
On the top of the tomb is inscribed: Rev. Thomas Bayes, Son of the said Joshua and Ann Bayes (59).
The west side, Miss Decima Cotton who died on 12 April 1795 …
Born in Hertfordshire, Bayes studied at Edinburgh University and began his preaching career in that city; he later assisted at his father’s meeting-house on Leather Lane in Holborn before being appointed Presbyterian minister to the Little Mount Sion meeting-house at Tunbridge Wells in 1731, which post he occupied until his retirement 20 years later. During his lifetime Bayes published nothing under his own name, although he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742, perhaps on the basis of an influential defence of Newtonian mathematics published anonymously in 1734. His fame rests chiefly upon his mathematical ‘Essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances’, published posthumously in 1764; this adumbrates the highly influential ‘Bayesian’ approach to probability theory, as well as containing the famous ‘Bayes’ Theorem’, still widely used in statistics and information technology.
I was fascinated to find out that, armed with powerful computers to handle the data, American security experts use Bayesian inference to prioritise potential threats to the nation. You can read more here.
I found this image of the grave after restoration in 1969 …
I think it’s time to get the scrubbing brush out again!
On a more cheerful note, about 200 yards away is this building …
Concerned about Sir John Cass’s connection with the slave trade, the Business School that bore his name decided to rebrand themselves and, in an online poll, ‘Bayes Business School’ was the winning suggestion. I think it’s nice that his final resting place is so nearby!
If, like myself, you like following London’s history using photographic images some of those on display will be familiar to you, but it’s great to see them again in a nice setting with very informative signage.
This is one of my favourites …
The ‘great and the good’ take the inaugural journey on the new underground railway. The date is 24 May 1862 and they are in an open wagon at Edgware Road Station. ‘Number 16’ is William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), later Prime Minister for four terms.
Another image I know well illustrates the vast difference between the lives of our railway passengers and the lives of the poor and destitute …
This photograph of a woman was taken by John Thompson in 1877 and was titled The Crawlers. Reduced to poverty, she explained to him that she was looking after a friend’s baby in exchange for some bread and a cup of tea.
Another image from 1877 along with an example of the excellent exhibition signage …
Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to travel back in time and tell the these two ladies, and the young lads with their backs to us, that people would be looking at their images and thinking about their lives almost 150 years later …
Street Life by the same photographer …
Pomp at the new Crystal Palace …
And progress – both Bankside Power Station and Tower Bridge under construction …
Another theme – Grand Boulevards …
Do pop along and see it if you can – it’s a great exhibition and my images are just a small sample.
On a similar theme, I have a little collection of old postcards of which these are a few examples.
Tower Bridge gradually taking shape, as seen from the river …
St Paul’s Cathedral from Bankside with a paddle steamer moored in the foreground …
Flower seller ladies outside the Royal Exchange. I like this image, with the top-hatted man on the left having the flower placed in his buttonhole and the lady near the middle shielding her eyes from the sun …
Euston Station with the famous arch which was controversially demolished in 1962 (‘an act of cultural vandalism’ said one commentator!) …
Covent Garden Market …
A busy day at Bank Junction …
Incidentally, just behind the exhibition is a great example of what pollution can do to Portland stone over time …
The plaque reads as follows: HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF PORTLAND STONE STATUE OF SAINT ANDREW SOUTH PEDIMENT. THE COMPLETE STATUE 12 FEET HIGH AND WEIGHS SIX TON. CARVED BY FRANCIS BIRD IN 1724 FOR £140. THIS PART WAS REPLACED IN 1923 AND VACUUM IMPREGNATED WITH SILANE RESIN.
STOP PRESS, the latest City Banksy has been removed from its street setting and installed in Guildhall Yard. For how long I do not know …
Finally, whilst walking along Chalk Farm Road yesterday, I saw this sweet request taped to a shop window near the 31 bus stop …
I don’t suppose he subscribes to my blog but you never know!
When I go to buy the paper in the morning I often see the Bidfood truck delivering to Linklaters (lawyers seem to have great appetites). I like the pictures constructed out of food.
Here are my latest favourites …
Last year’s version …
I suppose I’m a bit sad recording these!
The weather was rather miserable in July but I think I captured some interesting sunsets.
Looking west towards St Giles church. Dating from 1682, the unusual profile of the tower would have been familiar to centuries of travellers approaching or leaving the City (obviously without the crane) …
Offices on London Wall look like they are aflame …
The view looking east …
Looking south with the moon behind the Shard …
Tower 52 gradually being surrounded by later developments …
Stormy sky with cranes. The tiny church steeple in the distance on the right is St Lawrence Jewry …
One more sunset pic …
Bees love the pollen from our purple Echinops …
This presents an opportunity for bee-related humour from the great Gary Larson …
Silk Street planting in June …
July …
August …
Wild crochet in North West London …
How wonderful it must have been to come back home to this house in Wetherby Gardens, South Kensington. On your way to the front door you would be walking past these extraordinary sculptures by the immensely distinguished Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm …
Where Barbican ducks do their shopping …
Proud mum …
Outside the Royal Exchange – I think he looks very authentic …
Lots of light and colour at the new Tottenham Court Road Station entrance …
The new London Bridge Station is a design masterpiece – and what a sweet idea to suggest people could arrange to meet at The Heart …
I think I prefer it to the controversial Meeting Place statue at St Pancras …
Interesting decor in the Sessions Arts Club restaurant …
A hotel I came across when visiting Chicago – surely the scariest fire exit steps in the world!
I thought I was familiar with the names of all the archiects associated with the City but somehow one of the most eminent seemed to have slipped my mind – although I must have read about him on numerous occasions. Some of his greatest works will be well known to all my readers – for example the original market buildings at Smithfield, Billingsgate and Leadenhall. His greatest surviving achievement however, in my view at least, is the structure that represents London itself to many people throughout the world – Tower Bridge.
Jones was a brilliant artist as can be seen from this pen-and-ink drawing by him from his 1884 design …
Some of the fascinating items on display in the exhibition.
This dramatic photograph captures the hive of activity during construction …
Centre stage are the high-level footway bridges slowly coming together while in the background you can see the South Abutment Tower under construction. Work on the bridge had started in 1886 and work was completed in 1894 (seven years after Horace’s death).
Hot tickets …
The ‘Ceremonial’ document outlining the programme. I was intrigued by the occupants of the carriages. What’s the difference between a ‘woman of the bedchamber’ and a ‘lady of the bedchamber’? And there are examples of chaps who are ‘in waiting’. Two equerries, a groom and a lord to be precise. No doubt a precise pecking order has been established over the centuries!
A napkin from the opening Celebration Dinner …
A great selection …
Instructions on how to operate the raising mechanism, an engineer with a super king size spanner, a workman doing masonry repairs, a police officer pulling a rope across the road to close it to traffic, the Tower Bridge tug and the Bridge Driver in the control cabin.
For the people of London during the First World War the bridge was more than a metaphorical symbol of resistance. Perched atop the upper walkway sat an anti-aircraft gun, its height and tactical position aligning it perfectly to defend against German raids. Its presence brought comfort to Londoners in the area and this poster captures the sentiment …
Each of the men listed in the centre of the poster were presented with a print as ‘grateful recognition of their services in protecting London against hostile aircraft during the Great War of 1914-1918’.
Whilst I was visiting I treated myself to this book. It’s a great read …
It explains in interesting detail why, despite a knighthood and elevation to the Presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Horace never really received the full recognition he deserved and this remains the case today. For example, the Guildhall Gallery now owns the Ouless painting above but it is not on display. I’m pleased to say, however, that there is an excellent bust of Horace that you can go and see. It really gives a hint of the powerful presence and personality that clearly upset some of his contemporaries …
Unfortunately, I’m sad to say that it is tucked away at the back of the cloakroom! You’ll find it by turning right as you leave the special exhibition.
It’s on until 19 September and is located in the Heritage Gallery. During your visit you can enjoy watching films from the London Metropolitan Archive. This one is of the 1928 Lord Mayors Show …
You can also inspect a superb back-lit copy of the ‘Agas’ map of circa 1561 …
St Michael Cornhill impresses even before you go through the door.
Above the entrance is the warrior Archangel Michael ‘disputing with Satan’. It was carved by John Birnie Philip when the church was remodelled in 1858-1860. No question as to who is winning this battle …
To the right of the entrance is another sculpture of Michael brandishing a flaming sword. It is a bronze memorial to the 170 out of the 2,130 men of this parish who enrolled for military service in the First World War and died as a result …
The sculpture (by R R Goulden) was described in the Builder magazine as follows
St Michael with the flaming sword stands steadfast above the quarreling beasts which typify war, and are sliding slowly, but surely, from their previous paramount position. Life, in the shape of young children, rises with increasing confidence under the protection of the champion of right.
Walk down the narrow alley beside the church and you come to a lovely, quiet churchyard where you get a good view of the commanding tower …
Originally believed to be by Wren, it was rebuilt in the ‘Gothic’ style between 1718 and 1722 by his protégé Nicholas Hawksmoor.
The church, with the exception of the tower, was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The church history notes state that it was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren between 1669 and 1672. The interior, with its majestic Tuscan columns, was beautified and repaired in 1701 and again in 1790 and then extensively ‘remodelled’ in the High Victorian manner by Sir George Gilbert Scott between 1857 and 1860 …
John Birnie Philip also carved the angels …
Pre-Victorian features that remain today include 17th century paintings of Moses and Aaron incorporated into the reredos …
The 1850s stained glass was made by the firm Clayton & Bell …
The box pews date from the Scott remodelling …
In 1716, the poet Thomas Gray, famous for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, was born in a milliner’s shop adjacent to St. Michael’s and was baptised in the church. Two hundred years later, Martin Neary, who became Master of the Music at Westminster Abbey, was baptised in the same font, which dates from 1672 …
Look to the left on entering and you’ll see the noteworthy Churchwarden’s pew …
It shows St Michael thrusting a lance into the mouth of a truly evil-looking devil. It’s a work by the eminent wood carver William Gibbs Rogers (1792-1875) …
The present organ began life in 1684 …
You can read more about its fascinating history here. I attended the recital last Monday. Absolutely wonderful. On Bank Holiday Monday (26 August) at 1:00 pm you can listen online as David Goode plays Holst’s The Planets. Join on Zoom from 12:45 pm ID 828 1357 0952 Passcode 827123.
Regular readers will know that I like a nice monument or memorial and this church has over 40 of them, many in clusters like these …
I’ve picked a few favourites.
The earliest is to John Vernon who died in 1615. It was erected by the Merchant Taylors Company after the Great Fire of 1666 to replace the ‘ruined’ original. He was a generous benefactor to the Company and its scholars. When he started to lose his sight he gifted his collection of paintings to the company so his fellows could better enjoy them as he could no longer see. Every year at Christmas boys from the Merchant Taylors’ School visit the church to sing at the special Vernon Carol Service …
He has a contemplative expression enhanced by the posing of his hands, one to his breast, the other resting on a skull, emblem of mortality and death. He wears a broad ruff and a fur lined cloak.
Next door, the Platt Family cherub endeavours to keep his feet warm …
The biggest monument in the Church is to Sir Edward Cowper who died in 1685. Bob Speel describes it as follows: ‘a grand mass of marble rising from the floor with fantastically twisted pillars and strikingly coloured marble. Perhaps by the sculptor Thomas Cartwright Senior, another of the sculptor-masons working on Wren’s City Churches’ …
In the same corner of the Church is the monument to Sir William Cowper, who died in 1664 and his wife Martha [Master] of East Langdon, and their fourth son, Spencer Cowper …
I admired the coats of arms at the end of the pews …
This one in particular intrigued me …
Whose arms are these? The mitre in the carving suggests a bishop but what are the birds all about, with their necks pierced by arrows? All is revealed in the Friends of City Churches Newsletter – highly recommended!
In addition to the war memorial outside there are several inside the church itself.
This one reads: In proud and grateful memory of the men of the County of London Electric Supply Company Limited and its associated companies who gave their lives for their country.
The Royal Fusiliers and local office workers …
The Stock Exchange Battalion …
And finally, an unusual item. This is a book prepared by the Association of British Civilian Internees, Far East Region, and placed here on 24th May 2009 …
St Michael’s church doesn’t seem to be open very often (despite what the website says). I got in because I wanted to attend the organ recital. According to their website, the wonderful Friends of City Churches are there on Tuesdays between 11:00 and 3:00.
On my way home this shop window display made me smile…
This lovely church has usually been closed when I have hoped to visit but last week I was lucky enough to drop in thanks to the Friends of City Churches being on duty.
The City once had four churches dedicated to St Botolph, each at one of the City gates, a reminder that St Botolph is traditionally the patron saint of travellers and wayfarers. Three of the churches survive and this is one of them. It is on Aldersgate and its old churchyard at the rear now houses the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice.
The church as seen from the Barbican Highwalk …
Although it suffered only minor damage in the Great Fire it was rebuilt in 1789-91 by Nathaniel Wright, surveyor to the City. The facade and Venetian window were added circa 1831 after the church had to be shortened for widening of the road. It contains numerous interesting memorials and lots of stained glass. For more about the former I highly recommend the brilliant Bob Speel website from which I will quote extensively in this blog!
Here are my favourites, memorials first.
The most notable is Lady Anne Packington’s Gothic altar tomb of 1563 …
In the recess are brasses of Dame Anne and her (deceased) husband Sir John Packington, and a shield of arms. They kneel facing slightly inwards towards each other, hands raised in prayer, each with their faldstool or prayer desk, with opened book. Sir John wears armour but is bareheaded, with wavy hair down to the shoulders, beard and whiskers; his helmet is placed in front of him. Dame Anne wears a long robe with wide collar, and behind her is a miniature replica, her daughter.
The first of my other favourites is this one of Elizabeth (Hewytt) Richardson who died in 1639 and was the wife of Thomas Richardson of Honningh, Norforlk, who erected the monument …
She had 10 children, seven sons and three daughters, and was ‘a fitt patterne for all women of honor, piete and religion’. Bob Speel comments that ‘the figure faces directly forward with a rather blank, rectangular face, surrounded by curled hair which would seem to be a wig. She wears a curious collar giving a triangular shape to her upper body’.
Mr Speel very much favours the second portrait bust in the church, that of Elizabeth Ashton who died in 1662. It was erected by a daughter, Elizabeth Beaumont …
Mr Speel waxes lyrical as follows: ‘Well, here is something clearly based on the odd Elizabeth Richardson monument noted above, but what a difference in quality. A naturalistic portrait sculpture of the deceased, again facing forward, with a slight smile, wavy rather than curly hair, a tight-fitting cap above, a similar broad collar to the earlier monument but here shaped to the shoulders, and with tassels at the front above the breast. Again a similar pose to the hands, upward turned in front of her; one plump hand supports the other, which holds a book. She has broad sleeves, gathered in at the wrist. Again, an oval niche, squared off surround, and this time a more appropriate top, being simply a swan necked pediment, with painted shield of arms within minor strapwork above.’
Speel identified two two must-see monuments. First, a tall, grey panel to Elizabeth Smith who died in 1750. It contains a poem, beginning ‘Not far remote lies a lamented Fair, // Whom Heav’n had fashion’d with peculiar Care’, and ending sombrely ‘Learn from this Marble, what thou valu’st most, // And sett’st thy Heart upon, may soon be lost.’ It includes a portrait carved in high relief, notable for being a work of the eminent sculptor Louis-Francois Roubiliac …
The second is the largest wall monument, tall enough that a cut-out had to be left in the gallery above. It is to Zachariah Foxall who died in 1758. ‘His portrait can be seen at the top of the monument, a drape held above it by a cherub, with a second cherub seated on the other side, on top of a great boxy casket protruding from the wall. A good example of the more grand, extravagant style of many monuments of around this period, by a sculptor called James Annis, who had his mason’s yard close by in Aldersgate Street itself’ …
Two fine Victorian gentlemen with fine Victorian beards ..
One of three incredible cartouches …
Do try and find a time to visit this church and maybe use Bob Speel’s excellent website to guide you around the numerous monuments of which these are just a small selection.
When it comes to the glass, of particular merit is an impressive window at the east end of the church – not stained glass but a ‘transparency’ (a painting on glass). It is the only one of its kind in the city, painted by James Pearson in 1788. It depicts ‘The Agony in the Garden’ …
By contrast, the stained glass windows are all Victorian or later.
When I saw this one ‘In memory of Matthew Webb’ I thought ‘That name rings a bell …’
Captain Webb was the first man to successfully swim the English Channel. His first attempt was on 12 August 1875 but poor weather and sea conditions forced him to abandon his attempt. Twelve days later, he set off again and, despite several jellyfish stings and strong currents, he completed the swim, which was calculated at 40 miles, in 21 hours and 40 minutes …
One form of celebrity endorsement at the time was to lend your name to a manufacturer of matches …
Tragically, he drowned in 1883 while attempting to cross the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls. A memorial in his home town of Daley, Shropshire, reads: “Nothing great is easy.”
Some examples of the other windows …
Finally – Lest we forget.
At the east end of the church is a memorial book …
It records the names of nearly 1800 members of the Post Office Rifles who died in action during the Great War, evidence of St Botolph’s connections with the London General Post Office that was once situated nearby.
Some images I have found online (copyrights The Postal Museum) …
This week’s blog was prompted by a gift we received – a wonderfully crafted baby dragon from Little Dragon Designs . He’s very small, only just over three inches wide, but very meticulously detailed …
It reminded me that the City is full of dragons and that it has been a long time since I paid them a visit.
In 1963 the Government was redrawing local government boundaries and the City Corporation had to decide how its area of control should be identified. Rather than someting bland and commonplace (e.g. Welcome to the City – Please Drive Carefully) they looked for something a bit more dramatic.
Their final choice to use dragons was facilitated by the controversial decision to demolish the Coal Exchange in Lower Thames Street. The trade in coal in London was hugely important, not just because it fuelled the city, but thanks to taxes that were introduced after the Great Fire of London, it funded a lot of London building works. The Coal Exchange was built in 1847 to help manage the trade and, high above the main entrance, two plinths held two large cast-iron dragons. Here it is around 1900 …
When the Exchange was demolished, the City of London Streets Committee conceived the idea of preserving the dragons as boundary markers, and they were inaugurated in their new home on Victoria Embankment on 16 October 1963 where they remain to this day …
They were originally cast, by the London founder Dewer, in 1849, as can be seen on the back of the shield …
These original dragons are seven feet tall but half size replicas were created for deployment around 11 other entry points to the City.
Before I go on to share more dragons with you the first thing I must be clear about is that the City symbol is a dragon and not a griffin (as is still mistakenly stated in many City guides).
The legendary griffin (or gryphon) is a creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet. I have only been able to find one in the City and here it is at the entrance to Dunster Court in Mincing Lane …
He proudly supports the arms of the Clothworkers Company.
Dragons, on the other hand, have a barbed tail, tend to be scaly all over and breathe fire and smoke. Here is the City of London version on Tower Hill …
It is made of cast iron and painted in silver with details picked out in red. It supports a shield with the City emblem of the red cross of St George and the short sword of St Paul, the City’s patron saint.
Guarding the boundary between the City of London and Westminster, the Temple Bar Dragon is in a league of its own. It is taller, fiercer, very gothic and is black rather than silver. It would be quite at home in a Harry Potter story and is quite scary – maybe that’s why the Corporation Committee Chairman, having considered the Temple Bar version, chose the less flamboyant Coal Exchange dragons as boundary markers instead …
Another dragon at Temple Bar faces towards Westminster …
A Times writer commented that it ‘wears an aspect of defiance similar to that of the lion surmounting the mound on the field of Waterloo’.
Once you get your eye in, so to speak, you will find dragons everywhere.
This Smithfield Market beast looks like he is just about to swoop down – perhaps for a meaty lunch …
And these two work hard supporting the roof of Leadenhall Market …
One might pop up unexpectedly as you cross Holborn Viaduct …
You encounter this formidable pair as you leave Bank Underground Station …
More delicate versions adorn the lamps outside the Royal Exchange …
The City’s coat of arms atop the Guildhall …
And on the newer building nearby …
The City’s Latin motto : Lord guide us.
A more modern version (also at the Guildhall) …
You will find a fascinating article about the City coat of arms here.
If you are fascinated by dragons, or know someone who is, I highly recommend a visit to the Little Gragon Designs website. A vast selection of dragon-related gifts!
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