Gardens – Page 2 – Symbols & Secrets

The first bit of good news is that Mrs Coot is now firmly esconced on her Barbican Lake nest – a sight that always cheers me up …

This picture was taken from Gilbert Bridge.

The City Gardeners’ hard work is coming to fruition on London Wall and elsewhere in the City …

At the roundabout …

St Mary Aldermanbury and Love Lane…

Opposite St Paul’s Underground Station …

The little pond outside St Lawrence Jewry has been refurbished as has the west front of the church and its spire …

All that’s needed now are some fish.

The little garden at St Vedast Foster Lane …

In Postman’s Park …

Commercial enterprises also make a contribution to brightening up the City …

On Gresham Street …

I have to particularly congratulate the owners and tenants of 88 Wood Street who take planting seriously, both outside …

… and inside …

So, rather cleverly, it’s difficult to tell where the border between the two is.

A few images from around the Barbican …

The entrance to the Andrewes House car park is a welcoming sight!

Earlier this week you may have noticed the abseilers at work on the Lakeside Terrace …

The completed exercise …

It’s a work called Purple Hibiscus by Ibrahim Mahama and you can read more about it here.

And finally.

You may remember that, a little while ago on 29th February, I wrote about notices that I had come across that I thought were interesting. Well, I have been keeping my eyes open and come across two more. I can only describe them as ‘doors with attitude’!

This warning couldn’t be clearer (although masochists may ignore it) …

And I was really scared to touch this one …

Is it electrified?

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Churchyard gardens and a £65 haircut – a short City stroll.

By The City Gent

On 14th September 2023

In Gardens

I was so hot recently that I didn’t really want to wander far and today’s blog is the result. I hope you will find it interesting nonetheless.

I visited churchyards where, in some cases, the church they were associated with no longer exist.

First up is St Olave Silver Street, destroyed, the plaque tells us, in the ‘dreadfull fire in the year 1666‘ and never rebuilt …

Another stone commemorates the churchyard being ‘thrown back’ due to road widening in 1865 …

It’s a nice, modest little space – very green and lush at the moment …

With a little font-like pool that I rather like …

Interestingly, the church was notable as the place where the bodies of those dissected at the nearby Barber-Surgeons Hall would be buried. Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, only the bodies of those executed for murder could be used for dissection. The bodies would be used for anatomical study and then interred at St Olave’s.

Shakespeare once lived nearby but that building perished in the Great Fire as well …

I have written about the churchyard of St John Zachary before, with its lovely little fountain …

And Three Printers sculpture …

Wilfred Dudeney’s 1954 sculpture has been here since 2009. Commissioned by the Westminster Press Group, it represents the newspaper process with a newsboy (sales), printer and editor (or proprietor), and used to stand by their offices in New Street Square. When the square was redeveloped the Goldsmiths’ Company, as the freeholders of the square, relocated the sculpture here (they had to rescue it from a demolition yard). Look closely, the printer is grasping a ‘stick’ for holding metal type, and Dudeney’s name is in ‘mirror writing’ just as it would have been when typeset the old-fashioned way …

Just across the road is St Anne and St Agnes with its pretty brickwork …

And quiet, secluded garden …

Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden is on the site of the Franciscan Church of Greyfriars that was established in 1225. Numerous well-known people, including four queens, were buried in the old church, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. A new church, designed by Wren, was completed in 1704.

In 1940 incendiary bombs destroyed the body of the Wren church, and only the west tower now stands. In 1989 a rose garden was established that reflects the floor plan of the original church with box-edged beds representing the original position of the pews with wooden towers representing the stone columns of the former church …

These blocks of granite are relatively new additions to the site …

Information about them …

The nearby sculpture celebrates the Greryfriars School’s success in educating youngsters from a deprived background and turning them into model citizens …

Actually, I think the street ragamuffins on the right seem to be having a great time …

St Paul’s Cathedral churchyard …

St Thomas à Becket lies in agony …

And some great news, the little pond outside St Lawrence Jewry has been renovated …

I hope they put in some fish.

And finally, near St Paul’s, is this the most expensive barber in London?

Mind you, there is complimentary Japanese Whisky and Beer!

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A tale from the Crypt, pretty flowers and a strange sighting on the Highwalk!

By The City Gent

On 7th September 2023

In Gardens, Memorials

If you want to have a brief experience of the St Paul’s Cathedral crypt without paying to enter the Cathedral itself just make your way down the stairs to the Crypt Cafe. The entrance is opposite the Temple Bar …

Down below you’ll encounter some extraordinary monuments to deceased heroes. This is the one to Sir William Ponsonby …

‘Created in white marble, the figure of the dying hero rests against his fallen horse. He is nude except for drapery, and a broken sword slips from the fingers of his right hand. His shield is on the ground beside him. He looks upwards at a winged female figure in a classical tunic, representing Victory, who approaches from the left. She holds a wreath above him, and he reaches for it with his left hand’ …

You can read more about his background along with the gripping story of his final battle on the Waterloo Association website.

Nearby is this monument to two Naval heroes …

Both men died in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen.

Riou ‘ … …was sitting on a gun, was encouraging his men, and had been wounded in the head by a splinter. He had expressed himself grieved at being thus obliged to retreat, and nobly observed, ‘What will Nelson think of us?’ His clerk was killed by his side; and by another shot, several marines, while hauling on the main-brace, shared the same fate. Riou then exclaimed, ‘Come, then, my boys, let us all die together!’ The words were scarcely uttered, when the fatal shot severed him in two’.

In 1799 James Mosse was appointed Captain of HMS Monarch, also under the overall command of Admiral Nelson. Mosse took a leading role, sailing from one end of the line to the other, whilst both firing and receiving fire. He was killed soon after adopting his required position, his last orders being to ‘cut away the anchor’. Like Riou, he was buried at sea …