In this week’s blog I have just put together some of the random pictures I have been taking over the last few weeks that will hopefully create a cheerful mood.
Who wouldn’t smile on seeing this Baker Street doggie …
This time of year is, for me, a great opportunity to grab images from nature.
A corporate window box in Wood Street …
On the Barbican Estate …
An afternoon nap …
In Fortune Street Park …
A pretty piece of art …With a sad back story …
Blossom time at Aldgate …
Opposite St Paul’s Underground Station …
The Festival Gardens at St Paul’s Cathedral …
On London Wall …
Visitors to the office whilst I was writing my blog. Mrs Duck …
And her handsome partner …
‘Goodbye – I have better things to do than pose for you!’
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You’ll also find at the station a fine example of a 1930s roundel …
There’s another heritage example just outside Temple Station. It’s a London Passenger Transport Board Underground map from 1932 (to avoid potential confusion the attached notice points out that there is ‘An up-to-date Journey Planner located inside the station’!) …
Here is the part of the 1932 Map covering the stations I visit in this blog. ‘Post Office’ became ‘St Paul’s’ five years later …
Whilst you wait there for your train, look up and you will see the tops of the ornate columns that once supported the canopy covering the tracks and platforms …
When Temple Station was first opened locomotive drivers were forbidden to sound their whistles at the station lest they disturb the barristers working (or dozing) in the Inns of Court nearby.
Also on the platform are some images of historical interest. This, for example, is Blackfriars Station in 1876 …
And today (image courtesy of Network Rail) …
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.
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 and illuminated with gold leaf …
You can read more about the wall and the interesting area around the station in my Terminus Tales blog.
I noticed this instruction at the top of the escalator …
I believe that, on his first visit to London, Paddington Bear interpreted this as meaning you couldn’t use the escalator unless you were carrying a dog.
Onward now to the refurbished Farringdon Station. On climbing the stairs from the platform you can admire the original 19th century roof supports …
Just before exiting through the barriers I spotted some nice stained glass windows which date from 1923 …
Farringdon Station moved to its current location on 23 December 1865 when the Metropolitan Railway opened an extension to Moorgate. It was renamed Farringdon & High Holborn on 26 January 1922 when the new building by the architect Charles Walter Clark facing Cowcross Street was opened, and its present name was adopted on 21 April 1936 …
From mid-1914, the Metropolitan Railway introduced its own version of the Underground roundel. This originally appeared as a blue station name plate across a red diamond and the diamond is still there, above the entrance …
It has also been reproduced on Moorgate Station as a nod to the railway’s past history …
Trivia quiz question. Only two station names contain all the vowels …
This is one of them – what is the other? The answer is at the end of this week’s blog – no peeping!
And finally to Barbican. The station was originally known as Aldersgate Street when it opened in 1865, changing its name to Aldersgate in 1910, Aldersgate & Barbican in 1923 and finally settling for Barbican in 1968.
Just inside the barriers is a nice photo montage illustrating some of the station’s history …
The station platforms used to be covered by a glazed arch but after suffering serious bomb damage during the Second World War, it was eventually removed in 1955 …
Those were the days, with carriages pulled by steam locomotives …
You can still see the support brackets for the now demolished roof …
Do pause in the entrance hall and pay your respects to the memory of Pebbles the Blackfriars Station cat.
For many years Pebbles was a favourite of staff and passengers, often sleeping soundly on top of the exit barriers despite the rush hour pandemonium going on around him. This is a picture from the wonderfully named purr’n’furr website, a great source for moggie-related stories …
Clearly he was greatly missed when he died, as the plaque faithfully records, on 26th May 1997.
This was doubly sad because he was due to be given a Lifetime Achievement Award. This was sponsored by Spillers Pet Foods and named after Arthur, a cat they used in their advertising who ate with his paws. The Certificate that came with the award is also displayed (the co-winner, the aptly named Barbie, was Pebbles’ companion) …
Incidentally, here is Arthur in action …
The TV ads ran between 1966 and 1975 with a succession of Arthurs playing the role. At one time a terrible rumour circulated that the advertising agency had taken the original cat to the vet and had all his teeth removed in order to encourage his rather eccentric eating behaviour. This story was subsequently demonstrated to be untrue. Obviously there is a detailed entry about Arthur on the purr’n’furrwebsite and there’s lots more about him if you just Google Arthur the cat that ate with his paws. There is some great footage of the ads themselves with hilarious voice-overs by eminent actors such as Peter Bull, Leo McKern and Joss Ackland.
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I’ve already written in some detail about the church of St Dunstan-in-the-West so I thought it would be good, given last week’s lovely weather, to visit the ruins of St Dunstan-in-the-East. Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an extraordinary man being successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. It’s not surprising, therefore, that in Greater London there are seven churches dedicated to him as well as seventeen roads and three educational establishments.
His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th-century biographer states that Dunstan was skilled in ‘making a picture and forming letters’, as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank. At least one example of his work survives …
This is from the manuscript known as the Glastonbury Classbook. It’s a portrait of Christ, and the monk kneeling beside him may be a self-portrait of Dunstan.
He served as an important minister of state to several English kings and was the most popular saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many stories of his greatness, not least among which were those concerning his famed cunning in defeating the Devil by grabbing his nose in a pair of hot tongs …
And so to the remains of the church named after him.
The original church (dating from around 1100) was severely damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 after which it was patched up and a steeple with a needle spire added, to the design of Sir Christopher Wren, between 1695 and 1701. In 1817, structural problems were identified and these led to the church being demolished. Wren’s tower was considered safe and was retained and incorporated into the new building which was completed in 1821.
Here’s St Dunstan’s in 1910 …
The church was partly destroyed in the Blitz of 1941. Wren’s tower and steeple survived the bombs’ impact but of the rest of the church only the north and south walls remained …
Following the War it was decided not to rebuild St Dunstan’s and in 1967 the City of London Corporation chose to turn the ruins into a public garden which opened in 1971. A lawn and trees were planted in the ruins, with a low fountain in the middle of the nave which is still happily bubbling away …
It’s a lovely, serene location to visit. Here are the images I took last Friday when I had the place almost entirely to myself …
You can get an idea of the ferocity of Blitz fires from the scorch marks on some of the church’s stone walls. Incendiary bombs were dropped in conjunction with high explosives …
Three old headstones have survived with inscriptions that are partially legible along with a flatstone. I have identified them from the excellent audit of churchyard inscriptions carried out by Percy Rushen in 1911.
Here are the entries in Percy’s book :
And here are the stones. First Thomas Sanders …
Then his mum and dad, Thomas and Elizabeth …
And then the Taynton family …
This is the flatstone, and I assume that it doesn’t appear in Percy’s audit because it was originally inside the church …
The pigeons and the weather have not been kind to it but I believe it reads as follows:
‘Here lies the body of Capt. NICHOLAS BATCHELER late of this parish who departed this life December 31st 1722 (possibly 1732) aged 60 years also three children, two sons one daughter, Thomas, William and Anne.
And also Anne a granddaughter of Elizabeth Batcheler.
Also the body of Mary his wife who departed this life July the 20th 1723 aged 58 years.
Also here lyeth the body of Anne Blackall a Beloved Relation.’
I have been able to identify most of the inscription because it appears in a lovely little film about the garden which you can access here on YouTube.
I find it very satisfying bringing these old stones to life and paying a kind of respect to their subjects, even though their mortal remains are long since gone.
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I popped over to the Brick Lane area in order to see what was happening in the flourishing street art scene and noticed that Ukraine and its struggle is beginning to emerge as a subject. I took these images in Fournier Street …
I’m indebted to The Londonistblog for further images …
And one I particularly like. Crystal Palace folk know how to send an authentic London message! …
Meanwhile, in Paris …
And this City of London shop repainted its signage …
Here are some other pics from my wanderings …
And some that made me smile …And I did!
This one (and several like it) is on the wall beneath a warehouse now converted into apartments. Made me stand back and wonder what on earth could fall on my head …
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It’s not quite Spring yet but I thought it would be nice to have a wander around the City and see what’s happening – especially in the areas managed by the wonderful team of City of London gardeners.
I started close to home since the Magnolia trees are in blossom near St Giles Church …
Very old gravestones from the former churchyard with the medieval/Roman wall in the background …
If you work at 88 Wood Street you arrive to be greeted by a nice, living, green wall …
Onward to Postman’s Park (that’s the Watts Memorial in the background) …
Across the road at the junction with Bread Street …
So everything is coming along nicely. I shall report again in a few weeks’ time.
I noticed that Wood Street and London Wall were shut, saw this mysterious pile of boxes being assembled in the distance, and decided to investigate …
Just as I stood behind them a voice rang out ‘SILENCE’ … ‘THREE, TWO ONE … ACTION!’ and a stunt man plunged into the box pile from the balcony above. Unfortunately, I missed the action and could only catch him climbing out …
Sadly, they didn’t repeat the performance!
Finally, nice to see the Institute of Chartered Accountants demonstrating their support for Ukraine …
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