Should you be in the vicinity of St James’s Park take a walk along Horse Guards Road, enter the park opposite King Charles Street and walk along to Duck Island. At the islands entrance you will see the very quaint bucolic Duck Island Cottage. The cottage was built on the island on the site of… Continue reading What were they thinking?
Author: endean0
Hi, I'm Steve, a London tour guide and owner of A London Miscellany Tours, a guided walking tour company who specialise in small number tours of the greatest city in the world!
Fancy a dip in the Thames?
Although the river is a lot cleaner today than in previous years, the stretch that flows through the environs of Central London is not immediately the first place you’d think of for swimming. The completion of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s London sewer system in 1870 meant that the quality of water in the River Thames was… Continue reading Fancy a dip in the Thames?
Ban The Bun
Easter as we now know starts around the 26th December when that staple of the period, the Hot Cross Bun appears on supermarket shelves. To be honest if I see another advert for luxury buns containing obscure Sultanas that can only be found in the Amazonian rainforest or some ghastly concoction of salted caramel and… Continue reading Ban The Bun
The art of the picnic
Easter Sunday dawned overcast and a little chilly, ideal weather for the great British picnic. As we cast around for a collection of foodstuffs that could be combined into a dining experience Al Fresco, I was reminded about a catalogue I’d been looking at for the department store Gamages which was situated at 16-128 Holborn… Continue reading The art of the picnic
Nefarious activity at the Kentish Drovers
Following yesterday’s post I’d looked up the Kentish Drovers Public House in the Old Bailey database. In all there were six cases stretching between 1845 to 1912 and in a nice little twist they are bookended by two coining offenses. The first case concerns a Catherine Hacket who appeared on 24th November 1845 charged with… Continue reading Nefarious activity at the Kentish Drovers
…and now to travel news
….due to an incident. Next there are around 20 minute delays on the A2 Old Kent Road in both directions due to a large volume of cattle, police are advising ….. Well, you might have heard that had there been travel news and radios to hear it on in the 18th and early 19th centuries.… Continue reading …and now to travel news
The odd post
I like oddities. I like finding out why they are odd, perhaps that makes me a little odd too? There’s this lamp post that’s sort of fascinated me, just across from the Royal Courts of Justice. It sits quite happily on the island bordered by Aldwych and Strand that is home to St Clement Danes… Continue reading The odd post
The one and ninepenny’s
As a small child, no trip into central London would be complete without a visit to what for me at the time was the most magical place on earth, the Victoria Station Cartoon Cinema. I have many fond memories of sitting in the slightly dilapidated and grubby seats, a haze of cigarette smoke billowing all… Continue reading The one and ninepenny’s
Flour and Dough and a DSO
I’d never come across the sculptor Phillip Lindsay-Clark before, not until I found his signature on a great piece of public art. This piece differs from his usual creations, which tended to be mainly ecclesiastical or memorials. Lindsay-Clark was a Londoner born in 1889, his Father, Robert was also a sculptor. Phillip studied at the… Continue reading Flour and Dough and a DSO
The Doctor will see you now
At a time when we are rightfully lauding the efforts of all NHS staff for their work during the pandemic I’d like to take you back to a time when the medical profession was not quite as caring and helpful as today. Let’s focus on Dr. William Butler, born in Ipswich around 1535. He attended… Continue reading The Doctor will see you now
A LONDON MISCELLANY 