2020 saw a spate of statue removals throughout the UK. Characters no longer deemed to be politically correct were consigned to the storeroom or in one case the dockside of history. I came across this empty plinth in Cavendish Square, and wondered who it was that had upset public opinion. Looking at the plinth I… Continue reading Washing History
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Time and tide wait for no man
A saying that perhaps conjures up visions of King Canute, though some scholars attribute it to Geoffrey Chaucer. I’ve used it in the context of if you wait long enough then something that you’re waiting for will wash up at your feet. Actually it’s been a week of having long standing mysteries solved just by… Continue reading Time and tide wait for no man
Not Avenues, But Alleyways
Once you’ve designed a tour, walked it countless times, discovered new things along the way to add in and found bits to leave out, you do have a slight proud parent vibe going on. I’m please to say that I’ve finished tinkering with this tour and it’s probably my favourite of all of them. There… Continue reading Not Avenues, But Alleyways
Time
One word Sunday Clock above the entrance to Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street, City of London.
Please Sir, I want some more
The immortal line penned by Dickens in Oliver Twist which was serialised from 1837. I actually have a connection to Oliver, we’re both “Workhouse Boys”, well that is to say I live in a converted workhouse, where the only deprivation suffered is if the WiFi goes down. London as you’d expect had many workhouses throughout… Continue reading Please Sir, I want some more
Written in tablets of stone
Enter the shiny glass and steel station facade at Blackfriars and the world is your Oyster(card) as to your destination. Places as diverse as Upminster and Ealing Broadway, as glamorous as Turnham Green or East Putney can be easily reached. When the main line station was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway with the name… Continue reading Written in tablets of stone
Meat
One word Sunday Don’t know if there any Tripe Dressers left in Smithfield, but this was once the site of Edmund Martin Ltd at 3 Lindsey Street, Smithfield, sadly demolished in 2010. On the same site today sits Kaleidoscope a building described as a “Commercial Workspace”, where in all probability they hold Meetings (did you… Continue reading Meat
Getting back on the horse
Picture the scene, it’s March 2020 and my fledgling guided walking tour business, A London Miscellany Tours is getting up a nice head of steam. Then on the 13th March I wake up with a persistent cough and begin feeling quite unwell, the rest as they say is history. Fast forward to April 2021 and… Continue reading Getting back on the horse
The Noted House For Paper Bags
Part of Six word Saturday I’d always put 46 Crispin Street down as a trendy piece of gentrification in the heart of Spitalfields, however it seems that I was wrong. Jeremiah O’Donovan came to London from Dublin in the 1830s, and the business selling paper bags to the city’s thriving markets was set up in Crispin… Continue reading The Noted House For Paper Bags
The Mercers Maiden and her moustache
Posted as part of six word Saturday The Mercers Maiden is a small piece of stone relief carving that is on the wall of Corbet Court quite near to Leadenhall market. The Maiden has thought to have inhabited the area of the court since 1669 and is the emblem of the “Worshipful Company of Mercers”… Continue reading The Mercers Maiden and her moustache
A LONDON MISCELLANY 