Six Word Saturday Hurrying along Fleet Street, you might notice the statue that adorns the archway in St Dunstan’s in the West church. You might even notice that it depicts Queen Elizabeth I, but what you might not know is that it is London’s oldest statue and the only one remaining that was carved in Queen… Continue reading The oldest original statue in London
Tag: 6WS
Look at Me, Look at Me!
Six word Saturday I’ve passed this noticeboard many times and never stopped to read it. It’s situated at the entrance to Bengal Court just off Birchin Lane in the City of London. It wasn’t until I actually took the time to stop that I realised it’s a spoof sign. Firstly, the court is so narrow… Continue reading Look at Me, Look at Me!
Gog and Magog Giants of Albion
Six word Saturday These two figures adorn the clock of St Dunstan’s in the West, Fleet Street. They are meant to represent the Giants that inhabited the land of Albion (Britain) and were discovered by Brutus of Troy. This story is all down to Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote a history of Britain around 1136,… Continue reading Gog and Magog Giants of Albion
Three London Friars, Two Without Shoes
Six word Saturday Before the Henry VIII and his right hand man, Thomas Cromwell embarked upon the Dissolution more than thirty monasteries, convents, priories and hospitals jostled for room within the City’s ‘square mile’ or sheltered outside in the shadow of the still surviving Roman wall. Two of these orders that are commemorated with statues… Continue reading Three London Friars, Two Without Shoes
Morning sun rays on Gresham Street
Six Word Saturday Weekend Sky#30 7.58 am outside St Lawrence Jewry on Gresham Street. In the distance are the buildings of 22 Bishopsgate (known as Twentytwo) and 122 Leadenhall Street (known as the Cheesegrater). As usual with the pace of change in the City both of these buildings will at some point be dwarfed by… Continue reading Morning sun rays on Gresham Street
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
Then suddenly out of the blue
For someone who spends a lot of time walking the streets of the City of London in search of interesting and obscure facts and objects, I must admit I was slightly taken aback during my last walk. I came upon this City of London Police Call Post (Not a box, like the Tardis). It made… Continue reading Then suddenly out of the blue
A dog licking a cooking pot
This fine piece of street art stands just yards away from Southwark underground station in south London, but what does it mean? It is a replica of a shop sign that used to hang outside of an Ironmongers that plied it’s trade on the corner of Blackfriars Road and Union Street. It was first displayed… Continue reading A dog licking a cooking pot
A Bedouin and his three camels
looking slightly incongruous on the old City of London thoroughfare, Eastcheap, a Bedouin and his camel train head eastward presumably towards Dover on his way back to the desert. The building was once the home of Peek & Co who were tea importers during the Victorian era. This quartet was the brand logo of the… Continue reading A Bedouin and his three camels
A LONDON MISCELLANY 