From the Cockney rhyming slang, Turkish Bath (laugh) “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, said the preacher John Wesley in the late 1790s and it was a sentiment that wealthy Victorians took to heart in the middle of the 19th century. Victorian plumbing catalogues abound with the latest gadgets for the home, but what did a… Continue reading Yor ‘avin a Turkish
Tag: London
Art
One word Sunday A very touching piece of street art that can be found set into the pavement in Marchmont Street near to Russell Square underground station in Bloomsbury. The street is near to the former site of the Foundling Hospital in Corams Fields. Mothers unable to care for their babies would bring them to… Continue reading Art
A Slightly Fat Bald Ghostly Apparition
Six Word Saturday A bit early for Halloween and obviously its not a ghost it’s me. I was trying to get a picture of the remains of Whitefriars Monastery which is hidden away below office buildings near to Fleet Street and is behind thick glass. The order was founded in what is now Israel in… Continue reading A Slightly Fat Bald Ghostly Apparition
ABC of City of London Wards
This is the forth post about the wards that make up the the City of London. These links will take you to the post about Aldersgate, Aldgate, Bassishaw. The City of London is divided into 25 wards. These wards are a survival of the medieval governmental system that allowed very small areas to exist as self-governing units within the… Continue reading ABC of City of London Wards
Learn to talk proper
I recently came by a fascinating old book called Passing English of the Victorian era, a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase (published 1909) written by James Redding Ware, the pseudonym of Andrew Forrester a British writer who created one of the first female detectives in literary history in his book The Female Detective (1863). The… Continue reading Learn to talk proper
Rain
One word Sunday Looking out along Cromwell Road on a rather wet autumn evening.
The Monster Of London
There have been many violent and disturbing crimes committed in the Capital over the centuries, some single incidents, and others of a more serial nature. The latter attract much more attention, sometimes with the culprits achieving cult status. Obviously Jack the Ripper is usually the first to come to mind, along with latter-day perpetrators, John… Continue reading The Monster Of London
Not Avenues, but Alleyways
There’s nothing more exciting for me than discovering a new alleyway or court in London, so much so that I document each one on a Google Map with as much information as I can find on it. It may look like there’s a lot of pins on the map, but the reality is that the… Continue reading Not Avenues, but Alleyways
Thomas Cubitt
Today you have companies like Balfour Beatty and the Kear Group who predominately do most of the construction work in the UK, but back in the early 19th century there were no massive firms that undertook building projects, that was until Thomas Cubitt came along. During the early 19th century parts of London were going… Continue reading Thomas Cubitt
Pagani’s
Sometimes when you look at a block of buildings you think to yourself, that doesn’t look right. One block that I noticed was in Great Portland Street. The imposing building on the far left was previously a bank and now a Post Office. The characterless office block far right shouts post war redevelopment, it’s the… Continue reading Pagani’s
A LONDON MISCELLANY 