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
Tag: London
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 best seats in the house
St Bartholomew’s Gatehouse in Cloth Fair is definitely a fine old Elizabethan building. Well that’s not strictly true. It is and it isn’t. The framework is, but the exterior has been restored, but that doesn’t make it any the less interesting. If it hadn’t been for Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy the commander of a First World… Continue reading The best seats in the house
A Room With A View
Who lives in the tallest house in the City of London? The answer to that is I don’t know, but it matters little who lives there, the more interesting part is where is it and why.Let’s just rewind. We’re looking for the tallest house, not loft apartment, penthouse or block of flats but a house… Continue reading A Room With A View
Being for the benefit of Mr Kite
One of the most visited performance venues of the late eighteenth century was Astley’s Amphitheatre. It was situated close to Westminster bridge on the south side of the River Thames. Today its site is buried under the gardens of St Thomas’ Hospital. The Amphitheatre was opened by Philip & Patty Astley in 1768 and had… Continue reading Being for the benefit of Mr Kite
“The Corrector”
Sounds a bit like a 70s TV crime drama, starring Edward Woodward, but this is no self styled vigilante. I had never heard of the person who went by this sobriquet and it was only one of those chance happenings that took me into his world. I had alighted at Angel underground station and before… Continue reading “The Corrector”
Hiding in plain sight
Things of interest don’t always come with a label or a sign saying “Look at me”. I’m not sure how many times I’ve walked past this building on the Strand and never given it a moments thought. The building in question was erected in 1625, so was middle aged by the time of the Great… Continue reading Hiding in plain sight
…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
A LONDON MISCELLANY 