A Wander along the Fleet

[Wapping]

Gin (mothers’ ruin) behind us, we’ll continue.

First past a blew plaque, recording the home of Sir Hiram Maxim. In part, it also records that this part of inner London used to be almost ‘industrial’:



We are now on Farringdon Lane, which pretty much follows the former river. I must have driven down this little road 100’s of times but never known there was something to see, just to my right.

In one of the buildings, there is still one of the ancient wells and an original pump. Unfortunately, the building was locked but it was just about possible to see down the well:



A tiny bit of history, hidden away.

 

[Wapping]

We are now at a point, not far from the ancient wells in post #21, were there is a drain cover. Looking down and with the aid of a torch, it it’s possible to see and hear the Fleet river, running beneath our feet, several metres down.





Such a small thing really, but a link to a thousand years or more of history. We’ll see a little bit later, how things have changed but (in very strange way) stayed the same but are now only invisible.

It would be a huge pity if some dullard ever covered up the drain. I was a bit sad when a mindless developer ripped away the sign that hung for years in Lime Street, EC3, that evidenced the site of the old Coal Office, where all coal entering the City was taxed. It’s worth a little thread hijack:

Coal-tax post - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JonnyBravo]

Difficult to explain
- like I’ve missed something, I’m too late. That there was once something epic but I wasn’t there.
The architecture, the scale, the wealth, the industry, the lives lived.
I wish I could have seen it ‘in the day’ and yet, their has probably never been a ‘day’
Always evolving, always moving forward, always changing.

Even when I was a young squaddie in the 80’s and went to wellington barracks occasionally etc I would look around and think, it must have been amazing here ‘back in the day’.

Or like when I met someone for a drink in the Jamaica wine house a couple of years ago after a seminar.
I was thinking big things have happened right in and around here - major things that affected our world history, for centuries.

Or, my mums stories of seeing the Rolling Stones in the very early sixties in some dive bar when she lived in a loft whilst working at the MOD Whitehall.
The people, the fashion, the fun, the ‘vide’ of the time.

Being from the north, it’s always had an air of being ‘something’ unique, something ‘beyond’ for me.
A true city.

 

[Wapping]

Thank you. I can now understand what you meant.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. In the (sort of) words of the song “We don’t know what we’ve got, ‘til it’s gone” but that is true of everything, I guess. I am lucky in that I can go to see these things and, as with this Wander (which really wasn’t my idea at all) discover things I knew nothing - or at best, very little - about. I am sure there is lots on your own doorstep, to be discovered too.

What I do think is a pity, is when bods go out of their way to paint the whole of London and indeed UK plc in an entirely negative light. It serves little real purpose, other than to add to their ever deepening pit of misery that they chose to wallow in.

 

[Wapping]

Drains and the former slum area, where Dickens set Oliver Twist, done. We carry on:

First past the old Smithfield meat market site, now being redeveloped. You might remember we saw the animal drinking trough in post #6, maybe two miles away:



This Holborn viaduct, crossing what was once the Fleet river and which gives its name to the eponymous, Fleet Street.

It is hard to imagine, but the river was wide here, with barges and boats sailing up it, to an inland port. In a way, it was a miniature version of Basel, on the Rhine today,

The viaduct is in the City of London, hence the heraldic beasts and looks down on the river’s old course, flowing down to the Thames at Blackfriars. We are standing on what was the river in the first of these three pictures:



Climb up the stairs, which has an attractive depiction of the viaduct’s origins:



Onto the viaduct:



To look down onto the course of the Fleet river, running towards the Thames a few hundred yards away, towards the setting sun and our final destination:



But before going down again from the viaduct, look across at the building with the figure of Sir Hugh Myddleton, he of the ‘New River’ fame, whose story links with that of the Fleet river itself. But that’s something for another day and a much longer Wander:

Holborn Viaduct - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hugh Myddelton - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But we’re not quite there yet…..

 

[Wapping]

Down to street (and Fleet river) level again, we wandered into the Punch Tavern, a wonderful Victorian place:



And, naturally enough, enjoyed a pint of London Pride.

Pride disposed of, it was out to see the former churchyard at the rear of St Bride’s church, the so called ‘wedding cake’ church, due to its unique tower. It’s a City of London church, so it will be on my seoaratecWander to see all the City’s churches. I really do need to get on with that again!



It was actually getting well (pun intended) towards dusk by now, the picture having been taken at 16:35. That’s a full three hours since we started and about two and a half miles covered. The iPhone’s camera makes it look much brighter.

The Punch Tavern - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

St Bride's Church - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

St Bride's: The Church That Inspired The Wedding Cake - Living London History

St Bride's is one of London's most fascinating churches. Read on to find out about its past and how it inspired the tiered wedding cake!

livinglondonhistory.com

 

[Wapping]

Last steps….

We wandered along the course of the river;



The walk ends at Blackfriars and the eponymous pub, which (of course) we were obliged to go into;



Just to check the quality of its London Pride, you understand. It was, in a word, excellent! It’s a Nicholson’s pub. You’ll re,Ber we saw their gin factory, back in post #17. A little bit of history, joining up again and, I think, a nice way to finish.

The Black Friar, Blackfriars - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/london/theblackfriarblackfriarslondon#/

Blackfriars · Medieval London Sites · Medieval London

PS The Blackfriars and the other orders and monasteries which were in London, has got me thinking again. As has an an idea we picked up from two bods in the Punch Tavern, who were doing a pub walk (pretty much like us) around London’s old City gates.

 

[Wapping]

My thanks to all for the kind comments. But, most of all, a big “Thank you” to Paul, whose idea it all was. It’s one thing the forum can do well, if people make the effort, is to bring bods together in ‘real space’ or whatever it’s called. If nothing else, it proves there is very much more good in the world, than bad.



Richard

 

[SBD]

Thank you Richard,

An enjoyable & informative narrative. I knew nothing of the coal tax until this morning.

 

[Doc]

Why are the usually yellow double lines red ?

 

[the woodster]

That’s too is interesting. I hope that my little Wanders fill a gap.

My regret is that, I took London for granted for too long. Yes, I knew bits about it, but was too busy (or lazy) to go to really look at it. I am now playing catch-up. The truth even so, is that I’ll never now see it all. But that doesn’t matter, as I’m happy enough just seeing new and ‘interesting’ bits that I do see, many just within a very few miles of where I live.

When at The Old Bailey, I used to always have a wander at lunchtime in the city, for there is nowhere better. A couple of minutes walk from the main roads and you can find yourself in medieval walkways and footpaths and the traffic noise reduces to a murmur.. I found a few places where they were covered by buildings and by looking around, would have struggled to say what century I was in. Alas, I never thought of looking up! I will next time. Thanks for the photos and history.

 

[the woodster]

Why are the usually yellow double lines red ?

Everything is verboten: no stopping, loading etc. A lot of the TfL routes have cameras.

 

[Wapping]

Why are the usually yellow double lines red ?

They are the so called ‘bus lanes’ or ‘red routes’.

They are often ‘tidal’ Ie. only operational between certain times and / or days. But, sometimes they are permanently in operation. Quite often motorcycles can use the lanes, but there are exceptions.



When first introduced, there were dire predictions of chaos, shops being forced to close, people and cats dying. Those predictions came to nothing. The same can be said of the dire predictions around the expanded ULEZ area.

The oddity is that, despite the lanes being in place for years, is how few people read (or I guess, understand) the blue signs. Many bods stay out of them, even when the tidal times are not in force.

 

[Wapping]

Alas, I never thought of looking up! I will next time. Thanks for the photos and history.

Thank you.

PS Big ‘C’ in City, as in City of London.

 

[Wapping]

Difficult to explain
- like I’ve missed something, I’m too late. That there was once something epic but I wasn’t there.
The architecture, the scale, the wealth, the industry, the lives lived.
I wish I could have seen it ‘in the day’ and yet, their has probably never been a ‘day’
Always evolving, always moving forward, always changing.

Even when I was a young squaddie in the 80’s and went to wellington barracks occasionally etc I would look around and think, it must have been amazing here ‘back in the day’.

Or like when I met someone for a drink in the Jamaica wine house a couple of years ago after a seminar.
I was thinking big things have happened right in and around here - major things that affected our world history, for centuries.

Or, my mums stories of seeing the Rolling Stones in the very early sixties in some dive bar when she lived in a loft whilst working at the MOD Whitehall.
The people, the fashion, the fun, the ‘vide’ of the time.

Being from the north, it’s always had an air of being ‘something’ unique, something ‘beyond’ for me.
A true city.

Thank you. I can now understand what you meant.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. In the (sort of) words of the song “We don’t know what we’ve got, ‘til it’s gone” but that is true of everything, I guess. I am lucky in that I can go to see these things and, as with this Wander (which really wasn’t my idea at all) discover things I knew nothing - or at best, very little - about. I am sure there is lots on your own doorstep, to be discovered too.

What I do think is a pity, is when bods go out of their way to paint the whole of London and indeed UK plc in an entirely negative light. It serves little real purpose, other than to add to their ever deepening pit of misery that they chose to wallow in.

It’s funny how little things in life often cross over.

In a parallel Wander thread, I visited and enjoyed a Syrian restaurant. This morning I decided to buy the owner’s recipe book. There, in the introduction, was the very same sentiment:

 

[LOLGEOFF]

They are the so called ‘bus lanes’ or ‘red routes’.

They are often ‘tidal’ Ie. only operational between certain times and / or days. But, sometimes they are permanently in operation. Quite often motorcycles can use the lanes, but there are exceptions.

View attachment 461378

When first introduced, there were dire predictions of chaos, shops being forced to close, people and cats dying. Those predictions came to nothing. The same can be said of the dire predictions around the expanded ULEZ area.

The oddity is that, despite the lanes being in place for years, is how few people read (or I guess, understand) the blue signs. Many bods stay out of them, even when the tidal times are not in force.

There's a good one on New Cross Road running towards Black heath. 4-7pm, most saps crawl along for hours to do a couple of miles when if you're driving any, "you can get a bus through there mate", size vehicle you can make good progress. The only downside is that there are a couple of loading bays that are also live out of hours so you have to put your eight legged tipper lorry driver's hat on and force your way back out to pass parked vehicles, it's usually not worth coming out to overtake busses as they soon get moving again after stopping.

 

[the woodster]

For those 'Tossers' who visit London on the very odd occasion but wonder how to soak up some of its rich history in a day, you could do a lot worse than get on one of those tourist double decker buses. The guides are brilliant and you can get on and off as you choose. If you can, get on the top deck, weather permitting. I was working and living amongst it for 30 years plus but every time we took the kids, they loved it and we learnt something new.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

I found a few places where they were covered by buildings and by looking around, would have struggled to say what century I was in. Alas, I never thought of looking up! I will next time. Thanks for the photos and history.

One of the few pleasures of travelling on the top deck of a "big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus"*, you're above the glitzy shop fronts and at eye level with history.

Pinched from the World Wide Family Favourites wireless program a favourite song by Flanders and Swan A Transport of Delight.
Hold very tight please, ding ding.

Some people like a motorbike
Some say "A tram for me!"
Or for bonnie army lorry
They'd lay them down and dee
Such means of locomotion
Seem rather dull to us
The driver and conductor of
A London omnibus
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
When you are lost in London
And you don't know where you are
You'll hear my voice a-calling
"Pass further down the car!"
And very soon you'll find yourself
Inside the terminus
In a London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Along the Queen's great highway
I drive my merry load
At twenty miles per hour
In the middle of the road
We like to drive in convoys
We're most gregarious
The big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Mind the stairs lady!
Mind the stairs!
Mind the stairs!
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Any more fares? (Any more fares?)
Any more fares? Any more fares?
Any more fares?
When cabbies try to pass me
Before they overtakes
I sticks me flippin' hand out
As I jams on all me brakes
Then jackal taxi drivers
Can only swear and cuss
Behind that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
I stops when I'm requested
Although it spoils the ride
So he can shout "Get out of it!
"We're full right up inside"
We don't ask much for wages
We only want fair shares
So cut down all the stages
And stick up all the fares
If tickets cost a pound apiece
Why should you make a fuss?
It's worth it just to ride inside
That thirty-foot-long by ten-foot-wide
Inside that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Hold very tight please!

 

[LOLGEOFF]

One of the few pleasures of travelling on the top deck of a "big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus"*, you're above the glitzy shop fronts and at eye level with history.

Pinched from the World Wide Family Favourites wireless program a favourite song by Flanders and Swan A Transport of Delight.
Hold very tight please, ding ding.

Some people like a motorbike
Some say "A tram for me!"
Or for bonnie army lorry
They'd lay them down and dee
Such means of locomotion
Seem rather dull to us
The driver and conductor of
A London omnibus
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
When you are lost in London
And you don't know where you are
You'll hear my voice a-calling
"Pass further down the car!"
And very soon you'll find yourself
Inside the terminus
In a London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Along the Queen's great highway
I drive my merry load
At twenty miles per hour
In the middle of the road
We like to drive in convoys
We're most gregarious
The big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Mind the stairs lady!
Mind the stairs!
Mind the stairs!
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Any more fares? (Any more fares?)
Any more fares? Any more fares?
Any more fares?
When cabbies try to pass me
Before they overtakes
I sticks me flippin' hand out
As I jams on all me brakes
Then jackal taxi drivers
Can only swear and cuss
Behind that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
I stops when I'm requested
Although it spoils the ride
So he can shout "Get out of it!
"We're full right up inside"
We don't ask much for wages
We only want fair shares
So cut down all the stages
And stick up all the fares
If tickets cost a pound apiece
Why should you make a fuss?
It's worth it just to ride inside
That thirty-foot-long by ten-foot-wide
Inside that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Hold very tight please!

For those 'Tossers' who visit London on the very odd occasion but wonder how to soak up some of its rich history in a day, you could do a lot worse than get on one of those tourist double decker buses. The guides are brilliant and you can get on and off as you choose. If you can, get on the top deck, weather permitting. I was working and living amongst it for 30 years plus but every time we took the kids, they loved it and we learnt something new.

Snap! But my way is free and if it's raining and the windows aren't steamed up too much, you're inside.

 

[the woodster]

One of the few pleasures of travelling on the top deck of a "big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus"*, you're above the glitzy shop fronts and at eye level with history.

Pinched from the World Wide Family Favourites wireless program a favourite song by Flanders and Swan A Transport of Delight.
Hold very tight please, ding ding.

Some people like a motorbike
Some say "A tram for me!"
Or for bonnie army lorry
They'd lay them down and dee
Such means of locomotion
Seem rather dull to us
The driver and conductor of
A London omnibus
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
Hold very tight please, ting ting!
When you are lost in London
And you don't know where you are
You'll hear my voice a-calling
"Pass further down the car!"
And very soon you'll find yourself
Inside the terminus
In a London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Along the Queen's great highway
I drive my merry load
At twenty miles per hour
In the middle of the road
We like to drive in convoys
We're most gregarious
The big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Mind the stairs lady!
Mind the stairs!
Mind the stairs!
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Any more fares? (Any more fares?)
Any more fares? Any more fares?
Any more fares?
When cabbies try to pass me
Before they overtakes
I sticks me flippin' hand out
As I jams on all me brakes
Then jackal taxi drivers
Can only swear and cuss
Behind that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
I stops when I'm requested
Although it spoils the ride
So he can shout "Get out of it!
"We're full right up inside"
We don't ask much for wages
We only want fair shares
So cut down all the stages
And stick up all the fares
If tickets cost a pound apiece
Why should you make a fuss?
It's worth it just to ride inside
That thirty-foot-long by ten-foot-wide
Inside that monarch of the road
Observer of the highway code
That big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted
London Transport, diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horsepower
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus
Hold very tight please!

What a wonderful ditty.