Thoroughly enjoyable Richard 
Thank you
Thank you
Wapping Wander - E1 to SW3 to SW11 to SE1…..And on….
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
Thank you, Micky.
With Trafalgar Square and the church of St Martin in the Fields, behind us:
Let’s turn eastwards towards home and walk along the Strand, past Charing Cross station with its replica of Queen Eleanor’s Cross:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Let’s turn eastwards towards home and walk along the Strand, past Charing Cross station with its replica of Queen Eleanor’s Cross:
St Martin-in-the-Fields - Wikipedia
Charing Cross railway station - Wikipedia
Eleanor cross - Wikipedia
Strand, runs west to east and is one of the major London thoroughfares, connecting what is now the ‘West End’ (the City of Westminster) with the much older City of London, which sat separately protected by a wall.
To its north, lies Covent Garden (London’s former largest fruit and flower market, before its move to Battersea) and what is known as ‘Theatre Land’ with most of London’s largest and best known theatres, along (on the south side) with the Royal Society of Arts:
But perhaps Strand’s best known ‘resident’ is the Savoy Hotel, home of the American Bar….. and yes, all the traffic into the Savoy really does drive on the right. We can go in to take a look:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
To its north, lies Covent Garden (London’s former largest fruit and flower market, before its move to Battersea) and what is known as ‘Theatre Land’ with most of London’s largest and best known theatres, along (on the south side) with the Royal Society of Arts:
But perhaps Strand’s best known ‘resident’ is the Savoy Hotel, home of the American Bar….. and yes, all the traffic into the Savoy really does drive on the right. We can go in to take a look:
Stanley Gibbons - Wikipedia
Royal Society of Arts - Wikipedia
Savoy Hotel - Wikipedia
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The Savoy behind us, we can continue along Strand, past Simpson’s (currently closed):
and on to the western end of Aldwych, which marks the eastern edge of ‘Theatreland’, to St Mary le Strand church, Bush House (the original home of the BBC’s World Service), Somerset House, the former Aldwych tube station and the prestigious Kings College London university.
The university, in association with the Courtauld, had a passably interesting display and piece on spotting fakes and the relevance of ‘Fake news’ today.
The pedestrianisation of Aldwych (one of inner London’s busiest junctions) has been a big success:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
and on to the western end of Aldwych, which marks the eastern edge of ‘Theatreland’, to St Mary le Strand church, Bush House (the original home of the BBC’s World Service), Somerset House, the former Aldwych tube station and the prestigious Kings College London university.
The university, in association with the Courtauld, had a passably interesting display and piece on spotting fakes and the relevance of ‘Fake news’ today.
The pedestrianisation of Aldwych (one of inner London’s busiest junctions) has been a big success:
Aldwych - Wikipedia
St Mary le Strand - Wikipedia
Bush House - Wikipedia
Somerset House - Wikipedia
King's College London - Wikipedia
Aldwych tube station - Wikipedia
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Leaving Aldwych, we can pause (in the dark) at St Clement Danes church (it is being restored) , also known as the ‘RAF church’, with its statues of the great WW2 wartime RAF leaders and its bomb damage from the Blitz:
en.wikipedia.org
St Clement Danes - Wikipedia
It’s now 16:30 and pretty dark, but we can continue eastwards towards home.
Clement Danes behind us, we are now at the western end of Fleet Street, which leads eventually to Ludgate Hill and the City of London.
To our left, is the magnificent Royal Courts of Justice and to our right Twining’s, the oldest tea shop in London:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Clement Danes behind us, we are now at the western end of Fleet Street, which leads eventually to Ludgate Hill and the City of London.
To our left, is the magnificent Royal Courts of Justice and to our right Twining’s, the oldest tea shop in London:
Royal Courts of Justice - Wikipedia
Twinings - Wikipedia
Fleet Street, marks the eastern edge of the City of Westminster (London’s modern ‘West End’ and the western edge of the much older City of London, previously surrounded by its wall. It used to the home of all the nation’s leading newspapers, little evidence of them now remains. But first we can pass by Temple Bar, marking the edge of the City of London:
To pause at the church of St Dunstan in the West and its statues, along with one of the few remaining reminders of Fleet Street’s printing past:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
To pause at the church of St Dunstan in the West and its statues, along with one of the few remaining reminders of Fleet Street’s printing past:
Fleet Street - Wikipedia
Temple Bar, London - Wikipedia
St Dunstan-in-the-West - Wikipedia
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Excellent stuff there*, thank you for taking the time.
*Surprising omission of the geographical centre of London, but even you aren't perfect
Thank you.
I had meant to mention that but in my rush to complete, had overlooked it.
One thing about the walks and writing them up afterwards, is how much you miss out, by not walking one or two streets over. As you know, you could spend a day just doing half a square mile, particularly if you stop to read up a little about what you are looking at.
Nearly at the end, as we start the rise up Ludgate Hill, towards St Paul’s and the tower blocks of the modern City of London, past lots of the little alleys, courts and passages, the course of which are little altered since Medieval times and the evidence of London’s continuing redevelopment. It’s odd, how capital changes (the new replacing the old) but the new sits alongside the very old:
Attachments
They say that, when walking in towns and cities, you should always look up. Looking up, I did see an oddity. It’s what appears to be the office of the Latin American Workers’ Association. All very ‘Viva Chez” I thought to myself:
A Google gave me an answer:
maydayrooms.org
A Google gave me an answer:
MayDayRooms
maydayrooms.org
All but at the top of Ludgate Hill, we pass by the church of St Martin within Ludgate. I’ll be doing a wander around the City of London churches (with all their ‘Withins’ and ‘Withouts’) before too long, I hope.
As I observed in post #90, there is always something new. I must have walked past this entrance, well over 100 times, but have never noticed it before. Somewhere to wander in one day, perhaps:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
As I observed in post #90, there is always something new. I must have walked past this entrance, well over 100 times, but have never noticed it before. Somewhere to wander in one day, perhaps:
St Martin, Ludgate - Wikipedia
Ludgate - Wikipedia
Having started at 10:00 way over in Queensway, it’s now 17:00.
The end, at Wren’s masterpiece for the City of London and to catch a bus home via, the Tower of London.
I am not exactly sure exactly how far I walked. My phone tells me it was about 14 miles on foot, door-to-door….. and to think we still missed lots. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Wander; it was fun doing it.
The end, at Wren’s masterpiece for the City of London and to catch a bus home via, the Tower of London.
I am not exactly sure exactly how far I walked. My phone tells me it was about 14 miles on foot, door-to-door….. and to think we still missed lots. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Wander; it was fun doing it.
When I first started motorcycling, after doing the CBT, I had a 125 to practice on until I put in for my test. I quite often went up to a fairly empty town early on a Sunday morning to practice and explore and loved the new found joy of being able to go up most of the small alley ways, stop and start where you liked and spin it round if it was a dead end, there were others doing the same but I was one of a few without a clipboard clipped to my screen.That was only 24 years ago but how much has changed with the new pedestrian areas and construction that has gone on.
Thank you for this wonderful piece, brought back loads of memories, a great day out in that there London without the crowds and cold! I'm working my way through the rest of the wanders now, thanks again. Cheers John B
John B
Thank you.
Love the way you put links in Wappers, (I try to do the same) really interesting, especially Somerset House and Twinings tea
Thank you once again
Thank you once again
Welcome. Thank you.
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