The Ancient Wall of London

 

I stumbled across this video today and was intrigued, not just by the video itself, nor by the fact it is quite short, about a dozen minutes or so, but also by the way London has changed architecturally since I lived there.  

Jago, for it is he, takes us around the remains of the ancient wall that once surrounded the small port of Londinium.  The dates vary, certainly most of the wall was erected by the Romans, at places the red Roman tiles can be clearly seen, and while amended, reconstructed, and bombed occasionally much of it remains visible.  Jago tells a good tale, he is clearly good at this, knows his history, is easy to listen to and the only spoiler is the advert that comes too soon and remains too long.  

 

 

I do like short but informative videos, and when I have actually seen and photographed some items shown in the film, and touched and walked beside them I am truly quite happy.  This may not reflect an active lifestyle of course.  

However, it was the intrusion of modern buildings that really irked.  When we see old churches dating back a thousand or so years overlooked by a concrete and glass construction that bears all the clear hallmarks of an architect with a drug problem then I despair.  At one point some semi-circular building leans out across the busy street looking like something momentous found half buried on a Normandy beach.  What was the point of that?  All around gleaming monstrosities glare down their snooty nose at ancient buildings, or their remains, that speak of humanity and culture (well apart from the Circus, the scaffold, the slaves I mean) and the inhumanity of London life is revealed in glass.  

OK, I know it was not all humanity, kindness and agape love in the past but really these modern buildings reaching up to heaven are either people seeking to 'make a name for ourselves,' or laundering rubles or some other currency that ought to have remained back in its own country.  I suspect our Nige does not object to such immigrants as this.

 

 

This beam is a remnant of a Roman wharf dating from the good old days.  Whether this one remembers Boudicca arriving and burning the place to the ground, slaughtering everyone she found and moving on or not I cannot say with any guarantee, however, it has been there for a while happily outside this church at London Bridge.  

I suppose this Iceni woman is responsible for the wall more than anyone.  She also created jobs at St Albans and Colchester where some of the wall remains in place.  Yet in spite of these jobs the history books, at least those written by Romans, did not speak well of her.  

I recommend this video, and a search through his other ones, especially if you have a contact of sorts with London.  A great metropolis, full of humans with all the god and bad attitudes found in any other vast city, though life is much healthier now so many are working from home.  For walking tours it is great, if you don't mind people crushing you, and history is everywhere, but I would not move back without a lot of money and quiet and cheap home in the centre!

 

The Centre

The difference between a leisurely Saturday rail journey and a middle of the week commuter rush hour one is great.  Mine took just over the hour, encountered no problems and allowed me a seat to myself with few around me all the way.  How different from the tired sardines crushed together as the train waits somewhere along the line because a door will not shut or someone has thrown themselves selfishly in front of the train or a signal has failed yet again.  Occasionally lorry drivers like to drive 15ft tall lorries under 14ft high bridges, sometimes staff do not turn up, on odd occasions a passenger will be genuinely taken seriously ill, anything to disrupt a service involving hundreds of trains along the line.  Once the line gets so far out of London it becomes two lines only for many areas with a few 'loops' at stations on the way.  Any traffic problem and the whole lot between London and Colchester falls apart.  No wonder people grumble yet I can understand why the rail company feel no guilt.  For one many faults are not off their making on the other they are only in it for the money and it is the public and the passengers (sorry 'customers') who suffer.

Now the grime has been cleared away and a hundred or more years of smoke removed we can see the wonderful Victorian iron roof (I take it to be iron) that stretches overhead.  Even better now the glass has been cleaned.  Such huge cavernous spaces were wonders indeed in Victorian times and I can see why.
At Paddington a similar cross like structure exists and this was to allow for a crane to carry the small coaches from one line to another without going all the way out and in again.  Sometimes horses were used to pull them into position.  I wonder if this was a similar situation at Liverpool Street in times past?

Sir Henry Wilson was a man who disagreed with General Haig from the start.  He was very much a French loving General who supported Lloyd George and the other War Cabinet members in their belief in French superiority.  In 1918 when he took over as the top man in London he suddenly found himself agreeing with Haig and insisting to Lloyd George, now Prime Minister, that Haig was the best man for the job.  Funny how things change when the job is yours.  He unveiled this and other memorials but was very much a supporter of the anti IRA faction and as such he was blown up two days after the unveiling and killed.

The one thing difficult to discover in London is a cheap eatery yet on Saturday I walked into one.  This place, going by the clever name of 'EAT' gave me a bacon and egg roll with coffee for £4:45 and I thought that not only did it save my life but for London this was cheap!  The place was clean, the staff friendly, the service excellent and if back there I will look in again.  Well done 'EAT!'

  
Mansion House is the place where the Lord Mayor of London is supposed to live.  Personally I suspect he lives in another more acceptable mansion elsewhere and uses this for his London business only but that's by-the-by.   Once a year the Chancellor of the Exchequer is paraded around here before he gives his annual speech about how he will rob the poor and feed the rich as George Osborne has done for the last six years.  As the only way to get a proper picture of the pretentious structure is to cross the road I didn't bother.  I blame the knees.

Opposite the Mansion House is the Bank of England (begun by a Scot) here watching the choir who are positioned over the place that caved in due to the Blitz bomb in 1941.  The bank is a solid edifice but not an attractive one.  In keeping with the people at the top it says "Keep away, I'm too important for the likes of you!"  I stayed away caring not a jot.

   
Looking the other way we find this, the result of a drunken architects bet surely?  I suggest the bet was he could design a building so daft yet get both a buyer and permission to erect it in the heart of the City of London, and here it is.  I blame alcohol!

The Royal Exchange, founded in the 16th century and rebuilt several times, this Greek temple impersonation dates from 1840, was the commercial heart of London for many years, at least for the 150 years when Lloyds of London used it.  Today it is a mixture of classy (overpriced) shops and is of course closed on Saturdays!  

In front stands a classy memorial to the 'Men of London' who served in a variety of regiments, mostly Royal Fusiliers or the London Regiment, and who gave their lives in the Great War.

James Henry Greathead was as you know the man who along with Peter W. Barlow developed the Tunneling shield used in the creation of much of London's underground and tunnels under the Thames.  He was railway engineer on much of London's railways and worked in Liverpool and Ireland also.  The plinth he stands on hides a ventilation shaft for the underground beneath him.

Wot mean you 'Is it finished?' No there are more London pics to come!
Hello?  hello?  Operator, I've been cut off!

A Day Out

Last night I decided I needed to go somewhere to refresh the mind and take some pictures.  So at nine this morning I was aboard the Liverpool Street train and heading for adventure.  I have passed through London on occasions heading elsewhere but as far as I can remember I have only been back once since then.  So I wandered from the station around the city engulfed by cyclists having some sort of parade come protest while I took pictures of the appalling architecture that towers above us.  It was a good day.

Liverpool Street Station, being one of London's busiest, was once a grime covered dark cavern of a place of which I have vague memories.  Today it is light and airy with a myriad of grossly overpriced shops willing to rip you off for a variety of things you really don't need. 

I ignored the delights of donuts (doughnuts surely?) and other tempting specialties on offer from people who failed to learn English before starting their job and went looking for the Great Eastern Railway Great War Memorial, one of our boys is on there.  Fascinating to think that he once worked on the Permanent Way, the rail track itself, and when he died of TB his wife was still allowed to make use of Free travel for the rest of her life.  Railways were indeed a family at that time, I wonder if such would happen today?

Outside we find this statue which I think represents refugee children worldwide beginning with those evacuees who were forced out of cities during the war.  A touching subject that gets admiring glances from many and if you look close the odd empty coffee cup from more cynical people.  The Station inside is clean but the area outside is far from this state. 

High above the road the Great Eastern Hotel as was displays proudly the railways logo 'GER.'  This 1884 hotel has been much renovated and I am not sure if either of the two masonic lodges still exist or whether the trainload of sea water brought each day still arrives for bathing, I suggest the latter no longer occurs.  Now owned by Hyatt the outside is very much Charles Barry's work and remains an outstanding and still expensive hotel.  I didn't go in.

In all those years I spent in London I canny mind seeing one of these.  A police call box for public use. No doubt I must have seen them but they do are not recognised by my mind.  There were several still to be seen and it is possible they are only found withing the City of London and the special City of London police deal with these.

London traffic remains the same, ghastly!  Being Saturday I thought it would be quieter in this part but I was to be proved wrong.  The buses may have changed, and absurd they look, but the rest is similar.

Just down the road began the neck straining day.  High above disgusting buildings filled the sky in an attempt to launder someones stolen Roubles.  This was the first of many difficult to photograph glass fronted mistakes, each and everyone a tower that reaches up to heaven so that someone can make a name for themselves.  

  
I preferred this little chap, once a famous and busy establishment belonging to some group or other as each church was in the past in the city.  Like almost all I passed today this one was closed, this is a pity in my view as tourists need the space as much as city workers, it is sad so many are closed.

Oh and I took 272 pictures, so I may post the rest from tomorrow...what?  Oh!
   

Wednesday Wonderings

One thing I wondered about is the way the sun the other day gave off a very bright light, enhanced a blue sky, yet failed to emit more heat than a candle!  If you are built of ten thousand billion nuclear explosions I feel it right to demand a temperature higher than 'just above freezing' when I am out.  That nice BBC weather man cheerfully informed his waiting public that next week there "might even be snow."  I am glad he did not hear my remark at that moment, anyway it would have been drowned out by the cheering at British Gas headquarters! Being regarded as a pensioner I'mentitledto £200 heating allowance.  I can tell you that I am happy for this, especially as this flat faces north so little heat arrives at any time, and writing, reading, or doing anything outwith the 15 tog duvet is an arduous business.  With this in mind I am early in bed, laptop on top, noting that the blood has begun to return to my fingers once more.  And people say I have it easy?  Well yes I do these days.

The financial worry has eased considerably, I am trained in cheap living, and it is possible to do so happily, also my running costs are now low.  Not counting heat of course.  However I wonder about those who really do struggle.  Some fail to buy properly, expect cheap energy while using far too much, leaving lights on all day and the like, and appear not to comprehend the value of money.  These are not lazy or selfish folks, just those that cannot shop well. Others have less than me, debts still hanging over them, family and friends that demand constantly, and do without to help others.  My mother was a bit like this, although in Scotland she was not allowed to suffer.  Food banks will do a roaring business at Christmas.

I wonder also about architects!  The fashion today is for an architect with a 'big name' to be employed erecting the tallest structure in the world.  To my mind these monstrosities, such as the 'Gherkin' or the 'Shard' are not only ugly but reflect the Genesis verse, "Come let us build a tower that reaches up to heaven, and make a name for ourselves."  That is what such creations reflect.  These is no requirement for them, little purpose (the Shard is still half empty) and probably far to expensive to run.  To build a tall building might be required in places, Edinburgh had ten stories or more in a confined area hundreds of years ago, but those developments worldwide in recent years are merely for show. An 'Empire State Building,' a 'Post Office Tower' (BT to you),  or an occasional showpiece is one thing, cities full of them just a mess!   The picture I took many years ago to compare the craftsmen who built Leadenhall market and the architect who built the Lloyds Building next to it.  One reflect craft, the other plastic!  Both may well function properly inside however the outside, which is what most of us see is ugly! I am sure you agree.

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Sculpture on Buildings

I took this pic of a small sculpture above a doorway near the Thames, not far from Waterloo station. The building stands amidst the wreckage of appalling buildings erected in the aftermath of the second world war. Bring back the Luftwaffe to finish the job I found myself thinking! However this one stands on the corner of Lambeth High Street. Old people (Yes I mean you!) will remember the famous song 'Doing the Lambeth Walk' which was popular in the late thirties. You could try it today, but not at night as you may well be knifed! I have a pic of the building itself, which while useful, does not help me understand what the sculpture (would you call this a frieze I wonder) actually represents. Enlarged there appears to be a great many earthenware urns and vases around. Several men are discussing them and one woman is seen painting one. Only one man is working, at least he is moving away from the work, and he is the only male with no beard, just whiskers and a moustache! A pottery empire perhaps? Or an empire that has gone to pot?


Fantastic Victorian over the top architecture, totally at odds with today's architects, most of whom have been brought up on Lego bricks it seems to me! The colours of the bricks don't show obviously but they stand out just as well in black & white. Whether the inside is workable is another thing, and I suspect in the late Victorian day the inside was dark brown or even darker green! Just imagine the poor facilities, the male dominated (as it should be) workforce dressed in waistcoats and jackets, with high collars and always wearing a hat and beard when they wandered around outside, pipe in mouth. When you think of it, if it were pottery then many would be cheap labour females! The men (naturally) being in charge!

How times change. Today the materials are better, stronger, long lasting, but tatty. Any of the blocks of flats nearby will be functional and efficient, although dated 1940/50's in design, but better than the buildings destroyed by the Germans however. The old blocks would have looked solid enough, and probably attractive brick like the kind shown here, even if not so elaborate. However they would have been slums by 1939 and the people benefited greatly after the war from the new buildings. Shame so many are awful now! Partly the design but mostly the inhabitants to blame for that!



While we are on, here is one from the south east, just of Tooley Street. A slim, somewhat run down building, once the home of 'Harding and Sons, Hardware Merchants,' Japanners. I did come across their history somewhere, but lost it! Efficiency is my middle name. I am not sure if the building was built at a slant, is falling over, or whether I was standing on someone at the time, but it looks squeegee to me. One thing for sure, when I lived in London there was a greater incentive to go out with the camera. In this small town most pictures are found quickly. However in the area I once lived I note a one bedroom flat, two doors from my old slum, was recently sold. The asking price £499,000. I think this a bit much for me......